Steve Waksman
Leverhulme International Professor of Popular Music, University of Huddersfield
I am Leverhulme International Professor of Popular Music at the University of Huddersfield. My research explores the history of popular music, live performance, sound technologies, and the cultural impact of the electric guitar. I am the author of Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience, This Ain’t the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk, and Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé. My work has received awards including the Woody Guthrie Prize and the Music in American Culture Award. I am currently leading a major Leverhulme Trust-funded project on amplification technologies and amplified sound, examining how amplification has transformed music, listening, and everyday life, and how amplified sound has become one of the defining features of the modern world.
EXPs by Steve Waksman
Why is music everywhere? From headphones and smartphones to stadium concerts and intimate recordings, the technologies of amplification have transformed how we listen, connect, and experience the world through sound.
Why do live concerts still matter in a digital world? More than entertainment, live music creates communities, shapes identities, breaks down social barriers, and satisfies a deeply human need to share experiences with others.
Few instruments have shaped modern culture as profoundly as the electric guitar. More than a musical tool, it became a symbol of innovation, rebellion, identity, and artistic freedom across generations.