Blissed Out [Paperback]

Simon Reynolds (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1990

Mixing analysis with interviews, this study of rock music celebrates the "underground" music that has challenged consensual notions of what makes rock "legitimate". Topics discussed include the rise of feminine consciousness in rock and the continuing allure of apocalyptic heavy metal.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Prince, Nick Cave, Front 242, Throwing Muses, punk, acid house, soul--these are the names and trends that resonate throughout this collection of essays on pop music, written mostly for London's Melody Maker . Reynolds lets their vibration speak clearly through his eclectic writing style, mixing journalism with literary theory. It makes for a sometimes engaging, sometimes sluggish read. The interviews with pop music personalities are fascinating; something unexpected always crops up in these conversations. In his interview with Nick Cave, the author asks, "Do you resent the arbitrary power that beautiful people have?" and the sardonic singer replies, "Perhaps you could lighten up a little bit." But when Reynolds steps onto a political podium for a monologue, things slow down and become polemical: "Pop's power, its danger and its crime, consist in its overstimulation of desires for pleasure and for self-aggrandizement: desires constructed by capitalism." Such passages constitute the thrust of Reynolds's music theory, which occasionally reduces Foucault, Kristeva148-149 and Barthes to mere mouthpieces for socialism.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail; First Edition edition (October 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852421991
• ISBN-13: 978-1852421991
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,658,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly entertaining & heady; just like the music he covers., January 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Blissed Out (Paperback)

Quite possibly the best intellectual analysis of rock ever written. Best, not because of some high-falutin' connection to past ideology or current trends. Rather, the best because it is a series of articles (mostly from Melody Maker) about important artists (My Bloody Valentine, the Pixies, Morrissey, Prince...) by someone who obviously is in love with the music he's disecting. Forget Geil Marcus (too much in love with his ideas), Reynolds is the real deal