Promotional Information

A polemic against corporate rock bands, magazines, and festivals, and anyone or anything else who commodifies rebellion

About the Author

John Strausbaugh is the editor of New York Press. His previous books include E: Reflections on the Birth of the Elvis Faith.

Reviews

A book with every promise of doing to the literary world what the sex pistols did to the music scene in the late 1970s.
*Tribune*

This entertaining polemic has plenty of targets: corporate rock bands like the Rolling Stones; corporate rock magazines like, well, Rolling Stone; MTV; do-gooder rock festivals; and just about anyone or anything else who commodifies teenage rebellion and dyspepsia for immense personal gain.
*New Yorker*

A splendidly ill-tempered assault on the music industry, nostalgic boomers and rock stars who refuse to die ... a fine piece of punk journalism, and a barrel of laughs for like-minded readers.
*Kirkus Reviews*

The definitive word on the senescent Rolling Stones.
*New York Times*

An incendiary tome primed to go off in the faces of the wheezing rock icons of yesteryear ... An impassioned, yet brilliantly humorous broadside against the rock industry ... He writes with a bravery that teeters on the suicidal.
*Evening Standard*

The fun part is that while you'll agree with its argument when it comes to groups you despise, you'll want to throw it out of the window when it addresses one of your personal heroes.
*New York Review of Books*

A book with every promise of doing to the literary world what the sex pistols did to the music scene in the late 1970s. * Tribune *
This entertaining polemic has plenty of targets: corporate rock bands like the Rolling Stones; corporate rock magazines like, well, Rolling Stone; MTV; do-gooder rock festivals; and just about anyone or anything else who commodifies teenage rebellion and dyspepsia for immense personal gain. * New Yorker *
A splendidly ill-tempered assault on the music industry, nostalgic boomers and rock stars who refuse to die ... a fine piece of punk journalism, and a barrel of laughs for like-minded readers. * Kirkus Reviews *
The definitive word on the senescent Rolling Stones. * New York Times *
An incendiary tome primed to go off in the faces of the wheezing rock icons of yesteryear ... An impassioned, yet brilliantly humorous broadside against the rock industry ... He writes with a bravery that teeters on the suicidal. * Evening Standard *
The fun part is that while you'll agree with its argument when it comes to groups you despise, you'll want to throw it out of the window when it addresses one of your personal heroes. * New York Review of Books *

It's perplexing that Verso squandered tons of tree pulp on this monomaniacal shriek, full of falsehoods and contradictions. Surprisingly, this was produced by the author of two outstanding books: E: Reflections on the Birth of the Elvis Faith (LJ 11/15/95) and Alone with the President (LJ 1/94). Here, however, New York Press editor Strausbaugh abandons his earlier wholeness and balance to rant against music "recently" produced by "colostomy-rockers." Their music, he argues, is de nature incapable of being sincere, meaningful, or artistically valid. And although time is his primary obsession, Strausbaugh curiously fails to state the cut-off dates crucial to his argument. On the up side, pivotally influential rock impresarios Giorgio Gomelsky and Malcolm McLaren, have never before been treated with the perception, gestalt, and succinct clarity shown here. To his credit, Strausbaugh also addresses the intimate, symbiotic relationship between rock and pop fashion. Nonetheless, this is not recommended; instead, keep hold of your copies of Angela McRobbie's Zoot Suits and Second-Hand Dresses (o.p.). Bill Piekarski, formerly with Villa Maria Coll., Cheektowaga, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.