Synopses & Reviews
Chuck Eddy is one of the most entertaining, idiosyncratic, influential, and prolific music critics of the past three decades. His byline has appeared everywhere from the Village Voice and Rolling Stone to Creem, Spin, and Vibe. Eddy is a consistently incisive journalist, unafraid to explore and defend genres that other critics look down on or ignore. His interviews with subjects ranging from the Beastie Boys, the Pet Shop Boys, Robert Plant, and Teena Marie to the Flaming Lips, AC/DC, and Eminemandrsquo;s grandmother are unforgettable. His review of a 1985 Aerosmith album reportedly inspired the producer Rick Rubin to pair the rockers with Run DMC. In the eighties, Eddy was one of the first critics to widely cover indie rock, and he has since brought his signature hyper-caffeinated, hyper-hyphenated style to bear on heavy metal, hip-hop, countryandmdash;you name it. Rock and Roll Always Forgets features the best, most provocative reviews, interviews, columns, and essays written by this singular critic. Essential reading for music scholars and fans, it may well be the definitive time-capsule comment on pop music at the turn of the twenty-first century.
Review
andldquo;I donandrsquo;t always agree with Chuck Eddy. In fact, I only occasionally agree with Chuck Eddy. But Iandrsquo;m always sure he cares, which I can tell not just because I know him, but because I love reading him. For more than twenty-five years he has been an original and indefatigable voice whose openness to new and unheralded music is legendary.andrdquo;andmdash;Robert Christgau, Dean of American Rock Critics
Review
andldquo;When Chuck hears a pop song, itandrsquo;s like he is the first person who has ever heard it; heandrsquo;s certainly aware of what the rest of the world already wants to believe, but those pre-existing perceptions are never convincing to him. . . . More than any other critic, Chuck Eddy showed how the experience of listening to music was both intellectually limitless and acutely personal. There was no andlsquo;correctandrsquo; way to hear a song, and there were no fixed parameters on how that song could be described in print, and if that song made you reconsider abortion or the Oakland Raiders or your fatherandrsquo;s suicide, then that intellectual relationship mattered because your engagement was real.andrdquo;andmdash;Chuck Klosterman, from the foreword
Review
andldquo;This wide-ranging collection of essays (from the Voice, Rolling Stone, Spin, etc.) captures Eddyandrsquo;s cantankerous, spirited, enthusiastic, and forceful takes on music from rap to country and musicians from Michael Jackson to Brad Paisley. . . . Eddyandrsquo;s far-reaching insights into rock music push the boundaries of the rock criticism, showing why he remains one of our most important music critics.andrdquo;
Review
“[P]ure joy. . . . [G]et on RARAF: There is plenty of fun strut and 4 a.m. deepness here, perhaps more than most University Press books ever have contained within. Even if you still have stacks of those old rags, and remember those cranky lines Eddy could italicize (where most would cowardly spit them out sideways). Rock and roll may always forget, but Chuck Eddy’s work should often be causing trouble in mind.” - Chris Estey, KEXP
Review
“Chuck Eddy has created a stunning portfolio of sometimes gracious and impressed comments and brutally honest and painful criticisms. Rock And Roll Always Forgets is a wonderful collection of some of his most controversial and well constructed works.” - Vanessa Bennett, Verbicide
Review
andldquo;Eddyandrsquo;s eccentricity is not only refreshing and entertaining; itandrsquo;s also valuable. . . . [S]omething compels Eddy to pay attention to music that no other music journalist can be bothered with. This is a vital counterbalance to the critical herd-mind, and a reminder of how much music making and music fandom exists outside the media radar, and never makes it into the official narrative.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;[T]his new compendium of pieces by Eddy . . . reads like an alternate history of pop's last 25 (or so) years, in which album-oriented rock is saved from itself by the Ramones' Too Tough To Die, latter-day Def Leppard isn't rendered irrelevant by Nirvana, and horn-rimmed consensus about indie darlings Animal Collective is just a bad dream.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;You can predict what Eddy will think of something, and youandrsquo;ll often be wrong, but what he actually thinks will always make more sense, will fit Eddyandrsquo;s written persona better, than what you had in mind. Eddyandrsquo;s taste has a deep coherence thatandrsquo;s close to unique among rock critics. . . . [F]or an Eddy fan, itandrsquo;s a kick getting to read about his favorite music in-depth in these pages, especially when heandrsquo;s in its first flush of Chuck-love. Will to Power, the Lordz of Brooklyn, Banda Bahia, and White Wizzard are all here, because who else was going to write about them?andrdquo;
Review
“Chuck Eddy. Is there anyone who has written about music over the last few decades who manages to be so brilliantly contrary? To write with such cauterizing, strident and beautiful prose? To be so unrepentedly full of bullshit? Rock and Roll Always Forgets: A Quarter Century of Music Criticism will convince you that the answer is no. . . . You’ll find some of the most insightful and revealing rock-crit you’ve ever read, here.” - W. Scott Poole, PopMatters
Review
andldquo;Eddy's unflinching ability to connect the dots between what he's hearing and what he's living makes Rock and Roll an electric read. It should trip wires in the minds of not just aspiring and current critics but also casual listeners who might not realize how much is below the surface of what they're hearing.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Other anthologies of music writing leave you wanting to race to hear the music being written about. Rock and Roll Always Forgets leaves me wanting to read more Chuck Eddy. And more, and moreandhellip;andrdquo;
Synopsis
Collection of writings by influential rock journalist and longtime music editor of The Village Voice.
Synopsis
The best, most provocative reviews, interviews, columns, and essays written by the entertaining, idiosyncratic, and influential music writer Chuck Eddy over the past twenty-five years.
About the Author
Chuck Eddy is an independent music journalist living in Austin, Texas. Formerly the music editor at the Village Voice and a senior editor at Billboard, he is the author of The Accidental Evolution of Rock andrsquo;nandrsquo; Roll: A Misguided Tour through Popular Music and Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe. Chuck Klosterman is a freelance journalist and the author of numerous books, including Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto and Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota.