False Prophet: Fieldnotes from the Punk Underground (Music Culture)

Rating:
Summary: False Prophet Rings True
Review: Steven Taylor's "False Prophet: Fieldnotes from the Punk Underground" succeeds on multi-levels. As anthropology, it is a comprehensive cultural study, as musical history it is a much needed document and as personal memoir it is wholly compelling. Taylor is a singular artist. While most rockers can't write about music and most rock critics can't tune a guitar, Taylor has the intellect, theoretical chops and the musical cache to cover all the bases. The story alone is riveting: accomplished musician signs on with band during Lower East Side punk explosion; band runs up against American corporate music biz and tours Europe while that part of the globe is undergoing intense upheaval. I can't recommend this book enough and it should prove riveting to not only a national, but an international audience.