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Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock
The first biography of Yo La Tengo, the massively influential band who all but defined indie music.
Yo La Tengo has lit up the indie scene for three decades, part of an underground revolution that defied corporate music conglomerates, eschewed pop radio, and found a third way. Going behind the scenes of one of the most remarkable eras in American music history, Big Day Coming traces the patient rise of husband-and-wife team Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley, who—over three decades—helped forge a spandex-and-hairspray-free path to the global stage, selling millions of records along the way and influencing countless bands. Using the continuously vital Yo La Tengo as a springboard, Big Day Coming uncovers the history of the legendary clubs, bands, zines, labels, record stores, college radio stations, fans, and pivotal figures that built the infrastructure of the now-prevalent indie rock world. Journalist and freeform radio DJ Jesse Jarnow draws on all-access interviews and archives for mesmerizing trip through contemporary music history told through one of its most creative and singular acts.
Yo La Tengo has lit up the indie scene for three decades, part of an underground revolution that defied corporate music conglomerates, eschewed pop radio, and found a third way. Going behind the scenes of one of the most remarkable eras in American music history, Big Day Coming traces the patient rise of husband-and-wife team Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley, who—over three decades—helped forge a spandex-and-hairspray-free path to the global stage, selling millions of records along the way and influencing countless bands. Using the continuously vital Yo La Tengo as a springboard, Big Day Coming uncovers the history of the legendary clubs, bands, zines, labels, record stores, college radio stations, fans, and pivotal figures that built the infrastructure of the now-prevalent indie rock world. Journalist and freeform radio DJ Jesse Jarnow draws on all-access interviews and archives for mesmerizing trip through contemporary music history told through one of its most creative and singular acts.
376 pages, Paperback
First published June 5, 2012
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658 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
February 16, 2015
I don't normally write book reviews here but decided I should for this one.
First, I love Yo La Tengo and have seen them live numerous times, heard pretty much everything they've recorded, and follow them closely. But even then I would not have bought this book if it weren't subtitled "the rise of indie rock." I thought this would be a reflective piece on music history, on Yo La Tengo, on a lot of artists I really like. But it wasn't even close to that. Now I realize it's a fail review to just say, oh this didn't live up to what I expected it to be! So allow me continue.
Putting expectations aside, the book is very dry and journalistic. It reads very much as a laundry list of namedropping: who they toured with, who wrote about them, tangential lines drawn to big stars, etc. And even as a music geek who knows a lot of these names being dropped, it was a pain to get through. I can only imagine if someone was less into the scene than I, and how mindnumbing this book would read.
Namedropping could be tolerable though, if it wasn't the entirety of the book. That is, any sense of the musicians of Yo La Tengo, or insights into their music, or the greater good of indie rock, is not given. None. For instance, insight about one of YLT's masterpiece records, I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, is limited to what certain song titles mean, where they stayed while recording it, and what they ate while recording it. It's like 2 pages, and mostly that type of minutiae.
Part of me thinks that the lack of insight is purposeful in order to maintain the mystery and privacy and YLT, to a certain extent, have cultivated their entire career. However, a book doesn't need to be written for that.
There is some okay aspects: the journalism works in detailing the history of some of the smaller record labels and even Hoboken itself. And while dry, it is a quick read. And I definitely plan to use it to check out some of the important artists I do not know.
But as a look at the people, Ira, Georgia & James, the heart of this story, these creative brilliant artists, a hard journalistic angle does not work. I can't recommend this, even for any other huge Yo La Tengo fans.
First, I love Yo La Tengo and have seen them live numerous times, heard pretty much everything they've recorded, and follow them closely. But even then I would not have bought this book if it weren't subtitled "the rise of indie rock." I thought this would be a reflective piece on music history, on Yo La Tengo, on a lot of artists I really like. But it wasn't even close to that. Now I realize it's a fail review to just say, oh this didn't live up to what I expected it to be! So allow me continue.
Putting expectations aside, the book is very dry and journalistic. It reads very much as a laundry list of namedropping: who they toured with, who wrote about them, tangential lines drawn to big stars, etc. And even as a music geek who knows a lot of these names being dropped, it was a pain to get through. I can only imagine if someone was less into the scene than I, and how mindnumbing this book would read.
Namedropping could be tolerable though, if it wasn't the entirety of the book. That is, any sense of the musicians of Yo La Tengo, or insights into their music, or the greater good of indie rock, is not given. None. For instance, insight about one of YLT's masterpiece records, I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, is limited to what certain song titles mean, where they stayed while recording it, and what they ate while recording it. It's like 2 pages, and mostly that type of minutiae.
Part of me thinks that the lack of insight is purposeful in order to maintain the mystery and privacy and YLT, to a certain extent, have cultivated their entire career. However, a book doesn't need to be written for that.
There is some okay aspects: the journalism works in detailing the history of some of the smaller record labels and even Hoboken itself. And while dry, it is a quick read. And I definitely plan to use it to check out some of the important artists I do not know.
But as a look at the people, Ira, Georgia & James, the heart of this story, these creative brilliant artists, a hard journalistic angle does not work. I can't recommend this, even for any other huge Yo La Tengo fans.
July 6, 2012
Interesting, but so far it's not making me want to listen to any Yo La Tengo.
May 13, 2017
The stars have noting to do with the band. I like Yo La Tengo a great deal, just stoping short of loving them. Each album seems to require a realignment to their sound and what they put forth - which is fine. There are songs that get stuck in my head and I wonder - who recorded that? So musically its more like four stars. But the book, eh I want to stop short of saying its awful since it tells a nice comprehensive story of a nice comprehensive band. I get that the author did tons and tons of research - interviewed EVERYBODY, but, you know you need to filter that shit. So so often I wondered "why in the hell am I reading this anecdote? What does this interesting, but seemingly pointless story have to do with the band?" I toyed with the idea that the string of go-nowhere stories might be some sort of wry comment on the band and their sort of go with the flow observational Americana-ness, but in the end it was a lot of words that didn't all add up to a "big day coming," but more like, "sometimes I don't get you."
June 19, 2012
Phenomenal effort to chronicle not just a band, but a movement, a way of making music, a way of thinking, a community - all of which no longer exists the way it used to. I am biased because I lived in Hoboken in the 80s and spent so much time at Maxwell's I had access to Steve Fallon's apartment to use the bathroom back in those (one ladies' room days) but this captures what things were like, and why they were special, and the confluence of circumstances, down to the scent of the Maxwell House plant when you came out of the club late at night. The research is impeccable. If you enjoyed "This Band Could Be Your Life" or "Everybody Loves Our Town," if you are a student of American rock and roll history, this is another book you should read. Not essential to the canon per se, but a valuable snapshot that has been glossed over and overlooked previously.
December 12, 2012
Do you like Yo La Tengo? You should probably read this book.
Are you stuck in a musical rut and looking for a new band to like? You should probably read this book. (Hint, this option is me)
Do you not care about Yo La Tengo and are you satisfied with your musical listening repertoire? You can probably leave this one on the shelf.
Jesse Jarnow's Big Day Coming is, as the review on the cover says, "smartly researched" & "wonderfully digressive." I won this book on a Goodreads Giveaway, and even though I had never heard of this band before, I decided to enter anyway. I'm of the opinion that you can learn something from any book. There's always something more to learn. This book was on a topic completely unfamiliar to me, so I figured I'd give it a try.
For the most part, I'm glad I did. Not only did I learn about the history of Yo La Tengo (and how to spell it correctly), I actually discovered a band that's pretty darn cool. I'm actually listening to their music for the first time as I write this, and I'm pretty excited about it. If you've never listened to them, you should.
What I really liked about this book is the way it's written. It's anecdotal. I feel like I know these people after finishing the book. Like I could hang out with them and know what to say. This isn't a biography of a band that's filled with parties and drugs, but it's a story about genuine people who make music because they love to do it. That's really what I liked about it. Georgia, Ira, and James are accessible. They're normal. They're not rock gods who are held on a pedestal looking down at their subjects. They're just people.
Another thing that I tend to like, and that I liked about this book is the aspect of names. One of the first things you learn in the book is how they decided on "Yo La Tengo" as the name of their band. As the book continues you learn more about how albums and songs were named, from funny quips they heard on tour to a misread in Ira's copyediting job. I find it fascinating. One thing I didn't like, that relates somewhat to names, is the "name dropping" that I occasionally got overwhelmed with. This is a band that has been around for a quarter of a century, it's natural that they have brushed shoulders with the "big shots" or were there when another indie band "struck gold." If I had one criticism it would be the unabashed name dropping that occurs in a few paragraphs. I get it. I'm more interested in these people anyway.
Overall this was a great book. It provided insight into a band and culture that I previously had known absolutely nothing about. And after finishing the book and listening to some of Yo La Tengo's music, I can say that I've found some new music to listen to. Even if you don't pick up the book, at least click on this link and listen to the song that inspired the title. You won't regret it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzqjbV...
Are you stuck in a musical rut and looking for a new band to like? You should probably read this book. (Hint, this option is me)
Do you not care about Yo La Tengo and are you satisfied with your musical listening repertoire? You can probably leave this one on the shelf.
Jesse Jarnow's Big Day Coming is, as the review on the cover says, "smartly researched" & "wonderfully digressive." I won this book on a Goodreads Giveaway, and even though I had never heard of this band before, I decided to enter anyway. I'm of the opinion that you can learn something from any book. There's always something more to learn. This book was on a topic completely unfamiliar to me, so I figured I'd give it a try.
For the most part, I'm glad I did. Not only did I learn about the history of Yo La Tengo (and how to spell it correctly), I actually discovered a band that's pretty darn cool. I'm actually listening to their music for the first time as I write this, and I'm pretty excited about it. If you've never listened to them, you should.
What I really liked about this book is the way it's written. It's anecdotal. I feel like I know these people after finishing the book. Like I could hang out with them and know what to say. This isn't a biography of a band that's filled with parties and drugs, but it's a story about genuine people who make music because they love to do it. That's really what I liked about it. Georgia, Ira, and James are accessible. They're normal. They're not rock gods who are held on a pedestal looking down at their subjects. They're just people.
Another thing that I tend to like, and that I liked about this book is the aspect of names. One of the first things you learn in the book is how they decided on "Yo La Tengo" as the name of their band. As the book continues you learn more about how albums and songs were named, from funny quips they heard on tour to a misread in Ira's copyediting job. I find it fascinating. One thing I didn't like, that relates somewhat to names, is the "name dropping" that I occasionally got overwhelmed with. This is a band that has been around for a quarter of a century, it's natural that they have brushed shoulders with the "big shots" or were there when another indie band "struck gold." If I had one criticism it would be the unabashed name dropping that occurs in a few paragraphs. I get it. I'm more interested in these people anyway.
Overall this was a great book. It provided insight into a band and culture that I previously had known absolutely nothing about. And after finishing the book and listening to some of Yo La Tengo's music, I can say that I've found some new music to listen to. Even if you don't pick up the book, at least click on this link and listen to the song that inspired the title. You won't regret it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzqjbV...
July 29, 2012
Because I love Yo La Tengo, its hard to think critically and do anything but gush about this book. I liked this book because for all the depth of information it offers, it did nothing to change or diminish the impression I already had of the band. It allowed me to rediscover my love for everything about YLT's music and attitude and why it had become my convenient go-to answer for anytime I was asked my favorite band. They really are. Jesse Jarnow's attention to detail and the scope of his research is impressive--I like his sense of time and space and his examination of personal and professional intersections between band members and other culturally significant figures. He draws an elegant parallel between the birth of baseball in America in the Hudson valley area (close if not exactly in Hoboken, NJ), its development into a commercialized industry, and Yo La Tengo's own trajectory in the indie rock movement (not to mention their love of baseball.) This book reaffirmed my belief that if there was ever a band that had a personality and temperament similar to mine, Yo La Tengo is it. Jarnow does a great job of describing the paradoxical nature of this group--simultaneously loud and soft, serious and fun, confident and reticent--and why they're so special. Couldn't put it down.
November 7, 2015
Sin duda, es el libro perfecto para los amantes de Yo La Tengo. Nada pesado, pero tampoco ligero. Aparte de la vida de sus miembros y del recorrido de su banda durante estos 30 años, relata muchas otras cosas, como por ejemplo la escena musical alternativa de finales de los 70 hasta los 90, o el surgimiento de la música independiente americana (la génesis del "indie-rock").
Desde The Velvet Underground, R.E.M., pasando por Sonic Youth y The dB's, hasta Hüsker Dü, Black Flag y el grunge. Toca todos los palos... pero sobre todo a Yo La Tengo.
Desde The Velvet Underground, R.E.M., pasando por Sonic Youth y The dB's, hasta Hüsker Dü, Black Flag y el grunge. Toca todos los palos... pero sobre todo a Yo La Tengo.
October 6, 2012
An exhaustive account of the career of my favorite band, but not exactly a page-turner. There is way too much day-to-day detail that could have been sacrificed in favor of more personal anecdotes or musical nuggets, but I gather that the bandmates do not open up easily to strangers. Since I love YLT, I loved this book--but I would never recommend it to any non-devotee.
August 18, 2021
I normally avoid reading anything about musicians I love because I don’t want to know about their difficult personalities or the meanings behind songs, but I went into this having a vague awareness (and a bit of first-hand experience) that Ira and Georgia can be somewhat prickly so I felt safe wading in. The writing at times could be convoluted and overly intricate and there was a LOT of minutiae around names of people in their social circles, people they played with occasionally, and set lists for specific shows and practices. Despite being a self-proclaimed “music person” I really care very little for music writing that analyzes song structures, etc, I just like to listen. So a lot of that stuff was lost on me. And the amount of baseball tie-in felt somewhat forced.
Nevertheless, this was a rare book that I found myself unable to put down or stop thinking about. Despite the minutiae there was a ton of great stories and general lore to suck me in. Having been on the fringe of the college radio scene with my sad little radio show (albeit a few years after YLT “made it big”), reading this really reinvigorated my love of indie rock. I was aware of most of the bands and labels mentioned but never really thought all that much about how it all worked. It made me feel extreme fomo for how close my high school self was to going down a much cooler and deeper path had I just found The Velvet Underground sooner or had any interest in reading zines, or felt less intimidated by the scenesters I met in college. So instead I pretty much hid in my corner and skimmed the surface of all this stuff. But oh to be of age in in the mid 80s and a part of this scene!
In trying to put together a playlist for myself of things to revisit, a quick Spotify search of “indie rock” yielded incredibly depressing results nowhere near what I or the author would consider eligible for the genre, but maybe that makes me feel a little better about my own prowess. Anyway the book has definitely inspired me to revisit and reeducate myself on a lot of these bands and dig deeper into the collective catalog.
Nevertheless, this was a rare book that I found myself unable to put down or stop thinking about. Despite the minutiae there was a ton of great stories and general lore to suck me in. Having been on the fringe of the college radio scene with my sad little radio show (albeit a few years after YLT “made it big”), reading this really reinvigorated my love of indie rock. I was aware of most of the bands and labels mentioned but never really thought all that much about how it all worked. It made me feel extreme fomo for how close my high school self was to going down a much cooler and deeper path had I just found The Velvet Underground sooner or had any interest in reading zines, or felt less intimidated by the scenesters I met in college. So instead I pretty much hid in my corner and skimmed the surface of all this stuff. But oh to be of age in in the mid 80s and a part of this scene!
In trying to put together a playlist for myself of things to revisit, a quick Spotify search of “indie rock” yielded incredibly depressing results nowhere near what I or the author would consider eligible for the genre, but maybe that makes me feel a little better about my own prowess. Anyway the book has definitely inspired me to revisit and reeducate myself on a lot of these bands and dig deeper into the collective catalog.
December 26, 2020
I loved this book, because, well, I love yo la tengo.
If you don’t know yo la tengo, you should listen to them immediately. And if you fall in love with them like I have, you should pick this book up.
Otherwise... I would stay away.
If you don’t know yo la tengo, you should listen to them immediately. And if you fall in love with them like I have, you should pick this book up.
Otherwise... I would stay away.
September 29, 2025
The story of Yo La Tengo is an interesting one and I’m glad I read this (especially because Jarnow speaks my language as it were). But I was sad to find myself thinking that this book was a bit boring and pretentious.
December 25, 2023
Pitchfork is an important website. Great book if you like niche musical references.
December 28, 2024
and enlightening and enjoyable digressing untying of the vast knot of indie rock as it came to be, is, and was- and a heartfelt tribute to an american band
May 23, 2022
Worth reading solely for the story of YLT's Ira Kaplan, riding high at Lollapalooza '95 and fancying himself a real ping-pong stud duck, just getting absolutely demolished on the table by every single member of Pavement.
July 31, 2012
This book took me back -- I discovered Yo La Tengo, thanks to a friend, just around the time of Painful and Electropura, and used to see them perform three or four times a year, sometimes in Manhattan or Brooklyn, often over at Maxwell's in Hoboken. It was interesting to get more context of the surrounding music scene, some of which I'd been aware of and some of which I hadn't. It also had me thinking about the consequences of gentrification, both in Hoboken and across the river, and the resultant homogenization of culture in the metro region (yes, Brooklyn, your rents are rising now too).
The band is famously private, and as they lack the usual vices, they lack the standard rock star narrative of rise and fall and tentative recovery, and actually that's pretty cool. I knew much of what was in the book about them already, and the rest was consistent. It would have been nice to read more about the music, though; there were some good discussions of their albums, but there could have been more. It was nice to read about a couple of shows I know I was at -- one at Tramp's, another in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and shows at Maxwell's generally (even if I wasn't there for the ones referenced, I can still picture the back room and many, many evenings standing there watching them).
I did find it funny that, in a book that talks about how my favorite rockers supported themselves as copyeditors and proofreaders, there are some copyediting and proofreading errors here. Oh well.
The band is famously private, and as they lack the usual vices, they lack the standard rock star narrative of rise and fall and tentative recovery, and actually that's pretty cool. I knew much of what was in the book about them already, and the rest was consistent. It would have been nice to read more about the music, though; there were some good discussions of their albums, but there could have been more. It was nice to read about a couple of shows I know I was at -- one at Tramp's, another in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and shows at Maxwell's generally (even if I wasn't there for the ones referenced, I can still picture the back room and many, many evenings standing there watching them).
I did find it funny that, in a book that talks about how my favorite rockers supported themselves as copyeditors and proofreaders, there are some copyediting and proofreading errors here. Oh well.
June 17, 2017
Jarnow did his research, mapping the far-reaching connections between Kaplan, Hubley, McNew and their scene. The background he provides while keeping up with side stories, like Gerard Cosloy's journey from zine writer to label head, are often more interesting than the main story about the band itself. But after McNew joins the group, the story really loses any forward momentum, since YLT are not the kind of band with the sort of conflict and drama that makes for a compelling story. Jarnow also provides too many imprecise state-of-the-industry asides, which he strains to connect to each decision the band makes. And there are a lot of factual errors that I think would have been caught with some straightforward copy-editing. (For example, I don't believe that Warner Brothers had anything to do with Wowee Zowee's 1995 Matador release.) Nonetheless, this complaints aside, Jarnow does find stories worth telling (the background on Georgia Hubley's filmmaking parents, Kaplan's immersion in the early '80s scene while writing for New York Rocker), and some of his mapping of half-forgotten indie-rock bands may provide clues to some lost gems worth rediscovering.
January 28, 2019
This was actually my second time through this, but a recent Yo La Tengo kick found me reaching for it once again. As a trip through the band's history, I really love how Jarnow widens the scope and traces the arc of indie rock in general from the late 1970s to the late 2000s. A must read for any YLT fan or even those interested in how indie rock functioned during this period.
February 21, 2024
Fascinating cross section of North Eastern Indie Rock through the 80s/90s/00s. Yo La Tengo are the back bone of the loose fitting sweatshirt that is indie rock, alt-comedy and counterculture outside and in New York since before they started until today. The writing here is not poetry, but it's fascinating reading if you ever loved the band, or if you are interested in the world they inhabit.
April 3, 2015
Really liking books about long running indie bands (Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth), seems like there's some ideas worth borrowing for an art career.. A good reminder to also check out their older albums, and to give the Feelies and the dB's another listen.
April 2, 2022
Yo La Tengo is one of my favorite bands. I used to have a T-shirt of theirs, which featured a drawing in which Ira and James, the guitarist and bassist, are facing away from the observer, which I think caught the essence of the band: they don’t want attention, and the individual members are much less interesting than the music they create. Jarnow tries here. There is some interesting stuff about the history of Maxwell’s, Matador, and WTUL, but at the end of the day this is a tale of some normal, well-adjusted, but notably attention-shy musicians who make incredible music but don’t necessarily warrant the full biography treatment. I can only read about their penchants for bbq and going to the movies for so many chapters.
May 13, 2018
Clearly the work of a loving fan-light on personal details but heavy on the environments, influences, and people surrounding a great band. Don't come into it expecting much commentary on other music - the focus is on YLT and only by tangent to a few of the independent labels and artists that they intersected with. I walked away at the very least with an appreciation for their artistic purposes and a list of other artists to listen to.
May 25, 2020
This book is full of interesting tidbits about the critically acclaimed, yet oft-overlooked musical force that is Yo La Tengo. Set amid a vast indie rock landscape with Hoboken at its epicenter, Jesse Jarnow does a fabulous job interviewing related associates, band friends (many obscure to me, prompting lots of Google searches & discoveries), venue owners, radio folks (WFMU) and other industry stalwarts to help tell the story of a band that has forged a successful path on their own terms.
October 17, 2020
As much about Yo La Tengo as it is about the development and changes in the American indie music world from the '80s into the 21st century, this is a great read on a band that I wouldn't have expected a biography of. Follows from each of the members' childhoods through the release of 'Popular Songs' giving, for better or worse, roughly even time to each release. Much less focus on the specific albums and songs than on the general culture and happenings around the band.
March 14, 2021
3.5. As much a profile of the world around Yo La Tengo as of the band itself, it goes into dizzying detail of YLT’s many, many friends, collaborators, and acquaintances. Maxwell’s and WMFU star as much as Georgia, James, and Ira. Though the reporting on the scene is mighty impressive, it would have been nice to better get to know the very private Ira and Georgia.
May 2, 2022
For a band with not a whole lot of drama in their career this book manages to still be a page turner somehow. Perhaps it's because Jarnow does a very good job of placing Yo La Tengo in the larger context of the explosion of "Indie Rock" that took place in the mid 80s and early 90s. Music obsessives rejoice! This is a really good one. 4 stars.
September 29, 2023
I fucking love this band and I'm really glad that Grateful Dead Cast co-host Jesse Jarnow wrote a book about them that I could read. This takes a lot of the sting out of missing the Wilco sit in with them earlier this year, but I'm definitely going to see them again in 2024.
Or maybe if I'm lucky one of their Hanukah parties.
Or maybe if I'm lucky one of their Hanukah parties.
October 25, 2025
As a long-time Yo La Tengo fan, I was excited by the subject matter, but it gets lost in every little detail in the chronology of the book. It reads like a fanboy's obsession with anything and everything related to the YLT universe.
Ultimately, it was a tedious book, too much "on this day they did that, and too little insight into the art of music making
Ultimately, it was a tedious book, too much "on this day they did that, and too little insight into the art of music making
January 23, 2023
Really interesting exploration into a great band and the culture surrounding them BUT it drove me crazy that the author seems to think every TV show is on HBO. Tim and Eric wasn't and Monk CERTAINLY wasn't! Probably bothers me more than it should.
October 27, 2018
Is maith liom Yo la teanga. They aren't very interesting people. However this book is a good read, a decent overview of the band. Definitely for fans only!
May 21, 2020
A fun read. Not sure how factually accurate all the info in here is, though.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews