Popular music offers a great deal of interest to the criminologist. For instance, by drawing on classic texts by Stanley Cohen (1972), Dick Hebdige (1979) and others, criminologists will be familiar with the moral panics associated with youth/music subcultures, from mods and rockers through to punks. There have been numerous panics since, notably about US gangster rap in the 1990s and more recently in the UK worry from the Metropolitan Police about the drill music scene. More specifically, concern has been about drill lyrics associated with criminal activity. Crime and criminal justice have been common themes throughout the history of popular music, from the 1950s with Elvis's ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and Johnny Cash's ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ – then a decade later Cash's famous album recorded live at Folsom State Prison. The lifestyles and influence of musicians (and of the music industry more widely) will further interest the criminologist, from the drug use of 1920s jazz artists, the excesses of 1970s rock tours, through to the harms associated with today's meticulously managed, choreographed and corporate pop.

Eleanor Peters is a leading author at the intersection between criminology and music having previously authored The Use and Abuse of Music (2019) and edited the collection Music in Crime, Resistance, and Identity (2023). I’m delighted that she has contributed this book to the New Horizons in Criminology series, putting forward a criminology of popular music. Books in the series provide concise authoritative texts that reflect cutting-edge thought and theoretical developments in criminology.