Customer Reviews

Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I'm the same age as Chuck Klosterman, grew up in the same period. All that time, I HATED heavy metal. I knew all the bands he writes about, remember seeing kids wearing the T-shirts and having the names written on jean jackets, but I HATED the music.

All that aside:

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

The book is a series of essays about Chuck growing up and being a fan of different heavy metal groups. Going through artists careers, talking about the best CDs of the era, why the groups were popular, and how grunge killed them off.

You don't have to be an ex-metalhead to love this book. His writing is infectious.

I'll be honest, I only picked this up after reading his other two books (FARGO ROCK CITY is his first), and it is just as much fun as those others.

Will it make you rethink heavy metal? Maybe not. In recent years, I've begun to rethink it a bit, if only because I realize the current music scene makes heavy metal seem not so bad anymore. Plus, enough time has passed to make you seem nostalgic about some of these groups. But, this book probably won't make you run out and buy all the Poison or Motley Crue CDs.

It is just a whole lot of fun to read.

At first, I was a bit disappointed by the book and then I read the epilogue. Why wasn't it more of a memoir? Why was it filled with so much analysis? Then, I realized that isn't really the point of this wonderful book. Klosterman has made me a fan for life. What wins me over his unbashed honesty. I've long held that the lowest critic life form is that of rock critic. Klosterman calls them on their pretension. He hammers away at what I have always believed is that music is important if it touches you. My MP3 collection has Sinatra and Warrant. Who cares who is better, both form the soundtrack to important parts of my life. Klosterman tells some hilarious stories and his takes on music and life is so refereshingly honest that I can't stop smiling. He isn't mean or nasty--just tells it as he sees it. DOn't agree? That's ok. I learned more than I ever imagined about '80s heavy metal (some which I finally realized I liked about 10 years too late) and I suspect I would have gotten more out of the book if I had understood all the references, but I loved what I read anyway. Except for the passage where he compares the Gospels to GNR Lies, this book really does rock. Isn't that the most important thing?

This funny and enjoyable book is an answer to the pop culture elitists (such as myself!) who dismiss heavy metal as ridiculous junk. By relating the social and personal impact of metal on himself and his friends growing up in rural North Dakota, Klosterman makes a compelling case that this music has an importance and meaning far beyond how it compares musically and lyrically to Dylan, The Beatles, Springsteen, and other ordained members of the Rock Canon. The sprawling text is part memoir, part free-thinking criticism, part record guide, and always hilarious.

I guess that FARGO ROCK CITY falls somewhere between Dave Eggers and Chuck Eddy, but it's really too sui generis to be so glibly catagorized. This book is for the "Rocker within us all"! Check it out....

Chuck Klosterman can be an amusing writer, but he's such a fogey here, it's not much fun. Published in 2001, Chuck gives grudging props to "new" bands like Korn and Rage Against the Machine, but he's shaking his head uncomprehendingly as he does so. Along with older acts like Metallica, these bands commit the cardinal sin of being serious. This doesn't gibe with what Chuck thinks '80's metal was all about: The mindless good times embodied by Poison and Mötley Crüe.

Yes, Klosterman is casting himself as a polemicist, and that's not a bad thing. But in addition to not comprehending recent metal developments, he's poorly informed about pre-`80s metal (e.g., Motörhead is always "Motorhead"). Worse, his opinions are often embarrassing, even for a writer who likes to cite Entertainment Weekly as a source. Some of his more cringe-worthy statements:

"Intelligent metal fans always felt a grudging sense of respect for Whitesnake." (It's difficult to imagine a single reader agreeing.)

"Jon Bon Jovi is kind of the Robert Frost of heavy metal." (Nope, Jon is the Rod McKuen of heavy metal.)

"KISS is the second-most influential rock band of all time." (I'm speechless.)

"No one born after 1970 can possibly appreciate any creative element in rock 'n' roll." (After a hundred pages herein, this rings pretty true.)

Other groaners include:
--How Alice in Chains is NOT heavy metal (!).
--Chuck's shout-out to coolio music pioneer Lenny Kravitiz (!!).
--The ONLY good song Black Sabbath ever released post-Ozzy is "The Mob Rules." (This is asinine; "Children of the Sea, anyone?)

On the plus side, Klosterman can be very funny, and he is capable of deep analysis. Of course, that means that you're treated to entire chapters on Guns `n' Roses videos, but I guess that's preferable to picking up a copy of Entertainment Weekly.

First, a little background. I graduated from high school in 1986, which was prime-time as far as the music in this book is concerned. I used to spend my weekends with my friends drinking beer, playing videogames and listening to Motley Crue, KISS, Raven, Metallica, and a ton of other bands mentioned in this book. There wasn't a square inch of my bedroom walls that wasn't covered with posters of Dokken, the Scorpions or Def Leppard. When I thumbed through this book at the store, I thought, "Holy cow, someone with taste wrote a book about 80s metal!"

After reading the book, however, my opinion is a little different. Chuck Klosterman and I may have listened to a lot of the same music. We may have spent a lot of time drinking. (Chuck, apparently, still does. I quit.) We both think that "Frehley's Comet" by Ace Frehley is a great album. However, his book was, I think, supposed to say that the hair metal and glam rock of the 80s means something more than those "in the know" would have you believe. What his book ends up saying, basically, is you had to grow up with this music to understand its relevance. That's a real eye-opener, no? I could have told you that.

Still, if you liked (or still like) 80s metal, then the book is worth a read. It was interesting reading about things I haven't thought about since the late 80s. (What's the difference between "heavy metal" and "hard rock?" Klosterman goes into extreme detail about this topic and, if you weren't around in the 80s, it may seem like overkill, but it was an incredibly important determination when describing a band. Are they "hard rock" or "heavy metal"? It was vital to know and understand that stuff.) I don't know how interesting the book would be to someone who wasn't born between 1965 and 1973 though.

This book is the best a music fan can ask for.
It is filled with facts and moments in music and pop culture that most of us that grew up with MTV remember. It however DOES NOT make you feel like you are reading a serious essay about why one band or genre is historically significant (like: Why Kurt Cobain was a genius). Chuck writes talks to his readers as if he;s saying "Here's what I think, and here's some facts, and if you don't agree, that's fine"
It's the perfect blend of Heavy Metal's reality, truth and legends mixed with his own personal experiences along the way.
I would reccomend this book to anyone that feels a connection with eighties Heavy Metal. You'll walk away feeling like you visited a good friend you haven't seen in along time.
If you can still sing the chorus to Ratt's "Round and Round" and if you remember Tawny Kitane of the hood of a car, you HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!

Seriously, go read this book. You'll laugh about things you forgot about. But most importantlu, you'll remember how great heavy Metal was/is and how at times it was laughable.

Man you know you are getting old when the local bookstore starts carrying books that are retrospectives of your youth. I have read Deena Weinstein's "Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology" and enjoyed it, despite the fact that I think Ms. Weinstein gets a little too analytical about metal culture and turns a simple form of music into some sort of nuclear science. We listened to heavy metal in the 1980's because there was little else to do, it was the perfect vehicle for teenage frustrations and it really did disgust normal thinking people. That is excactly the point of Chuck Klosterman's book.
Being a child of heavy metal in the '80's meant that you had to defend yourself against those Geraldo Rivera specials about satanism, contend with those 20/20 shows about dysfunctional kids who happen to like Iron Maiden and explain to teachers and parents that because you liked Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest you weren't about to shoot yourself in the head or be found sucking on an exhaust pipe in the garage. We also had to deal with the blatant sexism of some of the genre's biggest commercial forces like Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Poison, etc. Klosterman deals with this topic quite frequently in his book. Rightfully so, because it is the sexual imagery that sold "hair metal" to legions of teenage boys and girls alike. Metal offered pure fantasy, girls wished guys like Vince Neil and Sebastian Bach existed in their hometowns and guys dreamed that scantily clad video vixens strolled Main St. like they did the Sunset Strip.
"Fargo Rock City" is an entertaining read mainly because Klosterman is very witty and a very amusing social commentator. The one thing I believe he tried to do in this book is offer up some sort of relative importance of the big hair metal explosion of the Reagan era. He does not succeed in doing this blatantly. If you were not affected by Guns N' Roses and Motley Crue in any way, you will never find any importance in that music. For those of us who lived it, we understand and already know how important it was. You see our generation didn't have the war and social issues of the sixties, nor did we have the freewheeling attitudes of the seventies. Casual sex and recreational drug use turned into AIDS and the crack epidemic and the whole world was "Reaganomics". So of course all we wanted from our music was cartoon satanism and "Nothin' But A Good Time".
One thing I wish the author had discussed more was the fact that metal was probably more visible in the heartland than it was in trendy big cities. Metal bands touring arenas in those days spent more time playing the local civic centers of Fargo, North Dakota and Cedar Rapids, Iowa than they did playing the L.A. Forum and Madison Square Garden. In the small cities, metal concerts became huge events and spawned heated fundamental debates between church leaders and local government whereas the big cities just looked at them as a way to keep the local sports arena busy between home games.
This book will guarantee a few laughs and maybe make you a little nostalgic. Highly recommended for anyone who spent a few Saturday nights watching "Headbanger's Ball" and wasted entire math classes drawing pentagrams on their school books.

A great look at 80s heavy metal. It combines a lot of facts about the genre ( plus quick, smart comments on other types of music) with good humor and personal recollections on growing up.... Just relax and enjoy a light, fun read.

I'd recommend this highly.

Klosterman is ON TARGET. If I was writing the story of glam metal in the 80s---it would look a lot like this. It is ironic that I was visiting store after store to find the new Faster Pussycat and LA Guns releases, so I could "rock"---when I stumbled on this book (the store didn't have the albums by the way). The essence of what it was to be a hard-drinking, midwestern,suburban white teenage male in the 80s is captured in such vivid detail that I almost wonder if I've fallen into a time warp. "So, come now Children of the Beast....Be strong..and SHOUT AT THE DEVIL!!!" - Motley Crue

Today, I have a "normal" job as a Financial Professional for a midwestern insurance company. And in my office, I have the following CDs that I play constantly: Motley Crue-Shout at the Devil, Faster Pussycat, LA Guns-Cocked & Loaded, Pretty Boy Floyd, Ratt-Out of the Cellar, etc. When I was listening to these as a teenager, I just "knew" I'd one day be a rock star, ya know?

For the rest of my days, when someone browses my CD collection and asks how on earth I ended up with a huge number of hair metal albums from the 80s, I'm passing this book on. Chuck has really nailed for me what it was like to grow up in a a blue collar area during that time period and why so many of us kids gravitated towards the fun time rock.

Usually, I'm slightly ashamed of my hair metal roots. It doesn't resemble my taste in music now, and on top of that, it's down right misogynistic. But this book sure made me nostalgic. That's a credit to Chuck's gifts as a writer.

Now, why didn't I give 5 stars to this book? I actually struggled a long time about giving this 3 or 4 stars. This is really more of a 3.5 star book. I gave the round up to Chuck because this book did make me feel good about my childhood as I read it. So here is what's wrong with this book.

First, my eyes glazed over several times as Chuck tends to get pedantic. What is metal? Is it stupid? Is it sexist? Is it bad if it is? He talks himself around in circles and as a reader, I quickly got bored. I realize that Chuck is a music critic, so he feels the need to explain exactly WHY he likes something, but go and ask me (just a year or two younger than Chuck) and any of our other peers who grew up in that time, and we'd just say that the song made us feel good. We didn't need to know if it was tounge in cheek, anti-satanic, or whatever message Chuck seems intent on digging up for each example. It's a lot like explaining why steak tastes good - it just does, and very few people have the words (or the passion) to delve into it. But it doesn't mean that we don't grow up enjoying the same things. For this reason, I pray that I never meet Chuck in a bar. He seems like a chatty drunk, and it won't be good enough to say that the song on the jukebox is merely "OK".

Some of Chuck's analysis just borders on pontification. He's very impressed with himself. I'm sorry, Chuck, but no matter how many big words you use, you will never be able to convince me that breaking down some Guns 'n' Roses videos constitutes as an intellectual activity.

And finally, what was really wrong with this book, was Chuck himself. You get the impression that Chuck honestly believes that he is the smartest person in the room. Rather than discussing or story telling, he comes across as teaching and talking down to you. Those who don't agree with him are instantly branded as an "idiot" and he's done with that person and his/her opinion. You'd think that someone who is writing a book celebrating a genre of music as maligned as hair metal would be a little bit more open minded to varying opinions.

In summary, this book is great if you were born sometime before 1977 and grew up in a more rural, blue collar setting. Even though you may not have been crazy about Motley Crue, you knew someone else who was, and it's a great trip down memory lane.