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Underground > Radio & Music >

Our Band Could Be Your Life

15:58 / 12.11.01

Anyone picked up this book?

From the above link

quote:
Azerrad bookends his study of 1980s punk music with profiles of bands at opposite ends of the punk-DIY-indie-whatever continuum. The lead chapter recounts the saga of Black Flag, the West Coast group that launched the career of Henry Rollins and proved so popular with the nascent alternative-rock crowd that it gave birth to a musical conformism, consisting of thrash tempos and grim lyrics, against which later bands rebelled. The last chapter concerns Beat Happening, which featured a "fey" lead singer and a minimalist approach to instrumentation. Its low-tech, low-fi early recordings didn't just defy commercialization--they taunted it. In between, Azerrad limns such bands as Husker Du--whose early "mission [was] to impress the hell out of Black Flag"--the Minute Men, Butthole Surfers, and Mudhoney in one of the best books yet on punk, college, or indie rock and the roots of the alt-rock juggernaut. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

16:44 / 12.11.01

I read it, and I must say I was disappointed for several reasons. Number one, the stories of each band abruptly stop when (or if) they sign to major labels. A lot of these bands did great work for majors in the late 80s early 90s. Number two, it wasn't easy to tell from the text if the quotes from interviews with principles came for the same time as the recordings benig discussed or while the book was being written. A lot of the material I had seen before in similar books/articles, like Gina Arnolds much more personal (and therefore compelling) "Route 666: The Road to Nirvana," which didn't purport to be an unbiased retrospective like "our band" does.

12:29 / 13.11.01

quote:Originally posted by Clever Clogs Todd:
I read it, and I must say I was disappointed for several reasons. Number one, the stories of each band abruptly stop when (or if) they sign to major labels. A lot of these bands did great work for majors in the late 80s early 90s.

But, the author specifically states in the introduction that the focus of the book is the 'indie' side of the equation. Hence why REM aren't mentioned (thank fucking god!) You've got to put some limitations on how far to take the story, in a book like this, and I think that's a pretty fair place to do so.

Course, that said, all I've read is the Black Flag profile. I haven't acctually gotten to a band that signed yet.

22:13 / 13.11.01

I've only read the piece on The Replacements so far and was pretty impressed. I plan on putting it on my X-mas wish list so I can read the rest of it. As for Gina Arnold, it's best to take her work with a pinch of salt. She writes with such an abandon that she doesn't trouble herself with the little things--like getting her damn facts straight.