Customer Reviews

Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life

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Since Mr. Sellers can't seem to help himself when it comes to lists, I think a review which parrots that particular form is fitting.



TOP 5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID BUYING "Perfect From Now On" by John Sellers:

5 - Sellers (by his own admission) is more interested in appearing "with it" than actually enjoying the music. He bases his musical choices/obsessions on how 'obscure' they are, and how knowledgeable he can be regarding the band in question.

4 - His holier-than-thou (and occasionally hypocritical) approach to:
- drugs (although he abuses alcohol like a fiend)
- other parts of the world (although he grew up in Michigan?!)
- any music he doesn't deem 'worthy'

3 - The (sub)title of the book... nowhere is there any indication that 'Indie Rock' did anything greater for Sellers than give him a soundtrack to his studies and drinking. That isn't "saving" your life-- it's what EVERYBODY uses music for.

2 - Guided By Voices. Sure, I love them too, had an intense period of listening/collecting/concert going. But come one man... enough. It's just downright embarrassing reading about Sellers' slavish idol-worship. Plus, he didn't even get on board with GBV until the end of 2002? For somebody who seems desperate to be on the 'cutting edge of music', there is simply no excuse.

1 - The condescending tone of the book. Sellers doesn't just come across as a passionate music fan (really- who isn't?). No, reading this book, Sellers comes-across as a snippy, shallow know-it-all. His barrage of pop-culture references and "I'm-right-you're-wrong" writing is tiresome and provides little more than what you might find on a teenager's blog.

This book ends-up being little more than one sad person's attempt to brag about a shared, collective experience (enjoying/obsessing over music). It's the sort of paper-thin observation that can be read for free on-line; it's the literary equivalent to Sellers standing in front of a mirror and rhyming off his favourite artists (and why he enjoys them more than you). Really - why waste money on it?

To any true music fan, there is often times as much joy in debating the relative merit of one artist against another as listening to the music itself. I suspect that is true with most things (sports talk radio comes to mind). That is why I was excited to read this book. Going in, you understand there you are not getting anything that is plot driven or even has a point. What you expect is that the author will lay out arguement as to why he loves a certain band/genre of music and you can silently juxstapose those against your own biases. I am willing to concede almost any point in these debates when I engage in them with friends, with the understanding that they are nothing if not totally arbitrary, so long as there seems to be a sense the opposing viewpoint has a heartfelt conviction about the subject matter. That is why I was hugely dissapointed with this book.

While there is no doubt that the author seems to have a sincere conviction that indie music is a superior medium, it seems borne out of a sense of what he thinks is cool rather than what indie artists produce. For example, if The Pixies has acheived the same level of commercial sucess as Pearl Jam, there is no doubt in my mind the author would dismiss them with the same contempt he holds for Journey. It becomes exhausting to read the contempt he has for anything that exists outside the very obscure or how a band he loved at one point he now regrads with a sneer simply because they eventually achieved broad acceptance.

Another point of contention I have with the overall tone of the book is that Sellers comes off as fairly spineless. A large chunk of the narrative is devoted to him getting to meet Bob Pollard from Guided By Voices. I was willing to overlook the fawning tone toward Pollard as his whole point was to draw a picture of how he is more slavishly devoted at various points in his life to artists than just about anyone so he can gain an upper hand when congregating with like minded obsessives (and if you don't believe his motivations are this shallow, read the book). However, he mentions something in passing (a footnote actually, one of the several thousand he includes in the book) that made me lose all respect for him as a man and thus tainted the whole book. Seller is a University of Michigan grad while Pollard is an OSU fan. Anyone with even a passing knowledge about the sport of college football knows that this is one of the most storied rivalries in all of college sports and the two sides hate each other. Anyway, he ends up cheering for OSU in front of his idol as they watch the game because he so badly wants Pollard to like him. I know nothing about Pollard personally but I bet it wouldn't be far from the truth to speculate that he would have had much more respect for Sellers if he would have grown a pair and had his own opinion about the game rather than adopting one based on being accepted. And that right there pretty much sums up the whole book.

This book really surprised me. It surprised me, in that, the subject matter was completely different from what I had expected. For anyone who is of the age that grew up listening to bands that used to be known as college rock and later indie rock, this is a real trip down memory lane.

Sellers uses a mix of autobiographical anecdotes as well as an obsessive base of knowledge of bands that span everything from the early days of MTV (R.E.M, The Cure, The Smiths) to the coming-of-age/college years for many Gen X-ers and bands such as The Pixies, Pavement, and The Stone Roses.

Unlike prior works by Sellers, this book is much more of a narrative of the author's life and the great importance and influence music has had on him. A good dose of band histories, best-ofs, interesting facts are mixed in, without being an over-the-top, ultimate guide to the genre.

Instead, the story is one that translates to anyone who ever was completely blown away by U2's War or The Stone Roses' first album or for anyone who can identify as a period in their life in which no other music mattered (as in "That was the summer of The Replacements").

Sellers admits that he will obsess over a band (see later chapters on Guided By Voices) to the point that he finds himself hopelessly tracking down every album, EP, and factoid about his particular band du jour that it becomes a compulsion to consume everything in his life, be it Dinasour Jr. or Husker Du or Pavement....a cycle that ends with John's ultimate allegiance to GBV, ending in a near-doom experience with the band for which he would most likely sell a kidney.

I found myself laughing out loud while reading this book. It's an amusing narrative with a college rock station soudtrack. But, it's also an important insight into growing up, coming of age, and realizing what awesome power music has on shaping your experiences and your memories.

This book would make a better blog. It just seems to ramble on and on, without making any point or being that entertaining. The author uses footnotes constantly, which I do like, except for some footnotes will go on for multiple pages. It would have made reading this book more coherent if these were just included in regular succession, rather than making seem as they are separate point.

If you really want a personal memoir book recalling music and pop culture from the 80's & 90's just read Chuck Klosterman and Rob Sheffield. It is obvious what Sellers writing is trying to be, but it just is not there. If you have already read the aforementioned authors' books, then this is readable, but nowhere near as good.

A prefatory gripe is that I can't review this book under my "real name" because Amazon tells me that my real name contains inappropriate language. Lovely.

Anyway, first, I lay claim to musical nerdity on a scale comparable to that of the author: I was also born in 1970; I got cable and therefore MTV in 1982; I struggled mightily over whether to bail on REM when more than half the kids in my homeroom class had heard of them; I zealously insisted on sub-classifying heavy metal to distinguish its country of origin; in a fit of street-cred zealotry, I kept my deep and abiding man-crush on the pre-Batman-era Prince a secret from my stoner friends; and I too occupy the lonely place, previously thought to be mine alone, in which I will admit to air-drumming Rush while still clinging to hard-fought indie hipster bona fides. Oh yeah, I also had my own paternal bete noir, even less glamorous than the one on offer here: my dad was an inveterate Jimmy Buffett addict. In short, other than telling John Sellers that I would gladly swap my "Margaritaville" for his "Blowin' in the Wind," I'm on board.

Second, by way of reviewing the book: If you are anything like me, or thankfully you are nothing like me but you care deeply about music, or you could give a flip about music but you want to impress your cool friends by name-checking Kevin Shields and Steve Malkmus, then you should have read this book yesterday. Failing that, tomorrow will do. "Perfect From Now On" is warm and funny and insightful, and it might just save your life as well. What's more, you will finish the book and earnestly wish you had a drinking buddy in your town who was JUST LIKE JOHN SELLERS (except that maybe your imaginary John Sellers friend would have the brains to realize that Wowee Zowee was the best Pavement record).

Two more quick thoughts. One of which is that the earlier review saying that Sellers lacks self-awareness is off the mark. The humor, and more importantly the humanity, of the book depends entirely on Sellers' insisting on the utter importance of music while at the same time recognizing the absurdity of his passion. The other of which is that I could give Sellers a chaste and appropriately masculine arm hug for nailing the rituals of the obsessive fan. To give one example, in reading the chapter on the Ian Curtis memorial, I was humiliatingly but hilariously reminded of the years in which I observed the anniversary of Bob Marley's death by wearing a black armband. And then, crucially, expressing my disdain of those who had to ask why I was wearing it, as if they didn't know the importance of the day.

In short, if I haven't said so already, you should read this book. For real. It's magisterial and then some.

OK, so I will admit that I was concerned. I was certain that this book would be too esoteric for someone like me but I decided to try it anyway. If nothing else, it would be an education on all the good music that I know that I must be missing. Well, I am so very happy to say that it was so much more than that. Both witty and slightly manic (in a good way) this book was fantastic! It also led me to spend a significant amount of time downloading lots of new (and awesome) music. As for my fear of the "in joke" that I wouldn't get? Didn't happen. Anyone who is a rabid fan of ANYTHING can identify with Mr. Sellers' obsessions. Being a list maker myself (top five episodes of Three's Company are on the tip of my tongue,) the appendices made me laugh out loud on the red eye to Vegas. Also appreciated were the detail orientated footnotes which make you feel that you are right there... listening to Journey with him. Wait, is that a good thing? Anyway. Buy this book!

Sellers book reads as though he's telling you the stories over a few beers in his favorite bar. He understands perfectly the ability of music to take you back to a certain time and place. Perfect From Now On flicks a nostalgic switch whether you're a fan of indie rock or not. Oh yeah, and it's hilarious. The appendixes are an added bonus. Who hasn't spent a good part of their youth making best of/worst of lists?

If you are at all acquainted with indie/alternative rock (and your tastes don't have to run exactly the same as the author's) you will probably enjoy this book. Prior to reading this book I loved Pavement, Husker Du, the Replacements, and the Smiths; I had an appreciation of Guided by Voices (not quite Sellers' adoration) and I really didn't know a lot about Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine (just to name a few of the bands the author expounds on). Sellers is a witty, funny author who writes in a very conversational tone (at times you feel like he's talking directly to you; this may be what he had in mind). I loved his use of footnotes (get ready to read a lot of them) and found that he seemed like a down-to-earth, approachable kind of guy. Great book!

ergh..i disagreed with many of mr. sellers opinions, but i'm not holding that against him. he wouldn't do the same for me, but that's fine. the good: this is an easy read, is mildly amusing from time to time, and may provide some music trivia answers to store in your brain for later use when playing trivial pursuit-music edition. the bad: gets repetitive, author contradicts himself more than once and offers no explanations, excessive footnotes (supposedly to pay homage to his favorite writer) seem either irrelevant or like lazily thrown-in afterthoughts, and too much of the book consists of mr. sellers trying to convince the world that he is the biggest and best fan that a band could have. alright alright! i'm convinced! you win! i'd have preferred the focus to be on what made these bands so great instead of how great he is for appreciating them.

John Sellers is a music/pop culture writer who's gotten the opportunity to transform his blog (google "Angry John Sellers") into a book that's a kind of musical autobiography--that is, he charts his musical maturation over the years, from young Duran Duran fan to modern day indie rock obsessive. Consider this, then, a non-fiction version of Nick Hornby's seminal High Fidelity: A Novel. One important difference is that where HF's protagonist views his music in terms of his love life, for Sellers the music IS his love life. Sure, he's had relationships with women, but his chief interest in them lies in their ability to turn him on to new bands. Therefore, hie relationships with his favorite bands is what drives this book, and it helps to enjoy it if you share his passions, mainly regular-guy alt rockers such as the Pixies, Pavement and Built To Spill (whose album Perfect From Now On had an obvious influence). He will endlessly listen to and mull over the career of Joy Division/New Order and the lyrics of The Smiths. In fact, he'll even travel to Manchester for a New Order reuniion show and impromptu pilgramage. Far less time-consuming are the numerous lists (you can't be a true music obsessive without them) the lengthy appendix to the book: everything from "My Top Ten Favorite Albums" (#1: The Queen is Dead by The Smiths) to "Top Five musical things I hope happen now that the original lineups of the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. have reunited" (#5: "Radiohead stops listening to Pink Floyd and starts listening to Black Sabbath"). Meanwhile, the main body of the book is frequently interrupted by long, digressive footnotes, some going on for as long as ten pages (Sellers admits he got the idea from Nicholson Baker, but he could just as easily been channeling David Foster Wallace).

The last few chapters, however, are devoted mainly to one subject: Guided By Voices. This Ohio band has gathered a freakishly obsessive cult following, and Sellers has clearly not only drunk the Kool Aid (or Miller High Life, as the case may be), but mixed it as well. He describes how his addiction grew from just being a fan to finally spinning in their orbit. His status as hanger-on might have helped get him the book deal, but it also garnered him brief ignominy on GBV message boards. Naturally, he covers this incident at length, and in fact continues to apologize for any misunderstanding. Therefore, his fawning over GBV frontman Robert Pollard gets pretty grating after awhile, especially if you don't share Sellers' love of the band (I myself could have written a book about my devotion to Sonic Youth, but of course I digress). Actually, you'll find the whole book annoying if you cna't connect your own obsesseions (be they sports, shoes or heroin) with the author's, and even then it helps greatly to know a bit about what he's talking about. Still, Sellers' writing style is self aware (in that uniquely Gen-X way), witty and often flat out hilarious. Taken for what it is, this is definitely a worthwhile read for music fans, even if, alas, it won't save your life.