Jack Hamilton is Assistant Professor of American Studies and Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Just around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination, featured in his Rorotoko interview, is his first book. He holds a B.A. in English from New York University, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Harvard. He is the pop critic for Slate magazine, and his writing has appeared in The Atlantic, NPR, Transition, ESPN, L.A. Review of Books, Rolling Stone, and many other publications.
There are a lot of parts of this book I’m pretty proud of. The last chapter, on the Rolling Stones in the late 1960s, is the one that I’ve been working on and living with the longest, so it has a special place in my heart. The third chapter has an extended section on the influence of Motown session bass player James Jamerson on the Beatles’ Paul McCartney, which is also a personal favorite. McCartney is obviously one of the most famous musicians of the 20th Century, whereas Jamerson might be the most criminally under-recognized genius in all of American popular music. So it meant a lot to give him a moment in the sun—I’m admittedly biased due to my own background, but I always feel like sidemen and studio musicians don’t get written about nearly enough. And in my first chapter I write about Sam Cooke, who’s my favorite singer of all time and another performer who hasn’t received nearly the amount of critical and scholarly attention that he should, in my opinion (although he’s certainly received more than Jamerson). That part of the book is quite special to me as well.This is probably a boring or obvious answer, but first and foremost I’d really just like people to read the book and enjoy it. Apart from that, I’d like to think it’ll challenge and hopefully change some of the ways we discuss both Sixties music and rock music in general. I really do love all of the music that’s discussed in this book and have no desire to be contrarian or overly critical towards any of it. In many senses I think trying to get to the bottom of some of the ways artists have been misheard is actually a way of shining a light on just how extraordinary their work is, even when it’s people we already know are really great. For instance, writing this book gave me an even deeper appreciation for the music of artists like Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, and the Beatles, all of whom are already pretty widely praised! So maybe it’s just the educator in me, but I think my main goal for the book’s consequences would be that people read it and learn from it, and have a good time while doing so.
Jack Hamilton Just around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination Harvard University Press352 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches9780674416598
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