Bring The Noise: 20 Years of writing about Hip Rock and Hip-Hop

by Simon Reynolds

Bring the Noise weaves together interviews, reviews, essays, and features to create a critical history of the last twenty years of pop culture, juxtaposing the voices of many of rock and hip hop’s most provocative artists—Morrissey, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys, The Stone Roses, P.J. Harvey, Radiohead—with Reynolds’s own passionate analysis. With all the energy and insight you would expect from the author of Rip It Up and Start Again, Bring the Noise tracks the alternately fraught and fertile relationship between white bohemia and black street music. The selections transmit the immediacy of their moment while offering a running commentary on the broader enduring questions of race and resistance, multiculturalism, and division. From grunge to grime, from Madchester to the Dirty South, Bring the Noise chronicles hip hop and alternative rock’s competing claims to be the cutting edge of innovation and the voice of opposition in an era of conservative backlash. Alert to both the vivid detail and the big picture, Simon Reynolds has shaped a compelling narrative that cuts across a thrillingly turbulent two-decade period of pop music.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Essays, Reference

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Simon Reynolds is one of the most respected music journalists working today, and his writing is both influential and polarizing. He draws on an impressive range of knowledge, and writes with a fluid, engaging style. His books Rip it Up and Start Again and Generation Ecstasy are well-regarded works about their respective genres, and RETROMANIA may be his most broadly appealing book yet. It makes an argument about art, nostalgia, and technology that has implications for all readerswhether diehard music fans or not. Its an important and provocative look at the present and future of culture and innovation."

Reviews

[Amar Pai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot how much I like Simon Reynolds. This book is making me excited about music again. It's a collection of his essays spanning the last 25 years. Emphasis on hip hop/pop, theme running through much of it is the interaction between "white culture" and "black culture," and race/music in general.

Coming from most writers, the pretentious theoretical critical blather woven into these interviews with British pop stars (Morrissey) and reviews of rave/jungle/2-step/mainstream R&B/rap would be annoying. But with Reynolds I find myself violently agreeing with him most of the time. He really has a gift for contextualizing, describing and conveying enthusiasm about his chosen musical genres. They're pretty much my chosen musical genres as well. Well, maybe not the "rockist" stuff, anymore. BTW memo to Reynolds: the word "rockist" is annoying, please stop using it. Ditto "electronica" though I don't know what's better

I should put together a playlist of stuff mentioned in this book. Definitely got me rediscovering classics like Aaliyah/Missy/Timbaland's "Are You That Somebody?"

Reynolds really has interesting things to say-- e.g. his analysis of the concept of "playa hating" and its evolution over time is really spot on.

Geoff Dyers did the back cover blurb. I feel like this is targeting me, specifically. "Amar, buy this book!" Ok Geoff

That baby cry in "Are You That Somebody..." not to mention the whole song "Up Jumps The Boogie"... ah man, good stuff

[Mel Bonkers · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got past the first chapter and thought this is merely the opinion of the beholder who has possibly never had a job nor studied within the realms of demographic or social psychology. Pretentious and self indulging. I have a relatively new copy available for free should anyone be willing to conform, call it a gift

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the early 80s, I was an avid reader of the NME, and I loved Paul Morley's imaginative prose in particular. Towards the end of the decade, I leant more towards Melody Maker, and Simon Reynolds was one of the principal reasons. This collection of previously-released articles for MM and various other publications shows why I enjoyed his writing so much. He is an extremely lucid and enthusiastic commentator who never talks down to his audience; he is no shallow hipster, even if his tastes rarely stray from hipster territory...

Each article re-printed is accompanied by a new afterword that contextualises his thoughts. Refreshingly, he admits to dealing in sweeping generalisations and making errors (indeed, one hilarious singles review column from 1987 seems to have been included simply because he describes house music as 'a passing fad'; in the afterword, he holds his hands up and attempts an explanation of how he called this so misguidedly).

I found I generally enjoyed his earlier pieces more, although I sometimes felt that he needed a wider set of references; he often mentions metal, but it's very obvious that, in common with 90% of British music journalists, he has no feel for the genre. He'd be a better critic if he were prepared to embrace unfashionable styles. That said, he writes with great generosity about a lot of music I was enjoying at the time, as he recounts with glee the golden age of hip-hop, the better moments of late 80s indie and, yes, the rise of house and techno. Towards the later stages of the book, he was increasingly writing about music I have little interest in - bands like Animal Collective and Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, plus the genre of crunk - though I still found it interesting to read his thoughts. As a general rule, he's attempting to map the differences (and occasional similarities) between white and black music styles in the first twenty years of his career, and this is sometimes insightful and other times overly schematic.

Directly comparing Reynolds with Morley, I find that the former ultimately lacks the latter's gadfly imagination. He's a great commentator, but he cannot match the lateral logic that informs a book like Words and Music. Still, it's hard to criticise him too much for this. The last two pieces (the first on Arctic Monkeys, the second on Hot Chip and Scritti Politti) are both first-rate, and, importantly, lead into his next book, Retromania, which is surely his finest achievement. For all its faults, some of which Reynolds readily admits, this is a fine, provocative read.

[Hex75 · Rating 4 out of 5]

cominciamo con le dolenti note: pagina 188 "spot, produttore house della sst". come, scusa? "produttore house"? probabilmente l'originale era "house producer", inteso come "produttore di casa" della sst (difinizione calzante, visto che fino a "flip your wig" degli husker du produsse molto del materiale di quella etichetta), etichetta che con la house non aveva proprio nulla a che fare, e dal contesto si capisce benissimo. sarebbe un problema di poco conto, non fosse che il libro costa una bella cifra e che vista la serietà della casa editrice mi aspettavo un'edizione impeccabile (beninteso, traduzione comunque valida, specie quando affronta le traduzioni dei frammenti di testi di canzoni che -specie nelle pagine dedicate a hip hop e dancehall- sono importanti per capire di cosa si sta parlando).
ed è un peccato, perchè ste piccolezze non fanno gustare appieno quello che è -senz'ombra di dubbio- il miglior libro sulla musica uscito quest'anno in italia.
che reynolds sia il migliore giornalista musicale vivente sui sapeva già, e qui se ne hanno finalmente alcuni degli esempi migliori: sacrificando qualche classico (ma si ritrovano su http://reynoldsretro.blogspot.com/ , il sito in cui ha deciso di riversare qualche pietra miliare) ha cercato di mostrare un quadro il più ampio possibile dei suoi interessi, e le note al termine di ogni articolo mostrano spesso sia capace di mettersi in discussione.
anche quando parla di generi di cui frega poco o nulla riesce ad essere interessante e coinvolgente, ed anzi finisce per mettere curiosità per ambiti per cui di solito non si ha interesse. e si finisce con l'aggiungere titoli alla propria lista di dischi da cercare alle varie fiere del disco...

[Martyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember now why I liked Paul Morley so much back in the day. Simon Reynolds is so negative about every band that I loved and still love today that I can't help but be put off by his ever so smug analysis of popular music. He seems to forget that many, many people don't select music based on the genre pushing darlings of a few insular music journos but on the basis of what speaks to them personally. I find sentences like "you should be listening to x" highly irritating, especially if x happens to be music that makes my skin crawl, (country and western anyone?)

I also had a hard time with the many contradictions that Reynolds falls foul of, but perhaps that is a result of reading so many disparate essays collected together. One example that rankled in particular was his repeated accusation that The Smiths and other similar bands were racist because they had the effrontery to make music that reflected their own cultural backgrounds and did not rely on "black music" as a base to work from. Of course Reynolds then castigates bands that do rely on black music and accuses them of "appropriation" so no-one can win in his world.

A very disappointing, and dispiriting read from a man who seems to bring so much personal baggage to his writing. Don't we all I guess is the obvious retort. Well yeah, but to be fair I don't have the luxury of a large and gullible audience toward which I can air my views. Now where did I put those Simon Goddard and Mark Blake books?

[Rog Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this over eighteen months ago but after reading a couple of the articles (it's a collection of articles the author wrote over twenty years) the book lay on my bedside table without my feeling the urge to pick it up again. The problem was that most of the articles are about musicians I was not interested in. However recently I thought I really ought to try and finish it. I found it hard going because some of the musical genres and many of the musicians I had never even heard of let alone heard any of their stuff. Indeed even with people whose names I had heard of I was unfamiliar with their music. I don't think this book is meant for people like me!

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out really great. I was loving what I was reading. However, as I progressed through the book I found the amount of writing on house music to mean I lost interest a bit. I'm sure for some others this would not be a problem. Overall Reynolds' intellectual and impassioned knowledge of music over the last 25 years or so makes for very interesting reading. He discusses a range of genres and I would recommend this book to any modern music enthusiast.

[Gary Fowles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've enjoyed Reynolds' other books a lot, but found this one dragged somewhat. When he has a subject to sink his teeth into, such as post punk or rave culture there's no one better. But small essays about various musical genres doesn't work quite as well.

[Godzilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful journey into post punk music. I'm not a fan of some of the genres covered, but they were interesting depictions and added to my understanding of different offshoots of dance music.

[alessandra falca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bellissimo. Grande saggio. come sempre grande Reynolds. Il mio saggista rock/pop preferito.

[Tiredstars · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked Simon Reynolds’ book about post-punk, Rip it Up. This collection of articles, not quite so much. Maybe Reynolds’ thoughtful style works better when it’s tailored to the service of an underlying theme, rather than being pieces fitted together around one. With a more exuberant music journalist the pieces might stand as entertainment or statements by themselves. There’s nothing in the book that stood out to me as a brilliant piece of writing or a particularly striking piece of journalism.

The book is nominally themed around the relationship between “black” popular music and “white” popular music, with a linked theme about the US and UK. Reynolds sees most innovation as coming from “black” music – jazz, hip-hop, ragga, detroit techno, etc. - adopted and hybridised into “white” music. Sometimes I wish Reynolds would interrogate these categories a bit more, or pull in other people’s opinions – it would be nice to have a black perspective on this phenomenon.

Something else I would like to have been brought out more clearly is the idea of music culture. When talking about hip-hop, Reynolds says something to the effect that values opposed to mainstream materialism, braggadocio, etc. can always be found in the underground. But that’s not really what he’s interested in.

There is something special about a musical culture. A collection of people who don’t just like the same music but share values, ways of looking at the world, ways of living. A culture requires a certain mass, a certain density of people. It also means music being more than just fun. At one point, listening to The Streets, he wonders at what a “rave” means to someone in their early 20s, and laments that it might be no more meaningful than any other leisure activity they might do in an evening.

Feel the Noise picks up where Rip it Up left off in the second half of the 80s. Which is to say, not a very good place for music, at least as far as Reynolds is concerned. Post-punk has burnt out, indie is uninteresting. The US still has interesting things going on – Big Black, The Pixies and later grunge – but they have limited impact on the UK. Reynolds is pretty scathing about Britpop, for being uninventive and retrogressive.

A persistent criticism in the book is the failure of rhythm in rock & indie. So, for example, The Stone Roses get praised for their rhythmic dynamism, while the Manic Street Preachers, Oasis and most of Britpop get attacked for having drums and bass that are just ‘there.’

In the 90s, Reynolds drifts away from, let’s say, “guitar music” and towards dance music, hip hop, dancehall, ragga and their innumerable variations. He’s always looking for new beats, trying to find the bleeding edge. This leads to various personal concerns and contradictions.

Should he buy the new album by a rapper whose music he loves but whose attitudes and politics he hates? What about his favourite ragga song of the year which he later – after penetrating the slang – realises is mostly about homophobic violence? What does it mean to be a 40 year old white guy going to UK garage shows?

(A brief digression is on the “one white guy” in rap videos, which subtly highlights that the majority of consumers for black artists are white. I always thought Naomi Klein put it well, talking about “white fascination with black cool and black fascination with white money” or something much like that.)

Reynolds says he starts to feel a little more like an anthropologist, out of place socially and culturally amid fans of the music he enjoys (like teenage girls at a grime gig). That’s a feeling that may be enhanced by the fact that living in the US and writing for the New York Times he seems to be acting as an interpreter of British music culture for a newspaper-reading American audience.

In late essay – adapted from an online exchange – about the Arctic Monkeys, Reynolds starts to “try on” the idea that his restless search for novelty is actually a symptom of modernism. Put another way, there’s no inherent need for radical politics or culture to be associated with radically new musical ideas. On top of this, some of the signifiers of novelty – keyboards, drum machines… - really aren’t that new. A band isn’t backwards looking just because it has drums, bass and guitar but no keyboards.

So there are definitely some interesting ideas in the book but they take some thought to follow through the book. Something more concise and clearly focused might have worked better for me.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favourite pop writer traces his own development, from slightly clumsy Marxist projecting onto old-school rap, to the most acute pop-culture theorist we have.

[Jonny Brick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eclectic and entertaining. A great companion to his books on post-punk, acid house and glam rock.