I took about a month to read this fascinating book. It certainly wasn't at all like the many other histories of rock music I've read over the years. This book took a different method to convey the story of the music through extended essays on just ten songs from 1956 to 2008. This was the kind of book that I would pick up and read a section and then set it down for a bit while I digested what I had read. The author uses the songs to tell the story of the music. He has been an iconic critic of rock music and he deftly blends together the old and the new in a very creative mix.
In some ways the authors meanders and rambles through the eras and the music but the book is not conventional and does not follow a particular order. I liked it because it was like randomly selecting music from my collection and trying to make sense of the whole in an entertaining and informative mode. It is not in chronological order and is dramatically quirky which I thought was part of the appeal.
I've enjoyed reading Greil Marcus' rock music criticism over the years but this is the first time I've read one of his many books. I really should read more of him.
10/22/14
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