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mbkarapcik's review
4.0
As a fan of 1990s grunge, I found this very short book, which is actually a series of articles that appeared on the AV Club website about 1990s music, pretty entertaining. It's written by journalist Steven Hyden who not only shares a similar name with That 70s Show character Hyde but whose writing will attract fans of awesome music and pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman. Sometimes, I disagreed with the author's commentary, but he spouts so many other truths that I often nodded in agreement. He intersperses his own coming of age with the music he most paid attention to during that time.
Past 1997, I stopped following music so heavily because it didn't speak to me anymore. The author puts a summation of my similar thoughts into words. Once grunge ended, I was on my way out, but it also could be that my next stage of life was on the horizon -- marriage, babies, houses. I was content with the music I already loved, and if I heard anything new that I liked like the White Stripes or something else, it probably came from my husband's collection or I delved into jazz or blues.
Now I listen to the same music I've always loved on CD, SiriusXM, or turntable and sometimes hear contemporary, saccharine pop music from my daughter along with Abba or the Ramones or Blondie or hear the covert bleeps and raps of my son's favorite rappers or thankfully the Beatles or Rolling Stones.
Past 1997, I stopped following music so heavily because it didn't speak to me anymore. The author puts a summation of my similar thoughts into words. Once grunge ended, I was on my way out, but it also could be that my next stage of life was on the horizon -- marriage, babies, houses. I was content with the music I already loved, and if I heard anything new that I liked like the White Stripes or something else, it probably came from my husband's collection or I delved into jazz or blues.
Now I listen to the same music I've always loved on CD, SiriusXM, or turntable and sometimes hear contemporary, saccharine pop music from my daughter along with Abba or the Ramones or Blondie or hear the covert bleeps and raps of my son's favorite rappers or thankfully the Beatles or Rolling Stones.
duparker's review
3.0
A solid read
This is a good, not great book. The hypothesis is interesting and the author means well, but I don't find the material to read well, not do I find that it captured me like his other two books.
This is a good, not great book. The hypothesis is interesting and the author means well, but I don't find the material to read well, not do I find that it captured me like his other two books.
reverenddave's review
4.0
Catching up on his earlier work finally, Steven Hyden has steadily become the music writer I look forward to reading the most. A fitting replacement to Chuck Klosterman as that author moves further and further from his core music/pop culture focus.
kurtpankau's review
5.0
In his opening, Hyden all but admits that this book (or, rather, the column that originated it) was an attempt to cash in on 90's rock nostalgia. His tone is cheeky, brazen, and self-aware. And yet, I found this quite captivating. It took me back to an era when I learned how to love rock music, and it gave me enough background to provide some depth and context to my own experience and reminded me of what I'd loved about some of these bands.
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