Rating: 
Summary: Splendid Failure
Review: Let me preface my comments by saying that this is a really great book-a necessary book even. Many of the bands included in this "history" never received their due audience and accolades other than being name-checked by loads of early-to-mid 90's post-punk bands from Unwound to Polvo etc. Maybe you, like me, have searched out names of bands referenced as influences during interviews of your favorite bands only to be puzzled upon first (or twentieth) listening. "How did 'this' get from 'that'?" -and suddenly an obscure reference soon becomes merely a conversation piece in your collection. (I have come to the conclusion that great artists must hear better than most of us regular folks-they are able to listen just beneath the surface elements (production values, lyrics, tempo) of a particular record and discover a realm of possible sounds and ideas not overtly presented in the recording itself.) The bands included in this book aren't like that-they literally belong alongside the great indie music of the recent past (let's arbitrarily say 1991-1997, a shift having taken place in the indie world since then-a debate for a different forum). Most of these bands sound as "modern" as they did when first released (production values notwithstanding), and you need not be a "crank" to make them part of your daily listening regime. In that spirit, I thank Mr. Azzerad for providing us with the enlightening, comical, and even "inspirational," stories behind these bands, especially for those of us unfortunate enough to have discovered them years after their time.However, I have more than a slight suspicion that Azzerad has a larger agenda for his book, namely, explaining the Nirvana phenomenon. The preface is almost explicit: somehow we are to understand these stories as rising toward a watershed or high water mark, wherein the tremendous labor of the previous generation to forge an alternate (music) culture makes possible the explosion that was Nirvana. Without these stories, the Azzerad argument continues, we aren't able to understand the success or possibility of Nevermind. The Preface asks: "Who is the 'we' that won when Nirvana 'broke' punk?" But I found nothing in this book to explain what was probably only an anomaly with few lasting affects/effects (unless you consider a few years of MTV embracing "alternative rock" as a substantial moment in history). Most people who bought and listened to Nirvana cared little for what had come before, and remained unmoved (even in a derivative, second hand sense) by the ethic that made the music (and the life that went along with it) possible. Nirvana was nothing more than Metallica to legions of shirtless, tattooed youth (for evidence of this see the Woodstock fires/sexual harassment events and especially the scenes from Fugazi's "Instrument" where people outside their shows are interviewed-truly chilling). There is even some question as to whether Nirvana belonged to the "we" that "won". The potential that many of these bands failed to live up to wouldn't have been fulfilled by "making it", and thereby pre-dating Nirvana, I would argue. It isn't that Dinosaur could have been the band to break out before Nirvana (as Lou Barlow seems to think); what Dinosaur could have done was simply not be direction-less ineffectual whiners and make the most of the scene to which they belonged. They would have been better served had they followed the lead of the Minutemen, Black Flag (Greg Ginn), Steve Albini, and Dischord in leaving a lasting imprint on the underground.
Rating: 
Summary: I've Been Looking Forward To this One
Review: This book fills what was a gaping chasm - real documentation of what was a true movement and community. By telling these bands' stories, Azerrad makes you feel the urgency, desperation, and blind belief that fueled these bands. Azerrad wrote the peerless Nirvana bio Come As you Are (way more than just another band book). This book - in it's scope and ambition -- finds a sure place in the best of 'rock lit'. What's best is the way Azerrad injects real poignancy into the the story - the times he describes will never come again. (personal favorite song that depicts the milieu - Left Of The Dial. Someone should film that song.)
Rating:
Summary: finally
Review: Finally we find a relatively comprehensive study of American rock's underground during the 1980s. Michael Azerrad scores again with wit and passion, and it is truly felt from reading the book. These chronicles, for now at least, are essentially Bible for all of us who have needed more than that one salvaged interview with Husker Du that we find on the internet, or that battered Black Flag gig flyer we find underneath the garbage can. Azerrad gives us an exhausted overview of the 80s underground, with: Black Flag, Minutemen, Mission of Burma, Minor Threat, Husker Du, Replacements, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Dinosaur Jr., Fugazi, Mudhoney, and Beat Happening (it surprised me too). This is a truly monumental work that presents a magnificent perspective into the lives of the American Indie Underground.
Rating: 
Summary: The beginning's better than the end, isn't that always so?
Review: Being a veteran of the mosh pit, I found the chapters on SST/Black Flag-Minutemen-Husker Du most relevant to my tour of duty in the early 80s. The latter chapters on such as Beat Happening, Mudhoney, and Fugazi barely registered. Burma and Sonic Youth have their moments; the Boston band's relative isolation gains impact when contrasted with the NY scenester's careerism. The 'Mats chapter skids to a halt without even a mention of "Tim" as if after indie labels the band ceased--inconsistently, the Huskers' saga continues after they jumped to Warner Bros. Similarly, SY gets more ink in the midst of their major-label dealings, as do the BH Surfers. The decade of hardcore and underground pre-Nirvana post-Brit/NYC punk/art/pose makes for a logical framework, but the fate of those surviving "Nevermind" and "the year that punk broke" [sic] would also make for sobering reading. Steve Albini, the Minutemen, the Huskers, and Fugazi seem to come off best as principled artists here; the beginnings with indie labels like SST prove fascinating, and the conflict between ethics and long-term careers does make for tension within many of the bands' histories. I would've dropped the Surfers--whose antics more than any music had made them noticed--and combined Fugazi with Minor Threat. The K Records twee pop legacy, unfortunate as it is, seems not to fit into the whole, and Mudhoney's chapter seems taken from the author's two works on the Seattle grunge scene. What should have been added? How Alternative Press and Option magazines worked with the smaller 'zines to educate and create savvy listeners, along with the indie and college radio stations, across the nation and abroad. Mail-order, in the pre-Net days, and good ol'word-of-mouth between fans at record stores, dorm rooms, garages, and gigs played as much as role as any other form of promotion these fledgling labels could create. The decision, as with Option in the 80s, to only review lp's on indie labels ran into conflict as the majors used farm-league brands to nourish (and/or exploit) up-and-coming artists from regional areas. Concomitantly, this merge of the majors with the minors, and the distributors of British music here, is an neglected topic. IRS was an offshoot of WB, of course, as was Sire, but who can diminish their effect on college radio and local scenes despite or because of their added clout? Joe Carducci (of SST) in his maddeningly Lester Bangs-ish "Rock and the Pop Narcotic" touches upon the role of labels and the whole mish-mash as hardcore dribbled into 70s metal and all sorts of (...)children spawned on those indie labels. Anyway, Azerrad's book is better written than many rock tomes. If not as erudite as Jon Savage's "England's Dreaming," it does pave the way for future studies of American indie music culture. One closing example: as the Huskers on early songs attempt to break the straitjacket of hardcore, it sounds like "whistling in a steel mill."
Rating:
Summary: salad days
Review: To start off with, I am too young to have seen these bands in their prime, but this book is still extremely powerful to me. I got into punk and indie where this book stops. If anyone says that the 70's punk revolution was the last time that music mattered, this book will prove them dead wrong. These bands all matter(ed) just as much.
Azerrad never goes into hero worship and gives a truly fair and honest look at these bands indie days (it cuts off the times some of these bands spent on major labels, focusing on the D.I.Y. ethics that punk and indie hold so dear) and takes a totally un-biased stance.
He also focuses on some bands that still (unfortunately) are not that well known to people my age. Mission of Burma is a key example. They are such an amazing band that has been completely overlooked. Even if you don't like or know about the bands, you can't put this book down.
If you are young and wanting to get into some great punk/indie music, buy this book and use it as a shopping guide. Seriously.
Nirvana did a lot, but the revolution started long before (and was better, in my opinion). Now all we need is someone to shake things up again, but today's indie scene needs to get over how cool they think they are and lighten up and work for the common good instead of their own personal gain. People in their early to mid twenties, and even late teens need to read about the struggles that punks used to have to go through. They couldn't buy, for example, a Misfits t-shirt a 5 different stores in the mall, or even find good records.
This book really does profile the last time music mattered, and it wasn't just the great music. It was the national community.
Rating:
Summary: an interesting life
Review: I read this book a long time ago and picked it up again this past week to read the Sonic Youth chapter. Azerrad is a fantastic writer and reporter and his depiction of the world in which the grandparents of indie rock lived and toiled is really fascinating at times. I like his mix of enthusiasm and fly on the wall presentation. I would rec. this book to anyone interested in the roots of indie rock: the bands, the labels, the scenes. . .
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book About a Great Music Scene
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it as somebody to whom this particular music scene was inexpressably important. Before my crappy former ISP ate and digested my website (some of you may remember evol.org), and I subsequently developed other interests, I used to run a well known website about Sonic Youth and The Minutemen; and it has always been one of my dreams to publish a book about my favorite band: The Minutemen.
I still might do that!
This book was a lot of fun to read - I recommend it to anybody who is interested in this era. I give this book a strong five stars even though I agree with a lot of the criticisms that were outlined in the review dated July 4, 2003. But in spite of these problems I ask: where else are you going to find a book like this? It is unreal to expect the book to be a fat encyclopedia - punk rockers just don't have that type of attention span - although I admit sections on the Meat Puppets and the DKs would have been nice. Or X, for that matter. But then again there were sections on bands I had hardly ever heard of like Beat Happening - that was refreshing. And also - it is obvious Azerrad loves and respects these bands as much as I do - but that doesn't mean he has to completely put them on a pedestal.
Azerrad, it appears, sees 1984 as a pinnacle of punk/post punk music. Well, so do I. If you were listening to this music in 1984, or if you are just now discovering it - buy the book. You'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: Will change your view of the 80s
Review: This is one of the top rock books I've read -- funny, inspiring, well researched, and insightful all at once. Since the other reviews here go into plenty of critical and general detail, I thought I should just give a quick summary of what's featured in the book, since the bigger reviews here tend to not mention the key specifics:
The main bands profiled: Black Flag, The Minutemen, Mission of Burma, Minor Threat (Fugazi), Husker Du, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Dinosaur Jr.
Secondary subjects: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Henry Rollins, Sebadoh, Steve Albini, SST Records, K Records, Sub Pop Records, the birth of punk and hardcore and straight-edge, various `zines, underground and indie scenes, and producers, musicians, influences, etc...
Quite humorous and harrowing, with awesome insider-interviews and wacky anecdotes, including a drunken cameo by Alex Chilton (of Chris Bell, Box Tops, and Big Star fame). Put this one on your bookshelf for some serious indie cred.
Rating:
Summary: come as they are
Review: This is Michael Azerrad's follow-up to his Nirvana biography "Come As You Are." Basically, it is a dozen or so bios of some of Nirvana's rival post-punk bands. Both this book and "Come As You Are" gain a lot from the fact that Azerrad is himself a post-punk-rocker (currently and most notably with the band King Of France): he has an insiders' sympathy and objectivity which is lacking from most music journalism. Not only that, he has a knack for showing how the practical, personal and artistic sides of the musicians' life interact.
One minor complaint about this book is that its design is stodgy, with only a few random band photos included by way of decoration. I wouldn't even noticed this deficiency if I hadn't recently reread the lavishly illustrated "Come As You Are."
Rating:
Summary: a great introduction
Review: There is a lot of hostile criticism here about how this book isn't "punk enough" or is "too scholarly", etc. These reviews should only appeal to those trapped in some kind of stunted alternate-adolescence, where it is still 1984 (or even 1994) and you're feeling pretty cool because you're the first kid in your school to buy the new Dead Kennedys record. For the rest of us, this is a mighty fine summation of the American underground music scene during the 1980's. Is it exhaustive? No, it could have used a chapter on the Meat Puppets or the Kennedys. Is it an important book? You betcha. There is no other book out there that documents this period with the enthusiasm and respect that Azerrad gives it. If you're a big music fan and are interested in this massively important era of rock history, then trust me, you're going to enjoy this book. If you think you know it all already ("I lived it man, I was there when Flag played Chino"), then do yourself a favor and skip it.
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