Weird to JUST be reading this groundbreaking rock book from the early '70s. Unless I'm missing something, it's the first collection of (relatively) in-depth artist profiles in the genre by a single writer--I am pretty sure Lydon beat his former classmate Guralnick, at the least. They haven't dated too badly, either: Smokey Robinson's section is probably still useful, and it seems like much conventional wisdom about Chuck Berry (prior to Chuck's excellent but sly memoir) must have come from Lydon's piece.