Paperback, 528 pages
English language
Published July 2, 2002 by Back Bay Books.
This book is a series of profiles of American indie rock bands from 1981 - 1991. Black Flag, Mission of Burma, the Minutemen, Husker Du, The Replacements, the Butthole Surfers, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Big Black, Dinosaur Jr., Mudhoney, Sonic Youth, and Beat Happening -- one chapter on each, in an order that works its way through the decade chronologically.
I liked reading about most of the bands. Their stories are told well, but toward the end, they all started sounding the same. They were different bands with different histories, but in the telling, the stories began blending together. Two or three fewer bands, and I think the book would have been perfect.
Probably my favorite "music biopic"-style book so far (we'll see when I finish Tropical Truth). Incredibly fast read if you are at all interest in American indie, hardcore, and punk through the 80s. Read the chapter on The Minutemen, then go see "We Jam Econo." So good.
