Apocalypse Jukebox

On this last day of 2008, we’re looking at the end of the world. Not exactly warm and fuzzy, eh? Yet humans are fascinated by knowing about the end. The apocalypse has inspired countless tales, dating back to Noah and his Ark and the Book of Revelation. It appears in everything from Shakespeare to the Simpsons.

But the angst and imagery of the end times can perhaps be best found in music, both sacred and secular. From the hellfire hymnals of the deep South to the anarchic punk of the Lower East Side, the influence of apocalyptic fears runs rampant. That pervasive dread that inspires so many artists is the focus of the forthcoming book Apocalypse Jukebox. The book’s co-authors, Edward Whitelock and David Janssen, live in Barnesville, Georgia and teach English at Gordon College.

We tend to think of doomsday prophets warning that "the end is near." But as you write in your introduction, as far as the American character is concerned, "the end is here," and always has been. We discuss how the use of the atomic bomb during World War Two spurred a sub-genre of music dubbed "atomic country," and how popular sentiment toward the bomb changed in the 50s and 60s, and how that manifested in pop music. We also discuss the apocalyptic undertones of musicians ranging from John Coltrane to Love and Arthur Lee, and from Devo to Sleater-Kinney.