- Paperback: 291 pages
- Publisher: David R. Godine (Aug 15 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1567920896
- ISBN-13: 978-1567920895
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 390 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,269,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
How different this anthology would be if it had been published in, say, 1972, when rock and roll still had its messianic buzz. Twenty-five years later we have a book of 22 stories about rock in which not a single character even thinks about doing acid. If that makes you feel, well, old, welcome to the overriding theme of the book. Jill McCorkle captures the mood here in the wonderful "Final Vinyl Days" (also the title of her current collection from Algonquin), in which the narrator, a mid-30s male rock aficionado, experiences both the phasing-out of real records and the parallel rejection (by a series of girlfriends) of his alternative, non-advancing lifestyle. In a similar vein, the 35-year-old father in Geoffrey Becker's "Bluestown" (from his novel of that name) removes his 15-year-old son from high school for an unauthorized journey to Canada, ostensibly to share his last shot at a steady gig but really in a hurtful effort to overcome his own sense of failure. Then there is the mood of rueful mundaneness in Madison Smartt Bell's "Never Mind," covering a day in the life of a "covers" band, whose members know that it will never make the big time. Still, all is not resignation. More upbeat tales include Kevin Downs's funny story of how an ex-punker came to love that schlock classic, Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven"; Harold Jaffee's stream-of-consciousness post-gonzo rant "Madonna"; and Lucinda Ebersole's throwaway, "Bigger Than Jesus," about a man who wakes up as a Beatle--Ringo, of course.
Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Captures rock lifestyle from an unusual literary perspective,
By "amclauson" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: It's Only Rock and Roll (Paperback)
A unique collection of rock-and-roll focused stories captures the rock lifestyle through an unusual literary perspective. Sectioned off into tales about "Glory Days," Keepin' the Faith," You've Really Got a Hold on Me," "Welcome to the Jungle," and "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay." Not focused on the superstar phenomenon, but really exploring the cultural significance of life on the road through fiction, and surprisingly, rarely (if at all) mentions drugs.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Groovy,
This review is from: It's Only Rock and Roll (Paperback)
By culling the best of a pop-driven genre, editors Janice Eidus and John Kastan have succeeded in putting together a collection of stories that work like good songs. --Thaddeus Rutkowski, author of Roughhouse
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Mixed Bag,
By
This review is from: It's Only Rock and Roll (Paperback)
Twenty-two very hit or miss stories grouped around the theme of rock and roll. The first five, grouped under the "Glory Days" theme of "evoking the past" are all pretty sound and worth reading, as are the four stories about the relationship between musicians and fans/lovers in the "Keepin' the Faith" section. The four stories in the "You've Really Got a Hold On Me" are grouped around the idea of intertwining music and love/lust, but this is a rather loose connection and doesn't quite work. The T.C. Boyle story here is a total throwaway, but Lewis Shiner's "Sticks" and Linda Sexton's "Shine" are both excellent. The four stories of "Welcome to the Jungle" make for the weakest section, as the editors were apparently looking for "wild" writing. I would skip them all except Roberta Smoodin's "Ursus Major" (about a bear in a band). The editors write that the "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay" section "applauds the durability of the music"--I'm not sure what that means. The five stories here are all very strong, especially Geoffrey Becker's "Bluestown" and Kevin Downs' "Like A Lead Balloon" which is probably my favorite in the anthology.
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