Lizzy Goodman

Fascinating but brutally long. Exhaustive, and exhausting. Throwing in the towel. Didn't quite finish. I don't think I missed much. I got the story of how Interpol, The Strokes, the Yeah yeah yeahs, The Rapture et al got their start. And that was interesting. I do like the oral storytelling style. I Want My MTV is another. But I just can't face yet another self-aggrandizing 1st person account of being fucked up at yet another dingy party in Brooklyn. Like it's some sort of higher plane of existence or something. Please. The book got very repetitive after a time. Worthy effort, but, sometimes less is more.… (meer)

The low rating is based on two factors:

1). I love oral histories but the actual structure used in this book is extremely hard to follow. People pop in and out without any reintroduction or explanation for why they are there. Some anecdotes are placed right in the middle of longer overarching stories with no point or connection.

2). The people covered in this story are just not that compelling. As opposed to say Please Kill Me, or Other Hollywood, a lot of the stories told are thorough snore feats that alternate between doing too much coke, or having too much sex. I guess that is cool, but that won't sustain a 600 page book.

If you are a super fan of the Strokes, or Yeah Yeah Yeahs, or Jonathan Fire*Eater, this book. If you are looking to read a compelling oral history I would check elsewhere.… (meer)