Avant Rock: Experimental Music from the Beatles to Bjork

Rating:
Summary: Experimental Music from the Beatles to Bjork!
Review: An invigorating, broad-minded survey of pop music's experimental fringes. Martin (Philosophy/DePaul Univ.; Listening to the Future, not reviewed, etc.) attempts to define a 20th-century "music of ideas," while acknowledging the inherent difficulty in doing so for a genre originally identified with adolescence and spontaneity, and perpetually corrupted by the marketplace. He shrewdly does so by sorting a galaxy of artists into categories broad enough that most readers can find jumping-off points. He notes that, as John Cage, Glenn Gould, and Ornette Coleman found the limits of "reasonable" for classical and jazz listeners, Yoko Ono and Brian Eno did the same during early rock experimentation (c. 1966-75), when mainstream consumers were exposed to provocative music ranging from the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, and Steely Dan, to Can and Captain Beefheart. Soon, Martin notes, conglomerate record companies disdained supporting such efforts, while what's termed "The Passage Through Punk" created a powerful, if dead-ended, ideology (and an enduring grassroots aesthetic) in the face of late-'70s social malaise, fueling artists like Patti Smith and Glenn Branca. Although important marginal figures are neglected (e.g., Peter Laughner, The Mekons, Roky Erickson), Martin addresses excellent analysis to a smart selection, including Cecil Taylor, Sonic Youth, Jim O'Rourke, John Zorn, Tortoise, the New Klezmir Trio, and Game Theory (one of many artists whose chess obsession he discusses). Martin relates their music to parallel developments in philosophy and literature, citing influences from Adorno and Debord to Nabokov and Harry Crews, and manages the neat trick of combining the sharp personal enthusiasms of underground rock's fanzine culture, with the cooler head of academic explorations, so that the reader perceives why rock enthusiasts have stuck with it all these years. He concludes with two essay-manifestoes that question the overwhelming, image-based corporate stranglehold on mainstream music (e.g., the antics of Eminem and Britney), and probe avant-rock's seemingly healthy, if fragmented, future. A trenchant and witty exploration, several cuts above typical surveys written in the wake of the "alternative" era.

Rating:
Summary: From Yoko Ono to King Crimson and beyond
Review: At first glance the term "avant-garde rock" may be a contradiction in terms, but upon further reflection it provides an umbrella term for trends which emerged through the cultural and political upheavals of the 1960s. From Yoko Ono to King Crimson and beyond, Professor Martin's Avant Rock cogently analyzes both artists and groups, offering new insights into the emerging styles of this musical genre.

Rating:
Summary: Engaging, but chock full of errors
Review: At first glance the term "avant-garde rock" may be a contradiction in terms, but upon further reflection it provides an umbrella term for trends which emerged through the cultural and political upheavals of the 1960s. From Yoko Ono to King Crimson and beyond, Professor Martin's Avant Rock cogently analyzes both artists and groups, offering new insights into the emerging styles of this musical genre.

Rating:
Summary: For students of 20th Century American music history
Review: Avant Rock: Experimental Music From The Beatles To Bjork by Bill Martin (Professor of Philosophy, DePaul University, Chicago) is a fascinating, informative survey of rock music made by artists who resist the inexorable pulls compromise their work in order to commercialize it, conform it to consumer demands, and simply sell out to the highest bidder. Taking a broad look at avant garde rock from Yoko Ono and 1970s punk to contemporary figures such as Sonic Youth, Avant Rock is a fascinating study, and a genuine tribute to rockers who consider their music, in and of itself, to be the most important part of what they do. Avant Rock is strongly recommended reading for students of 20th Century American music history, -- and most especially for anyone with a pioneering rock music vision of their own.

Rating:
Summary: Engaging, but chock full of errors
Review: There are several facts that just aren't right in this book, and it bothered me. I mean, saying that Sterling Morrison is still teaching "to this day" should have been a showstopper (memo to the author: he died some 5-6 years before the book was published). And "Sweet Ray" ain't a VU song (though from the context it's pretty obvious he meant "Sweet Jane"). I'll stop here, but there's plenty more. Greg Kot and Jim Derogatis supplied blurbs for the back cover; did these guys actually read the book? I can't believe they would have let these obvious bloopers slide.

On the positive side, I did enjoy reading it and it's great to see someone who champions new rock from Tortoise and Jim O'Rourke and is unafraid to connect them to "prog", and not just the "prog" that's considered "cool" (King Crimson) but the "uncool" stuff like Yes and ELP.

One last thing: why no mention of My Bloody Valentine? "Isn't Anything" and "Loveless" were avant rock milestones arguably just as important as "Sister" and "Daydream Nation", but they didn't even merit a sentence in this book.