The first book in this series I read was the entry on Jawbreaker’s 24 Hour Revenge Therapy. However, there was a sale recently, and I ended up with four new entries in the series. Since these are pretty slight books rather than four short reviews, I figured I would combine them here into one post. I didn’t just save you one click; I saved you three.

Fugazi’s In On The Kill Taker by Joe Gross

If you are even glancingly into punk rock, you know who Fugazi are. At the time that In On The Kill Taker came out, even if you weren’t into punk rock, there was a chance that you heard of Fugazi.

In On The Kill Taker comes right before their complete reinvention with Red Medicine. Not many bands with six albums and a smattering of singles get divided into eras, but not many bands with six records and a smattering of singles cast this long of a shadow. The book itself does a great job of talking to the band about the record, as well as adding cultural context.

The book opens with an exploration of why the rumored Albini tapes were never released. (Though anyone with a web browser can hear them now.) This is one of those long lost recordings whose legendary existence turns out to be pedestrian. The vocal takes just didn’t work out, so they went back to work and tightened up the songs.

Comparing the ethics of Fugazi with the explosion of underground bands signed to majors on MTV is another weird cultural artifact that I am not certain ages that well. As Gross points out, what In On the Kill Taker sold in the ’90s would make it in the top ten today. The entire economy of music failed, and while Fugazi is gone, the economics of DIY they created is just business as usual for anyone but the 1% of the music industry.

Talking Head’s Fear Of Music by Jonathan Lethem

Even if I weren’t a fan of Lethem’s writing, I would have picked this one up. Hell, even if I weren’t a Talking Heads fan, I would probably have grabbed this. The idea of an award-winning novelist waxing poetic about one of his favorite albums is an exciting prospect.

Turning Fear of Music into a personal memoir about counter culture, New York in the ’70s, and the transition from Punk to a broader musical pallet, Lethem doesn’t do a lot of traditional music writing. It’s a fun read, especially if you’re a fan of his writing.

I can see this turning people off that want the dirt on Eno and Byrne collaborating and the way Fear of Music paves the way for Remain in Light. Hell, I would like someone to write that book someday. However, Lethem telling us about his memories of a lost radio commercial for the album and driving out to Jersey to see the Talking Heads later in their career should appeal to most music fans. He’s one of us, and this entry in the series is a love letter to music fandom as a personal marker.

They Might Be Giant’s Flood by S. Alexander Reed and Elizabeth Sandifer

Out of the four, this is the book that straddles the story behind the music and cultural impact in an entertaining way. TMBG has a pretty long shadow, and here Reed and Sandifer deconstruct the light source that created it.

Looking at how two weirdos from Massachusetts became the kings of nerd rock is a fun story. Weaved throughout are cultural touchstones that defined the band and the nerd culture the helped invent. I appreciate that the authors take time to give the Johns credit as musicians first, and points out that they aren't playing in the shallow ends of the pool with Trek and video game references. Instead, they're referencing obscure Dutch artists and forgotten Bing Crosby and Bob Hope movies.

It makes the most sense to think about They Might Be Giants as the kings of band geek culture, and not your angry internet troll. Just see the track Your Racist Friend on Flood. This volume of the series might strike the best balance between cultural analysis, band biography, stories about the album, and looking at its legacy.

Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine by Daphne Carr

Considering Industrial was born in the dying factory towns of England, it's fitting to make the entry on the first American Industrial pop band, an exploration on its meaning to the people in the dying factory towns of Trent Reznor's home state. Standing Ohio in for the entire Midwest Carr manages to connect the bleakness that defined NIN with the growing lack of opportunity. This along with the rise of pop alternative makes for a narrative that ties the death of Youngstown with the rise of Hot Topic and mall goths, punks, and metalhead in the '90s.

Carr does weave in some facts about Reznor and his rise from New Wave guy with a keyboard to MTV star. That's not the focus of the book. Instead, we get stories of fans and their relationship to the music. She manages to get all kinds of fans, covering the gambit from Evangelical teenagers chasing darkness to alienate their parents to former punks looking for something new. We get a picture of Ohio as a place without a lot of opportunities, and most importantly a place without a lot of resources for people with mental health issues.

There's an essential fandom that Carr unlocks, that doesn't just apply to NIN. She finds the nugget that music fans are connecting with work in a way that helps express feelings they can't express. NIN's popularity lining up with the birth of the internet helps those fans find ways to talk to each other about those same feelings. She connects that to Hot Topic finding the market for alternative music, and most importantly its T-Shirts as another cultural connection created by NIN, Green Day, and others bringing underground music to the pop charts.

The book covers the entire path of NIN's first incarnation through retirement back in 2009. The smash cut montage of the way that music and retail being sucked online were leaving another cultural void at the end of the book is an excellent piece of writing. Carr very deftly connects the people who built these cultural out of a sense of loss they didn't quite understand, with yet another exodus leaving them behind as the malls close. It's an excellent point about the idea of commerce based culture not valuing the people who live it.