Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

Greg Renoff's compelling biography takes readers on a comprehensive trip through Van Halen's early years as a backyard party band that performed under names like Trojan Rubber Co. and Mammoth. It also covers their initial club gigs through their first stadium tours with luminaries like Black Sabbath.   A good read for Van Halen fans and music biography fans alike, Renoff's narrative covers the tough life of a young band on the rise. I'm not a big hard rock fan and do not care much about their later music, so this one was perfect for me, but there is something for most music fans here. I found the section on David Lee Roth worming his way into the band particularly compelling. Since Eddie and Alex did not like his glam style or singing, he started his band to compete in the party scene, the aptly named Red Ball Jets, which focused more on pure entertainment. Once he convinced the Van Halen brothers to let him join, his marketing chops were integral in helping them become...

Jeff Tweedy's newest book contains short and sometimes pithy discussions of songs that influenced his life and music. He intersperses them with memories and events that augment his thinking. Generally fun, often astute, occasionally maddening, but always entertaining, the book often goes in unexpected directions. Tweedy finds new life within the grooves and the stories that surround his musical discoveries. The most eye-opening moments  to me happen when Tweedy finds something in each song that might relate to any of us. However, I also loved his discussions of early SST punk and lesser-known songs, and he often changed my mind or gave me new perspectives to ponder. He might also influence your approach to some popular tunes that he covers. 

While "This Year" generally gets the most accolades of the songs on The Mountain Goat's arguably most signifcant song cycle, The Sunset Tree , due to its catchy chorus and relatable message, my favorite track on the album is undoubtedly "Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod," although its nearly impossible to pick a song from this stellar set of doubtful, autobiographical uncertainties. The album fits into what I consider John Darnielle's greatest period, the albums that added more instrumentation starting with Tallahassee and stretching to Heretic Pride . Of course, there are also cases to be made for Darnielle's earlier boom box tape recordings. After that, I drifted away from their catalog and am hoping to revisit the later albums more extensively.  I could probably write about most of Darnielle's songs, but "Tetrapod" connects more closely to my life than many of the others because of its relationship to music, growth, and fear. The pain o...