Shake It Up: Great American Writing on Rock and Pop from Elvis to Jay Z: A Library of America Special Publication

by Jonathan Lethem (Editor), Kevin Dettmar (Editor)

The essential playlist of great writing about the music that rocked America, with fifty landmark pieces on Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Lez Zepplin, and other rock n’ roll legends

Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar's  Shake It Up  invites the reader into the tumult and excitement of the rock revolution through fifty landmark pieces by a supergroup of writers on rock in all its variety, from heavy metal to disco, punk to hip-hop. Stanley Booth describes a recording session with Otis Redding; Ellen Willis traces the meteoric career of Janis Joplin; Ellen Sander recalls the chaotic world of Led Zeppelin on tour; Nick Tosches etches a portrait of the young Jerry Lee Lewis; Eve Babitz remembers Jim Morrison. Alongside are Lenny Kaye on acapella and Greg Tate on hip-hop, Vince Aletti on disco and Gerald Early on Motown; Robert Christgau on Prince, Nelson George on Marvin Gaye, Luc Sante on Bob Dylan, Hilton Als on Michael Jackson, Anthony DeCurtis on the Rolling Stones, Kelefa Sanneh on Jay Z.
 
The story this anthology tells is a ongoing “it’s too early,” editors Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar note, “for canon formation in a field so marvelously volatile—a volatility that mirrors, still, that of pop music itself, which remains smokestack lightning. The writing here attempts to catch some in a bottle.” 

Also

NAT HENTOFF on BOB DYLAN 
AMIRI BARAKA on R&B 
LESTER BANGS on ELVIS PRESLEY 
ROBERT CHRISTGAU on PRINCE 
DEBRA RAE COHEN on DAVID BOWIE 
EVE BABITZ on JIM MORRISON 
ROBERT PALMER on SAM COOKE 
CHUCK KLOSTERMAN on HEAVY METAL 
JESSICA HOPPER on EMO 
JOHN JEREMIAH SULLIVAN on AXL ROSE 
ELIJAH WALD on THE BEATLES 
GREIL MARCUS on CHRISTIAN MARCLAY

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

601 pages, Hardcover

Published May 23, 2017

About the author

Jonathan Allen Lethem (born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist and short story writer.

His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels. In 1999, Lethem published Motherless Brooklyn, a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel that achieved mainstream success. In 2003, he published The Fortress of Solitude, which became a New York Times Best Seller.

In 2005, he received a MacArthur Fellowship

Reviews

[Phil Overeem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure any book like this can achieve a five-star rating. There are some missing folks (Carducci, Albini, Robbins, Altman, Cott, just to name a few), Brits could have easily been folded in, and one will always quibble with the actual selections. But I'm happy to have it, and it's a very solid primer. Note: Pay Chuck Eddy.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Books such as this are, by nature, uneven. Even if Jonathan Lethem tells me this is a collection of great writing on rock music, and I respect his opinion, everyone has different levels of interest. While I might not want to read an essay on Aztec Camera I very much want to read about Axl Rose.

Some of these essays are famous, some not so much. I am a very literary person. I'm not like Donald Trump I don't have to say " I'm a smart person " but the point is, even in being fairly literary, I find some of this writing a bit too precocious. It is, in the end, rock and roll, and while it is art, writing about it in a highbrow way ( just for the sake of doing so ) does not elevate the actual work.

A few words on the essays of note, with apologies to the many people who will feel those unmentioned are of merit.

The book begins with the liner notes to Bob Dylan's " The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan which were written by Nat Hentoff. They are pretty amazing, that he was a bit enamored of the young Dylan goes without saying.

Richard Poirier was a famous literature teacher and critic when he wrote " Learning From the Beatles." Writing about them in a long piece as one would true art it opened the floodgates for discussing rock music as art. The piece, however, in reading it, was wordy, overblown, and, to this reader, so meandering as to have little to no meaning.

I quite enjoyed Jules Siegel's story about Brian Wilson titled " Goodbye Surfing, Hello God." Describing Wilson in what would later be called his approach to full breakdown we watch him in the studio obsessively putting together pieces of Smile and trying to become considered as artistic as he knows he is. The dismissiveness applied to The Beach Boys music never really went away. It was not until 30 years later that Wilson became as respected as the genius he was.

An article from Richard Goldstein called " Master of Mediocrity " is a pretty significant takedown of Dick Clark. For someone who grew up in the era of Clark as only the respected legend it was quite illuminating of the varying opinions of him during his heyday

Ellen Sander wrote " Inside the Cages of the Zoo " about being on tour with Led Zeppelin in the early days. Looking back from our politically correct days it is simply remarkable the way this band, other bands, all?? bands treated the women, both young and not so young, that appears back stage each evening.

Lester Bangs is one of the most famous rock writers. I still remember Philip Seymour Hoffman playing him in " Almost Famous. " That said, his essay here titled " Where Were You When Elvis Died " is important, and has a point in that, to many, Elvis had died long before that awful day in 1977. Still, I find his writing to be not amongst the best.

Ellen Willis on Janis Joplin and Eve Babitz on Jim Morrison both write important essays that touch on two of the greats lost to the 27 club. Both were figures little understood and, as they have become mythical figures, still are only understood on a superficial level by most.

Ed Ward writes about the moment that he feels Bruce Springsteen no longer was special. Written on the twentieth anniversary of Born to Run the writer considers the record overblown, overhyped, and the beginning of the end of Springsteen as a truly special artist. While most fans have been saddened to see bands they feel they discovered long before the masses become mainstream popular this feels like Ward has a specific axe to grind. One is not sure if he would reserve the same disdain for any of the many other seventies artists touring the country, playing the same songs, with the same choreography, and the same stories night after night, as he does Springsteen. Clearly, Mr. Ward's opinion is not one that is widely shared.

Over the past decade Chuck Klosterman has widened his writing topics into sports, politics, really anything that strikes his fancy. In the beginning, as this excerpt from his " Fargo Rock City " he wrote about music and its importance to him when he was growing up in the middle of nowhere. Specifically, in this essay he writes about Motley Crue and it's release of the album Shout at the Devil as being a moment of great meaning in his life.

The best essay by far, in my opinion, is " The Final Comeback of Axl Rose " by John Jeremiah Sullivan. This should come as no surprise, Sullivan is one of our best writers these days, one of the few phonebook writers these days. That is, one who can write about anything and it will be worthwhile to read.

In this essay Sullivan is writing about another of Axl's comebacks, this one circa 2006. He takes a trip to Axl's hometown in Central Indiana, an area the author knows well as he grew up there himself. There he inquires for stories about Axl growing up, and there are plenty of stories to tell. The most talked about one with wonder is one in which Axl and a friend of his have a dispute with a young boy ( and later that boy's parents ) about a bicycle leaving skid marks on the sidewalk in front of his friends home. The author interviews the friend, a boy who says he ate breakfast in Billy Bailey's house everyday before school, ( William Bailey is Axl's given name ) joined him in Cub Scouts and worked as a gopher for the band in the late eighties.

The combination of great writing and incredible stories makes this an incredible thing to read. If for nothing else read it to hear the story of Axl's mirrors in his LA Bungalow and to read Sullivan's absolutely joyful description of 2006 Axl dancing on stage in that way only Axl can.

Lastly a 2011 backwards looking review of The Rolling Stones late seventies masterpiece Some Girls by the legendary reviewer Anthony DeCurtis only serves to further escalate one's opinion of this album. This is what an album review should be. It is a perfect piece of writing

[Lemar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well curated collection of 50 diverse articles celebrating and bringing into focus the music I love, rock ‘n’ roll baby!!

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is undeniably some "great" writing on "rock" and "pop" music in this collection. In particular, the excerpt by Greil Marcus that closes the volume is quite solid and evocative (the "great writing," not to mention scholarship, part, though it's arguable as to whether his subject, Marclay's video/recording project _Guitar Drag_ can even remotely be classified as "pop" OR "rock" music). Some of my other favorites are the pieces by Paul Williams, Lenny Kaye, Lillian Roxon, Robert Palmer, Chuck Klosterman, and Kelefa Sanneh. But Sanneh's piece (on Jay-Z's book _Decoded_ and the language and poetry of hip hop) is, sadly, an anomaly in a collection like this one. Lethem and Dettmar acknowledge, in their introduction, that the task of compiling a collection like _Shake it Up_ is difficult for numerous reasons. Ultimately, though, a collection on pop music should do one or two things (or both) well: showcase _good_ writing, or give a sample of pieces that inform the reader about the topic of the collection. The editors fail to do either of those things. Not every piece in the book is written well (some are not even written competently). In that way, this collection becomes an anomaly in the Library of America collection. But (getting back to Sanneh) perhaps more distressing, there are some notable gaps in this collection, particularly in the realm of hip hop, arguably the world's most "popular" of pop musics at the moment. Yes, there are pieces that explore the early roots of African-American musical styles and rhythms (the basis for hip hop), including the blues, doo wop, and soul. However, funk is entirely missing from this collection (the piece that focuses on James Brown is centered on the 1963 album "Live at the Apollo", which cannot even remotely be conceived of as funk or proto-funk). The piece on disco almost entirely focuses on Moroder and the Italian-produced work of Donna Summer (admittedly influential, but...well, Italian!). There is not a single piece on the roots of rap; in fact, the first piece in the book that deals with hip hop is Sanneh's 2010 article. The lack in this area is so large it's bizarre; how could Lethem and Dettmar almost entirely ignore the "old school" rap and all the great writing that discusses it? Another area I found annoyingly unrepresented is the 1980s hard-core punk scene, which paved the way for several genres of music (notably "grunge" groups like Nirvana and speed metal). There is zero discussion of works/groups like Husker Du's _Zen Arcade_ or the Minutemen, let alone Black Flag or Bad Brains, all of which ultimately were tremendously influential on the 1990s "alternative rock" scene. As for Latino musicians or musical styles (like Richie Valens, Los Lobos, salsa music), it is as if they did not even exist. There are great things about this book, but in the end it is a flawed collection.

[Sarah Paolantonio · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me too long to get through this book only because it's so easy to pick up and put down. Anthologies are like that.

There are a lot of inspiring works in here covering many genres of music. It's a nice wheel to spin if you are looking for inspiration when writing about music, which I always am.

There were highlights for me: liner notes for The Freewheelin' by Nat Hentoff, several pieces on The Beatles (Richard Poirier, Devin McKinney, Elijah Wald), Lester Bangs on the death of Elvis, Chuck Eddy on The RAMONES, Christgau on Prince's records over the years, Eve Babitz on Jim Morrison, Donna Gaines on Lou Reed, a piece about Brian Wilson going mental after eating too much acid, a feature profile on Dick Clark, Jessica Hopper on Emo and feminism, and Evelyn McDonnell on Sandy West of The Runaways.

The book includes many more that I had read before and skipped: John Jeremiah Sullivan on Axl Rose and some that I re-read: the great(est), Ellen Willis on Janis Joplin to name a couple.

My favorite part of each entry was the detailed bio of the music writer being featured. They each read like a homage to the writer and their work, doing the things author bios do: listing books, places where their writing has evolved, but also talking about when they were born and how their ideas about music were shaped based on their education or involvement in the industry.

A dense, heavy artifact. I'm glad I plowed through this book and even happier to have it in my collection. A good read and library addition for anyone remotely interested in music writing and reporting on music and the cultures of life it can touch.

[A. Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I didn't read the whole book, what I did read was very good. I mostly jumped around and chose what piqued my interest, so I imagine that aided my overall opinion.

Some thoughts:
-I had never read Greil Marcus before. He is a superb writer. His piece on Christian Marclay's Guitar Drag was one of the most engrossing reads in this collection.
-Another highlight was Peter Guralnick's piece on the fantastic Solomon Burke, who was quite a character. Easily the funniest read.
-In an otherwise well-done article on Memphis soul, Stanley Booth coughs up this terrible take: "Elvis Presley in his earliest recordings combined the music of the country whites with rhythm and blues, and therefore probably deserves to be remembered as the first modern soul singer." I haven't stopped shaking my head since I read that.
-It seems like nearly everyone wrote for The Village Voice back in the day, a shame it's not around anymore.
-I would've liked more than just two hip-hop-related pieces, but those two were strong; Greg Tate comments positively on the arrogance of Kanye and 50 Cent, and Kelefa Sanneh counters the idea that hip-hop deserves respect only because it is akin to poetry.
-Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Elvis take up a lot of pages, maybe too many.

[John Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

If, like me, you've been reading rock criticism for forty years, in Rolling Stone and Trouser Press in the 70s, SPIN in the 80s, CMJ in the 90s, Mojo in the 2000s, and Pitchfork and Stereogum in the 10s, nothing here is going to strike you as a discovery. More to the point, nothing here is likely to remind you of something you'd forgotten or strike you as something you're glad you have on the shelf to read again and again. Instead, it's a rather bland collection of mostly self-important takes on bands about which too much has probably already been said, and mostly poor writing about more obscure bands included apparently so that all the notable rock writers would be represented. Too much of this reminded me of just how bad writing about rock can be. You would think that with an editor as smart as Jonathan Lethem, you would find some fine selections; two months after finishing this book, I can only remember one (an excerpt from Nick Tosches' biography of Jerry Lee Lewis, "Hellfire"). Overall, this book reads like a textbook for a college class on rock music, especially in the years 1965 to 2000. And that's a shame.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know how Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar determined what to put in this anthology but there's not a wasted page in it as it rolls across six decades, from a 1963 review of Dylan to 21st century musings on everything from Jay-Z to Barry Manilow. From start to finish, it's a vast tribute to the power of music and the many cultural revolutions that have poured out of radios and through headphones over the ages.

[David Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid collection of good writing about rock and pop music since the 1950s. The point was not to cover every style of the music or hit every high point but to represent writers with distinctive voices. This includes women, who were generally overlooked at the time. No anthology is going to be perfect, and this one can read like it was assembled by two English profs, which it is. I skimmed Baraka, Poirier and Marcus, all obscurantist, while enjoying most of the rest.

[Jay Gabler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needless to say, as someone who writes about music it's validating to see a bunch of music writers make the Library of America. You can quibble with the selection, but for the most part this collection is solid gold. I reviewed Shake It Up for The Current.

[Bobette Giorgi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get my books from the library, so this was worth the read in the sense that I only read the essays that interested me. From The Runaways to Motley Crue to Jim Morrison (which was more about the author, Eve Babitz, than Jim), NY Dolls, Ramones and I skimmed a few more. Riled up some emotions for me, especially the Runaways and Motley articles. Would make a decent gift for a music nerd.

[Craig Maas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I almost didn't finish this book. The first chapters were too pretentious to read. The book got better by the middle with more first person writing. The last chapter: pretentious writing about pretentious art. I would not recommend. Not a single piece stood out as special. You could randomly replace chapters in this book with articles from Rolling Stone and it would be better.

[JL Salty]

This book is for the true music lover: insightful articles covering decades of rock-n-roll, from the earliest days through the development of hip hop and rap.
Too niche for our small library, but good to keep in mind if the topic becomes of interest to students.

[Mike Mikulski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good anthology of critical writing makes you want to revisit works you know, listen to works you learned about and read more of a voice that provided insight clearly. I found a lot in this book. The editors also did a good job including voices of women writers and writers of color.

[Caitlin Colban-Waldron · Rating 4 out of 5]

fascinating and personal and fun, big feelings and criticism

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the class this was for, but this was hard to read.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read about half of these - they were really good and introduced me to some great albums i've missed, like Spoon's "A Series of Sneaks"

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second consecutive collection-type book I've read, with the prior being a short stories by different authors. These types of books are always hard to grasp as a whole. Each voice is different; each topic is different; the settings, perspectives, lengths of sentences, author perspective, tense, and so on are different. To judge the book, you have to decide if you like its parts, rather than the way you typically judge a novel or history, which is that you first think about the whole and then decide to highlight or pick apart various elements.

With that said, I enjoyed parts of this book greatly. I think the editor chose pretty wisely by picking essays that are, for the most part, about well-known musicians. This helps a general reader such as me, who is familiar with music of everyone from The Beatles to Guns 'N Roses to Madonna, but doesn't necessarily know any of it deeply, nor like all of it equally. Picking up a bit more information on those bands is great, especially The Beatles, which seem to have endless aspects to them, both musically and as a cultural-economic phenomenon.

When something more obscure was covered, such as blues-soul great Solomon Burke, the editor chooses judiciously again. He wants you to know about Burke because he's one of the greatest singers of his type ever, but instead of telling you that, he picks an essay about Burke's outsized personality. The anecdote-driven article is a staple of a certain type of music criticism, which started with jazz and then went through Rolling Stone, and it's more about lifestyle than music. And that's ok because the life and the myths about popular musicians are sometimes just as important as their music.

I'd say the same about how the book treats punk, which has an outsized influence on all music criticism way beyond the sales impact it ever had in the real world. I would not have liked a series of essays that delved into obscure regional punk bands that I'd never want to listen to. But having some insight about the Ramones is great, and it's nicely balanced by other essays with a more personal touch in which the author tells you why he or she loved the energy, anarchy, and social commentary of punk. Punk is one of those things, like jazz, that I appreciate more in the abstract than I do in the actual listening experience.

My favorite essays generally were those about musicians I knew the most about because I either learned new stuff or I could get a knowledgeable listener's analysis and background information on music I like. So The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, James Brown -- those are at the top of my list in this book. I skimmed some essays, and I think that's a fine way to tackle this book. Read the stuff you think you will like, and then return for small parts when you're in the mood. This isn't a book to read cover-to-cover, as there's way too much in it and way too many jarring styles.

I will level one criticism, which I have about all culture and celebrity feature writing, profiles, and criticism. I hate it when it slips into trying to make you feel like you missed out because you weren't there, whether that's standing in the mosh pit or backstage at a show, drinking in the hotel room, or hitting on the groupies outside the tour bus. I know that stuff is what draws a lot of people to rock music -- especially the critics, who grew up as hero-worshippers and are achieving their dream by meeting these folks -- but that type of coverage obscures the truth that it's mostly sitting around with self-absorbed people, many of whom are incredibly dull. Life on the road with a band is terrible even under the best circumstances, and while that's briefly acknowledged in a lot of the essays, many of them still fall into the trap of "how cool is it to be a rock star or to hang out with one of them?"

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flailing for consequentiality; Christgau, Willis, Bangs and Sander can't distract us from its odious, overweening unimportance