Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991
by Michael Azerrad
List Price:
Our Price: $9.59
You Save: $7.40 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.46 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Michael AzerradEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-07-02
ISBN: 0316787531
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Book Reviews of Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991
Book Review: 3 and a half really...
Summary: 3 Stars
Our Ban Could Be Your Life (taken from a lyric in a Minutemen song) chronicles the independent music movement in post punk America by following 13 bands through the 80's and 90's. The bands profiled are Black Flag, Husker Du, Minutemen, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Mission of Burma, the Replacements, [...] Surfers, Sonic Youth, Beat Happening, Big Black, Mudhoney, and Dinosaur Jr. The book is broken up by band into chapters and is loosely chronological.
I'm sort of divided in how I feel about the book. On the one hand it conveys a pretty good sense of what it was like in the indie underground, the bridge between Punk and the Alternative boom of the 90's. On the other, it seems like it gets mired in it's stylistic template and it comes off like Azerrad is trying to hard to write two books in one. Whereas each chapter profiles a band, he often strays from the profile into talking about the movement as a whole losing site of the band in question. This was especially frustrating in the chapters on Mudhoney (which should really be a chapter on the Sub Pop label) and Beat Happening (which should really be on the K label.) Both bands seemed to be only skimmed in favor of talking about the region of music that spawned them or their label mates, while interesting doesn't do much of a service to the band and points to the overall topic as being a bit to wide reaching to fit into the specific template Azerrad chose to use.
Earlier in the book this works to great effect while spreading out the SST bands and illustrating how they interacted and effected the scene (Minutemen, Black Flag, Husker Du.)
I think the book would have been better served to focus on the various labels using bits of band history as emphasis, instead of short changing the bands.
The other issue I had was with Azerrad's inconsistencies in his descriptions of bands. Pretty much every band profiled was the best band in the world in their own chapter, while when mentioned in another chapter they might come off as inconsequential. In fact, every band apparently had the most important record of the decade.
Even though I seem to be harping on the book, I really do feel that it is an important look at a very interesting time in independent music, I just think it's hampered by a poor stylistic choice.
More Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
History & Criticism Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in History & Criticism Books
KISS and Make-upby Gene Simmons
Crown; Published: 2001-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops:
Elvis Presley: A Life in Music : The Complete Recording Sessionsby Ernst Jorgensen
St Martins Pr; Published: 1998-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $199.99
The Devil's Horn: The Story of the Saxophone, from Noisy Novelty to King of Coolby Michael Segell
Picador; Published: 2006-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.81
Price in other shops:
Elvis: My Best Man: Radio Days, Rock 'n' Roll Nights, and My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presleyby George Klein, Chuck Crisafulli
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2011-01-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.51
Price in other shops:
Bill Evans: How My Heart Singsby Mr. Peter Pettinger
Yale University Press; Published: 1998-08-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $72.50
Microsoundby Curtis Roads
The MIT Press; Published: 2004-08-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.72
Price in other shops:
Hip Hop Americaby Nelson George
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2005-04-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.80
Price in other shops:
A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Albumby Ashley Kahn
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2003-10-28; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.74
Price in other shops:
Jazz Styles: History and Analysis (10th Edition)by Mark C. Gridley
Prentice Hall; Published: 2008-01-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $49.89
Price in other shops:
Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garciaby Robert Greenfield
It Books; Published: 2009-02-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
American Hardcore (Second Edition): A Tribal Historyby Steven Blush
Feral House; Feral House; Published: 2010-10-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.43
Price in other shops:
Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock'N'Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'N'Rollby Lester Bangs
Anchor; Published: 1988-09-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.63
Price in other shops:
Small Business Management: A Planning Approachby Joel Corman, Lori Pennel, Robert Lussier
Atomic Dog; Published: 2008-06-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $59.00
Price in other shops:
![Sonic Youth -1991: The Year Punk Broke [DVD] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
Sonic Youth -1991: The Year Punk Broke [DVD]Uni; Release date: 2011-09-13; Published: 2011-09-23; DVD
Best price: $13.17
Price in other shops:
Music Publishing 101 (Berklee in the Pocket)by George Howard
Berklee Press; Berklee Press; Published: 2004-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops:
Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984by Simon Reynolds
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2006-02-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melodyby Bob Mould
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2011-06-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.54
Price in other shops:
The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: An Oral Historyby Jim Walsh
Voyageur Press; Published: 2009-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.47
Price in other shops:
Slanted and Enchanted: The Evolution of Indie Cultureby Kaya Oakes
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2009-06-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.60
Price in other shops:
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punkby Legs McNeil, Gillian McCain
Grove Press; Published: 2006-04-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.74
Price in other shops: