Customer Reviews

Larson's Book of Rock

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As a previous reviewer noted, Larson was originally one of the ilk who claimed that the synchopated beat by nature caused evil orgiastic thoughts and demon possession. In this book he cheerfully claims that he never thought such a foolish thing. Instead he focuses on the sexuality and personal habits of various rock stars. As amusing as it is to read, this book stands as a monument to Mr. Larson's entire career of riding whatever scare-horse has been popular in fundamentalist circles, from rock music and Eastern religions in the '60s to UFOs, Marilyn Manson, and school shooting today.

This is quite possibly the most absurd tripe I have ever read. Larson would have us believe that virtually every rock band in existence is a cohort of Satan. I find it difficult to accept that even he believes a word of it. You might want to read for a laugh, but it's not good for much else.--Greg Klebanoff

I got turned onto these silly things when I was in college, first semester writing comprehension--what, 1981? The instructor passed around 2nd semester papers so we'd get an idea what we had to write for term papers. One of my classmates, whose parents owned a bookstore, started giggling uncontrollably, waived me over (Mrs. T*** said OK), and told me I had to read the term paper, NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF ROCK MUSIC. Me: record nut. I read it; I laughed, too. Asked the instructor after class could I make a copy for personal interest, and vouched no other illicit uses. Bingo. I spent some months running down the bibliography and browsing book stacks. A whole bookshelf of this stuff, a personal interest.

The gist of most of the books in this genre is a) Rock music is the devil's spawn, b) the Beatles were EEEVIL and ushered in diabolical mind control in kiddie music, c) a concentration on a handful of the same "heavy metal" (before the "Hair Bands") such as Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osborne, Judas Priest, fill in blank here: (always the same cast of characters; it's like all the authors plagiarize the same material and change the words slightly), d) oh, yeah, don't listen to those Black records, too (early rap)! 80% of the books are not much text, a lot of grainy B&W photos of (the same parade of) album covers, snippets and examples. Scholarship and reading level in the low high school range at best. The last 20% of the books then say something akin to, "oh, yes, your parents need to throw away their Conway Twitty and Charlie Rich albums. They're EEEVIL, too," then "get rid of your easy listening and classical EEEVIL music, too!" Which leaves, ah, ha, that you can only get your lightweight pop fluff socially- and church-approved records (these books are all dated, circa 1985-ish; the same material gets recycled anew in every edition and title) from a Christian book chain. Ah, yes, I get it: a marketing strategy! Market segmentation!

These things are a fun read. Look up Dan & Steve Peters, Jeff Godwin (GREAT!), Steve Lawhead, and Jacob Aranza. If you want to see communists under your bed or hear them in your headphones, David A. Noebel.

I read the book in Spanish, and to be honest, this is one of the worst books ever seen. Apart of the lies about groups like Led Zeppelin and the Moody Blues, probably he doesn't know anything about the Satanic songs of their Christian groups like Petra. Apart, he's not a man of God: he's a man of GOLD!. So, I have to advice you: Beware America: Bob Larson is haunting some witches...

The fact that anyone would even consider buying a 13 year old book on rock and roll just shows how uninformed and sadly behind the times some Christians are. The music and the message has changed considerably over that time making this book completely irrelevant today. Seriously, I am quite dismayed that pastors are buying this book and using it in their messages. No wonder the world thinks Christians are so square.

....Mom bought this when I was discovering Ozzy and Iron Maiden. She & Dad worried, as I was bringing home Exodus, Alcatrazz,and Exciter albums at the time. I devoured the book, looking for info on any band relevant to me. It was rather intresting; however, it didn't influence me to put the metal music down. I knew this music was far too musical and full of talent and ahead of its' time to dismiss. Here I am at age 40 and still have Blizzard of Ozz in the player. I am a Bible believing Christian- but that shouldn't prevent me from a guitarist like Jimi, or Randy Rhoads or Oz Fox. Now as far as the new brand of metal post-2000, I'm all for avoiding that. It's awful. What happened to guys like Paul Gilbert and Nuno Bettencourt? The music has suffered. Ultimately, I think Larson just shoots down the hard rock scene instantly as ungodly and while he may be right on some of his stories, do they justify enough reason to quit listening to rock music on principle? I say no way, personally. I'm just fine today, I know what the song "suicide solution" is all about, and i'm a contibuting member of society, and I still am a believer in Jesus and the Bible. also, I am not Sharon, I'm her husband.

yes he has no idea what he's talking about and reader from florida can you say poser thats what you are and ye si am christian Catholic the real one

This book is a reprint of a book Larson originally published in 1980, entitled simply "Rock." In my opinion, the 1980 version was far more informative since it got right to the heart of what's wrong with Rock "music"--namely, the anapestic, sensual rhythm of the music itself as opposed to just the lyrics. In this 1987 version Larson has dramatically toned down his criticism of rock and concentrates almost solely on the lyrics and the lifestyles of the performers instead of analyzing the sinful nature of the beats behind it. Nonetheless, it is still a useful reference for any serious Christian or pastor who might be confronting the ill effects of rock among today's Church and society. He provides an interesting alphabetical index of some of the top rock performers and the problems in their music, but it's a bit outdated since it was written in the late 1980s.