What do AC/DC and Aphex Twin have in common? David Bowie and Butthole Surfers? The Clash and the Chemical Brothers? On the surface, very little. Yet they are all representative of the most important movement in modern music—Alternative. What makes these acts alternative? And why do we care? The A to X of Alternative Music answers these questions. This is both the story of the greatest music ever made and an investigation into what it means to be cutting-edge. The book covers global giants like Bob Dylan, Nirvana, and Radiohead, cult favorites like Joy Division, Pixies, and the Velvet Underground, as well as lesser-known pioneers like Can, Fela Kuti, and Spacemen 3. Entries assess each act on the basis of their claim to alternative music status according to three criteria: working practice, musical output, and cultural perception. These acts have rejected the easy route to success, avoiding commercial imperatives and cliché to make inspiring and influential music that has won devoted—in some cases fanatical—followings. The entries place artists in their musical and chronological context, providing the background to key scenes and tracing links—both formal and aesthetic—between these seminal acts. The book is also a buyers’ guide for established and new fans of alternative music, with each entry recommending key releases. The A to X of Alternative Music is the essential reference companion for anyone who loves music made—and listened to—outside the mainstream.
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"…instead of using 'alternative' as simply a catch-all phrase, Taylor chooses musicians who were supposedly 'alternative' in spirit as well as in label, who Made A Differene in the world of music as we know it." --David Hill, Shredding Paper Fall 2004
“…what you get among the welcome surprises are the tried-and-true critical faves, flavors of the month and groups that would have been kept at arm’s length if they were still around but are ‘safe’ enough to write about twenty years later.” –Shredded Paper Magazine, Fall 2004
“…the text is delightfully engaging to read; Taylor is smart, sharp, caustic, insightful, and opinionated and obviously knows his subject extremely well.” –American Reference Books Annual, Vol. 36, 2005 (American Reference Books Annual )
“…what you get among the welcome surprises are the tried-and-true critical faves, flavors of the month and groups that would have been kept at arm’s length if they were still around but are ‘safe’ enough to write about twenty years later.” –Shredded Paper Magazine, Fall 2004
“…the text is delightfully engaging to read; Taylor is smart, sharp, caustic, insightful, and opinionated and obviously knows his subject extremely well.” –American Reference Books Annual, Vol. 36, 2005 (American Reference Books Annual )
About the Author
Steve Taylor presents The A to X of Alternative Music on London-based radio station Xfm and is a lecturer in media studies at Thames Valley University.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Four decades of what music matters,
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This review is from: A to X of Alternative Music (Paperback)
Take the letter "K": Kenickie, Killing Joke, Kraftwerk, Ed Kuepper, Fela Kuti. That exemplifies the range of this thoughtful essay collection. (It goes up to "Z.") Steve Taylor's criteria for inclusion are three: "Working It"--not letting "self-conscious arty behaviour," commercialism or "cultural bandwagon hopping" get in the way of creative fidelity to one's muse; "It"= overcoming verbal and musical limits, either by sticking to a deft aesthetic that works for the artist (Sonic Youth) or upending expectations album by album (The Fall); Consistency-- it speaks to the original audience, yet it attracts new listeners over a career determined by the band or musician's control over image, presentation, and commodification. I liked Taylor's set-up. An introductory paragraph or two sums up not the usual name-birthdate-hometown-discography of many reference works, but a context and background that goes a bit beyond, into why the musician or band emerged at that time. Taylor emphasizes the way a discography and a presence lifted each musician or band out of the era, while defining it to a discerning audience. He ends each entry with a "first team," the best lineup of the group, and then a "place-time-scene" pinpointing where and how they emerged. Finally, what to hear first and then after guides a reader who wants to become a listener. Some sudden shifts in style and content in entries, and a few typos or usage slips, trip up Taylor's insistent, often rambling or snarky prose. Also a d.j., you can imagine him slipping in such comments on air after he plays a track by so-and-so. As first of all a thoughtful, passionate, but sensible and discerning fan, his perspective here favors an impressionistic survey of each artist rather than a comprehensive one. Many key albums or songs are barely mentioned, but instead you may learn a fresh factoid or get a snippet from an interview or press release by the artist as compensation. It makes the approach uneven, but certainly personal. Taylor strives for a blunt, no-nonsense evaluation. He may lurch about as suddenly as the contents, but what unites them, he explains in his introduction, is "bucking the trend of the moment." As a record-store habitue, he notes with members of Ride or R.E.M. (Michael Stipe has a four-paragraph preface musing about "alternative" as "an attitude and approach to what was clearly at that point a business" when his band began) or Tindersticks to name a few how a vision and attitude coalesced in the formative years of those who'd craft a new sound, combining past influences while blending them with their own fresh flavor. That innovation spans Portishead to Primal Scream to Prince to Public Enemy, and the range of these idiosyncratic, even awkward, but heartfelt and principled essays refreshes. They range from the beats-turned-hippies to the mash-up manipulators on dancefloors today. Taylor does not exclude major-label signings or successful figures, and any "purity" that brings its own lack of popularity brings its own warning. Instead, from Dylan to DJ Shadow, Taylor seeks out the milieu that makes these determined musicians matter.
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