Heavy Rotation: Twenty Writers on the Albums That Changed Their Lives (Paperback)

~ Peter Terzian (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Mapping out a space between criticism and personal essay, writer and music fan Terzian has invited a double handful of contemporary writers to expound on the albums that they love. Benjamin Kunkel covers the Smiths, John Haskell discusses the Talking Heads, Joshua Ferris remembers Pearl Jam's debut, Sheila Heti considers the Annie soundtrack; their stories take readers to India, Ireland, Haiti, the Upper East Side of New York and beyond with consistently thoughtful, but wildly variant results. These love letters to albums also examine the inextricable connection between art forms; of particular note are essays by Mark Greif (Fugazi's Fugazi), Lisa Dierbeck (Pretenders' Pretenders), Asali Solomon (Gloria Estefan's Mi Tierra), Martha Southgate (The Jackson 5's Greatest Hits), Clifford Chase (The B-52's self-titled album) and editor Terzian (Miaow's Priceless Innuendo). Almost without fail, these essays exhibit a perfect blend of respect and irreverence, with an intoxicating intimacy; readers who love music will devour this collection, and beg for a second volume.

From Booklist

A particular subset of people, including editor Terzian, play the same pop records over and over, listening so closely that they internalize the lyrics until it seems the songs were written specifically about and for them. As a suburban adolescent hearing Joni Mitchell’s Hejira (about a woman in her thirties), Terzian felt he “was learning about what it meant to be an adult, about the many different ways of living a life.” Among the contemporary writers he asked to comment on songs or albums that similarly moved or inspired them, Benjamin Kunkel writes about the Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead, Alice Elliott Dark chooses Meet the Beatles!, and John Haskell offers his take on Talking Heads’ Remain in Light. Augmented by Joshua Ferris on Pearl Jam’s Ten, Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) on the Eurythmics’ Savage, Lisa Dierbeck on Pretenders, Colm Tóíbín on Joni Mitchell’s Blue, James Wood on the Who’s Quadrophenia, and Claire Dederer on the original cast recording of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, they create a must for literary-minded pop fans. --June Sawyers

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (June 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061579742
• ISBN-13: 978-0061579745
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #613,356 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected, September 12, 2009

By	E. G. Defrin (Amenia, New York United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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I didn't love this book, but it probably would appeal more to music fans in their 20s and mid-30s. From reading the description of the content, I thought the albums that "changed their lives" would have been from an earlier era. My mistake, not the books, though the blurb is a bit misleading.
It did get me interested in listening to a few performers that I ignored before, so it did serve a purpose for my "musical education."
But, all in all, it wasn't a book I would have bought had I been in a book store, looked through the table of contents, and skimmed the text.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant. Flecked with flakes of fabulous. Necessary., June 29, 2009

By	Henry Alford (NY, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a terrific collection, full of gorgeous writing and well-observed reporting. Sheila Heti's account of being hyper-obsessed with the soundtrack of "Annie" as a child is worth the price of admission (Heti became so convinced that she herself was an orphan that she asked her parents to show her her own birth certificate), and there are solid, artful contributions from Benjamin Kunkel, Stacey D'Erasmo, and Claire Dederer, among others. This is a surefire read or gift for anyone who is interested in music or grew up misunderstood.

1 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The chapters all seem to start with "I", July 24, 2009

By	Joseph Somsel (Silicon Valley, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The writers seem so adolescent and self-absorbed. The striving for hipness is oppressive and comes across as triteness at best and social climbing and groundless, synthetic snobbery at worst. One wants to yell "Grow up puke and get a life!"

Worst, none of the essays make me want to listen to the music described.

Let's face it, if a ABBA or the Jackson Five album changed your life, you had a pretty tenuous grip on your self-identity before-hand and not much in the way of a personality afterwards.