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Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group
"Proscriptive how-to advice ranges over a wide number of subjects (e.g., sex, band photos, etc.) and can be seen both as skewering the cultural idolatry associated with rock and as genuine counsel. Svenonius's sociopolitical analysis of rock and roll is intellectually interesting, as when he posits that the genre was 'brought about by the industrial revolution, the harnessing of electricity, and the miscegenation of various poor, exploited, and indentured cultures in the USA.'"--Library Journal
"So much of the allure here is in watching Svenonius skirt absurdity. He's always seemed delighted by the fact that the profound and the preposterous can sound awfully alike, a realization that puts him in line with an avant-garde tradition that stretches back before rock 'n' roll crystallized this fact...Svenonius has the spirit of a long-gone punk past, but his book has more to tell us about rock's here-and-now than about its hereafter. Neither bourgeois nor prestigious, Supernatural Strategies may be the rare book by a rock musician to retain any power or threat."--Los Angeles Review of Books
"Like its author, Supernatural Strategies is part tongue-in-cheek, part deadly serious--a satire of rock's consumerist origins but also a thoughtful treatise on what it means to devote yourself to a collective...Drawing from the wisdom of rock 'n' roll's most famous ghosts, Svenonius' advice ranges from hilarious to cryptic to surprisingly useful."--Pitchfork
"Svenonius has walked the walk...Even today--as the frontman of Chain & The Gang and the host of the online talk show Soft Focus--he remains cool, cryptic, and impeccably dressed, a mod magician with a trick always lurking up his tailored sleeve."--The Onion AV Club
"If 'write what you know' is one of authorship's prime dictates, then Ian F. Svenonius seems uniquely qualified...Svenonius' contrarian, anti-establishment rhetoric is his greatest gift...Strategies plays to these same strengths by allowing him to run roughshod riot over hallowed ground he's already trod--and sometimes paved--more than a few times."--Baltimore City Paper
Ian F. Svenonius's experience as an iconic underground rock musician--playing in such highly influential and revolutionary outfits as The Make-Up and The Nation of Ulysses--gives him special insight on techniques for not only starting but also surviving a rock 'n' roll group. Therefore, he's written an instructional guide, which doubles as a warning device, a philosophical text, an exercise in terror, an aerobics manual, and a coloring book.
This volume features essays (and black-and-white illustrations) on everything the would-be star should know to get started, such as Sex, Drugs, Sound, Group Photo, The Van, and Manufacturing Nostalgia. Supernatural Strategies will serve as an indispensable guide for a new generation just aching to boogie.
"So much of the allure here is in watching Svenonius skirt absurdity. He's always seemed delighted by the fact that the profound and the preposterous can sound awfully alike, a realization that puts him in line with an avant-garde tradition that stretches back before rock 'n' roll crystallized this fact...Svenonius has the spirit of a long-gone punk past, but his book has more to tell us about rock's here-and-now than about its hereafter. Neither bourgeois nor prestigious, Supernatural Strategies may be the rare book by a rock musician to retain any power or threat."--Los Angeles Review of Books
"Like its author, Supernatural Strategies is part tongue-in-cheek, part deadly serious--a satire of rock's consumerist origins but also a thoughtful treatise on what it means to devote yourself to a collective...Drawing from the wisdom of rock 'n' roll's most famous ghosts, Svenonius' advice ranges from hilarious to cryptic to surprisingly useful."--Pitchfork
"Svenonius has walked the walk...Even today--as the frontman of Chain & The Gang and the host of the online talk show Soft Focus--he remains cool, cryptic, and impeccably dressed, a mod magician with a trick always lurking up his tailored sleeve."--The Onion AV Club
"If 'write what you know' is one of authorship's prime dictates, then Ian F. Svenonius seems uniquely qualified...Svenonius' contrarian, anti-establishment rhetoric is his greatest gift...Strategies plays to these same strengths by allowing him to run roughshod riot over hallowed ground he's already trod--and sometimes paved--more than a few times."--Baltimore City Paper
Ian F. Svenonius's experience as an iconic underground rock musician--playing in such highly influential and revolutionary outfits as The Make-Up and The Nation of Ulysses--gives him special insight on techniques for not only starting but also surviving a rock 'n' roll group. Therefore, he's written an instructional guide, which doubles as a warning device, a philosophical text, an exercise in terror, an aerobics manual, and a coloring book.
This volume features essays (and black-and-white illustrations) on everything the would-be star should know to get started, such as Sex, Drugs, Sound, Group Photo, The Van, and Manufacturing Nostalgia. Supernatural Strategies will serve as an indispensable guide for a new generation just aching to boogie.
200 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
46 people are currently reading
998 people want to read
About the author
Ian F. Svenonius
12 books96 followersIan Svenonius is an American musician, notable as the singer and mouthpiece of various Washington, D.C.-based music groups including The Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up, Weird War, and Chain and the Gang. With his projects, Svenonius has released more than 15 full-length albums and more than 20 singles, EPs, and splits. Svenonius is also a published author and an online talk show host.
Svenonius’ first band, The Nation of Ulysses, formed in 1988, and were influential in the early Washington D.C. punk scene. The band broke up in 1992 after failing to record their third studio album. After a short-lived side-project called Cupid Car Club, Svenonius formed The Make-Up in 1995, who combined garage rock, soul, and a so-called “liberation theology” to make a new genre they dubbed “Gospel Yeh-Yeh.” The Make-Up dissolved early in 2001, and a year later, Svenonius formed the band Weird War, who were also known briefly as the Scene Creamers. Svenonius’ solo work includes the 2001 album Play Power under the fictional pseudonym of David Candy, the book The Psychic Soviet, and as host of Soft Focus on VBS.tv. Svenonius’ projects and writings have all shared an anti-authoritarian, populist, tongue-in-cheek political agenda.
Svenonius’ first band, The Nation of Ulysses, formed in 1988, and were influential in the early Washington D.C. punk scene. The band broke up in 1992 after failing to record their third studio album. After a short-lived side-project called Cupid Car Club, Svenonius formed The Make-Up in 1995, who combined garage rock, soul, and a so-called “liberation theology” to make a new genre they dubbed “Gospel Yeh-Yeh.” The Make-Up dissolved early in 2001, and a year later, Svenonius formed the band Weird War, who were also known briefly as the Scene Creamers. Svenonius’ solo work includes the 2001 album Play Power under the fictional pseudonym of David Candy, the book The Psychic Soviet, and as host of Soft Focus on VBS.tv. Svenonius’ projects and writings have all shared an anti-authoritarian, populist, tongue-in-cheek political agenda.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
January 8, 2013
A middle-aged pro drummer friend of mine recently posted this facebook status reviewing the movie "Anvil": "I laughed, I cried, I sold all my gear." As a middle-aged dude whose rock'n'roll fantasies apparently persist, if my present time-budgetting behaviors are any indication, that's pretty much how I feel after reading this book. "Supernatural Strategies..." is a charming and flawed little book that was a lot of fun to read. Svenonius presents a plethora of ideas pertaining to many non-musical Rock'n'Roll realities, some of which are wrong but that's not the point, almost all of which are well worth thinking about or at least being aware of, and a couple of which penetrate like a diamond bullet through the forehead and explode with clarity. The wrong, the interesting, and the profound mingle together creating tension that is usually pleasing and interesting, but occasionally confusing. One should know at the outset that the supernatural element of the book is structural, and the actual "strategies" themselves are not in any way supernatural except for some advice on how and why to balance the astrological signs of the group members. And "strategies" is probably the wrong word. A less confusing title might have been "Primarily Marxist, Secondarily Feminist, and Tertially Freudian Reasons to Steer Clear of the Rock'n'Roll Clusterfuck." Apart from that, my main criticism is that he sticks to very shallow water with respect to Marx, Feminism, and the Occult alike. Even though my attempts to navigate their associated deep water have yielded Spielbergian, if not Cameronian, outcomes, I could have used a little more meat. Y'all should read it.
May 27, 2013
Brilliant! The novel mixes cultural criticism, philosophy, sociology, and a heaping dose of sarcasm to lampoon nearly every possible aspect of rock music culture. No stone is left unturned - the bands, producers, fans, detractors, and everyone in between.
May 29, 2016
Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group is an amusing, smart, perceptive, tongue in cheek deconstruction on how to make a rock n roll group. Despite its niche objective, "Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group" is actually nothing less than a complete deconstruction of modern manners and the absurdity of life on planet Earth in the 21st century.
Ian F. Svenonius applies his considerable learning in a perceptive and original way, whilst cautioning the would-be rock 'n' roller to do pretty much anything but pursue a career in music.
I loved this book. It provides razor-sharp social satire, astute cultural criticism, political commentary, and much more.
At around the halfway point I ordered Ian F. Svenonius's other two books: The Psychic Soviet and Other Works and Censorship Now!!. I cannot wait to read them both.
4/5
Ian F. Svenonius applies his considerable learning in a perceptive and original way, whilst cautioning the would-be rock 'n' roller to do pretty much anything but pursue a career in music.
I loved this book. It provides razor-sharp social satire, astute cultural criticism, political commentary, and much more.
At around the halfway point I ordered Ian F. Svenonius's other two books: The Psychic Soviet and Other Works and Censorship Now!!. I cannot wait to read them both.
4/5
February 1, 2018
Ok so this book is highly entertaining and very unhinged, but recommended to basically anyone interested in playing rock music.
I had two gripes:
1. The overall conceit of a seance is not followed through with altogether. Although Svenonius points out that he will be translating any outdated slang, it would have shown a bit more commitment and skill to actually use the dialect of the person who is speaking as a ghost. This is mostly played for laughs.
2. Tankie style politics and hardcore Stalin/North Korea apologism/revisionist ideology. Which is gross. Nobody likes tankies. Ian describes a band as best used for the purpose of propagating an ideology, which I would rather say "idea". Read one way, this is book is propaganda for turning bands specifically into Communists (thus making it rather similar to the brainwashing capitalist propaganda that Ian complains about). Still there is a very interesting and quirky worldview at work here, in spite of or maybe because of the flaws.
Also, towards the end, Ian says that music is the only art form that is time consuming and temporal besides cinema.
What about, I don't know Ian, READING? How didn't he think of this while he was writing it?
Anyway fun read would recommend
I had two gripes:
1. The overall conceit of a seance is not followed through with altogether. Although Svenonius points out that he will be translating any outdated slang, it would have shown a bit more commitment and skill to actually use the dialect of the person who is speaking as a ghost. This is mostly played for laughs.
2. Tankie style politics and hardcore Stalin/North Korea apologism/revisionist ideology. Which is gross. Nobody likes tankies. Ian describes a band as best used for the purpose of propagating an ideology, which I would rather say "idea". Read one way, this is book is propaganda for turning bands specifically into Communists (thus making it rather similar to the brainwashing capitalist propaganda that Ian complains about). Still there is a very interesting and quirky worldview at work here, in spite of or maybe because of the flaws.
Also, towards the end, Ian says that music is the only art form that is time consuming and temporal besides cinema.
What about, I don't know Ian, READING? How didn't he think of this while he was writing it?
Anyway fun read would recommend
March 8, 2013
This is a great idea for a book in concept - some rock enthusiasts conduct a seance to uncover the secrets of great rock bands from our long dead rock idols. The seance part is kinda cheesy, but when you get into the actual advice for rock bands, the book is pretty dead on and hilarious. Some gems: "Human artistic endeavors are typically borne from a deep sense of shame."
Or "Ironically, all groups are tied to an automotive destiny. And the automobile is, of course, the primary culprit in the destruction of the world via global warming, suburban sprawl, and oil wars. This underlines the paradox of the group, who purport to embody some accelerated utopian artistic ideal, but are alchemized into Teamsters for most of their lifetime."
Svenonius is a wonderful character, he always has been, and his wonderful view on capitalism, labor, socialism, modern society and rock and roll is always a breath of fresh air.
My favorite: "Predicting drug trends could be an enormous asset for a group, akin to a stockbroker knowing how to play the market effectively."
A worthy read if you used to dream of being in a rock band or, god forbid, you still do.
Or "Ironically, all groups are tied to an automotive destiny. And the automobile is, of course, the primary culprit in the destruction of the world via global warming, suburban sprawl, and oil wars. This underlines the paradox of the group, who purport to embody some accelerated utopian artistic ideal, but are alchemized into Teamsters for most of their lifetime."
Svenonius is a wonderful character, he always has been, and his wonderful view on capitalism, labor, socialism, modern society and rock and roll is always a breath of fresh air.
My favorite: "Predicting drug trends could be an enormous asset for a group, akin to a stockbroker knowing how to play the market effectively."
A worthy read if you used to dream of being in a rock band or, god forbid, you still do.
March 8, 2016
Very funny and weirdly insightful. Definitely recommended to other musicians who will find some of the situations pretty familiar. Svenonius puts forward the idea that the rock 'n' roll group was borne from the street gang and ultimately used by the US as a Cold War weapon, and somehow makes his argument sound both outlandish and perfectly cogent. My interest (and possibly the author's) tended to wane towards the end.
January 16, 2015
A funny and amusing Manuel on a serious subject matter - bands. A very smart and snooty look at the mechanics of being in a band as well as being involved with the music business. The only part I really didn't like was the beginning with the dead stars blah blah. But still the book has good poison. All hail rock n roll.
November 29, 2015
I feel like I should be embarrassed by how delightful I found this lil bük, but, like, it echoed so many of my thoughts on pop and the format suited the subject perfectly and I looked proper like a serious occasional member of the music press reading it in cafes in Liverpool and London.
June 5, 2025
The Scene Creamer pours black gold onto the nation of Ulysses unleashing the fire of Malibu. Again Here comes the Judge part 2 with his chain gang escapism to bludgeon the ears of David Candy amidst the spectres and ghouls in the cosmic depression that must Make Up.
December 27, 2016
As ever with the great Ian Svenonius, one of the modern legends in rock and roll (I invite beginners to examine live videos of the Nation of Ulysses and the Make Up's amazing singles comp, "I Want Some"), it's hard to know how seriously to take "Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock n' Roll Group." It begins with a seance (Brian Jones, Mary Wells, and others are invoked) and ends with a question: Is music really any good for you? A seemingly playful sentence about songwriting can be followed by a seemingly serious defense of North Korea. Legitimately good advice about creating rock n' roll (Svenonius has been doing it, regularly, for almost three decades now) is mixed up with chapter long meditations on Zodiac signs. I liked all of it, of course, and thought it was funny and provocative and entertaining as hell. Svenonius is a terrific writer and a pretty gifted critic (his various paragraphs on the Beatles are some of the finest, most challenging piece of Beatle-crit I've encountered). Dismiss him at your peril!
April 8, 2022
That's a good one! I remember a guy told me about this book on the last day of a Burning Man event, taking place in a Russian countryside. We drank beer in a pop-up bar in the middle of the meadow and he was sharing his story, going to Genesis P-Orridge garage sale and buying a dress among others. Then he asked me if I read this book.
Full of wit and unexpected, wise observations, "Supernatural Strategies" share an insight into the independent music world through the eyes of the one, who's been there, done that. Ian F. Svenonius knows what he's talking about and, thanks god, is not trying to sell a cliché rock'n'roll star image. Love this book, definitely worth a re-read.
Full of wit and unexpected, wise observations, "Supernatural Strategies" share an insight into the independent music world through the eyes of the one, who's been there, done that. Ian F. Svenonius knows what he's talking about and, thanks god, is not trying to sell a cliché rock'n'roll star image. Love this book, definitely worth a re-read.
December 30, 2020
3.2
I must admit, I didn't want to like this book. I read it out of spite – several respectable friends recommended it.
I'm not a fan of Svenonius' music, and I once attended a talk of his in New Haven that was so underwhelming I walked out in frustration. Yet, as a writer, Svenonius shines.
For me, this book is a case of why you have to keep an open mind (though mine was trying hard to stay closed as I started reading). It's an example of people having different skills in different mediums.
Yes, the book is a bit uneven, but all in all, the premise is clever, the writing amusing, and the cultural insights are cunning.
I must admit, I didn't want to like this book. I read it out of spite – several respectable friends recommended it.
I'm not a fan of Svenonius' music, and I once attended a talk of his in New Haven that was so underwhelming I walked out in frustration. Yet, as a writer, Svenonius shines.
For me, this book is a case of why you have to keep an open mind (though mine was trying hard to stay closed as I started reading). It's an example of people having different skills in different mediums.
Yes, the book is a bit uneven, but all in all, the premise is clever, the writing amusing, and the cultural insights are cunning.
December 14, 2020
Con una premisa interesante e incluso simpática, el libro se pierde en una diatriba no exactamente infumable pero no muy fácil de digerir. Lo que parte con un original desarrollo se va perdiendo en un afán del autor de convertir lo irónico en eje estructural de un ensayo sarcástico del que solo se salvan algunos fragmentos y unas pocas líneas brillantes
October 2, 2018
Excellent read and very amusing. Sits beautifully in that particular and expanding category of singer/showman who hold plenty of talent in writing - classified next to 'The Psychic Soviet' and 'Evgeny Sokolov" by S. Gainsbourg
August 20, 2021
I don’t know why it took me so long to discover that one of my favorite voices in rock n’ roll was also a writer. In any case this is essential reading for anyone interested in the philosophy and inner workings of a band, and that goes double for participants in bands.
July 28, 2017
The absurdity of making underground rock music parroted back in such an absurd light it most deserves. Brilliantly written by Svenonius, cynical in all the right ways and rarely the wrong ones.
March 14, 2018
Quitting all my bands tomorrow.
February 7, 2019
Transcends its novelty value
August 5, 2019
The reviews on this site has me thinking I should give this another try.
September 6, 2021
This is the best and most important book I've ever read.
Dick Hebdige x Simon Reynolds x Jon Glaser !!!
Dick Hebdige x Simon Reynolds x Jon Glaser !!!
February 15, 2024
Humor, ironía y cinismo. Política y poco de música pero interesante.
July 16, 2024
snob et dépassé
Read
February 20, 2025Ian can sure write a bop
April 21, 2014
This is a wonderful, informative book for anybody who is inclined in the direction of "rocking out". The itinerant "rocker" can find helpful hints and advice on useful things such as drugs, trousers, Ford Econoline E-150 and sex with groupies. The secret ingredient is the "otherworldly advice", in the form of seances invoking luminaries like Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix and Sir Paul McCartney of the British street gang, 'The Beatles'. (I realize that Sir McCartney is not dead, he just spends a lot of time in the Spirit World whilst meditating or tending to his garden in Scotland. I recommend this to anybody, especially if they are interested in 'Rock and Roll' concertos and the like.
I have transcribed some choice passages for your reading pleasure. I hope that they elucidate and uplift you as they have me.
"Groups who stop taking drugs replace them with coffee addiction or other obsessive behavior, which they flaunt in a macho display which they call a "work ethic". This is a guilty impulse borne of the desire to "make up for lost time". Drugs are time-consuming and once one is not taking them, it becomes apparent to the former user how many years were used up with what is essentially an expensive version of sleeping late.
However, group members who are encumbered with a guilt complex for their "bad behavior"needn't fret. Without a drug habit, a fast-moving rock memoir is nearly impossible to write. Both for the teetotaler and for the substance abuser, drug addiction is THE socially prescribed outlaw lifestyle. Hollywood makes glamorous films about it and its victims regale each other with stories of their wild years' heroism in closed meetings. As opposed to bestiality, shoplifting, wife swapping political activism or grand theft auto, drugs represent a malignant social behavior that is institutionalized, validated and actually beloved by our society. Ever since the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, addiction has become the neat packaging of mankind's struggle with temptation, betrayal, genetic programming, mortality and sin - something everyone "gets" and relates to. Drugs also touch on social obsessions such as class, morality and race. Meanwhile, Americans in particular love a redemption story. In fact, as evangelical Christians - either latent or actual, they demand one and won't trust you if you aren't so equipped.
A group history of drug abuse is a tool to achieve this kind of comforting narrative arc. It's retold again and again in documentaries and fictional stories. Addiction to drugs is America's official vice and the pat explanation for so many "broken" lives. Those who have dead-end existences without a handy "habit" aren't victims. They're just lazy losers, degenerates, and possibly mentally ill. They certainly aren't sexy. The addict is different. The drug user, with his or her officially designated "bad" or "outlaw" life choices is the "sin-eater" who absorbs governmental inadequacy, social neglect, dead-end job markets, domestic abuse, horrible schooling and existential angst, as well as the wrongdoings of societal peers.
In a sense, mourning drug use and the wasted talent or broken families thus begotten is just hand-wringing over mortality itself. The drug user's explicit pissing away of her time is a salve to the nonaddict's conscience and also an erotic reminder of impending doom."
Another stellar passage from the chapter entitled "Nostalgia":
II. THE USE OF NOSTALGIA
Nostalgia is thought of as cute and slightly pathetic- simple "wistfulness". But it is actually the most intransigent, the most irrational, and therefore the most potent of all emotions. Humanity's fervent inclination is to maintain the way things are, the "status quo". This is due not only to the fear of the unknown, but also to the sense of comfort found in familiar forms. When something new is introduced, it's met with condescending derision by a population resistant to change (e.g., the Eiffel Tower, the cell phone, the Segway™). However, the dark system of capitalism insists on shocking, cataclysmic, even traumatic change on a constant basis. Indeed, nearly every day another delightful candy wrapper with fond associations from one's childhood is transformed by its manufacturers into something garish, cretinous and embarrassing to look at. Memory eradicated. Associations erased. Your preference? Who cares. Your desires? Apparently irrelevant. Beautiful buildings with poignant history and craftsmanship unequaled by modern construction techniques are walloped by wrecking balls, gutted, and smashed into dust just to be replaced by ever more flimsy, hideous structures- "live/work lofts" and "luxury-urban dwellings" made by incompetent architects out of Tyvek™ and toilet paper. Were you consulted? The answer isn't "no", but rather "NO!". You were most expressly not consulted.
I have transcribed some choice passages for your reading pleasure. I hope that they elucidate and uplift you as they have me.
"Groups who stop taking drugs replace them with coffee addiction or other obsessive behavior, which they flaunt in a macho display which they call a "work ethic". This is a guilty impulse borne of the desire to "make up for lost time". Drugs are time-consuming and once one is not taking them, it becomes apparent to the former user how many years were used up with what is essentially an expensive version of sleeping late.
However, group members who are encumbered with a guilt complex for their "bad behavior"needn't fret. Without a drug habit, a fast-moving rock memoir is nearly impossible to write. Both for the teetotaler and for the substance abuser, drug addiction is THE socially prescribed outlaw lifestyle. Hollywood makes glamorous films about it and its victims regale each other with stories of their wild years' heroism in closed meetings. As opposed to bestiality, shoplifting, wife swapping political activism or grand theft auto, drugs represent a malignant social behavior that is institutionalized, validated and actually beloved by our society. Ever since the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, addiction has become the neat packaging of mankind's struggle with temptation, betrayal, genetic programming, mortality and sin - something everyone "gets" and relates to. Drugs also touch on social obsessions such as class, morality and race. Meanwhile, Americans in particular love a redemption story. In fact, as evangelical Christians - either latent or actual, they demand one and won't trust you if you aren't so equipped.
A group history of drug abuse is a tool to achieve this kind of comforting narrative arc. It's retold again and again in documentaries and fictional stories. Addiction to drugs is America's official vice and the pat explanation for so many "broken" lives. Those who have dead-end existences without a handy "habit" aren't victims. They're just lazy losers, degenerates, and possibly mentally ill. They certainly aren't sexy. The addict is different. The drug user, with his or her officially designated "bad" or "outlaw" life choices is the "sin-eater" who absorbs governmental inadequacy, social neglect, dead-end job markets, domestic abuse, horrible schooling and existential angst, as well as the wrongdoings of societal peers.
In a sense, mourning drug use and the wasted talent or broken families thus begotten is just hand-wringing over mortality itself. The drug user's explicit pissing away of her time is a salve to the nonaddict's conscience and also an erotic reminder of impending doom."
Another stellar passage from the chapter entitled "Nostalgia":
II. THE USE OF NOSTALGIA
Nostalgia is thought of as cute and slightly pathetic- simple "wistfulness". But it is actually the most intransigent, the most irrational, and therefore the most potent of all emotions. Humanity's fervent inclination is to maintain the way things are, the "status quo". This is due not only to the fear of the unknown, but also to the sense of comfort found in familiar forms. When something new is introduced, it's met with condescending derision by a population resistant to change (e.g., the Eiffel Tower, the cell phone, the Segway™). However, the dark system of capitalism insists on shocking, cataclysmic, even traumatic change on a constant basis. Indeed, nearly every day another delightful candy wrapper with fond associations from one's childhood is transformed by its manufacturers into something garish, cretinous and embarrassing to look at. Memory eradicated. Associations erased. Your preference? Who cares. Your desires? Apparently irrelevant. Beautiful buildings with poignant history and craftsmanship unequaled by modern construction techniques are walloped by wrecking balls, gutted, and smashed into dust just to be replaced by ever more flimsy, hideous structures- "live/work lofts" and "luxury-urban dwellings" made by incompetent architects out of Tyvek™ and toilet paper. Were you consulted? The answer isn't "no", but rather "NO!". You were most expressly not consulted.
December 18, 2023
Ian Svenonius es un mamarracho, pero uno bastante divertido. Me ha sorprendido ver lo bien escrito que está y lo coherente que resulta.
March 15, 2017
Ian Svenonius remains a really funny and interesting guy. I have no idea how much of this book is bullshit (like, minimum 60%--it starts with seances and Buddy Holly talking through poured out salt), but it was great company for both days I was reading it. As a musician I feel emboldened and excited. As just a person who wants to be a person I do too.
July 9, 2023
Many who read this book will be expanded. Having recently read Nicomachean Ethics and The Republic I was unsure whether I could be moved by another title written in the proscriptive tyrannical mode (1). I felt that maybe I had achieved my ethical and political pinnacle both as a virtuous aesthete and as a monarchic philanderer. The attempt to understand the group felt like it might be antithetical to both. So I began reading uncertainly. I quickly realized that Svenonius has written a book that supercedes our ancient (2) scribblers. Why this book was not a suggested text in my political science and history courses must have something to do with Common Core, Piaget, Bloom's Taxonomy, and that other French guy who I'm sure Voltaire would have been great friends with (3).
(1) Plato hides behind Socrates who tempers the tyranny a bit. Artistotle, being a great example of what Plato hoped for in society, knows best.
(2) and most modern
(3) I think Pearson and Disney are involved too
Update 20210621:
Sisyphus, enjoying some notoriety from the Gods, decided to start a band. To do so he read Svenonius and found that rock n roll was a good fit for him (he would leave the Cage to Tantalus, another of the Gods' favorite pets).
---
notes:
20210331
Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group, Ian F. Svenonius
The great conspiracy
The moments we see ourselves in were orchestrated by hands unknown. A puppeteer in the shadows deftly motions and, as all celestial bodies, we move in continuous reaction.
From the pulpits of psyche we are moved through celebration and mourning. Each its own place lonely or in community.
01:07:34
" controlling truth and encouraging the protestant ethic …"
20210401
03:54:37
roots, blues, authentic - code words for heterosexual
04:07:37
the movement away from focused attention (reflection). An LP required availability to flip. Careful motor control to access the desired track. No more with digital access. It's there - and more.
So now reflection is about connection. How is it that this search turned up these results. What does that say about society and, as AI curates our reading lists more and more, about us?
04:16:10
Pieces played once. A thing of a past or the essence of memory?
Can you repeat? Yes, they say, now we can repeat. Select loop.
Is this a catching? A noose? Our own pitard or an other's? To escape is … ourself? or an orchestrated loosening, movement, restructuring of the loop into invisibility?
And those claims of paranoia? They are real, but also orchestrated. Moving on into new realms of control.
04:26:34
Do you have the machine to interpret my machine?
Do you have the machine
to interpret my machine?
Talking back and forth
is so 1942.
04:27:57
Crying out "hey you" or tailoring to a specific you.
John the Baptist's story. To anyone who would listen or already focused on those who shared his belief in a particular messiah?
20210402
Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Band, Ian F. Svenonius
05:59:44
placating Earth with offerings of specially sorted trash
…
20201006
Hegel misunderstood tackles the universe ramrod straight and shatteringly slow in the timeless void. And the Prussian ethos is thusly promulgated.
(1) Plato hides behind Socrates who tempers the tyranny a bit. Artistotle, being a great example of what Plato hoped for in society, knows best.
(2) and most modern
(3) I think Pearson and Disney are involved too
Update 20210621:
Sisyphus, enjoying some notoriety from the Gods, decided to start a band. To do so he read Svenonius and found that rock n roll was a good fit for him (he would leave the Cage to Tantalus, another of the Gods' favorite pets).
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notes:
20210331
Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group, Ian F. Svenonius
The great conspiracy
The moments we see ourselves in were orchestrated by hands unknown. A puppeteer in the shadows deftly motions and, as all celestial bodies, we move in continuous reaction.
From the pulpits of psyche we are moved through celebration and mourning. Each its own place lonely or in community.
01:07:34
" controlling truth and encouraging the protestant ethic …"
20210401
03:54:37
roots, blues, authentic - code words for heterosexual
04:07:37
the movement away from focused attention (reflection). An LP required availability to flip. Careful motor control to access the desired track. No more with digital access. It's there - and more.
So now reflection is about connection. How is it that this search turned up these results. What does that say about society and, as AI curates our reading lists more and more, about us?
04:16:10
Pieces played once. A thing of a past or the essence of memory?
Can you repeat? Yes, they say, now we can repeat. Select loop.
Is this a catching? A noose? Our own pitard or an other's? To escape is … ourself? or an orchestrated loosening, movement, restructuring of the loop into invisibility?
And those claims of paranoia? They are real, but also orchestrated. Moving on into new realms of control.
04:26:34
Do you have the machine to interpret my machine?
Do you have the machine
to interpret my machine?
Talking back and forth
is so 1942.
04:27:57
Crying out "hey you" or tailoring to a specific you.
John the Baptist's story. To anyone who would listen or already focused on those who shared his belief in a particular messiah?
20210402
Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Band, Ian F. Svenonius
05:59:44
placating Earth with offerings of specially sorted trash
…
20201006
Hegel misunderstood tackles the universe ramrod straight and shatteringly slow in the timeless void. And the Prussian ethos is thusly promulgated.
August 4, 2023
Está muy bueno, divertido, usando el rock para hablar de muchas más cosas, hacer un análisis cultural interesante, lleno de sarcasmo.
Recomendable
Recomendable
May 20, 2013
Ian Svenonius knows of what he speaks when he offers tips on how to start a rock 'n' roll band and enjoy all the power that such an enterprise may provide. The book offers guidance on assembling your very own band, dealing with producers, finding the proper tour vehicle and so forth. This info is so useful that Svenonius didn't really need to include a seance that brings us into contact with many late, lamented rock 'n' rollers who choose to communicate via inanimate objects. He probably knows more about being in a band than Brian Jones does, though Brian Jones might know considerably more about a debauched lifestyle.
Once the seance part is over, the fun begins. Nearly all the chapters find a way to tie rock 'n' roll to the broader history of American-style capitalism and the military-industrial complex. For example, Sevonious declares that rock 'n' roll was the Trojan horse that smuggled capitalist values into communist countries, "seducing the globe to a US-led capitalist hegemony." (Exhibit A: The Scorpions, though this theory does not explain the odd popularity of David Hasselhoff as a pop star in Germany because I can't bear to consider Hasselhoff's work "rock 'n' roll.")
Along the way, Sevonius serves up some classic smack-talk about politicians, food co-op meetings and Tim Burton. A few times, he reminded me of an MSNBC commentator or my vegan grad-student cousin who loves making everyone squirm at the Thanksgiving table. So, maybe "Supernatural Strategies ..." starts slow, but give it time because you'll have fun.
Once the seance part is over, the fun begins. Nearly all the chapters find a way to tie rock 'n' roll to the broader history of American-style capitalism and the military-industrial complex. For example, Sevonious declares that rock 'n' roll was the Trojan horse that smuggled capitalist values into communist countries, "seducing the globe to a US-led capitalist hegemony." (Exhibit A: The Scorpions, though this theory does not explain the odd popularity of David Hasselhoff as a pop star in Germany because I can't bear to consider Hasselhoff's work "rock 'n' roll.")
Along the way, Sevonius serves up some classic smack-talk about politicians, food co-op meetings and Tim Burton. A few times, he reminded me of an MSNBC commentator or my vegan grad-student cousin who loves making everyone squirm at the Thanksgiving table. So, maybe "Supernatural Strategies ..." starts slow, but give it time because you'll have fun.
February 26, 2013
Disguised as a how-to guide for would-be rock visionaries intending to form a successful band, Ian Svenonius has provided an often hilarious and relentlessly arch marxist/feminist analysis of rock culture. The book doesn't really pick up until about a third of the way through (and even then there are some dull stretches), but when it hits, it's very funny. My favorite chapter uses rock tour vans as a jumping off point to examine the interstate highway system, the hidden connection between cigarettes and cell phones, rockers as teamsters, the growth of the military industrial complex, and the progressive melding of humans with machines.
There is also a clever analysis of the shift from relative gender parity in rock during the 1950s to the male dominated corporate product that began in the mid to late 60s. In an extension of that, he posits that the idea of groupies was a creation of rock labels in an exploitive attempt to give female fans a role in rock culture after they were largely shut out of rock music production. As male rockers took on feminine affectations (to replace the now largely missing women rockers), male fans, unable to get the access that groupies had to their idols, were instead given dead rock stars as objects of passion. Drug pushers were given the ultimate fan access as they had the ability to both travel with the group and actually create dead rock stars.
There is also a clever analysis of the shift from relative gender parity in rock during the 1950s to the male dominated corporate product that began in the mid to late 60s. In an extension of that, he posits that the idea of groupies was a creation of rock labels in an exploitive attempt to give female fans a role in rock culture after they were largely shut out of rock music production. As male rockers took on feminine affectations (to replace the now largely missing women rockers), male fans, unable to get the access that groupies had to their idols, were instead given dead rock stars as objects of passion. Drug pushers were given the ultimate fan access as they had the ability to both travel with the group and actually create dead rock stars.
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