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No Sleep ‘Til Sudbury: Adventures in 80s Hard Rock and Metal Deconstruction
ISBN-13: 978-0987715906
ISBN-10: 0987715909
BISAC: Music / Genres & Styles / Rock
A refreshingly no-holds-barred narrative look at what it was like growing up in the 80s as a cold, bored hard rock and heavy metal fan in a small northern Ontario town. The rock history is here and some academic treatise is included as well, but these aspects are uniquely woven together with personal experiences and biting commentary to make No Sleep ‘til Sudbury a highly entertaining observation of the power of musical nostalgia as a pop cultural force.
Leftover People: A Journey Through Post-Rock & Roll America
ISBN-13: 978-0987715913
ISBN-10: 0987715917
BISAC: Music / Genres & Styles / Rock
Leftover People: A Journey Through Post-Rock and Roll America is the second non-fiction work from rock critic Brent Jensen. It recounts in graphic detail the events that take place during a promotional book tour of the southeastern United States in support of his rock and roll memoir No Sleep ‘Til Sudbury. As Jensen comes into personal contact with a colourful assortment of intensely dedicated 80s hard rock and metal fans that make up his readership over the course of the tour, he is forced to consider the deeper implications of his own love for the music of his youth through that of his readers. Leftover People balances tales of the tour’s debauched escapades from city to city against a darker subtext illuminating the eternal struggle between the head and the heart, and of living in the moment versus living in the past.
All My Favourite People Are Broken
ISBN-13: 978-0987715920
ISBN-10: 0987715925
BISAC: Music / Genres & Styles / Rock
Some songs just have our numbers. They have a certain power over us, sometimes for reasons we may not understand. Jensen’s newest book, All My Favourite People Are Broken, finds him examining this idea in depth, secluded deep in the Canadian Rockies with childhood friend and fellow music fanatic Garvey. This meditation gives rise to days of animated musical discussion, and the discourse is wildly limitless. The pair talk about how The Carpenters were creepier than Black Sabbath. They ruminate on why it was okay to listen to Billy Squier’s “The Stroke” but not to Rick James’ “Super Freak” as preteens in 1981. The similarities between Michael Jackson and metal guitarist Zakk Wylde are considered. The deification of dead rock stars gets discussed. They consider Lana Del Rey’s “West Coast” as a secret love letter to Axl Rose. All this while music spanning virtually every genre and generation blares nonstop from an iPod sound dock.
The hard questions surrounding the feelings elicited by the music they love get asked, and as time passes the questions get a lot harder. And more personal than they expected.