Acid Detroit: A Psychedelic Story of Motor City Music

by Joe Molloy

Acid Detroit tells the story of Motor City through its revolutionary music past and present, in order to find the seeds of radical transformation among its ruins.

Acid Detroit is an exhilarating, technicolour view of Detroit’s musical and social history from the 1960s to the present day.

Redefining the counterculture as a time of Acid Communism, Acid Detroit diverges from most books on the Sixties, which centre on California, to show that Detroit was an unequalled hotbed of radical activism, urban unrest and sonic innovation.
Considering Detroit's unique mix of people and cultures and enduring sonic legacies, it covers everything from incendiary garage rock, to European-influenced techno and experimental hip-hop crews, intertwining the artist’s lives and works with the city’s rise and decline, from its establishment as an industrial powerhouse to the high point of Motor City, into its decline and tentative rebirth.

A mind-expanding tour through time and space that explores the lost possibilities, histories and hidden potentials of the city, Acid Detroit reveals a history of resilience and transformation hidden in the shadows of the abandoned factories and warehouses of the Motor City.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History, Cultural

280 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2023

Reviews

[Milan De Roode · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute banger. This guy writes about the history of Detroit in a professional and clear, yet very engaging and personal manner with lots of fun facts in between the pages about local music, musicians and anecdotes. Having clearly drawn influence from the writing style of Mark Fisher, Acid Detroit is a fun and interesting intertwining of (counter)culture, music, and social developments. Became a big fan of many musicians while reading this as well, and listening to the soundtracks the writer mentions and discusses was really fun to do.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joe Molloy's trip into music history will be released on April 11, 2023. Repeater Books provided an early galley for review.

I have been a resident of southeastern Michigan for close to a decade now, and I always enjoy learning more about Detroit and its influences. Combined with my love of music, and it makes this book an instant attraction for me.

Molloy weaves together songs and albums, artists and genres - all into a tapestry of change and evolution for the people of Detroit and their music. The stars aligned to bring about change in a place in such desperate need for it. While often folks think of the Sixties and Motown when they think first think of Detroit, Molloy shows the sweeping range of music across six decades.

This was a fairly quick read; I was rather surprised that it covers so much in such a smaller page count. I feel that perhaps the author really wanted to keep it to a concise overview, allowing readers to explore more resources on the topic if they so desired later.

[Parker Eisen · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the surface Acid Detroit is a history of Detroit music pushing boundaries, and it is that and does that greatly. But Molloy is able to take this surface history and point to deeper themes the city has to offer: or collectivity, community, and solidarity that points to post capitalist desire in a post-industrialist city.

While many ideas can be expanded upon, for a short book, it digs deep, with room to go deeper still.

[Markus]

It's enthusiastic but also a little amateurish and the theoretical framework feels pretty forced

[Laurent Derycke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, heartfelt and very thorough ode to Detroit and its music and resilience

[Ben Cracraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Acid Detroit! It gives an interesting overview of Detroit’s music history from Motown up to present day in just over 150 pages. I found the punk section particularly interesting detailing one of my favorite bands, the White Stripes, and their history in Detroit. I look forward to reading more from this young talented author, and listening to some of the music mentioned in the book.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ambitious and amiable book which, in its 170 pages, zooms through six decades of musical history, builds upon the legacy of the late Mark Fisher, and envisions the renewal of the Motor City’s best countercultural currents. Reading Molloy, one appreciates how many musical roads lead to Detroit, but it is unclear whether any offer a way out of our current dead ends.

Here's a link to my review: http://review31.co.uk/article/view/88...

[Reece · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not very good

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Acid Detroit by Joe Molloy is an enjoyable history of Detroit music that does more than just mention the usual artists.

Most of the names you'd expect are mentioned here, though not all get the space you might expect. That is actually a positive of the book, the reader is taken through Detroit's music and cultural history at a steady pace, with plenty of mentions but not getting bogged down in the stories many of us might already know.

While I enjoyed the history lesson(s) I came mostly for a combination of nostalgia and hearing about artists I know little or nothing about. I was richly rewarded and would highly recommend this to anyone with a similar objective. For those with a more intimate knowledge of Detroit I suspect this will be even more fun since you will know more of the names and many of the locations.

As a total aside, I have to admit to mixed memories at the several mentions of Stroh's beer. I liked the taste when I lived in areas where it was readily available, but it always, and I mean always, made me flatulent. I know, too much information, but those small memories help to make books like this fun to read. Hopefully yours are a bit less gassy!

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Alexander Billet · Rating 4 out of 5]

We can picture it in every city because it exists in every city. The empty warehouse or factory that sits rusting, broken, eerily still, a silent rebuke to slick visions of urban renewal. We try hard to imagine it humming with activity, churning out all manner of shiny machines and consumer goods. But whatever might replace it, be it a trendy restaurant or overgrown lot, we’re reminded of the devastation that has precipitated from its closure. Hundreds of defaulted mortgages. Sprawling, shiftless residential streets. Growing homeless encampments.

Read rest of review here...

[Ward Hans vdB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little book about the evolution of music movements and genres in Detroit. It includes a socio-economic analysis on how the city was tormented by capitalist expansion towards the global south during the late 20th century. Ironically, with it's main industries leaving, the population started looking for other more collectivist methods to organise their lifes through the medium of arts and music (with a little help of psychedelica here and there). This book illustrates these phenomena in an inspiring way.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I loved this.

Any text devoting an exegesis of John Brannon’s life in music through the five stages of grief gets an automatic five stars from me, but this turned out to be so much more.

I’m in awe of what this 22-year-old turning 23 has brought together between his twin inspirations of the D and Mark Fisher.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A succinct history of Detroit music, coming from an angle of Mark Fisher’s “acid communism” concept - it includes chapters on Motown, punk & garage rock, techno, and Danny brown, while championing local heroes that might be relatively unsung to a global audience; relating them to psychedelia and (post-)capitalism

[Eduardo Enríquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated Molloy's knowledge and insight on Detroit's cultural and musical contemporary history. I certainly don't think as highly of the communist theoretical framework that one is unluckily reminded of once every few pages.

[Matt Mollison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really fun premise that doesn’t exactly deliver. He’s very knowledgeable about Detroit music up until the 90s, but has very little to say about much of the Detroit hip-hop scene outside of Dilla and Danny Brown. A good read for anyone who likes Motown, Marc Fisher, and garage rock.

[Anton VDA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooie anekdotes over de geschiedenis, maatschappij en cultuur van de ooit (en terug?) bruisende stad Detroit

[Christopher Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.thepensivequill.com/2024/...

[George Bate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst much of the music content was of interest, I unfortunately found a lot of the theory a bit ropey (as is often the case with "popular" cultural theory) and the prose a bit over-wrought.

[Peter Lestelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. I have fallen in love with Detroit for its music and art, and this book captures it perfectly.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was sort of disappointed, since I grew up in the inner city called Poletown.although in this time period I was busy raising my family and didn’t have too much outside activities.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

ambitiously tries to string together the diverse musical output of Detroit, the common thread being music’s drive to free us, hopefully more than just momentarily, from the ceaseless subjection of capitalism.

somewhat grazes over historical and ongoing segregation across these genres and subcultures, but probably for the better given that our general direction is to keep on mixing.

certainly overall a valuable guide to a local scene - and not just any scene - the D!