Pop music pondered by a prof

Ever wonder what makes pop music so irresistible? David Hajdu, music critic and Columbia School of Journalism professor, explores the combination of luck, talent and hard work that goes into making a hit: this “product of mass culture that ... works for each person in a personal way.” “Love for Sale: Pop Music in America” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27, 320

pages) begins in the 19th century with cultural changes wrought by the widespread publication of sheet music and continues into the 20th and 21st centuries with the rise of new musicmaking technologies: Tin Pan Alley, recordings, MTV and digitization.

Along the way, Hajdu explores the significance of the Cotton Club, Billboard charts and transistor radio, and analyzes the complex roots of rock ‘n’ roll and a half-dozen other musical genres.

For the most part, it’s an exhilarating read, though Hajdu is prone to digress and never misses the chance to untangle the convoluted genealogy of a song. Personal reminiscences throughout establish his musical bona fides and make this more lively and personal than a standard historical survey. He’s both critic and fan.

He ends with a touching coda on the difference between his musical taste as a youthful boomer and that of his teenage son, whose playlists include such contemporary artists as Jeremih, Natalie La Rose and Kid Ink.

Hajdu admits to liking quite a few of the songs but hiding his enthusiasm because he doesn’t want to destroy for his son the signature experience of all great pop music — the way he felt, for instance, listening to the Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday” circa 1967.

“Like a million kids around the world,” he says, “I thought of the song as mine and mine alone.”