12. Steven F. Pond, Music
Head Hunters: The Making of Jazz’s First Platinum Album (University of Michigan Press, 2005). When jazz and rock intermingled to create the new and often controversial genre of fusion jazz, Herbie Hancock ventured into the market with Headhunters (1973). It became the first jazz album to go platinum and the best-selling jazz record of all time to that point. This pioneering study examines the aesthetic, cultural, and commercial reasons for the album’s rise to platinum. Pond also discusses the impact of this event, such as expanded production and promotion budgets for jazz records and enlarged production roles for musicians. The book presents musicians, styles, histories, and subcultures interacting in a web of affiliations.