Book
Shake it up : great American writing on rock and pop from Elvis to Jay Z
Publication Information
New York, N.Y. : Library of America, [2017]
Physical Description
xv, 601 pages ; 22 cm
Summary
"Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar's Shake It Up invites the reader into the tumult and excitement of the rock revolution through fifty landmark pieces by a supergroup of writers on rock in all its variety, from heavy metal to disco, punk to hip-hop. Stanley Booth describes a recording session with Otis Redding; Ellen Willis traces the meteoric career of Janis Joplin; Ellen Sander recalls the chaotic world of Led Zeppelin on tour; Nick Tosches etches a portrait of the young Jerry Lee Lewis; Eve Babitz remembers Jim Morrison. Alongside are Lenny Kaye on acapella and Greg Tate on hip-hop, Vince Aletti on disco and Gerald Early on Motown; Robert Christgau on Prince, Nelson George on Marvin Gaye, Luc Sante on Bob Dylan, Hilton Als on Michael Jackson, Anthony DeCurtis on the Rolling Stones, Kelefa Sanneh on Jay Z. The story this anthology tells is a ongoing one: "it's too early," editors Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar note, "for canon formation in a field so marvelously volatile--a volatility that mirrors, still, that of pop music itself, which remains smokestack lightning. The writing here attempts to catch some in a bottle."--Provided by publisher.
Notes
"A Library of America Special Publication."
Contents
- Introduction / by Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar
- The freewheelin' Bob Dylan / Nat Hentoff
- The changing same (R&B and new Black music) (excerpt) / Amiri Baraka
- Learning from the Beatles / Richard Poirier
- Goodbye surfing, hello God! / Jules Siegel
- Master of mediocrity / Richard Goldstein
- Outlaw blues / Paul Williams
- The Memphis soul sound / Stanley Booth
- Lillian Roxon's rock encyclopedia (excerpt) / Lillian Roxon
- The best of acappella / Lenny Kaye
- The aesthetics of rock (excerpt) / Richard Meltzer
- Inside the cages of the zoo / Ellen Sander
- The disco files (excerpt) / Vince Aletti
- Valley of the New York Dolls / Paul Nelson
- Where were you when Elvis died? / Lester Bangs
- In defense of rock theory / Greg Shaw
- Prince / Robert Christgau
- The Cars' power steering / Jon Pareles
- Janis Joplin / Ellen Willis
- The Slits go native / Carola Dibbell
- David Bowe eats his young / Debra Rae Cohen
- Hellfire (excerpt) / Nick Tosches
- Boys' night out : Aztec camera clicks / Ariel Swartley
- The power and the glory / Nelson George
- King Solomon : the throne in exile / Peter Guralnick
- Sylvia's husband / Donna Gaines
- The heart of rock & soul : the 1001 greatest singles ever made (excerpt) / Dave Marsh
- The Ramones / Chuck Eddy
- Jim Morrison is dead and living in Hollywood / Eve Babitz
- Route 666 (excerpt) / Gina Arnold
- Houses of the holy / Ann Powers
- Sam Cooke's Night Beat / Robert Palmer
- One nation under a groove (excerpt) / Gerald Early
- Bruce Springsteen : born to run / Ed Ward
- Total systems failure / Camden Joy
- Fargo Rock City (excerpt) / Chuck Klosterman
- Seven years in the life / Geoffrey O'Brien
- O.P.D. ; Deus Est Vivus : The Beatles and The Death Cults (excerpt) / Devin McKinney
- Emo : where the girls aren't / Jessica Hopper
- Live at the Apollo (excerpt) / Douglas Wolk
- Ray Charles / David Hajdu
- I is somebody else / Luc Sante
- The final comeback of Axl Rose / John Jeremiah Smith
- In praise of assholes / Greg Tate
- Say you want a revolution... / Elijah Wald
- Michael / Hilton Als
- The Runaways : wild thing / Evelyn McDonnell
- Word : Jay Z's Decoded and the language of hip-hop / Kelefa Sanneh
- Love and hope and sex and dreams : punk rock, disco, New York City & the triumph of the Rolling Stones' Some Girls / Anthony DeCurtis
- After 30 years, I finally went to a Barry Manilow concert / Danyel Smith
- Guitar drag / Greil Marcus
- Sources and acknowledgments
- Index.