Gioia tells a 4,000-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval. He shows how social outcasts have repeatedly become trailblazers of musical expression.

Originally published in hardcover by Basic Books in 2019.

Introduction --The origin of music as a force of creative destruction -- Carnivores at the Philharmonic -- In search of a universal music -- Music history as a battle between magic and mathematics -- Bulls and sex toys -- The storyteller -- The invention of the singer -- The shame of music -- Unmanly music -- The devil's songs -- Oppression and musical innovation -- Not all wizards carry wands -- The invention of the audience -- Musicians behaving badly -- The origins of the music business -- Culture wars -- Subversives in wigs -- You say you want a revolution? -- The great flip-flop -- The aesthetics of diaspora -- Black music and the great American lifestyle crisis -- Rebellion goes mainstream -- Funky butt -- The origins of country music in the neolithic era -- Where did our love go? -- The sacrificial ritual -- Rappers and technocrats -- Welcome our new overlords -- Epilogue: This is not a manifesto.