Rolling Stone's Alt-Rock-A-Rama

by Scott Schinder

A provocative, irreverent, and indispensable resource book on the most popular music of our day, from Rolling Stone magazine--the most trusted name on alternative music.

As the fastest growing category of popular music, alternative rock now can claim nearly every fan of rock & roll.  From the early days of Iggy Pop and the Velvet Underground, to Pearl Jam and Pavement, the alternative music revolution has been unfolding for over twenty years.  Now, from Rolling Stone magazine , Rolling Stones's Alt-Rock-A-Rama , a unique compendium on the history and culture of the alternative music scene.  Chock full of facts, trivia, anecdotes, critiques, top ten lists and riffs from alt-rockers themselves, Alt-Rock-A-Rama is the essential book to chronicle the ongoing alternative rock revolution.  Featuring both hugely popular bands such as R.E.M. and U2 as well as more obscure acts such as Alex Chilton and the dB's, this fascinating collection offers everything you need to know and more about alternative rock.  Sample entries

Ñ 105 Alt-Rock Supergroups We Hope Never Happen

Ñ The Greatest Garage Recordings of the Twentieth Century

Ñ The Five Worst Rock Club Rest Rooms in the U.S.

Ñ Ten Bootlegs that Illustrate the Origins of Punk

Ñ Set List for the Ramones' First Live Performance

Ñ The Best and Worst Things About Owning an Indie Label

Ñ Eight Really Dumb Things the Replacements Did

For die-hard Alt-Rockers, old-time music lovers, and anyone interested in popular culture, Rolling Stones's Alt-Rock-A-Rama is the most definitive resource guide of the alternative music revolution.

Genres: Music

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Matt Daneman · Rating 5 out of 5]

At a certain point in my life, circa mid 90s, this book would’ve been my everything. I’d by poring over the several pages of AOL rants of Courtney Love and dreaming about visiting NYC’s now-long-gone See Hear bookstore after reading about its extensive zine selection.
Today, it’s a kind of fascinating snapshot of an era when I was buying Gumball CDs. Some material is fascinating - the day-by-day account of the Sex Pistols’ US tour is amazing. And the book frequently had me pausing to add this album or that artist I’ve not thought of in years, or never even heard of, to my albums in Tidal.
This was a great $5 find at a used bookstore.

[Bobby Z. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty entertaining time capsule of 1990s indie rock. The lists of Yo La Tengo's worst shows (by Ira Kaplan himself) and a guide to the worst toilets on tour by Superchunk are worth the price of admission. There are some nifty reminiscences by people you might care about (Nick Lowe, Joey Ramone) and a whole bunch by people whose music has not aged well. All in all, a good snapshot of a fiercely rule-driven, hipper-than-thou scene that briefly got almost-popular. (What people back then had against Stone Temple Pilots I'll never know.)

[Roland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Except for the schmuck from the Memphis Goons using an article he wrote to promote his own crappy band, this was a great book which lists a large number of strange recordings by strange people. If not for this book, I never would have known about The Shaggs, so I owe it that much.

[Eleanor Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide to all things alternative and indie from Frank Zappa in 1966 to Bikini Girl in 1992. Lost of top ten charts for us music geeks and a great assortment of essay's from the artist themselves. Lot's of fun.

[Wayne Edmondson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot even begin to count the number of life-changing musical acts I discovered during my early 20s, thanks to this book.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morrissey quotes are the best part of the book!