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The Accidental Evolution of Rock'n'Roll: A Misguided Tour Through Popular Music
History, jokebook, buying guide, book of lists, and treatise all rolled into one, The Accidental Evolution of Rock'n'Roll is most of all a joyride through the wildest music ever made. Whether discussing Def Leppard or Nirvana, Vanilla Ice or Public Enemy, Donna Summer or Bob Dylan, Chuck Eddy is an unparalleled master at deciphering unknown tongues and disentangling musical accidents. In this lavishly and hilariously illustrated book, he reveals the roots of rap, disco, power ballads, bubblegum, suburban country, and noise-rock; why selling out is good and honesty is never what it seems; the similarities between disco and garage rock and between reggae and heavy metal; whether songs can ever really "mean" anything; what math rock has in common with amputation rock and orgasm rock; and much, much more. By eventually encompassing the whole wacky world of popular music, this book is destined to change it forever.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
364 pages, Paperback
First published March 21, 1997
64 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Eddy
8 books14 followersChuck Eddy is an independent music journalist living in Austin, Texas. Formerly the music editor at the Village Voice and a senior editor at Billboard, he is the author of The Accidental Evolution of Rock’n’Roll: A Misguided Tour through Popular Music and Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe. Chuck Klosterman is a freelance journalist and the author of books including Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto and Fargo Rock City.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 8, 2015
While reading Nick Hornby’s populist approach to literature I was reminded of Chuck Eddy’s populist approach to music, and remembered that I had read this book. I read my friend’s copy a long time ago while crashing on his couch. There are a couple things I love and a couple things I hate about this book. As someone who’s hunted vinyl records since junior high, I’ve encountered many bizarre and hilarious lost artifacts in the form of album covers. Eddy does a terrific job constructing a taxonomy of albums based on their common cover themes. He also draws from all corners of the universe and creates deliciously absurd song lists like “popcorn in rap music.” Eddy also excels at creating joke genres: two memorable ones are “nerfmetal” and “underground” rock (as in, songs with lyrics about being in the ground)!
But Eddy’s quasi-populist approach to music is annoying and seems disingenious. He celebrates all rock that is bubblegummy and slams all rock that is “arty.” He intends to celebrate pop hits for what they are--commodities, and, pull the curtain aside from art rock to reveal what it truly is—a sham that is pretending to be something other than commodity. Eddy’s flaw is that he overlooks the possibility of cheap pop to have deep meaning or big ideas, just as he overlooks the possibility of experimental music to rock hard, groove deep, be catchy, or inspire dancing. In the post-Internet radio era, these possibilities are even greater, particularly the former. Then again, I suspect that Eddy is really just a contrarian. He may be adopting an attitude to simply to upset his fussy and stuffy rock critic peers.
I remember reading in an interview he gave that he felt his works suffered from their wholes *not* being greater than their parts. I actually like that about the book. It is best taken as scattered moments rather than a whole. Maybe I should track this book down and read parts of it again…
But Eddy’s quasi-populist approach to music is annoying and seems disingenious. He celebrates all rock that is bubblegummy and slams all rock that is “arty.” He intends to celebrate pop hits for what they are--commodities, and, pull the curtain aside from art rock to reveal what it truly is—a sham that is pretending to be something other than commodity. Eddy’s flaw is that he overlooks the possibility of cheap pop to have deep meaning or big ideas, just as he overlooks the possibility of experimental music to rock hard, groove deep, be catchy, or inspire dancing. In the post-Internet radio era, these possibilities are even greater, particularly the former. Then again, I suspect that Eddy is really just a contrarian. He may be adopting an attitude to simply to upset his fussy and stuffy rock critic peers.
I remember reading in an interview he gave that he felt his works suffered from their wholes *not* being greater than their parts. I actually like that about the book. It is best taken as scattered moments rather than a whole. Maybe I should track this book down and read parts of it again…
June 3, 2019
Does this sound like your idea of good music analysis?
"Merilee Rush sang about career women who had become `victims of the night'; in fact, `Working Girl' itself is still one of the only rock songs (at least good ones) to address sexual harrassment - her boss is Mr. Jones, who knew something was happening but didn't know what it was in Dylan's `Ballad of a Thin Man' (so his wife dumped him for Billy Paul so he wound up cruising the barrio for Hispanic chicks with Counting Crows." (p.21)
Congratulations, Mr. Eddy - you just showed you can name four songs that deal with a character named Mr. Jones. Way to go.
That's what this book reads like - it's a series of references and free associations, but he has trouble talking about the same topic for more than a page. Sometimes he can't go a sentence without getting derailed. What you end up with is a bunch of surface-level analysis, as he rarely talks about anything to really make a point or back it up sufficiently.
Many of these chapters are just glorified lists. Wanna know about a bunch of rock songs about trains? Regardless - here's one. Except this is actually more annoying than a book of lists. A book of lists at least keeps things to a bare minimum. This gives you plenty of extra words than a book of lists, but nothing more than the list.
I'm only giving it a second star, because once in a rare while he'll stay on a topic for a bit and make a point. I don't necessarily agree with some of his points, but on this all too brief moments when he makes a point, the book is interesting. Best part: his chapter on Gladys Knight and the Pips where he argues that having a combination of deep emotion (Gladys's singing) and schmaltz (the Pips's background noises) is a nice combination.
Mostly, reading this book was just an endurance of boredom.
"Merilee Rush sang about career women who had become `victims of the night'; in fact, `Working Girl' itself is still one of the only rock songs (at least good ones) to address sexual harrassment - her boss is Mr. Jones, who knew something was happening but didn't know what it was in Dylan's `Ballad of a Thin Man' (so his wife dumped him for Billy Paul so he wound up cruising the barrio for Hispanic chicks with Counting Crows." (p.21)
Congratulations, Mr. Eddy - you just showed you can name four songs that deal with a character named Mr. Jones. Way to go.
That's what this book reads like - it's a series of references and free associations, but he has trouble talking about the same topic for more than a page. Sometimes he can't go a sentence without getting derailed. What you end up with is a bunch of surface-level analysis, as he rarely talks about anything to really make a point or back it up sufficiently.
Many of these chapters are just glorified lists. Wanna know about a bunch of rock songs about trains? Regardless - here's one. Except this is actually more annoying than a book of lists. A book of lists at least keeps things to a bare minimum. This gives you plenty of extra words than a book of lists, but nothing more than the list.
I'm only giving it a second star, because once in a rare while he'll stay on a topic for a bit and make a point. I don't necessarily agree with some of his points, but on this all too brief moments when he makes a point, the book is interesting. Best part: his chapter on Gladys Knight and the Pips where he argues that having a combination of deep emotion (Gladys's singing) and schmaltz (the Pips's background noises) is a nice combination.
Mostly, reading this book was just an endurance of boredom.
August 5, 2015
Avoid this book unless you want to be bored senseless. The blurbs on the back made me think it would be a joy to read both informative and humorous. I would say TEDIOUS in the extreme.
The man had at time of writing the book (1997) a strange fixation with Boney M and Gary Glitter and Axl Rose.
Most of the time he references bands that I had never heard of despite listening to varied types of music for fifty five years.
Like the toothache I couldn't wait for it to finish.
It was recommended to me by Time Out's book 1,000 books to change your life although to give them their due they did not specify for the better or the worse.
The man had at time of writing the book (1997) a strange fixation with Boney M and Gary Glitter and Axl Rose.
Most of the time he references bands that I had never heard of despite listening to varied types of music for fifty five years.
Like the toothache I couldn't wait for it to finish.
It was recommended to me by Time Out's book 1,000 books to change your life although to give them their due they did not specify for the better or the worse.
April 22, 2016
Lot of fun, this book.
February 28, 2012
I love Chuck Eddy, but this is so disjointed that it's basically worthless as a reference, and there's not enough interesting opinions here to make up for that.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews