Customer Reviews

The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings on Rock Music

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The Dark Stuff was first published in Britain in 1994 and always available in the USA since its 1996 publication. In the UK the book had been out-of-print for eight years until the 2007 edition appeared. Compiled from 1970s interviews for the New Musical Express plus 1980s magazine articles, this new edition includes the essays Sly Stone's Evil Ways & Phil Spector's Long Fall From Grace, a portrait of French pop icon Serge Gainsbourg, a recent interview with Iggy Pop and a concluding essay titled Self-destruction in Rock and Elsewhere. All in all twenty-two of the most talented and self-destructive artists in rock history are profiled.

Kent was the New Musical Express's star attraction in the 1970s at a time when the publication was selling 300,000 copies per week. It was at the forefront of reporting on the punk explosion, punk personalities, the style and its offshoots. The NME's influential position gave Kent unique opportunities as a rock writer. Kent may be older & wiser but there's something to be said for the energy and enthusiasm of youth, since the recent stuff amongst the new additions is less gripping than the original writings from the 70s and 80s for NME and magazines like The Face, Arena and Spin.

The value of each chapter is directly proportional to the communication skills of those interviewed: that is why the Guns 'N' Roses piece is a complete waste of time and paper and shouldn't even have been included, whilst I loved the Roy Orbison interview although I've never really been into his music. I found the Brian Wilson piece too long and disagree with the author's assessment of the Rolling Stones after the 1960s. Kent seems to think that Jagger and Richards produced their best music in the late 60s and early 70s because they were tormented by the 'wild women' Anita Pallenberg and Marianne Faithfull.

There's a thought-provoking chapter on the ill-fated Brian Jones (Tortured Narcissus) that discusses his contribution to The Stones, his decline and death. Kent's view of Kurt Cobain is a bit harsh and the non-interview with Roky Erickson rather pointless. Kent's 1988 portrait of Serge Gainsbourg is sad and pathetic but he concludes it by graciously praising the French singer's musical legacy. I loved the pieces on Jerry Lee Lewis, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello and Miles Davis and in my opinion the book's crowning glory is the chapter titled Neil Young and the Haphazard Highway that leads to Unconditional Love. Young's care and concern for his disabled child impress more than a thousand stories of excess and substance abuse.

Most of these rock stars thought that they were exempt from the law of cause & effect, with the predictable disastrous consequences. What amazes me is how some of these artists managed to consistently produce sublime music while they were abusing themselves physically and mentally to such a gruesome degree. I suppose that is one of the messages of this book: no matter how low down you are, you can always pull yourself together again. It certainly demonstrates the ability of the soul and the body to restore themselves.

This is great rock writing, on a par with the work of Lester Bangs. The stylistic difference is that Kent's writing is character-based & analytical: looking at musicians in the context of what they're doing and how they're living in order to analyze how this context influences them. Bangs on the other hand wrote from a more intimate, personal perspective, an angle that describes the effect the music had on him, often in stream-of-consciousness prose.

Other classics of rock writing that I recommend are James Young's Nico, Songs They Never Play on the Radio, alternatively titled Nico: The Last Bohemian, Clinton Heylin's From the Velvets to the Voidoids: The Birth of American Punk Rock, Gerri Hirshey's Nowhere To Run: The Story of Soul Music, Let It Blurt by Jim DeRogatis, Scars of Sweet Paradise by Alice Echols, Memories, Dreams and Reflections by Marianne Faithfull, Lipstick Traces by Greil Marcus and Angry Women in Rock by Andrea Juno.

wow. i'm only halfway through this mindblowing thing but i gotta write a review full of slobbering praise RIGHT NOW. i knew i was in good hands when i finished the first piece on brian wilson, which is by far the best portrait of GeniusAbuse that i've had the pleasure to wade through. then, like a brilliant album, the hits just keep on a-comin': jerry lee lewis (scary), rocky erickson (pathetic), syd barrett (sad), brian jones (sad AND pathetic -- nice job, mr. jones!). harrowing, essential "stuff".

A large part of the seemingly eternal appeal of rock music is the seamy underbelly of the movement itself. Kent is a master at exploring this underbelly, mainly (it seems) because he lived it himself. The man briefly toured with the Sex Pistols, befriended some of the most disturbed musicians of the 1970's, acquired and beat some serious drug addictions, and never lost an inch of his literary edge. The articles, essays and interviews in "The Dark Stuff" are compelling, exciting, repulsive and entertaining all at once. Kent knows who to write about: he chooses the pioneers, the masters and the mysteries. Some of the best music journalism of our time.

Kent brand of journalism has the distinct voice of a true fan behind it. He lays out the histories of such luminaries as Brian Wilson and Miles Davis, as well as tragedies such as Syd Barrett & Brian Jones, with humour and insight. His sketch of Keith Richards and the Stones' decline has to be the most entertainingly anecdotal I've ever read. Just four stars, though, because of his rather cranky disregard of Kurt Cobain in the postscript, as true as it may or may not be. Otherwise, excellent reading.

Ok so he had a fascination wikth Keith Richards and sometimes tended to identify a bit too much with his heroes. However he was a most brilliant writer at the best rock weekly ever, the NME. This book is brilliant and could have been longer.

The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings on Rock Music 1972-1995 is a most insightful collection of essays and articles on modern rock music. Author Nick Kent has been a staff writer for New Musical Express for many years, as well as a musician in his own right (the Subterraneans).

In The Dark Stuff, he presents a collection of finely tuned profiles of Brian Wilson, Roky Erickson, Elvis Costello, Morrissey, The Pogues, Lou Reed, Kurt Cobain and other significant figures in recent rock music history. With a writing style recalling profile pieces in the cultish ICON Thoughtstyle magazine, Kent demonstrates an objectivity sometimes difficult to find in 1990s music journalism. Fans of Brian Wilson should take note, as the writer delves deep into the rumors and facts surrounding Wilson's roller coaster career with and without the Beach Boys, posing a genius songwriter's intrinsic desire for creative expression against constant battles with record label executives and other band members often misrepresented in the press.

David Bowie's estranged protege, Iggy Pop, contributes a somewhat skeptical one-page foreword to the volume. Though unclear whether this inclusion demonstrates an effort to sell books or simply present an insider's honest opinion of the music journalist's work, Iggy Pop eloquently summarizes his emotional response to each chapter, claiming to experience "an exhausted, depressed feeling, coupled with a desire to relisten to the music of the subject/artist."

Most interesting is Kent's autobiographical account of his career as a music journalist in the preface, which takes him from rookie stints in various underground publications to one of the foremost music critics in both British and international publications like New Musical Express, The Sunday Times, Details and Spin, among others, making the volume a must-read for aspiring journalists and music fans wanting a raw, honest glimpse inside the darker side of rock.

Nick Kent does not fall for the pretentious...spewed by many rock stars. His writing is intelligent passionate and best of all funny. Does anyone know where I can most easily read Kent's work now? I've been dying to read what he's done since 1995. Thanks in advance.

A great book about the people populating planet rock music, with every chapter worth reading. The chapters I found most interesting were the ones about Neil Young, Roy Orbison and Sid Vicious, and about the author's non-interview with the very strange Roky Erickson. There is also a longish chapter about Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, written when Wilson was a very disturbed man, which makes one realise what a miracle it is that he is now performing again. Kent's prose is worthy of his subjects and he portrays them in all their twisted, but fascinating, glory.

The book also features a brief, but very good, introduction by the legendary Iggy Pop, which seems to indicate that Iggy could have been some author, had he not decided to pursue a music career.

The book made we ponder, anew, a question about artists which has bothered me for many years: are artists destroyed by their art, or do they have to be tortured people from the start to produce work which is different and interesting?

It is indeed the music that counts here, of the text as well as of the artists. It kicks off with Iggy Pop's fascinating foreword, followed by the equally absorbing preface dealing with Nick Kent's history as a music journalist. The value of each chapter is directly proportional to the communication skills of the interviewee: that is why the Guns 'N'Roses piece is a complete waste of time and paper and shouldn't even have been included in the book, whilst I loved the Roy Orbison interview although I've never really been into his music. I found the Brian Wilson piece too long and do not agree with the author's assessment of the Rolling Stones after the 60s. His view of Kurt Cobain is a bit harsh and the non-interview with Roky Erickson a bit pointless, but I loved Jerry Lee Lewis, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, Miles Davis and I think the book's crowning glory is the chapter titled "Neil Young and the haphazard highway that leads to Unconditional Love." I feel compelled to investigate Neil Young's music now because I feel I understand and appreciate him as a human being, whereas previously I considered him to have been just another good rock 'n roller, but one who didn't especially appeal to me. What amazes me is how some of these artists managed to so consistently produce such sublime music while they were abusing themselves physically and mentally to such a gruesome degree. I suppose that is one of the intertextual messages of this book: no matter how low down you are, you can always pull yourself together again. It once again demonstrates the ability of the soul and the body to restore themselves. This is great rock writing!

This is really excellent.

The book is a collections of Nick Kent's writings on Rock and Roll before the drug monster took over his life.

I believe personally that Stanley Booth has written the greatest book on Rock and Roll, - Adventures With The Rolling Stones - but, this is the consistently best writing on a number of different bands and rock folk that you are ever likely to come across.

There are articles on Brian Wilson, The New York Dolls, Jerry Lee Lewis. The stand outs for me are an interview with Miles Davis, an interview with Neil Young and the Brian Wilson piece, all absolutely superb.

These are that well written that even if you are not into music or music writing they will entertain on a grand scale.

The Miles Davis interview is simply brilliant, it catches the personality of the man as I have seen him on film to a tee. Great great writing.

The only subject I feel had the better of him was Jerry Lee Lewis, who is mad anyway, but its still a good interview.

And the good news is that Monsieur Kent ( he lives in Paris) has cleaned up and has just had published a memoir of the 1970's - Apathy for the Devil.