What do you think?
Rate this book
Revolution on Canvas, Volume 2: Poetry from the Indie Music Scene
Indie rock music burst onto the scene in the early '80s with bands like Sonic Youth. A decade later, the music of Pavement, Guided By Voices, and Radiohead brought tons of new converts. Today, indie rock has exploded across all media, from popular TV shows such as The O.C. to numerous commercials and sold-out stadium tours. The poetry and stories in REVOLUTION ON CANVAS, VOLUME 2 range from the hysterically funny to the achingly sad and are written by the biggest names in indie rock today. The Deftones, Fall Out Boy, Armor for Sleep, Motion City Soundtrack, Atreyu, and A Static Lullaby are just some of the bands included in the second installment of this extraordinary and fascinating series.
- GenresPoetryMusicNonfiction
236 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2007
7 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 6, 2007
My review from Chord magazine...
In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby suffers the disillusionment of realizing the American Dream only to find himself feeling more hollow and empty than ever before. Jay largely suffers this experience silently and even the denouement-shattering epiphany of his last scene is wordless. Presumably, the emotions of Bobby Darling of Gatsbys [sic] American Dream are more finely wrought and therefore explicable in print. Unfortunately, like the rest of the writing in Revolutions on Canvas Volume 2, Darling's poem is mercilessly melodramatic, with a banal metaphor that warrants expulsion from any serious poetry workshop. The collection of poetry and fiction from various names in the indie music scene takes itself entirely too seriously. I didn't laugh or cry or feel anything deep down in my soul, but I did roll my eyes. A lot. I also found myself cursing Charles Bukowski and E.E. Cummings until I remembered that it's not their fault they spawned a generation of imitators who think anything with random line breaks, misused punctuation, and sensory language constitutes "poetry."
There's no shortage of irony in this anthology, starting with the editor's stated intent to make poetry accessible to the apathetic. It calls itself a survey of indie music, but some of the best indie lyricists of today---Dave Berman, Mark Kozelek, Colin Meloy, to name a few---are nowhere to be found. Instead, with work from people like Fall Out Boy's Peter Wentz and A Static Lullaby's Joe Brown, this book gives hope to kids scribbling bad poetry in notebooks that one day they, too, will be published poets. That said, people love this sort of stuff---it's how the emo corner of the indie rock world became popular in the first place. The second installment of Revolution on Canvas may amount to Chicken Soup for the Tortured Soul, but in the end, reading is better than cutting.
In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby suffers the disillusionment of realizing the American Dream only to find himself feeling more hollow and empty than ever before. Jay largely suffers this experience silently and even the denouement-shattering epiphany of his last scene is wordless. Presumably, the emotions of Bobby Darling of Gatsbys [sic] American Dream are more finely wrought and therefore explicable in print. Unfortunately, like the rest of the writing in Revolutions on Canvas Volume 2, Darling's poem is mercilessly melodramatic, with a banal metaphor that warrants expulsion from any serious poetry workshop. The collection of poetry and fiction from various names in the indie music scene takes itself entirely too seriously. I didn't laugh or cry or feel anything deep down in my soul, but I did roll my eyes. A lot. I also found myself cursing Charles Bukowski and E.E. Cummings until I remembered that it's not their fault they spawned a generation of imitators who think anything with random line breaks, misused punctuation, and sensory language constitutes "poetry."
There's no shortage of irony in this anthology, starting with the editor's stated intent to make poetry accessible to the apathetic. It calls itself a survey of indie music, but some of the best indie lyricists of today---Dave Berman, Mark Kozelek, Colin Meloy, to name a few---are nowhere to be found. Instead, with work from people like Fall Out Boy's Peter Wentz and A Static Lullaby's Joe Brown, this book gives hope to kids scribbling bad poetry in notebooks that one day they, too, will be published poets. That said, people love this sort of stuff---it's how the emo corner of the indie rock world became popular in the first place. The second installment of Revolution on Canvas may amount to Chicken Soup for the Tortured Soul, but in the end, reading is better than cutting.
November 6, 2014
How do you even rate this book? All I know is that I was sitting on a sidewalk bench at a university this afternoon, reading it, and for a while, it felt as though I've stumbled upon a nexus that connected me with the rest of the world. Sure some of the writings were insipid, but a lot of them created their niche in my mind feed and really nestled in there. I think that's all that matters.
Just enjoy reading it.
Just enjoy reading it.
February 11, 2010
I got the first volume for a friend and almost couldn't part with it, so when I found this today I was really excited.
Not everything in this book is great but the ones that are pull more than their weight.
This is a great book to just flip around through when you are bored or need inspiration.
Not everything in this book is great but the ones that are pull more than their weight.
This is a great book to just flip around through when you are bored or need inspiration.
September 15, 2025
This sounded great conceptually, but I think would have been better executed if there were a theme surrounding all the writings.
I enjoyed some of the short stories the best. Most of the poetry felt too pretentious to the point that it had no meaning.
Also about a third of the contributions are edited poorly.
I enjoyed some of the short stories the best. Most of the poetry felt too pretentious to the point that it had no meaning.
Also about a third of the contributions are edited poorly.
May 23, 2021
To be quite frank, I initially purchased this book primarily to read Justin Pierre's foray into the published word, but found the other writings to have their own unique charm and personality that makes it a great traveling read for me personally.
February 28, 2017
Compared to the first collection, I wasn't cornering as many pages, but there are still many gems in here that absolutely pull their weight. I'm so glad I own both volumes because I will be flipping through them far into my future. These collections inspire me a lot, and it's so refreshing right now to read poetry that's not cliche, popular, pretty things.
March 31, 2016
This is very likely my favorite book of all time, as far as modern literature goes. It combines my two favorite things; music and books. The poetry in this book is very diverse, and the artists different styles really differ from piece to piece. I would strongly suggest this for anyone who has a love for lyrics, who enjoys music equally for it's literary content as much as the actual composition, such as myself. If you are looking for some clean, classic poetry, this is probably not the book you are looking for. But if you love poetry, lyrics, music, and are curious to delve a little deeper into these lyricists minds and souls, Revolution on canvas Vol. 2 will NOT disappoint :)
November 15, 2025
My god does this just bring me such nostalgia. Like I would never want to be a teenager again, but i will always remember reading this thinking it was the pinnacle of literature. As an adult, it’s pretty much just dripping in nostalgia for me.
October 4, 2007
I loved all of the poetry and short stories. My favorite was Justin Pierre's short writing. He's an amazing lyricist and a great writer.
Want to read
October 19, 2007Um... I adore poetry.
March 23, 2008
this was pretty good, though some of the poetry became strange, biased, or boring.
February 1, 2009
This book is a compilation of short works. It is very cute and some of the stories are very moving. I really enjoyed the book.
November 6, 2015
I didn't find the same attachment in this edition as I did to the first, but I still enjoyed it.
December 3, 2012
finishing this one made me very thoughtful today..
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews