Kick Out the Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing

(Paperback)

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Description

Selected writings on three decades of popular music from one of the most influential critics of his generation.

Spanning three decades worth of astute, acerbic, and overall astounding music writing, Kick Out the Jams is the first large-scale anthology of the work of renowned critic Dave Marsh. Ranging from Elvis Presley to Kurt Cobain, from Nina Simone to Ani DiFranco, from the Beatles to Green Day, the book gives an opinionated, eye-opening overview of 20th-century popular musicoffering a portrait not just of an era but of a writer wrestling with the American empire.

Every essay bears the distinct Dave Marsh attitude and voice. That passion is evident in a heart-wrenching piece on Cobains suicide and legacy; a humorous attack on Bonos bullshit; an indignant look at James Brown and the FBI; deep, revelatory probes into the work of underappreciated artists like Patty Griffin and Alejandro Escovedo; and inspiring insight into what drives Marsh as a writer, namely a raging passion to explain things in the hope that others would not be trapped and to keep the way clear so that others from the trashy outskirts of barbarous America still had a place to standif not in the culture at large, at least in rock and roll.

If you want to explore the recent history of pop musicits politics as well as its performersKick Out the Jams is the perfect guidebook.

Author Bio

Dave Marsh was among the first editors ofCreemmagazine and wrote extensively forRolling Stoneand other publications. He has authored twenty-fivebooks, including two bestselling biographies of Bruce Springsteen,Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who, andThe Heart of Rock & Soul: the 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. Marsh cofounded the newsletterRock & Rap Confidentialand currently hosts Kick Out the Jamsand other programs on SiriusXM.