Im a Man - Sex, Gods and Rock 'N' Roll

In a boldly original study, award-winning poet Ruth Padel investigates men's dreams of sex, violence, freedom, misogyny and blackness in the history of rock. She examines a hundred interweaving strands of musical and cultural influence on the spotlit, adulated rock god, relating the guitar hero to the mythic powers of music, the bizarre sexual impersonations of opera and Greek theatre, and his own classical ancestors, those omnipotent but frighteningly vulnerable gods of war,...
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In a boldly original study, award-winning poet Ruth Padel investigates men's dreams of sex, violence, freedom, misogyny and blackness in the history of rock. She examines a hundred interweaving strands of musical and cultural influence on the spotlit, adulated rock god, relating the guitar hero to the mythic powers of music, the bizarre sexual impersonations of opera and Greek theatre, and his own classical ancestors, those omnipotent but frighteningly vulnerable gods of war, creativity and desire.

I'm a Man is witty, provocative and sparklingly argued - part cultural history, part psychology, part musical analysis, enriched by vivid anecdote and interviews with leading rock critics and musicians, as well as opera composers, directors and singers. Read it, and the prancing male figure on the stage at Earl's Court or Madison Square Garden will never seem the same again.