About the Author

Steven Hyden is the author of This Isn't Happening, Twilight of the Gods, Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me, and (with Steve Gorman) Hard to Handle. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Billboard, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Grantland, The A.V. Club, Slate, and Salon. He is currently the cultural critic at UPROXX. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and two children.

Reviews

**Rolling Stone, "Best Music Books of 2022"** **Corbin Reiff at SPIN, "Best Rock Biography of the Year (2022)"** Aquarian, "Holiday Guide for the Rock & Roll Literate*

"A critical consideration of one of rock's most durable and inscrutable acts... A music biography well suited to fans of both the band and 1990s pop culture."--Kirkus

"One of the most entertaining summations of what a rock band can do to one's soul whether we like to admit it or not." --Aquarian

"[Long Road is]... clear-eyed about Pearl Jam's strengths and weaknesses, but also quite personal, the author infusing his own memories of coming of age at a time when Vs. and Vitalogy provided the soundtrack. The book wrestles with the question of why Pearl Jam mattered -- and why, to some, they still very much do."--Inside Hook

"[Hyden has] penned a thoroughly compelling book about Pearl Jam."--Q101

"[The] best rock biography [of 2022]... Steven Hyden has all the answers [to Pearl Jam] and delivers them with the kind of wittily insightful analysis you only get from an obsessed fan and expert critic."--Corbin Reiff, SPIN

"A comprehensive look from the perspective of a devoted (if not sometimes concerned) fan, this book is organized like Hyden's favorite Pearl Jam mixtape, into chapters corresponding to a specific song and then elaborating from there, taking the reader to many fascinating, surprising places that aren't well-known about the Seattle icons."--SPIN

"A personal approach and valuable critical companion that does a great job of contextualizing the band's various life cycles."--Wisconsin Public Radio

"As a die-hard and nearly life-long Pearl Jam fan, I cannot recommend Long Road enough. It is an essential perspective on one of the world's greatest bands with incredibly heartfelt insight from Steven Hyden."--Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem

"In LONG ROAD, [Steven] Hyden gives almost an autobiographical history of Pearl Jam from the fan's perspective, from the early albums, to their shying away from the spotlight, through their embrace of playing unforgettable live shows in front of their increasingly fanatical fanbase."
--AllMusic

"Must-read... There is no one writing about music with more passion and intellect than Steven Hyden."
--The Film Stage

"Reading Long Road feels as if you're in an endlessly engrossing conversation about Pearl Jam with a fellow admirer."--Toronto Star

"Steven Hyden is a brilliant rock chronicler, whether he's writing about great bands or terrible ones. But with LONG ROAD, as Eddie Vedder would say, he's unleashed a lion."--Rolling Stone

"Steven Hyden's Long Road takes us well beyond the Pearl Jam story that has been rehashed for decades. He argues that the most commercially successful band of the alt-rock era is fundamentally misunderstood, and then he backs up that assertion with chapter after chapter packed with insights and fresh context. In this rock bio-as-mixtape configuration, the prose is as much impressionistic as linear, a format that suits a band that has figured out how to reinvent and improvise its way to hard-earned longevity."--Greg Kot, Sound Opinions co-host

"Through smart but accessible writing full of stories, asides, opinions and analysis, Hyden makes a compelling case for why Pearl Jam's music matters....A joyous, thought-provoking and humane series of essays."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette