Hornby, Nick, guest ed.; Ben Schafer, series ed. Da Capo best music writing 2001; the year's finest writing on rock, pop, jazz, country, & more - Book Review

Kliatt, Jan, 2002 by Jeffrey Cooper

Perseus, Da Capo. 337p. c2001 0-306-81066-2. $14.00. A

As a middle-aged guy who firmly believes that rock 'n' roll had already begun its aesthetic decline by the time the tribes gathered at White Lake, New York, in 1969, I approached this anthology of contemporary music criticism with some trepidation. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to discover that the great majority of these 27 essays--drawn from diverse sources including the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Atlantic Monthly, and Salon.com--addressed topics of interest even to a cultural curmudgeon such as myself. Therein, ironically, lies the problem: Will young adult readers be as interested as I was in reading insightful essays on artists such as Neil Young, Doc Watson, Billie Holiday, Django Reinhardt, and Johnny Cash; or on the inner workings of the record industry in the primal days of rock 'n' roll; or on how aging rock critics battle journalistic discrimination; or on how the format of Radio Disney can be perceived as echoing pre-Beatles radio programming; or on how an obscure African tune evolved beyond Pete Seeger's sing-along interpretation to became a popular mega-hit about a lion who sleeps tonight? Somehow I doubt it.

While young readers may be attracted to such titles as "Guarding the Borders of the Hip-Hop Nation" (about aspiring young rappers), "Invisible Man: Eminem" (a virulent attack on the popular star's hateful lyrics), and "Napster Nation" (a now largely irrelevant discussion of last year's cyber-phenomenon), I suspect that most will come away less than satisfied from reading the essays that bear those inviting titles. Getting a YA audience to make the leap from listening to the music they love to appreciating its critical literature is a challenge well worth pursuing; unfortunately, I suspect that this admirable anthology is not going to help many of today's youth make that leap. More sophisticated lovers of music and good writing, however, will find much to enjoy on these pages. Readers--and librarians--who are offended by vulgar language and frank references to sexual acts would be well advised to stay away not only from this book but from contemporary pop culture in general. Jeffrey Cooper, Writer/Editor, Long Island, NY