Description
Book SynopsisCanadian performer k.d. lang broke new ground in the 1980s by blending the genres of punk and country, dubbed cowpunk, with her band, the Reclines. Despite Grammy-award-winning recordings and frequent North American TV spots, mainstream country radio excluded lang from airplay due to her unconventional gender presentation and perceived sexuality. Not until lang's 1992 pop album Ingénue, the release of the single Constant Craving, and her subsequent coming out in The Advocate did lang earn critical acclaim worldwide.
The book addresses lang's rise to fame after switching genres, the successful reinvention of her sound and persona, and how she found herself immersed in the whirlwind of MTV and the lesbian chic aesthetic of 1990s pop culture. As an LGBTQ author, Joanna McNaney Stein discusses her adolescence and sexual development by weaving in short narrative prose pieces with her analysis of lang and Ingénue. Also included are interviews with lang''s music
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Introduction Part I - Pre-Ingénue Primer 1. k.d. lang’s American TV Debut 2. In Search of a Missing Identity 3. The Tonight Show, Patsy Cline & “Crying” 4. Torch and Twang Days Part II - Ingénue 5. Ben Mink on Ingénue 6. Ingénue Track-by-Track 7. Critics & Coming Out 8. MTV Mania Part III - Post-Ingénue 9. Collaborators on k.d. 10. Pop Culture References 11. Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Ingénue's 25th Anniversary Works Cited
