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41 reviews for:
Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s
Moby, Nick Rhodes, Jonathan Bernstein, Lori Majewski
3.78 AVERAGE
41 reviews for:
Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s
Moby, Nick Rhodes, Jonathan Bernstein, Lori Majewski
3.78 AVERAGE
informative
slow-paced
Lori, if you are reading this, please know that it didn't really take me 2 years to finish it. I borrowed it from the library, then had to return it. I consciously decided then to read it on my beach vacation in 2016.
I had the BEST time reading your book. I liked that each chapter was a song, but loved that you added others. As I sat on our Rhode Island back porch, I would play each song on my phone, as I read the chapter (all of the noted songs, not just the chapter titles). It was such a unique experience, and it brought me closer to the artist, the time in my life those songs came out, it was fantastic. I truly hope you have more in you, so I can experience more of that. Bravo!
-A loyal fan, and Feedback listener...Shannon šš¶š§š»š¤
I had the BEST time reading your book. I liked that each chapter was a song, but loved that you added others. As I sat on our Rhode Island back porch, I would play each song on my phone, as I read the chapter (all of the noted songs, not just the chapter titles). It was such a unique experience, and it brought me closer to the artist, the time in my life those songs came out, it was fantastic. I truly hope you have more in you, so I can experience more of that. Bravo!
-A loyal fan, and Feedback listener...Shannon šš¶š§š»š¤
Must we throw this filth at our pop kids? : Iād recommend not. āNoo waveā really isnāt the best topic for American music journalists. The over-analysing, explain it till itās a dessicated husk school of writing (see Griel Marcus) doesnāt so much shine a light as sear the subject to death. Here we have 36 pop acts of the early 80s, the vast majority of them Brits, cut up into small pieces and inspected on slides in a laboratory whilst some US bint yammers away humourlessly in oneās ear, like Janice from Friends. OH MY GAAD YOU MEAN A FLACK A SEAGALLS? I LAVVED A FLACK A SEAGALLS. If you can stand 300pages of that, youāre a better man than I, Stephen āTintinā Duffy. Itās not without its moments, and itās quite touching to see how disaffected Americans turned to UK acts in their droves as an alternative to hair metal and John Cougar Mellencamp. Wal-Mart must have done a bundle on sales of kohl and Robert Smith style jampot lipstick. But Mad World, a book that relies on Nick Rhodesās foreword for 99% of its wit, let alone irony, is too earnestly adoring to have the bite that used to characterise a Smash Hits album review. And they could do it in 75 words.
Not bad, but not nearly as interesting as similar books, like Please Kill Me. Unfortunately, the interviews were done recently, instead of culling quotes from while it was all going on. Still, if you're interested in minutia of New Wave, it's entertaining enough.
Here's my full review of Mad World on my blog's monthly music book review feature, "Turn Down the Music and Read":http://midlifemixtape.com/2014/04/turn-down-the-music-and-read-mad-world.html
I loved this book, but it may only interest those who were really into this music in the 80s.
"Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s" is less a timeline of the era-making music and more of a picture book of remembrances by the artists.
It all starts in the late '70s, when disco and punk gave each other a very special hug, and New Wave was born. According to the authors, New Wave consisted of "American bands who wanted to be British, British bands who wanted to be German, and German bands who wanted to be robots."
Ridiculous production, ridiculous videos, ridiculous fashions, ridiculous hair - yes, on all counts. But also, ridiculously terrific songs that still play nonstop on soundtracks, on commercials and in your head.
They're (mostly) all here, from ABC to Yaz, but seemingly in no particular order. And they do leave out such New Wave stars as the B-52's, Culture Club, Missing Persons, the Go-Go's, Talk Talk, the Cars, Blondie, and other favorites.
You can also take issue with the songs chosen for each group. "Temptation" instead of "Don't Go" (Heaven 17)? "New Life" instead of "Just Can't Get Enough" (Depeche Mode)? But they're still good songs.
The best part may be the short lists of similar songs in each chapter - I'm looking forward to building a massive Spotify playlist soon.
It all starts in the late '70s, when disco and punk gave each other a very special hug, and New Wave was born. According to the authors, New Wave consisted of "American bands who wanted to be British, British bands who wanted to be German, and German bands who wanted to be robots."
Ridiculous production, ridiculous videos, ridiculous fashions, ridiculous hair - yes, on all counts. But also, ridiculously terrific songs that still play nonstop on soundtracks, on commercials and in your head.
They're (mostly) all here, from ABC to Yaz, but seemingly in no particular order. And they do leave out such New Wave stars as the B-52's, Culture Club, Missing Persons, the Go-Go's, Talk Talk, the Cars, Blondie, and other favorites.
You can also take issue with the songs chosen for each group. "Temptation" instead of "Don't Go" (Heaven 17)? "New Life" instead of "Just Can't Get Enough" (Depeche Mode)? But they're still good songs.
The best part may be the short lists of similar songs in each chapter - I'm looking forward to building a massive Spotify playlist soon.
This was fantastic! I've learned quite a bit and spent hours lost down musical rabbit holes exploring new to me music. I also appreciated that this was a book our whole family could read (teens and parents) and we've had some great discussions about music and music history.
Fascinating interviews about the origins of songs. Loved the way it was structured and have already made a playlist from it.
Anyone that knows me knows the 80's defined me and will remain my go-to genre for music. This is a nice book about singles from the 80's and the stories behind the song and band, along with comments from the authors. It's a fun book that can either be read in bite-sized chunks when over you want. The co-author of the book, Jonathan Bernstein, didn't seem to like any of the bands or songs so I'm not sure why he wanted to be part of the book. I read Mad World over a week covering about 7 songs a day. I wasn't surprised by any of the bands or songs chosen. Sure, I would have chosen different songs for many of the bands but that kept things interesting. I did like they got pretty obscure in the 5 track mixtapes for each song. I'll be looking some of those tracks up. Overall, a fun read with some nice pics from the era.