Rock and Roll Always Forgets: A Quarter Century of Music Criticism

Contents

• Acknowledgements xv
• Foreword / Chuck Klosterman xi
• Introduction 1
• 1. Predicting the Future
• Over and Out 9
• Rhymed Funk Hits Area 10
• Skin Yard, Skin Yard 12
• Drug Crazed Teens: Flaming Lips 14
• Music That Passes the Acid Test 15
• New Kids in the '90s: A Decade in the Life 18
• Radiohead, The Bends 19
• Walking into Spiderwebs: The Ultimate Band List 20
• Talking World War III Blues 23
• 2. Alternative to What
• Bombast in the Blood: Bad Religion 29
• Conscience of Some Conservatives: The Ramones 32
• Punk's First Family Grow Old Together: The Ramones 35
• Howls from the Heartland: The Untamed Midwest 42
• An Indie Rises Above: SST Records 48
• Slime is Money (Bastard) 52
• Big Black Give You a Headache 56
• Nirvana, "all Apologies" 62
• Wrong is Right: Marilyn Manson 64
• Live: Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, 18 February 1997 68
• City of Dreams: Rock in Mexico 69
• Chumbawamba at the Piss Factory 76
• Mr. and Mrs. Used To Be: The White Stripes Find a Little Place to Fight 'em Off 79
• 3. Umlauts from Heck
• Five Great Beats-Per-Minute 89
• Seduce, Seduce 92
• Agnostic Front, Beyond Possession, Dr. Know, Helstar, Raw Power 94
• Top 40 That Radio Won't Touch: Metallica 98
• Welcome Home (Sanitarium): Metallica Seek Psychiatric Help 104
• Mentors, Up The Dose 106
• Robert Plant, Technobilly 108
• Def Leppard's Magic and Loss 116
• AC/DC's Aged Currencies 124
• White Wizzard Escape Each Other 137
• 4. To the Beat Y'all
• Mantronix: Strange Loops 143
• Spoonie Gee: Unreformed 144
• Just-Ice: Rap With Teeth 147
• Pazz & Jop Ballot Excerpt 1989: N.W.A. 149
• Pazz & Jop Ballot Excerpt 1992: Arrested Development 149
• Sir Mix-A-Lot: Chief Boot Knocka 149
• From Taco Bell to Pachalbel: Coolio 150
• Pazz & Jop Ballot Excerpt 1997: Erykah Badu and B-Rock & The Bizz 152
• Timbaland, Magoo, and Ma$e, As the World Turns 153
• Pazz & Jop Ballot Excerpt 2001: Jay-Z 157
• Licks: Bone Crusher, Turk, Crunk & Disorderly 158
• Pazz & Jop Ballot Excerpt 2003 160
• 5. Race-Mixing
• Emmett Miller: The Minstrel Man from Georgia 167
• Mississippi Sheiks vs. Utah Saints 168
• Pazz & Jop Ballot Excerpt 1984 170
• Pazz & Jop Ballot Excerpt 1985 170
• Boogie Down Productions: Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip-Hop 172
• Yothu Yindi: Tribal Voice 175
• Living Colour: Biscuits EP 175
• 3rd Bass: Cactus Love 176
• Teena Marie in Wonderland 178
• Shake Your Love: Gillette 180
• The Iceman Cometh Back: Vanilla Ice 183
• Motor Suburb Madhouse: Kid Rock and Eminem 184
• The Daddy Shady Show: Eminem's Family Values 196
• Spaghetti Eastern: The Lordz of Brooklyn 206
• 6. Country Discomfort
• Yippie Tie One On: Rural Roots and Muddy Boots 217
• John Cougar Mellencamp: Life Goes On 222
• K.T. Oslin: Greatest Hits: Songs from an Aging Sex Bomb 224
• The Temptations of Mindy McCready 226
• CMT 228
• Banda, Si, Por Que No 229
• Big & Rich Boogaloo Down Broadway 233
• Pazz & Jop Ballot Excerpt 2004: Montgomery Gentry and Chely Wright 235
• Please Stop Belittling Toby Keith 236
• Brad Paisley is Ready to Make Nice 240
• 7. Pop Muzik
• Cutting It as a Bay City Roller in 1989 247
• People Pleasers: The Village People 249
• Arrivederci, Bay-BEE: Nocera and Fun Fun 251
• Debbie Gibson: Angel Baby 253
• It Was In The Cards 255
• Pet Shop Boys' Mad Behavior 256
• Gimme Back My Bullets: Will to Power Shoot for Disco Valhalla 263
• Michael Jackson Loves the Sound of Breaking Glass 267
• If It Ain't Baroque, Don't Fix It: Michael Jackson and Faithless 273
• They Know What They Really Really Want and They Know How to Get It: Spice Girls and Gina G 277
• Pazz & Jop Ballot Excerpt 1998 281
• 8. Singles Again and Again
• Sucking in the '70s: Have A Nice Day, Volumes 1-10 287
• Zager and Evans: "In The Year 2525" 289
• Radio '86: Dead Air 292
• Radio On reviews 298
• Ten Cents a Watusi 304
• Singles Again: Tangled Up in Blue 309
• Singles Again: Paranoia Jumps Deep 313
• Singles Jukebox reviews 316
• The Year of Too Much Consensus 322
• The End? 325
• Index 329