Essential Rock Books not on that Pitchfork List, #1
Posted by s woods on July 14, 2011
Richard Riegel, Johnny B. Goode: Images of America in Rock ‘n’ Roll Music Which Are Nowhere to be Found in Greil Marcus’s Mystery Train
Sprawling essays on half a dozen groundbreaking south-of-the-49th-parallel rockers, including Chuck Berry, Arthur Lee’s Love, and MX-80 Sound. Dedicated to, and with “cosmic editorial oversight” provided by, Lester Bangs.
(Currently out of print, due to a dispute between author and publisher over the use of the word “America” in the title vs. plain old “the U.S.A.”)
(cf. the actual Pitchfork list.)
Richard Riegel said
Ha! “Currently out of print, due to a dispute . . . ” is a rank exaggeration. I prefer to think of it as more along the lines of “Not written yet.” The working title (this week) is “He Was Cotton Mather’s Batman (& Robin); Who Is Greil Marcus and Why Is He Retailing All These American-Studies Myths about Our Music?!?”
Thanks for asking,
Richard “Somewhat Known” Riegel