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The Fine Wisdom and Perfect Teachings of the Kings of Rock and Roll: A Memoir
“Hilarious, harrowing, and ultimately inspiring.... Truly, there is something arresting and wonderful on every page.”
— Michael Pollan “With sentences that sometimes astonish” (Matthew Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft ), celebrated cultural critic Mark Edmundson has written a hip and hilarious coming-of-age memoir about one man’s miscues and false starts as he enters the world after college. Through exhilarating adventures, he attempts to answer the timeless question of who he is, while contemplating what role music, love, work, drugs, money, and books will play in his life.
— Michael Pollan “With sentences that sometimes astonish” (Matthew Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft ), celebrated cultural critic Mark Edmundson has written a hip and hilarious coming-of-age memoir about one man’s miscues and false starts as he enters the world after college. Through exhilarating adventures, he attempts to answer the timeless question of who he is, while contemplating what role music, love, work, drugs, money, and books will play in his life.
- GenresBiographyMusicNonfiction
240 pages, Hardcover
First published May 4, 2010
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65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 15, 2014
Full disclosure, I read up to page 40 then skimmed the rest. The title is misleading. Peeved at Michael Pollan for the recommendation. At first loved the poetic writing style and casual references to great thinkers, then discovered that this was the main ploy of the book, not so much insider facts about Rock history. Worst of all, I had no need for an ode to the great and powerful cock-- its ability to piss anywhere and claim space.
May 25, 2019
I was very confused by this book. I thought it would be a tell-all about the rock and roll industry as told by someone who works in the background. The back cover blurb says he has worked for the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, and the Allman Brothers, and yet there is virtually nothing in the book about these bands or working for them except to mention their names. It also says it is a coming-of-age book, which I generally like, but in my opinion a coming-of-age story starts at childhood and ends on the threshold of adulthood. This book starts about the time he graduated high school and doesn't talk at all about his childhood. Instead, this book seems to be a long, drawn-out story of his drug usage and personal opinions of the times, which is the 1960's. I seldom stick with a one star book but I stuck with it because I paid full-price, thinking this book was something different but at least it was quick. I powered thru it in a day just to get done.
February 17, 2013
Unimpressed. I think I missed something.
February 13, 2011
In his New York Times bestselling book, "Teacher", Mark Edmundson gave us an entertaining chronicle of early youth as a high school student in the working class town of Medford, Massachussetts. “Teacher” is a coming-of-age story, where an Ivy-league educated, inspiring, erudite, and unique teacher, Frank Lears, helps a booze-drinking, rebellious, athletic, and somewhat lost young man see the power of knowledge, and the desire of a life spent in pursuit of learning. "The Kings of Rock and Roll" is also a coming-of-age story, but one that begins a bit further down the road of the the author’s life: in that uncertain transition from college graduation into the "real world".
Edmundson, under the guidance of an eccentric and energetic friend, Pelops, whom he met at Bennington College in Vermont, heads, upon graduating, to New York City. Edmundson moved to New York City in the 1970’s, a time when this big city of dreams, was "dirty and chaotic, but...in its strange way a paradise," and was ruled by the Kings of Rock and Roll and their defiant philosophies of rebellion and free love.
While in New York City, Edmundson tries his hand at many jobs: a security guard at large, unruly rock concerts, a taxi driver, a writer at "The Village Voice". Edmundson lives through these jobs with a wanderer's certainty of his journey, but also with the complete mystery as to his destination: "I was nearly certain that no straight job would ever yield the great good thing that on some level I secretly yearned for."
It is not in these hourly jobs that Edmundson ultimately found the meaning for which he longed. Art, music, and literature, combined with an open heart and mind, proved to be his beacon of light in a city of chaos. Artists, from Dostoyevsky to The Who, become Edmundson's secular heroes and saints. They guided him through the foggy abyss of early adulthood, and closer to some place of meaning.
Edmundson's search for meaning is not endeavored alone, but accompanied by characters worthy of the big screen- Duggan, Pelops, Duggan Senior, Murph. Together, the characters represent not only the desires of youth, but also the desires of us all. The desire to be something, to align our personal visions with reality, to fight the oppressive, deadening forces that stand in our way. Edmundson is aware of the chasm between dreams and reality in his own early adulthood, “there were many things I might want to be (writer, athlete, scholar). The gap between these things, and what I actually could claim to be was a source of ongoing pain.”
Edmundson’s bridge over this chasm comes as no mystery to those familiar with his work and views of the world. Above all, it is as a thinker and student of art that Edmundson finds meaning in the chaos, and aligns his experience with his ambitions. Even as a teacher, Edmundson never stops being a student.
“Perhaps there’s another strong spiritual hunger that besets human beings...and that’s the hunger to think about things. I’m talking about the need to look at life and ponder and try to make some sense where none is apparent.” Through this book as with his others, Edmundson shares a honest and well-written self examination of his own life- a humble attempt to think, ponder, and ultimately insert meaning, where it may not be so ready to appear. In so doing, Edmundson shows us a way that we too can find secular guides in our own journeys, whether that be in friends, artists, film makers, or even kings and queens of rock and roll.
Edmundson, under the guidance of an eccentric and energetic friend, Pelops, whom he met at Bennington College in Vermont, heads, upon graduating, to New York City. Edmundson moved to New York City in the 1970’s, a time when this big city of dreams, was "dirty and chaotic, but...in its strange way a paradise," and was ruled by the Kings of Rock and Roll and their defiant philosophies of rebellion and free love.
While in New York City, Edmundson tries his hand at many jobs: a security guard at large, unruly rock concerts, a taxi driver, a writer at "The Village Voice". Edmundson lives through these jobs with a wanderer's certainty of his journey, but also with the complete mystery as to his destination: "I was nearly certain that no straight job would ever yield the great good thing that on some level I secretly yearned for."
It is not in these hourly jobs that Edmundson ultimately found the meaning for which he longed. Art, music, and literature, combined with an open heart and mind, proved to be his beacon of light in a city of chaos. Artists, from Dostoyevsky to The Who, become Edmundson's secular heroes and saints. They guided him through the foggy abyss of early adulthood, and closer to some place of meaning.
Edmundson's search for meaning is not endeavored alone, but accompanied by characters worthy of the big screen- Duggan, Pelops, Duggan Senior, Murph. Together, the characters represent not only the desires of youth, but also the desires of us all. The desire to be something, to align our personal visions with reality, to fight the oppressive, deadening forces that stand in our way. Edmundson is aware of the chasm between dreams and reality in his own early adulthood, “there were many things I might want to be (writer, athlete, scholar). The gap between these things, and what I actually could claim to be was a source of ongoing pain.”
Edmundson’s bridge over this chasm comes as no mystery to those familiar with his work and views of the world. Above all, it is as a thinker and student of art that Edmundson finds meaning in the chaos, and aligns his experience with his ambitions. Even as a teacher, Edmundson never stops being a student.
“Perhaps there’s another strong spiritual hunger that besets human beings...and that’s the hunger to think about things. I’m talking about the need to look at life and ponder and try to make some sense where none is apparent.” Through this book as with his others, Edmundson shares a honest and well-written self examination of his own life- a humble attempt to think, ponder, and ultimately insert meaning, where it may not be so ready to appear. In so doing, Edmundson shows us a way that we too can find secular guides in our own journeys, whether that be in friends, artists, film makers, or even kings and queens of rock and roll.
January 2, 2014
I have to start out by mentioning that the title of the book is completely misleading. I learned more about Karl Marx’s theories and the pressures of wanting to sleep with often nude and sunbathing coeds when you happen to be a teacher than I did about anything related to rock and roll, though there is the most tenuous of links. The book focuses on the four or five years after his graduation from Bennington College, and his life as a techie for Rock shows and errant cab driving surrounded by his rich friends from Bennington and their passions, despite decided comfort in their daily lives. I found this interesting not so much as an exploration of an interesting life, but more as a template for what will likely happen to you if you graduate from Bennington College without either a firm job or a ridiculous amount of talent set before grabbing your diploma from Liz Coleman – or Mariko Silver, soon to be. I don’t think I would have made it through this book if it weren’t for the Bennington connection, to be honest, but I still feel richer for having read it – and I did kinda revel in Pelops, the Greek Marxist with a heart of gold.
Overall Rating: A great introduction to Marxism, and not much else.
Overall Rating: A great introduction to Marxism, and not much else.
September 8, 2011
This is a good memoir - seeped in Edmundson's quirky search for himself as a younger man. Today he is a well respected academic (according to the book jacket)- in those days he used to heft amps for great Rock groups like the Grateful Dead - he seemed to have a special liking for some members of the Jefferson Airplane. Its written a a type of free flowing self association. There are many references that seem familiar and particular to those days of the late 1960's and beyond. But, his musings seem to pick up and roar into his present days - how he got from there to here without having a true clue as to how any of it happened. As little as I know about the man, after reading this, I'd like to no more. Recommended
November 23, 2014
This book is a little bit more uneven than "Why Teach?" But I found myself laughing out loud a lot, especially towards the end of the book. About halfway through I realized that the title, although related to the main idea of the book, is mostly misleading. Edmundson doesn't know that much about rock and roll. His recollection of the Woodstock school is humorous, humane and inspiring.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews