Editing Simon Frith (section)

== Career ==
As a student, he read [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics|PPE]] at [[Oxford University|Oxford]] and earned a doctorate in [[sociology]] from [[UC Berkeley]]. He is the author of many books, including ''The Sociology of Rock'' (Constable, 1978), ''Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure and the Politics of Rock 'n' Roll'' (Pantheon, 1981), ''[[Art into Pop]]'' (Methuen, 1987 – written with Howard Horne), ''Music for Pleasure: Essays on the Sociology of Pop'' (Cambridge University Press, 1988), and'' Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music'' (Oxford University Press, 1996).  He has also co-edited key anthologies in the interdisciplinary field of popular music studies, including: ''On Record: Rock, Pop & the Written Word'' (Routledge, 1990), ''Sound and Vision: Music Video Reader'' (Routledge, 1993), and ''[[Cambridge Companions to Music|The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock]]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2001).

Frith has edited a four-volume set, ''Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media & Cultural Studies'' (Routledge, 2004), and published a collection of his key essays, ''Taking Popular Music Seriously: Selected Essays'' (Ashgate, 2007). He is the co-author of a three-volume work, ''The History of Live Music in Britain since 1950'', by Ashgate.

Frith has chaired the judges of the [[Mercury Music Prize]] since it began in 1992.<ref>[http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/edinburgh-college-art/music/staff/academic-staff?person_id=24&cw_xml=profile.php  University of Edinburgh Staff Profile] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112223823/http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/edinburgh-college-art/music/staff/academic-staff?person_id=24&cw_xml=profile.php |date=12 November 2013 }}. ''[[BBC]]''. Retrieved 27 November 2010.</ref>  His popular music criticism has appeared in a range of popular presses including the ''[[Village Voice]]'' and ''[[The Sunday Times]]''. He taught in the Sociology Department at the [[University of Warwick]] and the English Studies Department at [[Strathclyde University]]. In 1999, he went to the [[University of Stirling]] as Professor of Film and Media. In 2006, he took up his last post, Tovey Chair of Music at the [[University of Edinburgh]], from which he retired and was appointed professor emeritus in 2017.<ref>[https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/profile/prof-simon-frith] University of Edinburgh Honorary and Emeritus Staff Profile]</ref> He is the brother of guitarist and composer [[Fred Frith]] and neuroscientist [[Chris Frith]].

According to author Bernard Gendron, writing in his 2002 book ''Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde'', Frith "has done the most to lay the foundations for the analysis of [[rock criticism]]".<ref>{{cite book|last=Gendron|first=Bernard|title=Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde|year=2002|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|isbn=978-0-226-28737-9|page=346}}</ref> Frith was appointed [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to higher education and popular music.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=61803|supp=y|page=N12|date=31 December 2016}}</ref>