Nevermind : It's Only Rock of Ages

by Sal Nudo

"The power of music is unique in its ability to transform our senses," says Sal Nudo, who chronicles the music of his youth and its effect on his life in 'Nevermind: It's Only Rock of Ages (Featuring Def Leppard and Nirvana)'.

In an intelligent, humorous, and creative commentary, Nudo examines and compares the rise and fall of slick metal bands like Def Leppard against the raw, unprocessd energy of later groups like Nirvana. In so doing, Nudo reveals a slice of his high school and college life -- a time when pizza and loud music meant everything. We witness an entertaining transformation and maturation of his musical tastes, from bang-your-head music with heavy sexual innuendos to the genuine, unpolished passion of independent, alternative rock.

'Nevermind...' is a thoroughly enjoyable commentary on rock music, as well as a discussion of a young man's coming of age.

Genres: Nonfiction

40 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 1999

About the author

Sal Nudo is a writer with a master's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is best known for his novella, The Newspaperman, which was selected as a Book Excellence Award Finalist by Literacy Excellence Incorporated and received the October 2018 Literary Titan Book Award (5 Gold Stars).

Nudo was recognized by Townsend Press in 2025 as a “What I Believe” Essay Award winner. He was a third-place recipient in 2015 of the Marian and Barney Brody Creative Feature Article Writing Award in Journalism from the College of Media at Illinois. He is also a 2019 National Novel Writing Month winner whose writing has appeared in Illinois Alumni magazine, the Mahomet Citizen newspaper, and the online publication Smile Politely.