- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd (15 July 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1845132130
- ISBN-13: 978-1845132132
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.6 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,072,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #25 in Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Styles > Rock & Pop > Styles > Indie
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
"Grunge" is the story of the freewheeling music scene born in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s. It began as anti-everything, scorning the decadence of heavy metal and rallying against the nihilism and violence of punk rock. Steadfastly individualist, early grunge bands like Skin Yard and The Melvins had no interest in writing catchy songs to get on the radio. The critical year for grunge was 1991, when three seminal albums were released: Pearl Jam's "Ten", Soundgarden's "Badmotorfinger" and Nirvana's "Nevermind". All were breakthroughs, played endlessly on pop radio and MTV, and the bands were plastered across the covers of Rolling Stone and even "Newsweek" and "Time". Grunge had arrived. But Kurt Cobain was embarrassed by the grunge tag and refused to be lumped in with the other bands who belonged to the scene, so much so that a minor feud developed between him and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. Meanwhile, Cobain was spiralling further into drug addiction; by 1994, the reluctant prophet of grunge was dead. Though hugely influential, grunge was shortlived - it was a movement that invented and destroyed itself almost at the same time. Top rock journalist Kyle Anderson has produced a lively, informed account of a moment in history after which pop music was never the same again.
About the Author
Kyle Anderson is a music journalist who came of age in the grunge era. Currently a writer for SPIN magazine, he also contributes to FHM and Men's Fitness. He lives in New York City.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Quite how this book got published is beyond me as it is without doubt the worst book on any given subject I think I have ever had the misfortune to read. If Amazon offered the choice of no stars I would have clicked it, but a 1 star rating perhaps gives the 'writer' some respect for hoodwinking his publisher (did anyone actually proof read this drivel?). Mr Anderson clearly knows precious little about music and lacks any insight or understanding about how the strand of music that came to be tagged with the grunge moniker came into being. This book reads like the musings of an ill-informed 15 year old blogger.
Anderson mystifyingly all but ignores Mudhoney, mentions Tad in passing, pays lip service to Sub Pop, all but fails to mention 'Bleach' and seemingly has no interest in the US 'alternative/independent/alt-rock' scene of the 1980s. Astonishing!!! It seems that if you weren't on a major label (and presumably on MTV) and connected to Peal Jam then you're not 'grunge'. The list of must have 'grunge' albums takes in such luminaries as Live, the Gin Blossoms and Primus!! What no Spin Doctors?
Laughably bad. Avoid this tawdry piece of writing like the plague!
Anderson mystifyingly all but ignores Mudhoney, mentions Tad in passing, pays lip service to Sub Pop, all but fails to mention 'Bleach' and seemingly has no interest in the US 'alternative/independent/alt-rock' scene of the 1980s. Astonishing!!! It seems that if you weren't on a major label (and presumably on MTV) and connected to Peal Jam then you're not 'grunge'. The list of must have 'grunge' albums takes in such luminaries as Live, the Gin Blossoms and Primus!! What no Spin Doctors?
Laughably bad. Avoid this tawdry piece of writing like the plague!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Kyle Anderson is quite obviously very biased to what i call the arena rock side of grunge (pearl jam, soundgarden, alice in chains etc) and completely misses out the punk and rawer side (mudhoney, TAD, and the list of endless small bands). for some reason Kurt Cobain is on the cover when this guy obviously prefers and respects Eddie Vedder and the pearl jam side and it seems to me constantly bashes Kurt at every moment he's forced to mention him.
i believe if you're going to write a book about a genre or a band then your own opinions should not be taken into account and you should write the facts as much as you can. obviously this guy is taking his opinions as to why people got famous, what they did for music and what they meant to him and stating them as fact as if everyone believes the same or should do. he should have just wrote a book about pearl jam instead. i've got to be honest i didn't finish this book but purely because i got that annoyed with it.
he could have made this into so much more as books about the grunge era as a whole are to my knowledge non-existant except from this guy, (hence why i bought this). i learnt more about the grunge era and the things happening at the time from everett true's nirvana than i have from this.
i'll leave you with this simple and very true message. don't buy this.
i believe if you're going to write a book about a genre or a band then your own opinions should not be taken into account and you should write the facts as much as you can. obviously this guy is taking his opinions as to why people got famous, what they did for music and what they meant to him and stating them as fact as if everyone believes the same or should do. he should have just wrote a book about pearl jam instead. i've got to be honest i didn't finish this book but purely because i got that annoyed with it.
he could have made this into so much more as books about the grunge era as a whole are to my knowledge non-existant except from this guy, (hence why i bought this). i learnt more about the grunge era and the things happening at the time from everett true's nirvana than i have from this.
i'll leave you with this simple and very true message. don't buy this.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Very, very disappointing. The author - whilst clearly having a deep rooted affection for the subject matter - spoils the book entirely by his choice of content and by factual innacuracies. You would rather expect a book about the importance of grunge and Nirvana in particular to not contain misquotes of lyrics. Kurt's lyrics are also attributed to the wrong song on more than one occasion.
Secondly, for a book about the birth of the Seattle scene, the omission of anything at all about Mudhoney is unacceptable; particularly when we have seemingly endless information on Stone Temple Copyists. Ditto nothing on Screaming Trees, Tad and a host of others integral to the scene. For the dyed in the wool grunge fan (such as myself) the book offers little or no insight and nothing new to report. For the casual fan it would offer the impression that grunge consisted of three, maybe four bands and I really can't see it encouraging them to go out and discover bands they maybe hadn't previously heard of.
Bitterly disappointing. There is a great book waiting to be written about Seattle 86-94 but believe me when I tell you that this ain't it.
Secondly, for a book about the birth of the Seattle scene, the omission of anything at all about Mudhoney is unacceptable; particularly when we have seemingly endless information on Stone Temple Copyists. Ditto nothing on Screaming Trees, Tad and a host of others integral to the scene. For the dyed in the wool grunge fan (such as myself) the book offers little or no insight and nothing new to report. For the casual fan it would offer the impression that grunge consisted of three, maybe four bands and I really can't see it encouraging them to go out and discover bands they maybe hadn't previously heard of.
Bitterly disappointing. There is a great book waiting to be written about Seattle 86-94 but believe me when I tell you that this ain't it.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Styles > Rock & Pop > Styles > Indie
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
