Chuck Klosterman - Killing Yourself to Live (Scribner)
Chuck Klosterman is a smug fuck, playing dumb so as to make fun of anything remotely highbrow, pulling everything down to a level where KISS are thunder gods and the soul of woman was created below. That stated, he's remarkably good at it, and thus I caught myself reluctantly grabbing a proof copy of this, his new book, even if his last book, "Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs" disappointed me some for being too smug and too wilfully dimwitted (reviewed in LowCut # 17).
This time around, however, Klosterman has forsaken his grand attempts at cultural anthropology and has returned to his base: The American Heartland, where he was born and raised on bad 80's hair metal in rural North Dakota; an experience he recounted in his excellent debut book "Fargo Rock City". Since that book, Klosterman moved to New York to work for Spin Magazine, which makes for a lot of naïve smalltown boy observations of blasée Newyorkers, such as the distinction between the "Pot/Creedence Contingent and the Coke/Interpol Contingent"; the first crowd, his, being those who drink beers in uncool bars, smoke pot, and then attempt to have intellectual conversations about Creedence Clearwater Revival; the second being those who spend the night in a string of "semi-gay dance club" bathrooms, while trying to hook up with "semi-crap band" Interpol.
The plot for "Killing Yourself to Live", apart from Klosterman attempting to sort out his personal girl trouble, is to visit a number of historical sites around USA where rock stars met death, or, in the case of the fatal Great White show out on Rhode Island in 2003, their fans met it. Despite standing near the site where the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crashed - evidently, his tastes aren't too refined - and being guided around Seattle to various Kurt-related sites, Klosterman never actually reaches something like a conclusion, though, but that doesn't mean this isn't fun reading anyway, because along the way he gets to philosophize about how his ex-girlfriends all fit into a pattern that reflect KISS' career, seriously dis music journalism, even if that's how he himself makes a living, and discuss conceptions of time with a truck stop waitress.
This isn't a book that's gonna give you a whole new take on metal or rock, like the best of rock journalism is capable of, but it's a nice enough read.
http://www.faber.co.uk

If you dig: Dave Eggers, Sean Wilsey, Hunter S. Thompson

Jon A

Mick Farren - Give the Anarchist a Cigarette (Random House Books)
Mick Farren is a much more obscure person than he deserves to be. Mick started the band the Social Deviants (later renamed the Deviants) in 1966-67 and unleashed a punk style anarchy in his music and words that totally caught the people off guard and no one was quite sure what to think or do… Mick was quite aware of what he was trying to do. Too rattle people up and shake their little minds and make them think a little about their normal existence. He was also very involved in the underground press as an artist, writer, and activist. He worked the door at the famous UFO club in London in the 60's where Pink Floyd got their start. In the mid 70's he contributed to Melody Maker. In addition, he wrote Sci Fi novels. This is a must read book about what it was like to be a part of the underground counterculture revolution that took place in the late 60's. Very fascinating. Highly recommended!

Scott

The R. Crumb Handbook - Robert Crumb & Peter Poplaski
This brick of book (almost 1200 grams!) both works as a 'greatest hits' of his art and as a fascinating self-biography of America's favorite underground cartoonist. Mr. Natural, Fritz the Cat, Angelfood, Joe Blow, there are all included documenting his work from Zap, Weirdo, Big Ass and Head Comics. The book is split into four chapters; Fear, Clarity, Power and Old Age, which take us on an amazing ride from his depressed childhood with a violent dad and a psychotic mom, the freewheeling acid adventures in San Francisco's underground heydays, to later mainstream fame. Terry Zwigoff's excellent "Crumb" documentary only scratches the surface of the depths of his dysfunctional family compared to the honest and rather disturbing stories in this book. He also discuss the issues of success, fame and the corporate selling of this former misfit with great wit, humor and insight during the 440 pages. It's no secret that Crumb hated rock'n'roll, he thought it was phoney, and has a huge collection of old 78"s of ragtime, jazz, blues, and folkmusic, so as a rare treat a cd is included with 16 tracks of his various groups from 1973 to 2003. The 62 year old Crumb now lives in southern France with his wife Aline and seems to be at the happiest stage of his life.
http://www.mqpublications.com/details.phtml?id=272&cat=8

Jens