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Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music Paperback – May 1, 2011

by Nona Willis Aronowitz (Editor), Daphne Carr (Afterword), Evie Nagy (Afterword),

4.4 37 ratings

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In 1968, the New Yorker hired Ellen Willis as its first popular music critic. Her column, Rock, Etc., ran for seven years and established Willis as a leader in cultural commentary and a pioneer in the nascent and otherwise male-dominated field of rock criticism. As a writer for a magazine with a circulation of nearly half a million, Willis was also the country’s most widely read rock critic. With a voice at once sharp, thoughtful, and ecstatic, she covered a wide range of artists—Bob Dylan, The Who, Van Morrison, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joni Mitchell, the Velvet Underground, Sam and Dave, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Wonder—assessing their albums and performances not only on their originality, musicianship, and cultural impact but also in terms of how they made her feel.

Because Willis stopped writing about music in the early 1980s—when, she felt, rock ’n’ roll had lost its political edge—her significant contribution to the history and reception of rock music has been overshadowed by contemporary music critics like Robert Christgau, Lester Bangs, and Dave Marsh. Out of the Vinyl Deeps collects for the first time Willis’s Rock, Etc. columns and her other writings about popular music from this period (includingliner notes for works by Lou Reed and Janis Joplin) and reasserts her rightful place in rock music criticism.

More than simply setting the record straight, Out of the Vinyl Deeps reintroduces Willis’s singular approach and style—her use of music to comment on broader social and political issues, critical acuity, vivid prose, against-the-grain opinions, and distinctly female (and feminist) perspective—to a new generation of readers. Featuring essays by the New Yorker’s current popular music critic, Sasha Frere-Jones, and cultural critics Daphne Carr and Evie Nagy, this volume also provides a lively and still relevant account of rock music during, arguably, its most innovative period.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Univ Of Minnesota Press
Publication date

May 1, 2011
Dimensions

6.13 x 0.7 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

0816672830
ISBN-13

978-0816672837
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Here, [Ellen Willis's] witty, cerebral essays finally get the compilation they deserve. She grapples with voices who inspired her . . . and relates feminism to music in revelatory ways. Vinyl Deeps is the testament of a crucial voice. At a time when rock clichés were still being invented, Willis was already leaving them behind." —Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone

"Willis's work is crystalline enough that reading each essay takes the reader on a trip back to the era when it originally appeared, but it's a testimony to her intellect and talent that those journeys look completely unlike any hagiography you might stumble across. She cuts through clichés nimbly . . . and the essays vibrate off the page." —Village Voice

"At a time when music was less understood than it is today, Willis appreciated why musicians combined passion and intellect to not only document their time, but also influence movements." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Out of the Vinyl Deeps should take its place alongside Marcus’s Mystery Train and Bangs’s Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung as one of the canonical documents of early pop music criticism. Even with her tendency to use big words and big ideas, Willis always knew at heart that music was a gas, gas, gas. She celebrated the seriousness of pleasure and relished the pleasure of thinking seriously. She followed in the footsteps of the New Yorker critics Dorothy Parker and Pauline Kael, and elbowed her way into the men’s club of music criticism. Maybe she didn’t even realize it was a men’s club—Willis seemed fiercely independent that way. Ultimately, Out of the Vinyl Deeps makes you want to do what the best music criticism should: pull out a record and listen to it with new ears." —New York Times

"I’d call Ellen Willis the Ida Lupino of music writing, but even that wouldn’t say enough about this book's value. Out of the Vinyl Deeps is a time capsule, the publication of which invigorates and illuminates our grasp of the period it covers—but it is also a timeless compendium of clear thinking and fresh, humane, and persuasive prose."—Jonathan Lethem

"Finally, Willis’s game-changing music writing is available in one place. It is like unearthing the holy grail of rock criticism!" —Kathleen Hanna

"A pleasure to read and a crucial challenge when truly considered, Willis’s essays on rock, freedom, sex, and dancing in your bedroom continue to teach me every time I return to them." —Ann Powers

About the Author

Ellen Willis (1941–2006) was a groundbreaking radical leftist writer and thinker whose true loves were rock music, feminism, pleasure, and freedom. She was the first pop music critic for the New Yorker and an editor and columnist at the Village Voice. She wrote for numerous publications, including Rolling Stone, the New York Times, the Nation, and Dissent. She was the founder of the Cultural Reporting and Criticism Program at New York University, and she published three books of essays, Beginning to See the Light, No More Nice Girls, and Don’t Think, Smile!Nona Willis Aronowitz has written about women, sex, music, technology, film, and youth culture for publications such as the Nation, the New York Observer, the Village Voice, and Salon. She is coauthor of Girldrive: Criss-crossing America, Redefining Feminism. Sasha Frere-Jones is a musician and writer from New York. He is a staff writer for the New Yorker and a member of the bands Ui and Calvinist. Daphne Carr lives and writes in New York City. She is editor of the Best Music Writing series. Evie Nagy is an associate editor at Billboard Magazine.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Univ Of Minnesota Press (May 1, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0816672830
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0816672837
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 0.7 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #578,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,406 in Music History & Criticism (Books)
- #1,831 in Rock Music (Books)
- #1,973 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences

Customer Reviews:
4.4 37 ratings

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Nona Willis Aronowitz
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Nona Willis Aronowitz is a writer, speaker and radio producer from New York. She has written about women, sex, music, technology, film, and youth culture for numerous publications including The Nation, The Chicago Tribune, Salon, Slate, and BUST, and has produced for National Public Radio. She graduated from Wesleyan University in 2006 with a degree in American Studies. She is the editor of Girl-drive.com, a community blog based on her book, Girldrive. She lives in New York City.
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Daphne Carr
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Daphne Carr is an Ohio-born, Youngstown-Allentown raised author, editor, publisher, activist, and scholar living in New York City. In 2011 she co-founded Feedback Press, a music-focused independent press (feedbackpress dot org).
Daphne has written cultural criticism and journalism for a number of magazines, alternative newspapers, and websites, and has been the series editor of Best Music Writing since 2006. She is the co-founder of GirlGroup, a listserv for and about women music writers, and an educator at the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls in Brooklyn, NY.
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Ellen Willis
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Ellen Willis (1941-2006) was the first rock critic for the New Yorker, an editor and columnist at the Village Voice, and cofounder of the radical feminist group Redstockings. Her writing appeared in numerous publications, including Rolling Stone, the New York Times, and the Nation. She established the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program at New York University and published "Beginning to See the Light" and "No More Nice Girls," both reissued from Minnesota in 2012, as well as "Don't Think, Smile!" Her award-winning posthumous collection of rock criticism, "Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music," was published in 2011, also by University of Minnesota Press.
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4.4 out of 5

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Johned

ellen Willis, Out of the Vinyl Deeps.

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is a compelling look at music reviews ca. the late 1960s and early 1970s when rock and roll was in bloom. Willis was a candid reviewer who knew her subject, and often knew the rock stars that mattered during that era. She listened intently to the music and words, the nuances evident in the lyrics and the singing. It's a shame she's gone, but she left a very vibrant legacy that is seen only rarely in today's pop market. She was outspoken in her tastes.
She believed in the service she was bringing to the front.

Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2012

Verified Purchase

This book is very valuable for everyone interested in music writing and in learning about the broader cultural context of pop and rock music. I'm really thankful to Willis' daughter for putting out this great book and letting the world know about a great writer and thinker, Ellen Willis. In the field of writing about music, she is definitely a role model.

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Geo

Make that 4 3/4 stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2013

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Why not 5 stars- because nothing is perfect. This insiders look at a true musical insiders reviews is a fun read. I do not agree with much that is said about some of the recordings, in fact, that is part of the fun of this book. Ellen was so sure that her opinions were the only valid ones that it can sometimes make your blood boil, but it is done with such background, experience and validity that you are many times sent back in time and to your collection to find her point of view and damnit--- she's right more often than not. This was almost an interactive reading experience for me--- perhaps you will have the same experience!

5 people found this helpful

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Jim Frick

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

Great stories about the music I love.

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2011

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As a highly skewed time capsule, I suppose you could do worse with this book, but you definitely could do better. If you like Dylan, Lou Reed and the Velvets and Janis Joplin, you'll like this book better because she writes about them a lot. And let's face it, the early 70's weren't that great of a time for Dylan. Some articles are okay, but maybe it's because they are so old, I was expecting something a little deeper and insightful about the artists that are now classic rock idols. I mean, in a semi concert review of The Who and a semi review of Who's Next, she doesn't go much deeper than saying that she liked this song and didn't like that one. Um, really? A lot of the writing is trite and there is a lot of lyric quoting, a tactic I despise in rock crit. In fact, a whole article of hers was devoted to the best lyrics of the 70's.

Maybe I was just expecting more, but there wasn't a lot here that thrilled me. And really, is the New Yorker a good place to go for any kind of authentic rock criticism? Not really.

2 stars.

10 people found this helpful

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B. Mount

It's hard for pop criticism to be classic criticism

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2014

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Forty or more years after Willis wrote the best of the pieces, time exposes what was adolescent, of the moment, overly hyped. She avoids those traps and transcends them 80 percent of the time, which why I give this collection of often startingly perceptive analysis of Dylan, his contemporaries and his followers 80 percent of perfect. Even when you roll your eyes at some misplaced enthusiasm -- as I imagine Willis would have too in later years -- you're reminded how much passion the music of that era could evoke.

6 people found this helpful

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J

interesting in parts

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2015

Verified Purchase

There are bits here that really do provide a fresh perspective and Willis does have that greatest and rarest quality, a free mind.

Still, like most rock crit it can sag and bore quite a bit. In a way a welcome contrast from the wearing and unconvincing intensity of Lester Bangs or the pomposity of Marcus and the other guy; and of course, the female angle is interesting- historically as much as anything.

Yes, good, but less fun than I'd have hoped. A free mind and - therefore - a good mind, but not a brilliant one.

2 people found this helpful

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explainer guy

Out of context and not interesting

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2018

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Disappointing.

This is your typical snapshot of rock crit of it's time. It's all out of context so there isn't anything here that really says anything particularly interesting or culturally resonant.

There are 20+ mentions of the rolling Stones and Keith is not mentioned once. It's all about Mick.

As for placing rock music in the larger context of culture or politics, and especially gender as the selling point of this book pushes, there is little to none.

Lastly, the woman hates live music and rails against concerts....how can you really LOVE music if you object to seeing it there in the moment?

One person found this helpful

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