To accompany this week’s book review of Lisa Robinson’s There Goes Gravity, our editorial staff provides recommended reading on the subject of ROCK & ROLL.
by The Editors
1. “School of Rock” by Catherine Hong
W Magazine, April 15, 2014
The music writer Lisa Robinson toured with the Rolling Stones and introduced David Bowie to Lou Reed. Her memoir, There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll (Riverhead, out April 22), recounts four decades of such tales.
“As a woman in the rock world, Robinson understood from the start that she could never slip. ‘It was a boys’ club then, and it still is,’ she says. Yet she had something most of the boys didn’t: unwavering confidence. ‘Some of those rockers, like Robert Plant, were a bunch of hicks, from farms and stuff. I was a sophisticated New York girl, so I always felt cooler than them. We were on the same level—they were just rich and famous.'”
2. “Sister Outsider Headbanger: On Being a Black Feminist Metalhead” by Keidra Chaney
Bitch, 2000
The name really says it all. This classic essay from Bitch presents a rare perspective into the world of metal music and its relations with both race and gender.
3.“Wanted: Macho Men with Mustaches” by Nicole Pasulka
The Believer, July/August 2013
Because hasn’t everyone, at one time or another, wondered how a gay disco group from Greenwich Village with songs mostly about cruising young men, somehow became darlings of 1970s mainstream American pop culture?
4. Riot Grrrl Zines
After the popularization of punk in the 70’s and 80’s, the 90’s were ripe to support the Riot Grrrl movement – a subculture of feminist punk musicians and creators such as Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill and the women of Bratmobile. These bands embraced the new trends of DIY culture and made strong use of the fanzine to spread their idealogy.
Today, zines such as the eponymous “Riot Grrrl” and “Girl Germs” are memorialized as important elements of the Riot Grrrl movement. You can view original copies by making an appointment with the Special Collections section of NYU’s Fales Library. Or, if that’s too complicated, simply find a copy of The Riot Grrrl Collection, a printed version of the library’s manuscripts. And if you’re a sucker for instant gratification, check out this slideshow from Flavorwire for a quick visual history.
5.“Suddenly That Summer” by Sheila Weller
Vanity Fair July 2012
Sex and drugs are still mentioned in the same breath as rock ‘n roll, thanks to the legacy of the Summer of Love (1967), when hippie culture sprang up like a mushroom in San Francisco. But why and how did acid rock become associated with long hair and free love and graffiti’d VW vans and anti-war protests? The conditions in SF’s “petri dish” were just right.
6. “Why We Fight About Pop Music” by Ann Powers and Carl Wilson
NPR Music, April 15, 2014
NPR’s music critic Ann Powers exchanges letters with Carl Wilson, author of “Let’s Talk About Love”–a book-length, in-depth study of music he thought he hated. They both try and pinpoint what defines this peculiar era in music history (corporate airwaves and Spotify; Tumblr and Coachella), what makes everyone a critic, and why “nothing starts a fight more quickly than a huge pop song.”
7. “Impact, Influence, and Awesomeness: Nirvana Redeems the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony” by Sarah Larson
The New Yorker, April 14, 2014
Catch a glimpse inside this year’s angst and anguish-filled Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony with the New Yorker Culture Desk’s Sarah Larson. Spoiler alert: Gene Simmons, aka “The Demon” hasn’t lost a step in his blood-spitting act, despite turning 65 this year.*
*Edit 4/18 2:28 p.m. – The Gene Simmons act in reference was part of old performance footage shown at the ceremony, he did not make such a performance at the induction.
