Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments in Rock and Roll

by Lenny Kaye

An insider’s take on the evolution and enduring legacy of the music that rocked the twentieth century.

Memphis, 1954.  New Orleans 1957.  Philadelphia 1959.  Liverpool 1962.  San Francisco 1967.  Detroit 1969.  New York City 1975.  London 1977.  Los Angeles 1984 / Norway 1993.  Seattle 1991.

Rock and roll was birthed in basements and garages, radio stations and dance halls, in cities where unexpected gatherings of artists and audience changed and charged the way music is heard and celebrated, capturing lightning in a bottle.  Musician and writer Lenny Kaye explores ten crossroads of time and place that define rock and roll, its unforgettable flashpoints, characters and visionaries, how each generation came to be, how it was discovered by the world.  Whether describing Elvis Presley’s Memphis, the Beatles’ Liverpool, Patti Smith’s New York or Kurt Cobain’s Seattle, Lightning Striking reveals the communal energy that creates a scene, a guided tour inside style and performance, to see who’s on stage, along with the movers and shakers, the hustlers and hangers-on, and why everybody is listening. 

Grandly sweeping and minutely detailed, informed by Kaye’s acclaimed knowledge and experience as a working musician, Lightning Striking is an ear-opening insight into our shared musical and cultural history, a carpet ride of rock and roll’s most influential movements and moments.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Rock N Roll, 20th Century

507 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2021

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Count the seconds from flash to thunder. That's how long it lasts. And then the storm." -- from the introduction

My churlish suggestion would be that Kaye's Lightning Striking could more aptly be called A Low Rumble of Thunder. Although the title suggests exciting or mind-blowing stories about the history of rock music, I instead found this to be an increasingly unexciting and ultimately disinteresting slog of a book, and it unfortunately marks my first 'DNF' status in nearly ten years on Goodreads. (I only completed about two-thirds of the text it in a week's time before throwing in the proverbial towel.) Kaye is a good writer and this is a subject that appeals to me, but sometimes the reader has to wade through dense or arcane information - the section (ostensibly) on the Beatles, for example - to finally reach a chapter's focus. It felt like the general tone was not one that was particularly welcoming to an audience that may not already be incredibly well-versed in multiple decades of music history.

[Michael Burke · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Memphis, 1954. New Orleans 1957. Philadelphia 1959. Liverpool, 1962. San Francisco 1967. Detroit 1969. New York, 1975. London 1977. Los Angeles 1984 / Norway 1993. Seattle 1991" These are the hotspots of rock and roll covered in Lenny Kaye's "Lightning Striking". Lenny is a longtime collaborator with Patti Smith, he is a guitarist and songwriter who also was the producer for Suzanne Vega's first two albums (remember "Luka"?). He was also responsible for compiling the legendary "Nuggets" compilation album-- a treasure of garage rock and psychedelic classics.

I enjoyed some sections much more than others. I ate up everything about the Beatles, the San Francisco psychedelic era, and then the birth of punk, new wave, and grunge. "Lightning Striking" is pretty comprehensive, all chapters had something of interest, it just covers more ground than I needed, particularly in the earlier periods.

I did hit up Spotify for a number of songs listed and I have played more Patti Smith than ever before. Thank you to Ecco, NetGalley, and Lenny Kaye for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five Stars!
This book is a really interesting look at the times and places where "musical lightning" struck - Liverpool in 1962. San Francisco in 1967. Seattle in 1991. Author Lenny Kaye gives us brief but educational chapters about watershed moments in music history, and the vital ingredients that fed into them -- and you couldn't ask for a better tour guide on this journey. From his playing guitar for the Patti Smith Group to working with such diverse artists such as REM, Suzanne Vega, and Soul Asylum, music is in Kaye's blood.

Of course, going into the book, I was more interested in some of the chapters than others, but it was still fascinating learning more about the events and genres with which I was less familiar.

Definitely recommended to anyone with a love of music. Just bring your earbuds... you're going to be spending a lot of time on Spotify while reading this book.

I am so grateful to Netgalley and Ecco for the opportunity to read and review Lighting Striking.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could recommend this book. It's a subject matter I'm passionately interested in, but Kaye's writing is so off-putting, I almost bailed on this book several times, which I almost never do. He seems to fancy himself a beat poet, but his style only manages to make reading a chore. Hardly any sentence escapes his syntactical shenanigans, with an especially annoying habit of needlessly turning adjectives into nouns. He writes like someone who came up through rock magazines (which he did, as did I) where editing was an afterthought, and the writer's voice was sacrosanct, even if reading them becomes a slog and making sense is optional as long as it sounds cool. Being a guitarist, you would think Kaye would know that strength is often found in simplicity. Beyond that, even though Kaye does a good job recapping these 10 "moments" and music scenes, some for which he was present (San Francisco, New York City, London), I found the book generally light on any kind of insight. Too bad.

[Devon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Advanced Reader's E-Proof

DNF. I believe this book would only be appreciated by someone already deeply knowledgeable about rock and roll history.

This book presents a selection of scenes from significant moments in rock history. Although it's clear the author has passion for this history, the average reader feels left out. The context of the events and the significance of the (many) names dropped in the stories are unexplained, making the book only suitable to a very well informed audience. The writing has a rhythm that can't decide if it's prose or poetry and is sometimes abstract.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Advanced digital review copy courtesy of Edelweiss & Ecco Press

Lightning Striking brings together Lenny Kaye's considerable talents as a music historian and writer. Kaye’s words flow forth and lead readers through ten times & places that have been inextricably linked in the minds of listeners wishing they could have been part of these fleeting golden musical moments. The highly attuned scribe & musician witnessed many of the 10 scenes firsthand as they were unraveling in real time. Further, Kaye often played the role of a cultural catalyst helping to set off a ripple effect that often had a direct influence on the development of these scenes. As a compiler, Kaye introduced Nuggets to the world in 1972, was the lead guitarist for the Patti Smith Group from 1975 to 1979 and even co-produced the widely-heard music of Suzanne Vega in the late ‘80s. Throughout Lightning Striking, Kaye expresses rock ‘n’ roll’s unbridled energy, while throwing in some well-placed stylistic flourishes and compelling accounts from his fieldwork. This one-two punch of reinforcing his research and writing chops with direct experiences sharpens the focus on the historical details-leading to a heightened awareness of the panoramic rock ‘n’ roll picture. In short, Kaye supports the traditional historical record at moments and then flips it at other times to provide readers vantage points from both sides of the record, the retail counter and the stage. Ultimately, Kaye is an adherent of the notion of letting the sparks fly where they may and possibly creating something new in the process or what Jonathan Richman called “Fly into the Mystery.”

Another View
Kaye begins by unboxing a stockpile of creation tales and origin myths, spurring the question: “How many times can one re-write this mega history and in how many ways?” Bob Stanley attempted to do something similar with Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé in 2014 and received mixed reactions. By approaching rock ‘n’ roll history through mostly manageable bursts of 10 times and places, Kaye is able to present the scenes which had arguably the most impact on the direction of rock 'n' roll in the last half of the 20th century. Lenny does not strive to be comprehensive or exhaustive, just insightful, true to the music and wide-ranging. He is so conversant with this history, inside and out, that he can play it how he feels on a multitude of levels without forgetting to have “some kinda fun” with it, which should be the self-evident point of rock ‘n’ roll? Overall, his extraordinary versatility is on clear display as he has a vast repertoire and deep reservoir to draw upon. Knowing his way around guitars, bands, recording sessions, mixing boards, record stores and live performances informs his perspectives and illuminates his writing.

Trace Elements
For the better, Kaye frequently ventures off the conventional routes and explores the mean streets, street corners, the suburbs and subterranean stratums as he’s a believer in rock ‘n’ roll’s immediacy, infinite nature and enduring presence. As a musician, he also does not shy away from the music’s redemptive qualities as he frequently covers “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” by Gerry & the Pacemakers along with the spiritual dimensions which may be encountered in his work accompanying Patti Smith and Jessi Colter. While some of Kaye’s intriguing accounts have appeared in Ugly Things interviews and profiles over the years, his individual recollections are a welcomed companion-coinciding and bolstering his particular approach to the history. Readers get the opportunity to see it through Kaye’s watchful ears, street smarts, and vast experiences of seemingly being everywhere at once. It is in these accounts, wherein lies the book’s distinctive treasures. The scenes may be over and done with, but they are still reverberating and arguably as influential as the current times.

New York 1975
Kaye writes of his good fortune to be both at the epicenter and periphery of the New York street rock scene. I enjoyed encountering the fact that Sandy Bull once opened for Patti Smith & Lenny Kaye at Max’s Kansas City in 1974. Lenny recently expanded upon this experience in his appreciative piece on Sandy entitled “Sandy Bull: In a China Store” which appeared in Ugly Things #57. Would we expect anything less from a guy who assisted Waylon Jennings with his autobiography and included the fact that Waylon surprisingly played at Max’s Kansas City in 1973? He also mentions the sagacious roles played by streetwise label executives like Terry Ork (Ork Records) and Seymour Stein (Sire) on the industry side of things. All along, Kaye’s ethos has always been hovering somewhere between street level, the garage and those atmospheric nocturnal Bowery images offered by photographer David Godlis. Kay offers plenty of other opportunities for readers to stumble upon the previously unknown details. He mentions the fact of Mickey Ruskin’s unsuccessful attempt to expand his Max’s Kansas City nightclub & restaurant enterprise when he opened Max’s Terre Haute. The second location did not catch on and quickly fizzled out, proving that the chickpeas were not magic beans.

Interestingly, only about half of these scenes generated a high proportion of hits, but all of them went on to arguably change the course of history. Musical acts emerging from Memphis 1955, Philadelphia 1962, Los Angeles 1984 and Seattle 1991 did top the charts of the times. The Beatles (Liverpool 1962) and Blondie (New York 1975) would obviously go on to break through to mega-success on a global scale a few years later after putting in their Gladwellian 10,000 hours and Warholian 15 minutes of fame. The Ramones soldiered on to become highly influential and fondly remembered in the process, while Talking Heads didn’t breakthrough until the ‘80s music video-era when they were able to utilize their design school-influenced visual component.

Memphis 1954
Like the seemingly extemporaneous explosion of graffiti on a railcar that has already been sketched out on cardstock, Kaye gives credence to the notion that Sam Phillips was working along similar lines at the Sun Studio in Memphis. Kaye conveys that Phillips knew enough to be dangerous and in the process helped rock ‘n’ roll blast off the Tennessee ground and become all the rage. Kaye details, “Where Les (Paul) is precise, pinpointed, Sam wants it pinwheeled; a blurrier sound, live and spontaneous as if it’s being made up right in front of the speaker.” (p. 22)

He also encapsulates the long green, quick cash, cut-rate schemes of R&B economics and logistics or the business of suspending platters:

“R&B is now a sales hierarchy with its own star system, rewarding the ability to get a record on the streets as soon as possible, before the next disc ships and the returns start to come in. No room for error, it’s cash in motion, like the title of that other music trade magazine, Cashbox, which gets the flow of capital right. Nickel and dimes into the slot. You have to make them want what you're hawking before the next record plays.” (p. 29)

I can picture a wide-eyed Seymour Stein, working as an apprentice for Syd Nathan of King Records, learning the tricks of the trade mentioned above.

Philadelphia 1959
Kaye illuminates his text with abundant local color and regional lore. The Mitch Thomas Show is mentioned as playing a groundbreaking role as well as being a direct influence on American Bandstand and later Soul Train when the discussion turns to rock & roll as presented by Philadelphia-area television stations. This treatment of early ‘60s Philadelphia, demonstrates Kaye is fair and balanced with his coverage. He does not short either or Dick Clark, Mitch Thomas or disc jockey & local Philly legend Jerry Blavat when recognizing and evaluating their notable contributions and influence on that scene. To his credit and for those who first consult the index before buying or checking out a book, Kaye stays generally neutral to positive on everyone he mentions. Kaye understands how hard it is to sustain a musical career even if your material starts to landslide after the ‘60s (e.g., Bob Seger). Overall, he demonstrates the quality to be able to step back and deliver a fair assessment with equanimity when it comes to evaluating the historical significance and influence of both overexposed and unheralded musicians.

San Francisco 1967 and the Embryonic Journey from Los Angeles
Kaye also bestows his first-person accounts of directly encountering and experiencing 1967 San Francisco when it was attempting to translate its experimental and ornate international ethos to the national stage. Again, don’t let the chapter tiles fool you because he explores several more connected scenes and cities within. For instance, in San Francisco 1967 he also covers the gloriously sprawling Los Angeles/Sunset Strip scene 1965/66 of the Byrds, Love, Leaves, Bobby Fuller Four, Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Doors, Turtles, etc. who emerged (boss) radio ready from Southern California’s surf, folk and R&B scenes. These leading Angeleno bands made each other better and even the average bands still had their moments in the sun because of the high standards set by the aforementioned world-turning groups. Still, the limitations of these grand sweeping accounts is that you cannot include everyone and everything due to the requirements of being selective. I wonder if there is an expanded bonus cuts version of the manuscript which might include Athens 1983, Manchester 1989 and/or Berkeley 1993?

Detroit 1969
It is well documented that Kaye has long been a dedicated and devoted enthusiast of vocal group harmony. I’ve always enjoyed those his ‘n’ her (Patti Smith in Just Friends) accounts of Lenny working at Village Oldies record store on Saturday nights in the early ‘70s where he first met poet Patti who dug reading one of his pieces on the acapella revival for Jazz & Pop Magazine. Elsewhere, Kaye twice mentions the seemingly illustrious Lafayette Coney Island in Detroit as it was the setting for the afterparty, courtesy of Clive Davis of Arista Records, for the Patti Smith Group and where Patti Smith first crossed paths with future husband Fred “Sonic” Smith of the MC5.

Initially, I had a high interest in Detroit rock ‘n’ roll as mentions of the proto-punk of MC5, Stooges were prevalent in the late ‘80s, but the records of these Ann Arbor/Detroit groups were not readily available in the hinterlands. I once met a guy along Grand River Blvd. in East Lansing who recalled people jumping up and down and walls shaking at a MC5 concert held at Michigan State University’s Student Union ballroom. I still felt the high energy emanating from this guy and his account still riveting even if it was 20 years after the fact (1990). Another person told me he saw the 5 live and declared it was not his scene with all the American flags (upside down or otherwise). That same guy later told me the Modern Lovers was pretty much the only record he listened to in 1976. Mileage may greatly vary when it comes to the MC5.

My interest greatly waned with the ruse and fiasco of DKT/MC5. I recently became appreciative again after reading Wayne Kramer’s The Hard Stuff and seeing how frequently they played in their heyday through concert listings on the internet. These listings revealed these road warriors played almost every night and most everywhere in the upper Midwest (including three of the colleges and universities that I attended). Kaye’s writing and praise for the MC5 goes into overdrive. The spark plug collector powerfully and aptly details their rama-lama sound by bringing fitting descriptors such as “assembly plant rhythms“ out of backstock. He’s effusive with his praise when it comes to the Detroit sound and you can see his passion for that once incendiary scene poured out on the page. Julian Cope might be the only contemporary who can match him in his enthusiasm for these motorvatin’ Detroit sounds.

New Orleans 1957-The Missing Links
Throughout his interviews and writings, Kaye has consistently acknowledged and championed the forgotten forebears who created the Urtext like Hank Ballard and the Midnighters (“The Twist”) and the Gladiolas (“Little Darlin’”). The rough edges of these ramshackle records were later rounded off and taken up the charts into glory by the acolytes who became the recipients of the recognition. I’m still surprised at myself that I didn’t know “Land of 1000 Dances” was written and first recorded by New Orleans’ Chris Kenner. I’ve long assumed that the song originated somewhere along Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles.

London 1977
The Sex Pistols are given abundant space on the page to the point where these derelicts seem to overstay their welcome. While it was a good refresher on the filth and the fury previously documented and unleashed in England’s Dreaming by Jon Savage, I veer towards the line of thought that the Sex Pistols were an off-the-rails rock and roll circus that quickly descended into orthodoxy in no small part to Malcolm McLaren’s Anarchy straightjacket and schtick. When it comes to UK Punk, the Clash, Buzzcocks, the Jam and the Undertones should be commended for their balance of purpose, passion and pop-art. These bands were said to be largely influenced by Kaye’s Nuggets. In fact, the Undertones covered “Let’s Talk About Girls” by the Chocolate Watchband, which was originally recorded by Tucson’s Tongues of Truth (aka the Grodes). Shifting readers away the current vantage point, Kaye reminds us that punk as rendered by the Sex Pistols was truly up against the wall by the time ‘77 ended. Steve Jones did go on to have a brilliant Los Angeles radio show, Jonesy's Jukebox, in the first decade of this century.

Los Angeles MCMLXXXIV
It scared me how much metal I knew simply by osmosis from growing in a place where this particular music reigned supreme over the flatlands-filling the buses, gyms and corridors. I had to laugh when Kaye gets out his metal detector and describes Mötley Crüe’s drums recorded “As if in Carlsbad Caverns.”

Seattle 1991
The final chapter contains too much Nirvana and their grunge brethren for my taste, but we live in a pop culture age where the trio has been regulated to a logoed “lifestyle accouterment” t-shirt to be bought at Target (next to ones for NASA, Ghostbusters, Polaroid and Thrasher). Maybe the grunge overload is to reflect the excessive nature/orientation of the music? However, I was happy to see my all-time Seattle favorites the Fastbacks along with the Young Fresh Fellows receiving honorable mentions along with acknowledgment of the Pacific Northwest region’s progenitors: the Ventures, the Wailers, the Kingsmen, Paul Revere and the Raiders and the Sonics.

“Do You Believe in Magic?”
Ultimately, rock ‘n’ roll is about a feeling and sound that cannot be contained. Kaye is able to present the sound and spirit with astonishing clarity as the cross-cultural-currents sweep over the sound. In no small measure, Kaye also gently reminds readers not to neglect those equally important and mostly invisible influences of the underlying collective unconscious. The musician’s calling of tapping in and articulating the intangible and expressing elusive feelings affixed to an uplifting or descending melody for the ages are arguably the ultimate artistic peaks to work towards.

Bubbling Under the Surge of Creativity
Kaye understands that records emanate from vibrant scenes and cultural capitals These scenes cannot be forced to happen as with MGM Records’ disastrous promotional/marketing campaign of the Bosstown/Boston sound in the late ‘60s being a perfect example. On the other hand, Columbia Records greatly benefited from having a recording studio on the teeming 52nd Street jazz/bebop scene in Manhattan during the late ‘40s and early 50s. Kaye reveals a common denominator beneath all these scenes is the elusive something (aka lightning striking) entering the mix along with musicians and an audience allowing things to unravel in order distinguish it from what has become before. All share the collective desire to make something happen and in the process elevate art & life to a realm that is more inspiring, illuminating and more engaging than the necessary, but repetitive work-a-day version. Factors stack upon factors, facet upon facet and events begin to take on a momentum of their own and add up to more than the constitutive parts to become a movement. Things groundswell on the local and then the regional levels and in the charged air many remarkable events happen in a compressed amount of time. The emerging scene ultimately defines a new sound or vice-versa and then achieves musical lift-off into unexpected realms and anything seems possible-even transcendence.

Dissolution & Disintegration
Conversely, there is the inevitable downward slide and eventual fallout of the scene into apathy, factionalism, or absorption into a larger subculture or the mainstream culture. Internecine clashes, conflict and missed opportunities are also all part of the aggregate story. I still have to accept the fact that Kim Fowley was indeed a prime mover and shaker in the Los Angeles scene of ‘63 to ‘70. Would we have ever heard the wonders of “Popsicles and Icicles” by the Murmaids without Fowley?

Sifting through for Gold Nuggets & Eureka Moments
Many times, when I was much younger I subscribed to the face value notion that art just happened like a bolt of lightning without understanding all the work, commitment, and unseen efforts leading up to the gestalt moment. Kay provides ample evidence of both the optimal conditions and sense of possibility (or in some social milieus, the sense of desperation) required to set things in motion on a collective level. Kaye has certainly expanded and enriched the world as he has provided the monumental Nuggets, Waylon Jennings' autobiography, doo wop dissertations, documentary appearances on the glories of the Fort Worth ‘60s garage scene, and the foreword to the definitive book on Fortune Records. He also sets an inspiring example to keep searching, exploring, listening and bringing things to fruition. Like rock ‘n’ roll itself, one never knows the direction in which Kaye will go. Charged particles of of creativity surge through Lightning Striking as it has throughout the work of Lenny Kaye. There is a bit of whirlwind cyclone in Kaye as he seems centered and calm at the eye of the storm, but his artistic expressions can be as unpredictable, flashing and boundless as the remarkable music he collects, documents and plays.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good thing about this book is that it contains a lot of information.

[Macey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really really wanted to like this, but there was waaaaAAAy too much information for it to be enjoyable. It was interesting, he obviously has great passion for rock music, but there were so many names and people and bands and songs we were expected to know. I did learn things! It was well written! there were some bits I already knew (Beatles origin, New York 1975), and loads that I didn', but I was hard to keep track of and all the important people has really common names which is hard to follow.

I didn't finish it. just lost enthusiasm.

I still think Lenny Kaye is great, he plays with PATTI SMITH OH HOW I LOVE HER so he must be, and he put together Nuggets which is the greatest compilation album ever, and is a cool guitarist. This book was just too much infodumping.

[Nina]

Just like my favorite rock songs, Lenny Kaye had me from the intro. He weaves detailed info on the culture of the times through stories about bands and the music industry

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lenny Kaye was one of the original critics-cum-rockstars, and in some ways part of the legendary New Yoik 'Noise Boys' up there with Lester Bangs, Nick Toshes and Richard Meltzer. Kaye brings his Jerusalemite all-knowing wisdom to this book, that concentrates on the most binary cannon in popular music 'rock and roll'. Part meticulously researched history of rock n roll, part memoir, and part A&R 'catalogue' marketing copy, it's reasonable to say that Kaye, the author, was all of these at some point in time. Which makes this book so essential. Kaye has both the insider, as an industry hack, performing rocker - and outsider curiosity - as a rock musician and musicologist/archivist - to bring forward one of the most revealing and revelatory rock n roll books ever written. He gets the feeling, intent and pure release of rock and roll that few writers can express about the form. HOWEVER the book has it's faults. As I said previously, he tends to focus far too much on the binary form of guitar rock itself, yeah i get that it is about 'formative' moments and places in rock history, but then he dips his toes into places like New York and Detroit, and then realises, hang on, there was Motown and Funkadelic and hiphop and techno and you start to wish, hang on, why didnt he run with those forms? Furthermore, I understand his focus on British punk, but it was actually post-punk where all the action really was. Maybe these can be explored in the sequel? The book start to unravel a bit when he crosses into the 80s, the point where rock and roll really started to decay and die, whilst other 'ignored' forms really struck forward - hiphop, underground noise, house. He correctly identifies the importance of Van Halen in American cock rock, but Motley f$cking Crew? For f$ck's sake, what ever lasting imprint did they ever leave? Heroin addiction? The worst production values in the history of history? Rubber boobs? Trump? Oy veys mir, dreck! The death metal thing is interesting, and grunge, well I dunno? I guess they gave us the foo fighters for what that's worth?? Billions? Run DMC did more. I would have given the book 5 stars...!

Still, It's a great book, informative, passionate and educational, every kid needs to read it, just to know what was, and what still can be. I look forward to Kaye's book on 'doo wop'...

[Dar]

As a rock musician, producer, writer, record collector, and archivist, Kaye is the ideal person to write rock music history. He has a deep understanding of composition, production, and the business end of music. He was the right age and had the right connections to experience many emerging music scenes firsthand. Here he chooses ten scenes and describes how they came about, who was involved, and what happened: Philadelphia 1959 (American Bandstand), Liverpool 1962 (The Beatles and The Cavern), London 1977 (punk), Seattle 1991 (grunge), and so on. With his background as a rock critic and journalist, he has the ability to describe what music sounds like. Kaye's writing is at its best when he includes his own experiences and his own point of view as a fan. Because his knowledge is encyclopedic, the book can be too. Some sections become lists of labels, artists and singles and the reading gets very dense. The book will have the greatest appeal to hardcore music fans - many of whom (like me) won't know all of these scenes. If you are into the NYC CBGB scene (Kaye's best known milieu), this is a must-read!

[Jeanette Porcello · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5. Lenny Kaye is such a poetic writer, the way he describes the artists & bands brings them alive and humanizes them. Went down lots of rabbit holes while reading of new (to me) bands and their cultural context. A nice read for music lovers. VERY dense, took me a while to get through!

[Bargle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program.

I liked this one. Well described major events in Rock & Roll, some of which the author was witness to or part of (He's in Patti Smith Group) and many that helped shape Rock as it is today. The writing style doesn't always please me, but that's alright. Definitely recommended if you want to know how popular music became what it is today.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments in Rock and Roll by Lenny Kaye tells the history of rock using ten specific "moments" as a structuring device. This is both a fun book for those of us who remember the vast majority of these moments as well as a rich history for those always looking for more insight.

Told as an insider of the industry and someone involved in, or at least with the proverbial backstage pass to, many of these moments we get anecdotes and asides mixed in with the more straightforward telling of music history. There is no "the" history of rock, but as a history of rock this volume adds plenty of information and a lot of energy to collection of histories that tell the story.

I don't think one needs to be particularly well-versed in rock history to enjoy the book though it will likely be more appealing to those who are familiar with more than just the artists who topped the charts. Names and strands of various genres are tossed off regularly, some with contextualization and some not. Usually those not are also not integral to understanding the overall story, so they can be noted as one reads on then, if curious, looked up later to learn more about them.

Again, these are important moments that, as the title says, transformed the music. Most did produce chart toppers but that is not really the reason for inclusion. It is how each changed the course of the genre and also how much each influenced future artists. In that regard these moments are transformative. I imagine one could argue for an additional inclusion or two, and if one wants to be arrogantly narrow can argue that the transformations a couple of these moments caused weren't "important" enough. But all in all this is an excellent selection and all are told with the same sense of excitement and energy that permeated those times and places.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Nestor Rychtyckyj · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Horses Horses….Horseshit” – this is my favorite line from Lenny Kaye’s magnificent opus about rock & roll as seen through our virtual travels to the most iconic times that created the music that we cannot possibly live without. Lenny Kaye is our guide for these 444 spellbinding pages that take us from Cleveland to Seattle in span of 40 years and several lifetimes. He is also present for many of these creative explosions and deftly interweaves his own musical journeys through these times along with putting us into the Grande in 1969, CBGBs in 1975 and the 100 Club in 1977.

The subtitle reads “Ten Transformative Moments in Rock & Roll” and we are expected to know what is happening here – Lenny Kaye knows his musical history and we better keep up with him. A little research may be needed in case you’re not up on the New Orleans blues scene as was the case for me. Nevertheless, reading is all about learning and I certainly did my share while travelling through all these places with Lenny’s able assistance.

Of course, my main focus was on Chapters 6-8 where my beloved Detroit created the rumblings that led directly to those wonderful early days of punk and Lenny was right in the middle of everything. I was too young to visit the hallowed floors of the Grande Ballroom where the MC5 and the Stooges showed the world what rock & roll from Detroit sounds like, but had many opportunities to spend time in places like Bookie’s and the Red Carpet where bands like the Ramrods, Coldcock, Cinecyde and many others carried on the Detroit tradition.

Unfortunately, I was not at CBGBs when Television and the Ramones were opening the door to a new dimension, but Lenny and Patti most certainly were. Reading about the early days of CBGBs is an experience that I never tire of – the stories may change but the myth of Hilly and his meeting with Television continues to grow. Lenny’s personal memories of this crazy time add so much to this book and show what a small group of determined and creative people can do. The book just continues to gain speed as we move to London and the beginnings of British punk. The quote about “horses, horses and horseshit” is from Johnny Rotten, who is not too enamored with the Patti Smith Group. This chapter is among my favorite accounts of those early days of Punk that I have seen and I really do try to find as much as I can about those days.

The book ends with a visit to Seattle and the birth of grunge; (I chose to skim over and ignore the chapter on the metal bands that I will never listen to), but Seattle does deserve its rightful place in this book.
A list of references and essential listening for each time period is thoughtfully provided and yes, I’m thinking about why this book resonated so deeply with me. Reading about rock & roll is one of my favorite pastimes but Lenny’s book went beyond that. The best part of this is the love of rock & roll that drips off every sentence that Lenny writes; it may be Sam Phillips in Memphis or Iggy Pop in Detroit, but you can just feel the excitement and passion about that moment. We all love this music, but it takes somebody like Lenny Kaye to make us really appreciate this love.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a history of rock and roll, tied to places. I give it 3.5 stars. I like how Kaye devotes each chapter to a place and time, and their respective music scenes. He focuses on the main bands of those scenes, but talks about the many others in orbit.

The problem is that his writing style is sometimes hard to follow. He doesn't write like a documentarist, he writes like a hippie who's trying to sound cool. And he jumps around in the timeline. And he switches back and forth between first and last names, which makes it twice as hard to keep track of who is who.

So this book is best suited to people who are familiar with the subject. If this is all new to you, you may struggle.

I liked the early chapters that were more concise - Memphis, Philadelphia, Liverpool. San Francisco and Detroit got long-winded. But I enjoyed the later chapters on London (punk) and Seattle. I'm not sure if he found the right balance, or if I just got used to his style.

[Don Siegrist · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was obviously a labor of love for author/musician Lenny Kaye. He has an almost bottomless knowledge of rock & roll history; but therein lies the problem. Only hardcore R&R aficionados will be interested in the arcane facts he has dug up. In addition, he apparently has literary aspirations which get in the way of the narrative.

In spite of this, I found portions of the book interesting. How certain artistic movements emerged in various places and times throughout the world is something I've always marveled at. Not just rock & roll but also literature and art. Think Paris in the 1920's. His dives into Memphis in the early 50's, Liverpool in the early 60's and San Francisco in the mid 60's, etc are just way too deep for most readers, myself included.

[Mark M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lenny Kaye's masterful one-volume history of rock (and roll) starting before it started and stretching forward to when what was once considered by some to be the Devil's music had a "branch" that rather was so, black metal, the Norway, 1993 chapter.

Of course, one necessarily starts with the cover of a book which one should not use to judge the book by and that aphorism applies here.

The cover looks like one for a cheap novel.

But then I see in the fine print on the dust jacket that the guitar on the cover was Fred "Sonic" Smith's guitar, MC5 member (E=MC5 according to the inner sleeve of Hawkwind's _Quark, Strangeness and Charm_) and late husband of Patti Smith who Lenny played guitar for.

I regard the appearance of the Strat body to be the second most boring looking guitar after the Gibson Les Paul. I fully realize how certain of these are treasured by guitarists.

(I grew up in Mpls, MN, US(A) and when the Patti Smith group came to town, ca. 1977, they signed autographs at the Electric Fetus record store, Patti bouncing along as she wrote out her name to Bowie's "Heroes" which was playing in the store at one point. After they all finished signing, they piled into a limo and then Patti suddenly burst out of it shouting "Ivan [Kral]!" She was pissed as it was clear she wanted to leave and he hadn't climbed into the limo with her and the others and was still in the store. I guess I was standing somewhat in her way to re-entering the store because she shoved me out of it. Nothing enormously violent, I hardly paid it a thought at first, until I realized "Patti Smith shoved me!")

Lenny's subtitle uses the word "moments" but that is misleading because while the years are not irrelevant to the chapters bearing them, a given chapter deals with more than just the named year time-wise. And when one sees the title "Liverpool, 1962," one thinks, "Ah, Beatles," but much more than the Beatles are discussed.

Lenny manages countless clever turns of phrase often alluding to a famous song title. These clevernesses appear practically on every other page of the book.

I would quote an example, but I already returned the book to the library and can't recall one, such is my poor memory.

His rock appetite is broader than mine in the sense that he's willing to listen to and discuss genres I care not for such as metal.

Lenny is one gifted writer.

He knows what he's doing.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Ecco Books for an advanced copy of this new music history.

Musicians are of course great writers, either of music, lyrics or both. Very few musicians bring their skill to books. Yes there are many music "memoirs", mostly ghostwritten collections of stories used to either settle old scores, claim credit for songs, groupies or place their mistakes in a better light. Nick Cave and Bob Dylan wrote fiction, one better than the other. Few however have written about music, the history of, influences of, even when they are front in center in the changes that going on. That's why a book like this one is so rare and fascinating. Lenny Kaye in his book Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments in Rock and Roll brings both his knowledge of music and performance to write of seminal moments in rock history.

Famed for being both a founding member of the Patti Smith Group, and for creating the musical anthology Nuggets, a collection of sixties garage-rock bands that has its own fame, Kaye has also written biographies and overviews across the musical spectrum. In this book Kaye chooses 10 transformative moments in rock history where everything changed. These moments can be obvious, Memphis 1954, London 1977, to more esoteric like New Orleans 1957 or Philadelphia 1959. Kaye writes of the era, what was happening musically, socially politically, what happened, what changed, what was destroyed or left in the wake. Some seem to be more in depth than necessary, and others can be argued about their inclusion, but that is the point about books like these. They provoke thought, and conversations, sometimes raised voices and louder music. Sometimes you learn something new. Sometimes a reader disagrees, write your own book. I enjoy books like this so I will happily read it.

The writing style can be little odd. Maybe a slight case the beat writers, with a touch of Ms. Patti Smith. Also the reader is expected to know major characters in music and culture with little introduction. So this might not be the best book for new ears to read, but quite a lot can be learned. Kaye makes a very good teacher, knowledgeable about his subject matter not just by book learning but from performing, producing and doing, and is happy to teach all that he has learned over the years.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kaye of course helped transform rock and roll by creating an entire genre out of his favorite records when he put together the Nuggets compilation of garage punk in 1972. Then he was an integral part of the Patti Smith Group, who came up with an entirely fresh approach to combining spirituality with excessively body-oriented rock and roll.
The book itself is divided into ten chapters, each detailing a particular scene in a particular city, mostly but not exclusively at a particular time. Inspired by Brian Eno's term "scenius," Kaye does a great job of showing that most of the great artists in rock where able to achieve what they did by being part of a scene. Genius comes when talent melds with opportunity built across the work of many people trying to achieve individuality.
Of course, there are many more examples possible, but Kaye's focus on rock and roll leads us to Cleveland 1952, Memphis 1954, New Orleans 1957, Philadelphia 1959, Liverpool 1962, San Francisco 1967, Detroit 1969, New York City 1975, London 1977, Los Angeles 1984 (combined with Norway 1993), and Seattle 1991. It probably helps to already be acquainted with some of the music he's talking about, but if you are, you'll find many secrets revealed, and many treasures you may not have already known.
This is a personal book about music which tries to make a universal point. It succeeds, and I'm already thinking about connections between musicians I've known and loved. But more importantly, it achieves a passionate encounter with music from the point of view of a man who has made it his life's work.

[Nathan Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

In episodic fragments, Kaye takes a poetic approach to the history of rock & roll -- sometimes so poetic he gets rather basic and glaring facts wrong, though much of that is less his fault than a weird trend I've noticed of broad lapses in copy editing in recent years. At any rate, this is a sumptuous, enveloping read even when you don't particularly care for what he's covering; while I was obviously riveted by the stuff about Memphis and Liverpool and the first wave of punk, it was much less likely that I'd be totally absorbed in the account of Seattle in the late 1980s and early '90s despite not being a fan of grunge music at all (though I did have a phrase, and I do kind of like Mudhoney and retain a slightly soft spot for Alice in Chains). I also agree with Kaye in his final analysis of how rock & roll isn't actually dead as many have claimed -- for one thing, that statement requires a stricter definition of rock & roll than I'm willing to abide by (to me, R&B and hip hop and even a lot of modern pop music counts insofar as I don't think it would be conceivable without the emergence of teen culture as a real, independent force in the '50s), but also, if you're talking about guitar music, he makes the eloquent case that it's just in the air now. It's not a movement anymore, it's just part of us. But to recapture the feeling and the historical importance of the times when it was a movement, this is a very strong modern text. (Really though, despite giving lip service to rap and electronica, no hip hop chapter?)

[Kevin Dickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this wild, freeform yet expertly researched dive into the formative, transformative history of rock n roll. I mean, it sure helps that Lenny Kaye has been present at and witnessed so many of rock's important moments first-hand (not to mention playing in some of the greatest shows I've ever seen), but his effortless blending of chronological events and releases across continents combined with his astute contextualizing, makes for a heady, massively entertaining read. As a lifelong music obsessive there was so much I didn't know, and Kaye really managed to answer a lot of questions I had, as well as many I had along the way. Kaye is rarely snarky, which is uncommon among us music snobs, and the result is just a pure adrenaline rollercoaster ride through the last seventy years of music's evolution from someone who lived it with an open mind, heart and ears. If you are even mildly interested in music, you will get something great out of this book. For instance, I have zero interest in black metal, but the chapter that sees Kaye travel to Scandinavia to check out the scene is one of the book's most riveting. To loosely paraphrase Kaye, this book must be a nugget, because I dug it.

[Jay Gabler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unless you’re a fairly serious fan of rock music, chances are good that you don’t recognize the name Lenny Kaye. It seems that’s fine with the artist, whose new book takes a personal view of rock history without making it all about him.

You do probably recognize the name of Kaye’s multi-decade collaborator: Patti Smith. Kaye admits that he developed an “instant crush” on Smith when he first saw her: onstage in an “off-off-Broadway” play circa 1970. “She plays a tough-talking speed freak, all bones and slashed black hair and unfettered attitude, no distance between her role and self.” Although Kaye would become the pivotal figure paving Smith’s transition from punk poet to punk rocker, there was never any chance that their band would be called the Lenny Kaye Group.

It wasn’t Kaye’s music, but his writing, that first caught Smith’s attention. I reviewed Lightning Striking for The Current.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't gotten much reading done for a few months, mostly because I'm busy with some other stuff, but also because I got a little mired down in Lightning Striking. I'm a big fan of Lenny Kaye, who is a largely unrecognized giant in rock history. Along with hipster saints like Lester Bangs and Nick Tosches, Kaye was part of the pioneering generation of rock critics. In 1972, when he was a clerk at the Village Oldies record shop in NYC, he compiled Nuggets, a collection of songs by the American "garage" bands that sprang up in response to the British invasion, which record was hugely influential on the 70s New York punk scene and all subsequent rock music. And, of course, he was a seminal figure in that scene as guitarist for the Patti Smith Group. Plus, he seems like the nicest guy in the world and I've been so disappointed in so many of my heroes in recent years. I really wanted to like Lightning Striking better than I did, especially since I had so enjoyed Waylon Jennings' autobiography that Kaye ghost-wrote.

My problem with Lightning Striking was a matter of style. Kaye is appropriately writing in the punny, riffing, associative style he developed while writing for Jazz and Pop and Rolling Stone in the seventies. I was alive then, but I was young, so I missed out on the rock-crit golden age. I got all my rock and roll knowledge, in those pre-Internet days, from the fan magazine Circus, which was just one step up from teenybopper crush-porn like Tiger Beat. As a young man I was a big Kerouac fan and I enjoyed the Lester Bangs collection Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung when I read it, but at this age I have less patience for "gonzo" self-indulgence full of creaky wordplay and oblique hipster references. I was reading the book to bask in Kaye's cool, to be certain, but I also wanted to soak up some of his encyclopedic knowledge and having to translate from hepcat was sometimes frustrating. The Detroit, New York, and London chapters were by far the best. When Kaye is writing about people that he knew personally and scenes he was a part of, the book really comes alive.

Really, a two-star experience for me, but I'm not gonna give Lenny Kaye two stars.

[Sharon Dene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book was very interesting how he would take different cities and different times and explain the music and how it became the background. I was pretty amazed about Detroit and how they had such a rich musical scene and then the highway had to come through that was not right. The title was interesting too because lightning strikes well that makes sense because it would strike a different city at different times and the music was rolling into that city. He hit Seattle right on the nail This is when the grunge took over the city and it was really a good time because everybody was free to be who they were. And especially like the Patty Smith section on New York and how she went from being a poetry to being a musician and how she transformed her life and she met up with that guy at a record store and he kind of went along with it so you can see how they expanded their careers and it was pretty amazing.

[Terje · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessant og krevende. Den er både interessant og krevende fordi den inneholder enormt mye informasjon om populærmusikken gjennom 70 år. Krevende fordi den amerikanske forfatteren har et vokabular som gjør at jeg stadig må kjempe med mine engelskkunnskaper. Men det er en formidling fylt av poetisk kraft og en rørende kjærlighet til populærmusikkens mange sjangere, om det er rockabilly, beatpop, punk, heavy metal, norsk black metal eller grunge. Forfatteren er, som gitarist for Patti Smith, en insider i bransjen og skriver med insiderens innsikt. Men det slår meg også hvor anglofil jeg har vært i min tilnærming til rocken gjennom 40 år. Jeg hadde hatt godt av å dykke ned i det som skjedde på den andre siden av Atlanteren på 60- og 70-tallet. Det har boka motivert meg til å gjøre.

[Peter B Waddell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The density of detail is fascinating, informative, inspirational, and a little daunting. Rather than ploughing through the whole volume sequentially, I have engaged with one chapter at a time - one moment in musical and cultural history that fascinates in itself, that connects stuff I know in useful ways and which offers new insights. It's an historical narrative, a rich repository of data, a reference book, and a catalyst to listening. After nearly fifty years of listening and collecting, this book is a terrific reminder that the exploration of music is me in a tiny boat in the archipelagos and tides of a vast ocean ... with eyes and ears open. Thank you Mr Kaye!

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book, more literary than most books on rock music, and covering a lot of the names that didn't get big from these scenes. But it really needed someone to fact-check/proofread -- this has a lot of small-but-annoying errors (calling Extreme's "More Than Words" "More Than One"; referring to Nirvana's "Incesticide" as "Insecticide"; saying Matt Damon rather than Matt Dillon was in the movie Singles -- and that's just in the sections covering times I lived through and knew well enough to notice).

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great stuff in here. Especially when Kaye is writing specifically about the music he was involved with. His ability to conjure up the magic of certain musical hubs in time occasionally works - the New Orleans bit, for example. A lot of the other periods in time didn't work for me - the Seattle stuff was just weird to me - I mean did anyone ever get excited watching Mother Love Bone? What I've learned after two Kaye books is that his writing style is not my favorite. Too lyrical for me. I do want to read his essay on doo wop however.

[Jim Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seemed like it would be great retrospective of many rock greats.And it was,only in minuscule.He is a musician,writer,observer of the rock scene over many years.But translating that to 450 pages wasn’t easy.To me he should focused on the giant or giants of each year he picked.And he did….for a few paragraphs.It seemed he wanted to impress with everyone he had ever encountered in the business:session men and women,writers,promoters,record execs,roadies.Way too many people you never heard of or ever will.