- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Sanctuary Publishing Ltd; First Edition edition (13 Jun 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1860746284
- ISBN-13: 978-1860746284
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13.6 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 504,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
The book that EVERY music fan will want this Christmas: an unforgettable examination of the songs we all cry along to What is it about depressing songs that make such a lasting impression on people's minds - the lyrical tugging of the heartstrings? The melancholy melody? If you're a true connoisseur, these elements are just the beginning, as Tom Reynolds illustrates brilliantly in this addictive book. With a heavy heart and a tear in his beer, Reynolds painstakingly analyses the mysterious allure of songs that crush our spirits by looking at 52 depressing songs - from top-10 hits to cultish dirges - that have earned our slavish devotion over the years. Breaking up his list into 10 categories of gloom and doom - from Teenage Car Crash anthems to She-Hates-Me-I-Hate-Her ditties - the author pines away over musical elements before digging in to reveal the suicidal heart of each and every song - a list that includes artists as diverse as Joy Division, Bobby Darin, Counting Crows, Evanescence, Bruce Springsteen and Barry Manilow.Complete with a ranked countdown from 52 to 1 and wonderfully dreary black and white line drawings throughout, I Hate Myself and Want to Die is a must-have compilation of melodic misery - and a perfect Christmas gift.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The best book about depressing songs you'll ever read,
By
This review is from: I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard (Hardcover)
What? No 'Gloomy Sunday' in the contents list? Actually, a great chunk of the introduction is devoted to the song that's probably sparked more urban myths than any other, so that's OK. Tom Reynolds takes us through a selection of songs with good singers but terrible lyrics, terrible versions of good songs, epics that mean to be profound but only end up over-pronated (that's flat-footed, to you!) and the ultimate - the perfect storm - the songs with extra bombast. It's very astute and funny, although some of the American references will go over the heads of UK readers, and I look forward to the possibility of someone releasing a CD of these songs so you can sing along with a hairbrush in one hand and a cutthroat razor in the other.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
a missed opportunity,
By
This review is from: I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard (Hardcover)
The trouble with I Hate Myself and Want to Die should actually be its strength - the writer's attitude. He is a musician himself, so should have some insight into the writing process and the background of the songs, but he ends up wasting pages in pointless sneering at musical genres or artists he dislikes, rather than the actual songs themselves - I don't care whether he thinks Kiss 'suck donkey poop' only why Beth rates as a depressing song. In a similar vein, Johnny Cash's version of 'Hurt' isn't automatically better then writer Trent Reznor's just because he is Johnny Cash. The writer frequently betrays his affection for country over other styles of music. A classic maudlin piece of writing, Eric Carmen's 'All by Myself', is only depressing because Celine Dion covered it - really? REALLY?
There's no affection shown to most of the songs listed, which I think is a major fault with the book. Worse still, in the case of 'Brick' by the Ben Folds Five, he actually admits to having misunderstood the story behind the lyrics while he was compiling the book, then STILL proceeds to rate it based on his original belief - now that's just damn lazy writing. A missed opportunity that makes me hate the writer - although I stop short of wanting him to die... as long as he doesn't write a follow-up (and he did, so die Reynolds, die!).
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Lazy, Lazy Writing,
By
This review is from: I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard (Hardcover)
Tom Reynolds' smart-arsed writing style grows old very quickly when subjected to it at book-length. Don't waste your money - you won't find the book very informative and the sneeringly dismissive tone of the writing is extremely off-putting. Should be in bookstores in a section headed 'Sneeringly Dismissive Critisism' next to the Medved Brothers' 50 Worst Movies of All Time.
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