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Title: Milk It!: Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the '90s by Jim Derogatis ISBN: 0-306-81271-1 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Must-Have Book (If you love music)
Comment: In this world of criticism, there are two ways to go. You can either offer an objective take on the work you are criticizing or you can conform to the wishes of your editor and offer up a puff piece. Some critics will go for the puff piece. Lester Bangs never did. And neither has Jim Derogatis,
Derogatis, music critic for the Chicago Sun Times and frequent contributor to many music/entertainment related periodicals, is one of the most honest and objective music writers out there today. And he's one of the most entertaining as well as Milk It: Collected Musing On The Alternative Music Explosion Of The 90s proves. The 410-page book, a collection of his pieces from that era, positions Derogatis as the heir to Bangs throne.
Derogatis divides the book into 14 different sections. Each section is devoted to a particular band (Nirvana, REM) or a particular topic (Britpop, Women In Rock). The sections consist of various reviews, interviews and other essays. In other words, it's a rummage sale of recycled material. But as far as single author collections of works of criticism go, it's one of the better ones out there.
As I said earlier, Derogatis doesn't hesitate to call it as he sees it. There are two articles of Courtney Love quotes contained here. Unaltered quotes that portray Ms. Love as interesting and rather psychotic. The Smashing Pumpkins section cheers on the band for its success. But some of the portrayals of Billy Corgan are none too flattering.
In the intro to his women in rock section, Derogatis criticizes the music scene and industry observers for treating women in rock special, instead of as they would treat all other (non-female) bands. He seems to feel that this is demeaning in a way and he makes his point well for this being correct.
That's the good thing about this book, even in the case of artist he admires, Derogatis never falls victim to hero-worship. In one of the articles in the REM section, he questions the wisdom of their charging excessively high ticket prices. Although guitarist Peter Buck acknowledges that the $50 price tag was too high, bassist Mike Mills defends the high prices.
One thing that Derogatis has in common with Bangs is the fact that he too got fired from Rolling Stone. Bangs got the ax for writing negative comments on James Taylor albums. Derogatis devotes a whole section to his experience at the venerable RS, entitling the section "Hootiegate". The incident that earned Derogatis the wrath of RS publisher Jann Wenner was the release of Hootie And The Blowfish's second album. Derogatis wrote a very negative review of the album and awarded it two stars on the 4 star RS scale. The review interfered with Wenner's peace and love views of rock and roll and journalism and so it was yanked from the magazine. When Derogatis went public with the whole matter, Wenner sent him packing. The aforementioned review is included.
One area of the book that I recommend for particular study by fellow Epinioners is the section entitled "Unrepentant Hypes And Fabulous Frauds". Here he rips on easy targets like Bush (the band) and Britney of course. But he also goes after certain sacred cows. He offers up a negative review of NWA's N!ggaz4life album on the grounds of the album's miserable content of misogyny. He questions Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello about his former band's support of the Shining Path, a group of Peruvian Guerrillas that have murdered innocent people. And there is a hilarious interview with Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind. Jenkins did not like Derogatis review of his band's concert and so he takes Derogatis to task. At the end of the review, he tells Derogatis that the only thing ham-fisted is "your writing". Of course, Jenkins has managed to make himself look like a fool in the process. The skewering here is priceless.
So yes, Derogatis' work is a good example of how good music writing should be done. The only real drawback is that some of his viewpoints are a little overly simplistic. For instance, in one piece he simply dismisses the Counting Crows as a bogus Van Morrison rip-off. While that topic is worthy of debate, he doesn't really bring anything else to the issue. However, a good many of his opinions are right on the money (especially his ripping of Nickelback and Creed). His writing style is more straightforward and less gonzo than Bangs.
Milk It is an excellent book for all music fans to read as well as all those who are looking to write good music criticism. Don't miss this great book! Another terrific Amazon quick pick I love is THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez -- a great novel about the New York City music scene during the '90s
Rating: 3
Summary: Ultimately unsatisfying, but still a must-read
Comment: I have to agree with the prevailing sentiment of my fellow "Milk It!" reviewers. While it's not a bad read as a whole, this book is still loaded with obvious filler material that, more often than not, will have you skipping around searching for the good stuff, of which there is thankfully plenty to be found.
One of the great things about this book is that everyone who reads it will find something in it that will cause them to throw the book across the room. For the most part, Jim DeRogatis smacks the truth squarely on the head, but when he's wrong about something, he's generally SPECTACULARLY wrong about it (his frequent statements on his "Sound Opinions" radio show that "the Pixies suck" immediately comes to mind), which needless to say, is completely infuriating.
In that regard however, he does an excellent job as a music reviewer, because his unpredictability (though it sometimes borders on inconsistency) is what keeps his writing from devolving into Limbaugh or Hannity-esque demagoguery. He has an uncanny knack for making you think he's a complete moron (such as his obvious inability to discern the "Fabulous Fraud" that is Courtney Love and her entire musical canon), yet quickly regains your respect by rightfully slaughtering sacred cows that other mainstream music reviewers simply don't have the balls to tackle themselves. This is a man who was FIRED by Jann Wenner at Rolling Stone for writing--at the height of their commercial success--a scathing review of a trio of records (perfectly entitled "American Blandstand", which is included in this book) by faux alterna-pop snooze-meisters Hootie & the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band and The Spin Doctors. If for nothing else, DeRogatis should be respected for this.
But of course, there is a lot more to admire about DeRogatis and "Milk It!". The "Unrepentant Hypes and Fabulous Frauds" section--where the entrails of numerous music-crit darlings such as Guided By Voices, Wesley Willis and Rage Against the Machine are strewn all over the place by Jim's unmerciful pen--is worth more than the price of the book itself.
This section also contains the pinnacle of "Milk It!", which is DeRogatis' contentious (and unintentionally hilarious) interview with Third Eye Blind front man, Stephan Jenkins. At one point, Jenkins unbelievably tries to convince DeRogatis that Third Eye Blind "has been, if not the most DIY next to Fugazi, then number two or three." If you didn't know any better, you'd think that this exchange was ripped from the pages of "The Onion", but it's all very shockingly real. And that's only one of several instances where DeRogatis never lets you forget just how shallow and deceitful the corporate "alternative music" industry (read: major label wolves in "indie" sheep's clothing) really is.
Despite its flaws, "Milk It!" is still a good compendium of writing by one of the most important music writers in mainstream media today. You know that a man who gets vitriolic voice-mail messages from people like Billy Corgan and Ryan Adams MUST be doing something right.
Rating: 1
Summary: Bland Musings on a Totally Awesome Music Phenomena
Comment: Ok...I bought this book because it had a cool cover and featured stories on some of my favourite bands. But each article was so shallow and boring, I got absolutely nothing out of it. There was no in depth analysis or probing interviews. I totally understand why Billy Corgan hates this guy, his writing style is so bland and vanilla. Derogatis also has such a negative spin on so many cool bands, and champions fakers such as Courtney Love. And he also reckons Ride's "Carnival of Light" and the Pumpkin's last album were among their best ...uh...hello...these albums were sooo derivitive and lacked ideas...listen to both band's earlier wall of sound influenced albums for some true inspiration. But I guess this sums up Derogatis' musical tastes in a nutshell...he champions the bland music from this era, criticizes much of the truely innovative stuff, and puts you to sleep with his boring writing style. At least he gave the Flaming Lips a good plug. Approach this book with extreme caution, unless you know nothing about the genre and want a beginners guide to it.
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Title: Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader by John Morthland ISBN: 0375713670 Publisher: Anchor Books/Doubleday Pub. Date: 12 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Da Capo Best Music Writing 2003: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock,Pop,Jazz,Country, & More by Matt Groening, Paul Bresnick ISBN: 0306812363 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock by Jim Derogatis ISBN: 0634055488 Publisher: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation Pub. Date: 01 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic by Jim Derogatis ISBN: 0767905091 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 18 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Vinyl Junkies: Adventures in Record Collecting by Brett Milano ISBN: 0312304277 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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