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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great History of Rock and Country Through Hilburn's Eyes, October 13, 2009
This review is from: Corn Flakes with John Lennon: And Other Tales from a Rock 'n' Roll Life (Hardcover)
Cornflakes with John Lennon is less a memoir of Robert Hilburn and more a history lesson of Contemporary music through his experiences. Most well known as the Country and Rock music reviewer for The Los Angeles Times, Hilburn gives us a good glimpse into his life experiences that started his passion for R&B and Rock music. He finishes up telling us of his experiences with many musicians he covered and the inside look he had into the music industry and its many changes.
Some of the musicians and bands you will hear the most about include: John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, The Beatles, Micheal Jackson, Janis Joplin, Elton John, Chuck D, Ice Cube, Jack White, and many more.
The viewpoints on the music industry mostly come from the views of musicians and insiders more than Hilburns personal opinion.
As a fan of rock history, this ranks right up there with the 20th anniversary 2-hour TV special of The Rolling Stones Magazine in 1987, hosted by Dennis Hopper. The insight was wonderful. Hilburn's experiences shares rock 'n roll alongside historical insights from his experiences at the time. It brings depth and meaning into the subject with a personal touch. He shows a willingness to be open minded to genres and types of popular music besides rock and roll. Hilburn goes into detail the lengths he went to to decide the legitimacy of Rap. He also discusses the criticism he received for going against societies views at the time. I greatly respect Hilburn's expectation that music should be more than superficial subjects. That music should at times be deep and give the listener something for it's soul.
As mentioned by Bono in the introduction, when he wanted to get deeper into Hilburn's life, the subject changed. Hilburn does give you bits of his life that relate to his music experiences, but little past that.
Corn Flakes With John Lennon is an excellent look into popular music's past and I highly recommend it.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brillant, October 27, 2009
This review is from: Corn Flakes with John Lennon: And Other Tales from a Rock 'n' Roll Life (Hardcover)
Just absolutely brilliant! Robert Hilburn fell into the career he was suited for: rock critic for the LA Times. Hilburn's specialty is not melody but a deep belief in lyrics. And what a perfect time for this specialty starting his career in the 60's and 70's! What sets this critic apart and makes this book so special, is that many of his subjects recognize his intelligence and form close relationships with him leading to this brilliant memoir. While the title covers Lennon, and this story provides magnificent incite, Hilburn also had long standing, unique relationships chronicled in this book with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Bono of U2. Yes, there are many more but the insight in these legends is particularly fascinating. Close to the end he gets Dylan to agree to an interview about the songwriting process. Now that's real journalism! What a coup! His in depth discussions with both Bono and Springsteen are also fascinating.
An interesting departure in this book is his discussions about Rap Music. It would be easy for a middle age white man to see no value in this new art form that to this day inspires loath from most middle aged Americans. But Hilburn gets it and early on writes about what they are portraying and rates early Rap albums among the year's best drawing much criticism. There is a particularly compelling interview with Ice Cube on this subject.
Overall, this is one of the fastest, most inspiring books I have read in recent years that is chock full of great information. I couldn't recommend this book higher.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Corn Flakes with John Lennon - Robert Hilburn (Rodale), July 28, 2010
This review is from: Corn Flakes with John Lennon: And Other Tales from a Rock 'n' Roll Life (Hardcover)
What a surprise. As many suspected, but couldn't exactly put their finger on, Robert Hilburn was keeping a secret. A three decade secret. The secret, finally revealed in this `memoir' of sorts, is that while we all thought he was the pop music critic for the Los Angeles Times, Hilburn was quietly on another mission. The search for the replacement Elvis.
As the pop (or more aptly, rock) music critic of one of the nation's largest daily broadsheets, Hilburn was charged with bringing the world of rock'n'roll to the doorsteps of his avid readers weekly and he developed a solid reputation for doing so within music circles. Over the years however, many readers began to notice the critic's seeming obsession with a small cast of characters who garnered outsized coverage often at the expense of other so-called talents. The plurality of Hilburn's coverage seemed to center around a handful of iconic figures (Springsteen, U2's Bono, Prince) as well as a coterie of other performers that played to the critic's early country leanings (John Fogerty, the Band's Robbie Robertson, and even a true country act like Waylon Jennings). While the writer certainly covered other acts (LA's "X" was a perennial favorite as was P.J. Harvey in his latter day writings), most acts escaped much of his purview presumably due to his judgment as to their lesser cultural importance. (In these pages, Clapton, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and The Clash collectively get less mentions than a single Springsteen album, `Nebraska,' while Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd simply don't exist.)
In "Cornflakes with John Lennon: And Other Tales from a Rock `n' Roll Life," we now have the answer, the reason, the motivation for it all. Simply put, Hilburn was searching, consciously or otherwise, for the successor to Elvis Presley; an act that left an indelible mark on the young critic that proved difficult, if not impossible to dismiss. Hilburn's quest was to find and identify the next icon to capture the imagination of the mass rock audience. Not just good bands or those who made great records, but singular performers who could rise to take the leadership of an entire genre, much the way Elvis did until his demise. To Hilburn, it is all about the message, the grand statement and the commitment needed to carry it to the world.
Along the way, the author shares stories - most rather candid and personal - from his Louisiana upbringing filled with country and blues to his time spent with his idols like John Lennon, Springsteen and even Michael Jackson. Through his unique access, we are given quite a window into many a superstar's otherwise private moments; backstage with Yoko, coaxing reluctant interviewees like Springsteen and Dylan, and yes, even corn flakes with John Lennon.
Beyond the wall of fame, Hilburn examines his own influence on star-making (Elton John's U.S. debut at the Troubadour) or lack thereof (John Prine's early work). Through it all, what comes across are two things. One, that Hilburn was keenly aware of zeroing in on the artist even over and above any singular piece of musical output, and, two, that much as his critics argued for years, the writer was, at times, perhaps indeed guilty of acting as a fanboy in `critic's' disguise. And while this may have given rise to some contempt during his years as a top metropolitan arbiter of taste, it certainly makes for a great (and appropriate) read when presented in a book of reportage that is both personally insightful and a fun behind-the-scenes ride through the three most powerful decades of rock and roll as only a person of Hilburn's stature and access could deliver.
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