Stirred, But Not Shaken

Daub, Adrian, and Charles Kronengold.  The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism.
         New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.  ISBN: 9780190234522

Have you ever wondered why the James Bond theme songs are so different over the fifty year run of the series.  Why so many many artists?  Why so many styles?  And what do the songs actually do?  The answers to those and other unasked questions are explored in The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism. 

The James Bond Songs takes a academic approach to the theme songs of the James Bond movies.  Daub and Kronengold open the book by delving into "Skyfall" the latest theme song when the book was written.  They tear apart the lyrics, deconstruct the interaction of the song and the opening sequence, plus try to find the relationship between the song and the movie itself. The other seven chapters examine the interplay of the theme songs to their respective movies as well as to the other songs in the Bond canon and the pop music of the time.  The book ends with the authors' musings on what future Bond songs will be like and who will be writing/playing them.

The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism is readable example of academic writing on movie music.  The authors write seriously about a subject that many would consider frivolous or marginal.  But for students wanting opinions on Bond music for a paper or speech, Daub and Kronengold provide plenty of material.