joe carducci
listen, kid: there have only been three rock writers worthy of the name. i repeat: three.
the first was nik cohn, most famous for writing the story that was filmed as saturday night fever, who grew up in england in the '50s and whose awopbopaloobop alopbamboom: the golden age of rock purportedly came off the top of his head (_not_ out of his ass) in a single weekend of manic inspiration when he was 24 and thought the whole thing was dead. (i only wish that da capo had re-pubbed the 1968 original and not the 1973 revision, which softened a few punches that i suppose might have been deemed libelous.)
the second was lester bangs, sainted savant-clown of punk, mythologized in, um, almost famous, who laid down the law while writing for creem and the village voice before checking out in 1982 from too much drink, drugs, and utopian idealism. his testament is the posthumous anthology psychotic reactions and carburetor dung (although some people will tell you that the later main lines, blood feasts, and bad taste: a lester bangs reader contains sharper prose).
the third and, i'd say, the greatest: joe carducci, who thinks of himself as primarily a screenwriter, worked at sst records during its heyday, and subsequently had a career in radio. this cat understands the process of music-making better than any non-muso has a right to, as well as what i like to think of as _the political economy of rock_ (read: the biz). he sees the world as it is, not as it should be, focuses exclusively on what's important, and calls it more clearly and succinctly than anyone save his contemporary steve albini. he plays the realist to bangs' idealist (and greil marcus' lefty academic pedant). the third edition of his 1990 tome rock and the pop narcotic: testament for the electric church was just pubbed by redoubt press. (i got mine from forced exposure, but you might wanna go right to the source.)
i don't have words that can do justice to the heft of carducci's insight or the elegance of his style. suffice to say, you gotta read the bits about playing the drums ("there are many useful approaches to rock drumming...") on page 17 of this edition, the bit about performance ("the variables in good rock bands' stylistic character may be innumerable...") on page 27, the one that starts "rock reaches the spiritual by way of the physical..." on page 55...hell, this doorstop is filled with pages like some of the ones in the adventures of huckleberry finn or the last one in the great gatsby that'll make you shake your head in wonder if you care at all about words (or in this case, _music_ and words).
all bullshit aside: buy this book. read this book. you owe it to yourself.
the first was nik cohn, most famous for writing the story that was filmed as saturday night fever, who grew up in england in the '50s and whose awopbopaloobop alopbamboom: the golden age of rock purportedly came off the top of his head (_not_ out of his ass) in a single weekend of manic inspiration when he was 24 and thought the whole thing was dead. (i only wish that da capo had re-pubbed the 1968 original and not the 1973 revision, which softened a few punches that i suppose might have been deemed libelous.)
the second was lester bangs, sainted savant-clown of punk, mythologized in, um, almost famous, who laid down the law while writing for creem and the village voice before checking out in 1982 from too much drink, drugs, and utopian idealism. his testament is the posthumous anthology psychotic reactions and carburetor dung (although some people will tell you that the later main lines, blood feasts, and bad taste: a lester bangs reader contains sharper prose).
the third and, i'd say, the greatest: joe carducci, who thinks of himself as primarily a screenwriter, worked at sst records during its heyday, and subsequently had a career in radio. this cat understands the process of music-making better than any non-muso has a right to, as well as what i like to think of as _the political economy of rock_ (read: the biz). he sees the world as it is, not as it should be, focuses exclusively on what's important, and calls it more clearly and succinctly than anyone save his contemporary steve albini. he plays the realist to bangs' idealist (and greil marcus' lefty academic pedant). the third edition of his 1990 tome rock and the pop narcotic: testament for the electric church was just pubbed by redoubt press. (i got mine from forced exposure, but you might wanna go right to the source.)
i don't have words that can do justice to the heft of carducci's insight or the elegance of his style. suffice to say, you gotta read the bits about playing the drums ("there are many useful approaches to rock drumming...") on page 17 of this edition, the bit about performance ("the variables in good rock bands' stylistic character may be innumerable...") on page 27, the one that starts "rock reaches the spiritual by way of the physical..." on page 55...hell, this doorstop is filled with pages like some of the ones in the adventures of huckleberry finn or the last one in the great gatsby that'll make you shake your head in wonder if you care at all about words (or in this case, _music_ and words).
all bullshit aside: buy this book. read this book. you owe it to yourself.
posted by stashdauber at 8:59 PM
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