The spectre of authenticity is never far from an academic analysis of popular music, and Wiseman-Trowse's book offers a useful theoretical discussion of the concept in which he posits, ‘Authenticity as a necessary strategy to counter the seemingly paradoxical relationship between art and commerce within popular music’ (p. 4). However, while questions of authenticity may seem like the staple diet of sociologists and cultural theorists, Wiseman-Trowse suggests that, to a large extent, such analyses have failed to explicitly consider the role of class in generating notions of the authentic. This may seem counter-intuitive: after all, early studies of popular music, led by the Birmingham School, were very interested in popular music and class. However, this earlier approach considered popular music as the articulation of particular subcultural class positions, which Wiseman-Trowse criticises because popular music does not work in a ‘simple, documentary fashion’ (p. 13).

Rather than considering class as a relatively stable socio-structural institution, Wiseman-Trowse, influenced by Judith Butler's work on performativity, considers class as ‘a relatively mobile form of subjectivity that can be invoked through cultural texts’ (p. 5). Such a position is relatively common in sociology and, particularly, cultural studies at present but is also subject to the criticism that it exaggerates individuals' capacity to perform varied identities and underestimates the constraints placed upon them by wider material circumstances. This would seem particularly pertinent when related to class identity, so it is a pity that Wiseman-Trowse does not offer a more detailed consideration of the issue.

Thus, the central premise of Wiseman-Trowse's book is that individuals learn and perform forms of identity within particular discursive frameworks and his particular focus is on how class identity is performed in British popular music for, as he states, ‘articulations of class abound throughout British popular music’ (p. 16). Such articulations, however, should not be understood as, ‘being direct manifestations of class positions in a socio-economic sense’ (p. 5). Rather, they are constructions of class that only make sense within a particular discourse – rock – and the centrality of authenticity within that discourse. Seen this way, authenticity can never be considered, in absolute terms, as a ‘real’ manifestation of social relations. Instead, authenticity is only ever a discourse caught in a web of other discourses and something can be authentic only in relation to other representations, Furthermore, ‘authenticity only ever [is] a performance, detached from the social relations outside of that form’ (p. 9). So, while smashing up one's instruments may be politically ineffective and economically counter-productive, it can be a meaningful act of rebellion with a particular discursive framework, and it is an act that is performed by individuals who have learned this within that framework.

Within British popular music, Wiseman-Trowse suggests that class signification is an ever-present trope utilised to articulate authenticity. Class, he suggests, is significant because it stands for an apparent resistance to dominant power relations. However, because it is only discursive, this class identity can only ever be a performance and not tied to a social reality. Indeed, he suggests that ‘class signification within popular music is often more concerned with articulating authenticity per se rather than actual lived experiences or social relations’ (p. 25). This has significant repercussions for any analysis of authenticity because, as ‘both listeners and artists are not fixed within their own social circumstances, rock discourse provides a space within which both parties can perform other roles, even if such performances may be deemed problematic. If such performativity is at the heart of the articulation of authenticity, and within that category, class, then the very concept of authenticity is at stake’ (p. 35).

Though covering some familiar territory, Wiseman-Trowse offers an interesting and insightful discussion of authenticity and the role of class within it. There are perhaps times when the complexities of class in a wider sense are brushed aside (social reality does matter, even for performances), but he is right to emphasise the performative nature of class within popular music. Given this foundation, then, the case studies offered in the second half of the book are a disappointment. Wiseman-Trowse devotes chapters to particular moments in British popular music (which he refers to as ‘flashpoints’) when the issue of class has arisen. The first of these is the folk revival of the 1960s and early 1970s, in which an initial interest in folk as socialist and utopian gave way to ‘pastoralism’ and an emphasis upon a mythic English past. Secondly, the punk ‘movement’ of the late 1970s which contained a tension between a more arty, individualistic (and hence middle-class) strain, and a more democratic strain epitomised by the ‘Oi!’ Movement. Thirdly, the tension in the late 1980s and early 1990s between dreampop/shoegazing – considered middle class and foppish by the music press – and Madchester – considered urban, working class and, therefore, authentic. While any of these examples provides a possible resource for pursuing the ideas generated in the first half of the book, the case study discussion never rises above the general and the familiar. For example, after eight pages offering an overview of dreampop and its sound, the only comment Wiseman-Trowse offers on class is that ‘while dream pop's music and imagery may tell us very little about class positioning, the heavy focus on these artists’ southern, middle-class roots was prioritised by the weekly music press, seeing the miasmic sound as a symptom of a social strata with nothing to say' (p. 156). Given the theoretical emphasis on performance, including the role that listeners play in performing class and authenticity, greater empirical detail is needed to justify the theoretical claims being made. The detailed example that Wiseman-Trowse uses in the first half of the book – Pulp's performance of ‘Common People’ at Glastonbury Festival in 1995 – offers a better example of how the theoretical ideas can be usefully applied.