Book 84 - Dylan Jones "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy"
Dylan Jones "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy" (Trafalgar Square)
This anthology claims to compile the best articles by music journalists on rock and pop. Music journalism usually takes one of two forms: either a pseudo-academic approach which addresses the socio-cultural context of a particular artist or the ramblings of self-involved, often drug-addled, wannabe 'gonzo' journalists vomited onto the page. Neither approach has much to recommend it, and the Meaty, Beaty, Big, and Bouncy! anthology suffers by placing itself firmly within the second category.
Indeed, this is a conscious decision. As the book's editor Dylan Jones notes in his introduction, "The music business is an absurd, salacious, unwieldy monster, and the only way to do it justice is to treat it as such. The true spirit of rock has less to do with sociology and rather more to do with excess, indulgence, and the gratification of intense, wanton desires." (pg. 3). Consequently, he provides pieces which highlight these excesses far beyond the popular image of 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll' to include Led Zeppelin's mud shark incident, Elvis Presley's drug-addled fall from grace, Chuck Berry's coprophilia and voyeurism and various anecdotes of underage groupies and general misogyny.
The problem is that this is not music journalism; it is muck-raking tales of excess committed by musicians who are often extremely damaged and pitiable individuals. The intent of Jones and his cherry-picked authors seems to be to appeal to our basest curiosities, to foment a base thrill in orgiastic excess, and thus is not a book that appeals to me much nor to readers of Wire magazine.
Overall, whilst there are some decent articles (Michael Braun's article on the Beatles, Tom Wolfe's on Phil Spector, Nick Kent's on Sid Vicious, and Richard Ben Cramer's on Jerry Lee Lewis are all stand-outs), the anthology does leave a bad taste in the mouth. Somewhat contrary to his intentions, Dylan Jones' selections do appal, but they do not fascinate.
http://jazzy-dave.dreamwidth.org/
This anthology claims to compile the best articles by music journalists on rock and pop. Music journalism usually takes one of two forms: either a pseudo-academic approach which addresses the socio-cultural context of a particular artist or the ramblings of self-involved, often drug-addled, wannabe 'gonzo' journalists vomited onto the page. Neither approach has much to recommend it, and the Meaty, Beaty, Big, and Bouncy! anthology suffers by placing itself firmly within the second category.
Indeed, this is a conscious decision. As the book's editor Dylan Jones notes in his introduction, "The music business is an absurd, salacious, unwieldy monster, and the only way to do it justice is to treat it as such. The true spirit of rock has less to do with sociology and rather more to do with excess, indulgence, and the gratification of intense, wanton desires." (pg. 3). Consequently, he provides pieces which highlight these excesses far beyond the popular image of 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll' to include Led Zeppelin's mud shark incident, Elvis Presley's drug-addled fall from grace, Chuck Berry's coprophilia and voyeurism and various anecdotes of underage groupies and general misogyny.
The problem is that this is not music journalism; it is muck-raking tales of excess committed by musicians who are often extremely damaged and pitiable individuals. The intent of Jones and his cherry-picked authors seems to be to appeal to our basest curiosities, to foment a base thrill in orgiastic excess, and thus is not a book that appeals to me much nor to readers of Wire magazine.
Overall, whilst there are some decent articles (Michael Braun's article on the Beatles, Tom Wolfe's on Phil Spector, Nick Kent's on Sid Vicious, and Richard Ben Cramer's on Jerry Lee Lewis are all stand-outs), the anthology does leave a bad taste in the mouth. Somewhat contrary to his intentions, Dylan Jones' selections do appal, but they do not fascinate.
http://jazzy-dave.dreamwidth.org/