Spin: 20 Years of Alternative Music: Original Writing on Rock, Hip-Hop, Techno, and Beyond [Paperback]

Spin Magazine (Author), Will Hermes (Editor), Sia Michel (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2005

Twenty years ago, SPIN magazine began with the promise to feature uncompromising writing about the music that was turning on/freaking out the Reagan generation. Through the introduction of MTV and the alternative rock revolution, it's been many things. Rude. Brilliant. Soulful. Snotty. Angry. Delirious.

In the past two decades, genres have spawned like mad, from goth, indie rock, and gangsta rap to emo and the garage rock revival. This twentieth-anniversary tribute celebrates the passion and fury of the music, with original essays, quotes, and photographs by contributors who are as hopelessly obsessed with it as you are.

SPIN: 20 Years of Alternative Music features: Alan Light on Beastie Boys, Ann Powers on U2, Charles Aaron on R.E.M., Dave Eggers on The Smiths + Morrissey, Marc Spitz on Goth, Simon Reynolds on Depeche Mode + Synth-pop, Dave Itzkoff on ’80s Teen Movies, Chuck Klosterman on Weezer, Will Hermes on Radiohead, Neil Strauss on Nine Inch Nails + Industrial, Sacha Jenkins on Public Enemy, Andy Greenwald on Emo, RJ Smith on Gangsta Rap, Jon Dolan on The White Stripes, Chris Norris on Nirvana, Doug Brod on Oasis + Britpop, Jim DeRogatis on Smashing Pumpkins, Laura Sinagra on Courtney Love, Ta-Nehisi Coates on Tupac

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Will Hermes is a senior contributing writer for SPIN and a frequent contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered, among other outlets. He is the author of the blog fiction Loose Strife.

Sia Michel is the editor in chief of SPIN. She won a 1999 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for her reporting on the highly controversial death of hip-hop icon Notorious B.I.G. and is the first woman to be named editor in chief of a major rock music magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307236625
• ISBN-13: 978-0307236623
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.7 x 9.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #768,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Will Hermes writes about music and pop culture for Rolling Stone, The New York Times and other publications, and is a regular contributor to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent overview of the mag's first 20 years, December 28, 2005

By 

Darin Campbell (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spin: 20 Years of Alternative Music: Original Writing on Rock, Hip-Hop, Techno, and Beyond (Paperback)

i just got this the other day and have already spent a fair amount of time browsing thru it. sure it would have been great to have collected the best articles from the last 20 years; however the problem with that (and something the book acknowledges) is sometimes what is viewed at the time as important and groundbreaking turns out to have been not such a big deal. the great thing about this book is the advantage of perspective, being able to go back and identify what really turned out to have been influential and then weeding out the chaff. in the appendix section the editors show some magazine covers that in retrospect demonstrate that sometimes the "next big thing" often ends up in the "where are they now file" ie Lisa Stansfield, Creed, etc.

i found the book to be immensely readable, one you can pick up and start anywhere, jump to whatever interests you, and even learn about music or artists that at the time you didn't care about.

a great book about a great magazine, and should be of interest to any music fan, especially one like myself who when i was younger read SPIN religiously.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a non-pop music book for the twenty-somethings of today, October 13, 2006

By 

Ryan D. Libbert (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spin: 20 Years of Alternative Music: Original Writing on Rock, Hip-Hop, Techno, and Beyond (Paperback)

I have been reading SPIN magazine off and on since I picked up my first issue at age 15. It has been one of the more compelling periodicals available about music that tends to adhere to a non-biased approach that all journalists claim but none practice.
When I heard of a book from SPIN commemorating 20 years in the alternative music scene I was very excited. When I bought and read this book I was even more thoroughly pleased.
Mixing big name staying-power acts lie Prince and Modonna with live-in-the-moment scenes/groups like Nirvana and NWA, this book finally gives a great perspective on music and it's effect on American culture, just like SPIN magazine has been striving to do for decades (but not always succeeding).
I felt it covered all pertinent points of alternative music throughout the past several years and was well informative on music movements that I had missed out on.
I especially enjoyed reading about hip-hop legends like Run DMC, Public Enemy, NWA, and Tupac as I can be easily classified as a southern white boy sheltered from the extremities of rap music.
I also enjoyed the essays written about outside-music influences like ecstasy, heroin, and MTV (all equally mind-numbing)
Things I did not like was the fixation on Nine Inch Nails as the sole pioneers of industrial music (have we never heard of Ministry, KMFDM, or My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult). Also thought the piece on Radiohead was a bit much, I think they can easily be classified into Britpop along with Blur and Oasis.
This is definitely a great read, something new at each turn of the page to fuel both excitement and nostalgia.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting in parts, but often almost impenetrable prose, October 20, 2005

By 

Andrew Olivo Parodi (Oregon, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Spin: 20 Years of Alternative Music: Original Writing on Rock, Hip-Hop, Techno, and Beyond (Paperback)

Spin: 20 Years of Alternative Music is certainly interesting in parts (I enjoyed the bits about Courtney Love, Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, Foo Fighters, etc.), but my God the prose is almost impenetrable! These writers seem to know little about creating a flowing sentence. Run-on sentences abound. And many sentences are filled with so many asides that I was left glassy-eyed after one paragraph. Information dense and pretentious prose!

I was also very surprised by the inclusion of Madonna in this book. I love Madonna, but since when is the biggest selling female artist of all time an "alternative" act?