Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 (Michael Azerrad)

Michael Azerrad 

Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991

First, thanks Zayn. Please read on... An excellent account of the American (as in USA) underground / indie scene in it's crucial years until it went overground / major labels with Nirvana et al. A bit of history pre 1981 to set the scene. Each chapter takes a band and of course there are omissions but it seems to cover the main players of the scene so those who not only formed bands but ran fanzines, labels and clubs. Many of the bands went back to obscurity but as this book was written over 20 years ago some have made a resurgence on the back of people wanting to see where the major label artists came from and indeed to listen to less commercial music. I knew, and saw, some of the bands but a couple I didn't really know at all. I guess if I hadn't seen them then I wouldn't search them out as I always rate live with all it's faults (especially if in small clubs) than polished vinyl or digital. Which is the thrust of the book really and the whole scene which of course took a lot from the way that UK scene worked. It's nice to know that I was there for at at least one classic moment - with Olly of course - when Big Black played their final European gig at the Hammersmith Clarendon Ballroom (RIP, what a venue) and had Wire come on for the encore and Steve Albini (RIP, what a musician & engineer) said "If I die right now it would have all been worth it". He had another 30 odd years to go. And that's before he produced some of the biggest music such as Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey and Mogwai (Rams, Jo). Albini passed away in May this year. A digression but worth it. Shout out to Zayn who alerted me to this book as it had passed me by for the last 2 decades. Zayn's musical taste is so similar to mine it's just a damn shame we didn't get to go to more gigs together when she was in London. We regularly email each other what we are listening to both new stuff and classics from the past. Thanks for our long distance relationship Zayn, NZ is not so far from London when you are spiritually aligned along the earth's ley lines. But hey, I'm now getting into hippy shit which is what punk rock kicked against. There again a lot of that was to break down the bullshit whilst keeping some of the early hippy ideas of change and antiestablishmentarianism. Now that's a word to end on!

The bands... Black Flag, The Minutemen, Mission Of Burma, Minor Threat, Husker Du, The Replacements, Sonic Youth,  Fugazi, Mudhoney, Big Black, Butthole Surfers, Dinosaur Jr, Beat Happening.

Rise Up : The #Merky Story So Far (Stormzy; edited and co-written by Jude Yawson)

Stormzy; edited and co-written by Jude Yawson

Rise Up : The #Merky Story So Far

A very interesting read of the rise of Stormzy from childhood in south London and early musical years to superstardom. Contributions are from Stormzy and his close knit team who've been with him all the way and seemingly truly did it his and their way. He's obviously very driven towards his vision which he reached although this book is 6 years old so a lot more water would have flowed down the Wandle and into the Thames...

Junky (William Burroughs)

William Burroughs

Junky

A long while since I've read this and I've taken a long while to get through as it's my "pop in pocket" book for when I'm going out in the evening to gigs with a long tube journey. I've not had a lush worker relieve me of it. I think I've been reading for a year on and off but as it's an insight into being, you guessed it, a junky, it's not a story with a plot really except for various attempts to ditch the junk. Indeed a lot of it is about hanging around which gives the flavour of a junky's life, at least back in the 50s. Interesting ending about how the USA was clamping down on heroine use back in the early 50s. Another interesting comment by Burroughs is made at the end when he's moved to Mexico and says that the younger generation that came down weren't interested in sex like his generation was. Just before flower power and the decade of free love.