Milk It: Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the '90s

by Jim DeRogatis

Taking its title with suitable slacker irony from a song on Nirvana's In Utero , Milk It! is an anthology of pieces written in the heat of the moment-an urgent and diverse overview that mirrors the chaotic rush of the postmodern sounds it covers. Headnotes and connective material-the "stories behind the stories"-provide running commentary on the music business, rock criticism, a troubled generation, and an attempt to put the fast-moving alternative-rock era in perspective from the safe distance of the comparatively bland new millennium. Compiled by a critic who shared the Generation X outlook, attitude, and biting sense of humor with the musicians that he covered-Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, and many others- Milk It! is the first serious attempt to chart the alternative music scene. Compelling, amusing, and provocative, Milk It! captures the excitement of an era, and reckons with its enduring influence.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Essays, History, Journalism, Pop Culture

432 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

Jim DeRogatis is an associate professor of instruction at Columbia College Chicago and the host, with Greg Kot, of the nationally syndicated public radio show Sound Opinions. The author of Let it Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs and other books, he spent 15 years as the pop music critic at the Chicago Sun-Times. He lives in Chicago.

Reviews

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent criticism of the 90s "alternative" "music" "revolution." A little too much Cobain worship and a little too America-centric (no coverage of the Norwegian black metal scandals of the 90s? Really?) but Jim did manage to piss off Steve Albini, Billy Corgan and half of Sonic Youth, which is lol. Also he hates baby boomers and Jann Wenner. His section on Pioneers and Trailblazers was a snore fest. Also his section on rap. Aside from that, wickedly funny and incisive insight (see what i did there). I got it for a dollar, it was probably worth 10x that?

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

He's more of a punk and less of a drunk than Lester Bangs, the critic he idolizes, and he's also not as good a writer. I learned about quite a few groups I'd never heard of and now will check out (well, at least some of them), and it is nice to read someone who loves The Feelies as much as I do, but I do not share his enthusiasm for Nirvana or Kurt Cobain, and I think he says a lot less than he could or should about the role of blues and honky tonk in shaping rock and roll. On balance though I enjoyed his candor and the fact that he doesn't take himself any more seriously than he probably should, and given how dated this book is now and how passe many of the groups and stars and wannabes he enthuses about are now, the fact that this book held my attention and interest at all is a pretty good recommendation. Now go read Lester Bangs!

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob Pollard once said during a Chicago Guided By Voices show in 2002, "You've got a fat fucking rock critic in this town who doesn't like us." That fat fuck was DeRo, who covered rock for the Sun-Times during the post-Nirvana world. This book gets a high rating not because of him, but for the subject matter. It collects all his album and concert reviews from the period, as well as other articles. The best is that a lot of it is centered around great Chicago bands of the era like Smashing Pumpkins, Urge Overkill, Veruca Salt, Red Red Meat, Material Issue, and Liz Phair. There's even stuff on the glory days of Lollapalloza and his disgust with the rock n' roll hall of fame. This was a fun and nostalgic look back at a great time, and I remember reading some of these when they were originally in the paper.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jim DeRogatis is a true rock critic in the classic sense. There's no point in being mediocre; he either loves it or its terrible. (And "the terrible" is often a lot more fun to read.) Anyways, this "best-of" collection highlights the best of the 90s alternative explosion. The first chapter is probably the best chapter in the book, where he goes into detail about a 10-hour interview with Kurt Cobain at his Seattle home. Follow that up with excellent chapters on Courtney Love, Smashing Pumpkins, rock dinosaurs U2 and REM, a whole slew of lesser known hidden gems, and a collection of wannabes; you've got an entertaining book.

[Jon Y. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I should be grateful this Lester Bangs fanboy doesn't make the modern critical mistake of trying to emulate the master's style, but he also doesn't have the same passion or god given talent as LB. Instead, Derogatis comes across as a pedestrian writer who seems far too self-congratulatory for taking obvious stances ("Rolling Stone wanted me to give Hootie and the Blowfish a higher rating but I said no!" Why were you working at Rolling Stone in the first place?!).

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

take that third eye blind!

[Gusano De Libros Aye Dios Mios · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so very much fun to read, and it re-introduced me to bands like Teenage Fanclub, for which I am stoked. It also reaffirms that Billy Corgan is really as lame as you thought.

[William Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection by the Chicago Sun Times journalist about the growing alternative rock scene from late eighties to mid nineties, covering articles and interviews from over the years from the Chicago native. Recommended to 90's alt-rock enthusiasts.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I occasionally listen to Jim DeRogatis and his colleague Greg Kot (Chicago Tribune) on their radio show "Sound Opinions." I've usually been more in agreement with Greg Kot, but perhaps that's because I also read him in the newspaper.

Anyway, I picked up Milk It! because of the screaming graphic cover, and I'm glad I did.

Jim DeRogatis is passionate about music, he's honest and funny. He is unafraid to disagree with other critics, fans, and musicians. It helps that he has such a Kurt Cobain jones.

I have a whole list of albums to either go back to and listen again, or in some cases for the first time.

[James Schwandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milk It! is a solid overview of the 1990's rock music scene, touching on a bit of everything. DeRogatis devotes sections to the major heavyweights (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.) while also delving into Britpop, RiotGrrl, the concert scene (Woodstock 94, Lollapalooza), and a host of other topics. He obviously misses a few things, but overall, you'll end up with a fair snapshot of what it was like to be there.

Someday, someone will make sense of all the craziness that happened in that decade, and do the decade justice. Until that time comes, this is a pretty good place to start.

[matt. singer. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most interesting part of this collection: Derogatis' revealing account of his time at "Rolling Stone," where he was told not to give poor reviews to new records by Hootie & the Blowfish and Dave Matthews Band, because they were the biggest bands on earth at the time. Honestly, as big of a fan I am as "Rolling Stone," their rating system in recent years has always struck me as odd -- like, they'll attach *** to what is clearly a negative review. Could America's greatest counterculture mag bend beneath corporate pressure? Uh, yeah, probably...

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers my favorite period of music history (the 90's), with an emphasis on my favorite band ever (NIRVANA!). DeRogatis does a good job of covering different aspects of alternative music in the 90's, from mainstream rock (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam) to indie (Neutral Milk Hotel, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) to hip-hop (De La Soul, Beck). He can occasionally run some points into the ground, but that can be forgived since it is a collection of writings and not a singular piece.

[Tess · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough and cheeky commentary on the evolution of 90s alternative music and the people who influenced it. This took me a while to get through due to it being a collection of sometimes unrelated snippets of non-fiction (and my questionable attention span when it comes to this type of reading) but some of the writer’s sassy interviews and opinion pieces had me laughing out loud. This is the kind of book you can snack on - pick it up and read a chapter in between your regularly scheduled programs. A fun, lighthearted read for 90s alt music enthusiasts.

[Angelique Harrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of articles and memories of Jim DeRogatis...music critic and journalist of the alternative scene of the 1990's...starting with Nirvana.

I actually skimmed through this one...many of the bands were underground...Chicago and Seattle scenes mostly..and well if I didn't know there music the articles weren't as interesting.

For the bands I did know it was interesting to look back on that time - now that I'm older and not part of it all....

amusing, one day read

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a decent book overall, but there is one essay that MUST be read. In it, Derogatis interviews the front man for Third Eye Blind and essentially explains to him why his band is a piece of crap. It's the kind of thing I imagine music journalists everywhere (or at least the mean ones) are dying to do. "This is why you suck: 1)..."

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm deliberating between three and four stars on this because Dero is a great, engaging writer, but the subject matter begins to irritate me. I love 1990s alt-rock as much as the next Sebadoh freak, but it's just too much prose about white boys, except for the truly insightful stuff he wrote about Courtney Love.

[Nailmouth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim Derogotis writes like a true fan of music. He has a deep knowledge of rock, and writes extensively about the alternative movement in music in the 90s. I found myself agreeing with most of what he said, and got an insider's, or slightly geeky, overweight outsider-looking-in-insider's, perspective on a lot of the bands I grew up listening to. An enjoyable read.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I might've started reading this in December '03. But it's definitely a good read. Topics are varied enough within the wide world of music (with a lot of emphasis on the Chicago scene of the alt-rock '90s) that it's an engaging read.

[Jeffrey Thiessen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very solid, funny, and outright entertaining collection of articles written by Dero during the nineties alt-explosion. Includes most of the acts you expect to read about and some you surely wouldn't (Aphex Twin, Tone Loc to name a couple).

[Malcolm Frawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is so good. A collection of his highly-intelligent articles about the music scene that would have made as many enemies as friends. If you've been into the alternative scene over the past 25 years it's for you.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A total must-read for anyone interested in the whole "alternative" phenomenon.

[Ray Charbonneau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got some good ideas for music to check out

[Irwin Fletcher · Rating 1 out of 5]

My low rating of the book doesn't really have anything to do with my feeling about Joe or his opinions. The title of the book should have tipped me off with "Collected Musings" but I was expecting a more focused retrospective on the music of the era as opposed to a rock critics greatest hits of contemporary newspaper/magazine articles and album/concert reviews. Though this does make it a somewhat interesting window into the past so it's not all a waste. Magazine and newspaper articles are good in short doses but it's hard to just sit down and plow through a pretty dense book of them, which is why it took me almost a year to get through this thing. I'd read an article or two then put it down for a week or two and read other stuff, sometimes I'd go a month. It's not easy when quite a few of these articles are about obscure groups I'm not familiar with (though I did check out a lot of their stuff just to see what he was talking about) or quite a few that I'm familiar with and just don't care about like Veruca Salt. In the end I binged the last 75 pages just because I was sick of seeing it on my Currently Reading shelf with its garish cover and title that looks like I'm reading some weird fetish comic book.

As for Joe and his opinions, I found him obnoxious and irritating but sometimes entertaining and there were times where I agreed with him. I had no clue who he was when I bought the book so I wasn't aware of his notoriety. Had I read some of these articles as a teenager in the 90s I probably would have hated him and passionately defended some of my favorite bands but I'm 40 now and past getting emotional about rock stars or people having differing opinions about them. And in some cases time has proven that a lot of his cynicism about these bands was well founded. The worst thing about him is just that he seems to be mostly interested in trying to get the attention of artists with his often obnoxious reviews and hopefully starting a feud with them. In the case of his feud with Billy Corgan (who I don't really care for so I didn't know who to dislike in that story) he was clearly over the moon about his time in the spotlight and trying to contrive ways to keep it going like sitting outside of a concert he was banned from attending. His reviews are usually less about the music and more about him. But like I said it wasn't his grating personality that earned it the bad review, if anything the obnoxious writing made it a little easier to get through a giant book of newspaper clippings. But it's hard to give him even that little bit of credit when he was the one who made a book full of old newspaper clippings.

[Bill DeGenaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

DeRogatis's biography of Lester Bangs is terrific so I was happy to discover this anthology. Like the Bangs bio, "Milk It" is an opinionated, funny blurring of 'fan' and 'critic.' DeRogatis is crazy about rock and roll and takes its artists seriously but not too seriously. He calls out bullshit and doesn't hesitate to criticize musicians who are derivative, lazy, crass, or willing to strip rock of its ethos of rebellion. Thought the pieces in "Milk It" span 10+ years and originally appeared in fairly disparate publications, a cohesive narrative about the pop culture and bigger social context of the 90s emerges. It's also funny to look back on pieces from the early 90s and see how often DeRogatis got it right. I mean, I disagree with his takes on the 1993 Lollapalooza line-up, post-Automatic R.E.M. and Tone Loc, but he's usually spot-on here. Also, DeRogatis is probably more or less correct about nostalgia being an enemy of rock, but as someone who started this particular decade in eleventh grade and ended it starting to work on my dissertation, I had lots of flashbacks, mostly good ones, reading "Milk It." Fantastic read.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hey look - it's a book on the music of my teen years! Sure, I'll give it a look.

It's alternates between interesting and annoying (or, worse yet, boring). Some articles on random bands you never heard of and have been forgotten feel pointless. Then again, a lot of the articles here made me want to give a new look to bands from back in the day I haven't heard from in years and look deeper at bands I've only paid attention to their most famous material (L7, Sinead O'Connor, REM, U2, Teenage Fanclub, Hole, Blur, PJ Harvey, Nine Inch Nails, Screaming Trees, The Jesus and Mary Chain). So I'll give the book that much.

His attitude toward musical genres seems pretty dated. In the year 2021, pop music gets a lot more respect for its artistry than DeRogatis ever gives it here. His love for the rap band Arrested Development isn't aging well. Even his attitude on rock - that's it got to be this attitude-based thing that will always be around .... bad news, Jim: You think that nostalgia is the bane of rock, but over time it's become the central feature of rock.

[Sli Shepherd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting perspective on alternative '90s bands.