Music Lust: Recommended Listening for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason

by Nic Harcourt

The MP3 and iPod revolution have changed forever how people listen to music, but choosing what to listen to next remains the dilemma of music lovers everywhere. As music director of KCRW in Santa Monica, CA, and DJ of the influential “Morning Becomes Eclectic” show, Harcourt uncovers the best in new and overlooked music for over half a million listeners every day. In Music Lust, Harcourt does what Nancy Pearl did for books in her national bestseller Book Lust. With more than 80 unique and unusual thematic lists, Harcourt offers a wide-ranging guide to the best in recorded music, from Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa, Billie Holiday to Billy Bragg, bebop to hip-hop, The White Album to Back in Black, and much, much more. Known as an international tastemaker, Harcourt lends his discerning ear in recommended listening lists such as “Queens of Punk,” “Great Road Music,” and “My Desert Island Discs.” Within each list, key bands and performers are introduced and discussed, and pivotal albums and songs identified. With the diversity of genres represented and Harcourt at the helm, Music Lust’s eclectic access to musicians, themes, and styles is spot-on for this moment in music.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2005

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a cursory analysis of many many music genres. While I appreciated the coverage of categories like "cowboy songs" and "rock soundtracks" there isn't a need to discuss "bands from iceland" or "bands named after food" in depth. If someone were going on a game show this book would be a perfect way to study all sorts of popular music though.

[Pete Bocompani · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you don’t know anything at all about music, you might enjoy this. The rest of us - not so much.

[KennyO · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn’t heard of Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust until I’d gotten underway reading Nic Harcourt’s Music Lust. I now note, therefore, that the somewhat parallel structure of the two books explains Nic’s title. Their common drift is to take us down an “if-you-liked-that-you-may-also-like-…” path.

I have little “loyalty” to any given radio station and when in my working days I traveled I reveled in hearing new music. This was, of course, back in the time when DJs and program managers chose the artists and songs to air, not some anonymous and heartless data mining software. Around L.A. there used to be a great variety of music, new and old. (There may still be but I haven’t been there for years.) Two of my L.A. favorite stations were KLON (Long Beach State University radio, now KKJZ) and KCRW where Nic Harcourt held forth on his “Morning Becomes Eclectic” show. My familiarity with Nic from that show renders me far more receptive to his organization of Music Lust than I would otherwise have been.

The majority of his presentation is familiar and predictable for us old codgers. Even the newest music he names is well within our purview. If one is well versed in the music of the 60s through the 90s there’ll be less new knowledge to take away than if your acquaintance with the music of that era is not deep nor remembered clearly. Nic doesn’t much judge the music nor press the reader to follow his lead. He mainly shows what’s out there grouped by a variety of classifications.

I understand why many readers of Music Lust lavish praise on it and understand equally why many pan it assertively. My take on it is that much of it I’ve known well and some of what I gave short shrift to now has a place thanks to Nic.

[Ben · Rating 1 out of 5]

As if the infestation of "list" cover features that have replaced music journalism in the past few years isn't bad enough, now we have L.A.'s arbiter of "good taste" giving us, the listening/reading public, a slice of his musical world. What we get is the most boring and predictable list of music choices imaginable. You know those Columbia House CD Club blow-in cards that used to be in music magazines? Harcourt's lists read like one of those. Seriously. When I first picked up (lifted up, not bought) this book in a chain store, I thought "OK, maybe I'll get to see the real Nic Harcourt. Throw me some curveballs, Nic, and show me that the real reason you play all that anodyne crap on Morning Becomes Eclectic is because you can't scare away the Westside 40 year olds driving in their Land Rovers. You don't want to alienate them for when you have to ask them for money during so-called 'subscription' drives. Surely after working at independent radio stations for years and breaking all of those mediocre bands, you've also come across some pretty unconventional, far-out music which you're ready to share with us." My hopes were dashed about halfway down the second page. Out of hundreds of artists listed, what were some of the names from leftfield, some names from just a little bit off the beaten path? Roy Harper and the Soft Machine. Two all-time personal favorites, yes, but hardly obscure in Harper's case, given that he recorded with Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Kate Bush. Everybody already knows about the Police, and Coldplay, and the Polyphonic Spree, and the Rolling Stones, and Underworld, Nic. How do they know about them? because their music is piped into every Target/Starbucks/HBO show soundtrack that exists! The world reveres the Clash and the Velvet Underground already, so use your pulpit to turn LA and the world onto some stuff that's just a leetle weird, a tiny bit unsafe, instead of making us listening to Starsailor live in studio during the eleven o'clock hour.
Thanks, guy.

[Marjanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is basically a brief history for several music genres and artists. It is also a book of lists, recommending albums, artists, etc. in a variety of music genres. If you are interested in music in general, you will like the different areas and artists discussed, as well as it may give you good leads on albums and artists. I agreed with some of the authors recommendations, however I have checked out a couple of the bands he noted and was a bit disappointed. Though there are probably as many that lead me to new found music faves.

[Becca · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a waste of paper. There was nothing original in here at all aside from some Native American and Japanese artists. The categories were overly predictable. I was expecting something like "If you like Led Zeppelin, try this band you may never have heard of" or maybe "If you're feeling angry or romantic or lonely or unpredictable, then listen to this". Instead it was mostly "Top 10 Beatles Songs", "Jazz Vocalists: The Ladies" and "Jazz Vocalists: The Men" with only the occasional list that required any real brain function. So disappointing.

[Jansie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not what I expected at all. This was basically a book full of one or two page 'essays' on a particular style of music or band or singer. The title is misleading, as he recommends everything in the book---without consideration to mood, moment or reason. If you are an eclectic music fan you will know practically everything in this book anyway. If you are a newbie to certain genres then it could be helpful as a starting point...but so is the internet. Very disappointing.

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best sections of this book are Nic's autobiographical reminisces, but the "listener's guide" format doesn't suit his personality or style. I would love to read a full autobiography by Nic, as he's had an interesting life and is a terrific guy. He must be, to get all these difficult/antisocial musicians to not only play on his show, but talk comfortably in interview segments.

[Ash Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book needs a warning label. Reading this book will make your list of music to buy go up by 20 or 50 albums. I wish Harcourt would have covered some of the subjects in more detail but the range of music covered is exceptional and my wish list of music has gone up two fold.

[Gregg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book by the brilliant Nik Harcourt of KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, the best music channel in the U.S.

[Lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good reference guide for someone who doesn't know a lot about music history. There are some great recommendations in here. Plus the author is the legendary radio DJ/programmer at KCRW.

[Jeff]

Nic Harcourt has is a definitive authority on a broad spectrum of music. I love his radio show and I love this easy-to-read book of lists and essays on music genres.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I (heart) Nic Harcourt

[Yuliana]

Loved this book.