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The most beautiful melody in the world

Kieran James (Fiji): Working-Class Consciousness in the Work of SoCal Punk Band Rancid. Kieran James (Fiji), Susan P. Briggs (South Australia), and Bligh Grant (New England): “A Little Lower than the Angels”: Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, and the Corporate Kiss Machine. Colin McGuire writes in defense of boycotting the corporate concert industry. Gospel’s many ancestors: Chuck McCutcheon on how Yale professor Willie Ruff documents the ancient origins of religious singing — and causes a debate over the roots of gospel. The introduction to Reflections on the Musical Mind: An Evolutionary Perspective by Jay Schulkin. Why do people like listening to sad music when they're feeling down? John Vanderslice adores digital technology — except when it comes to audio. Mozart vs. the Beatles: We may say, “You can’t argue about taste”, but when it comes to art we care about, we almost always do. Jan Swafford on the most beautiful melody in the world: You know it when you hear it. The introduction to Shaping Jazz: Cities, Labels, and the Global Emergence of an Art Form by Damon J. Phillips. Tom Jacobs on why we evolved to love music. Chris Kjorness on how Latin music is American music. James Parker on Joe Strummer and Punk Self-Reinvention: How a privately educated British schoolboy named John Mellor became The Clash's iconic front man. Lydia DePillis on how Ticketmaster ruined the concertgoing experience, and how it might be saved.