Milk It!: Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the '90s

Rating:
Summary: Critics enjoy listening to themselves whine
Review: Critics enjoy listening to themselves whine, and this book is the height of their craft. Derogatis should be persona non-gratis. A wanabee rock star who gets his kicks by tearing apart great bands.

If the guy would at least label what he likes about a few bands, he could be considered balanced. But he's an ego-maniac looking to pop the ego he sees in Rock stars of the past and present ...

The guy has trashed bands/albums as diverse and good as The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," Radiohead's "OK Computer" and Nirvana's "Nevermind" and U2's "Atomic Bomb"



Rating:
Summary: Ultimately unsatisfying, but still a must-read
Review: I have to agree with the prevailing sentiment of my fellow "Milk It!" reviewers. While it's not a bad read as a whole, this book is still loaded with obvious filler material that, more often than not, will have you skipping around searching for the good stuff, of which there is thankfully plenty to be found.

One of the great things about this book is that everyone who reads it will find something in it that will cause them to throw the book across the room. For the most part, Jim DeRogatis smacks the truth squarely on the head, but when he's wrong about something, he's generally SPECTACULARLY wrong about it (his frequent statements on his "Sound Opinions" radio show that "the Pixies suck" immediately comes to mind), which needless to say, is completely infuriating.

In that regard however, he does an excellent job as a music reviewer, because his unpredictability (though it sometimes borders on inconsistency) is what keeps his writing from devolving into Limbaugh or Hannity-esque demagoguery. He has an uncanny knack for making you think he's a complete moron (such as his obvious inability to discern the "Fabulous Fraud" that is Courtney Love and her entire musical canon), yet quickly regains your respect by rightfully slaughtering sacred cows that other mainstream music reviewers simply don't have the balls to tackle themselves. This is a man who was FIRED by Jann Wenner at Rolling Stone for writing--at the height of their commercial success--a scathing review of a trio of records (perfectly entitled "American Blandstand", which is included in this book) by faux alterna-pop snooze-meisters Hootie & the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band and The Spin Doctors. If for nothing else, DeRogatis should be respected for this.

But of course, there is a lot more to admire about DeRogatis and "Milk It!". The "Unrepentant Hypes and Fabulous Frauds" section--where the entrails of numerous music-crit darlings such as Guided By Voices, Wesley Willis and Rage Against the Machine are strewn all over the place by Jim's unmerciful pen--is worth more than the price of the book itself.

This section also contains the pinnacle of "Milk It!", which is DeRogatis' contentious (and unintentionally hilarious) interview with Third Eye Blind front man, Stephan Jenkins. At one point, Jenkins unbelievably tries to convince DeRogatis that Third Eye Blind "has been, if not the most DIY next to Fugazi, then number two or three." If you didn't know any better, you'd think that this exchange was ripped from the pages of "The Onion", but it's all very shockingly real. And that's only one of several instances where DeRogatis never lets you forget just how shallow and deceitful the corporate "alternative music" industry (read: major label wolves in "indie" sheep's clothing) really is.

Despite its flaws, "Milk It!" is still a good compendium of writing by one of the most important music writers in mainstream media today. You know that a man who gets vitriolic voice-mail messages from people like Billy Corgan and Ryan Adams MUST be doing something right.

Rating:
Summary: This Just In: Jim De Still Fat, Still A Poseur
Review: I'll make this quick. I bought the book because it's the first I've seen to focus solely on the "Alternative" rock I came of age with in the early 90's. The next day, after reading far more than I should have, I returned it to the local corporate bookstore and reallocated the money to a couple tabloid magazines and a cup of coffee. What Paris Hilton is currently wearing is far more interesting than this book, which boils down to Derogatis trying to overcompensate for his inherent uncoolness. He has made a name for himself in the world of rock criticism by taking critically and commercially successful bands to task while at the same time trumpeting the greatness of some of the worst crap the decade produced while ignoring some of the best that came out of the time period. There's a reason why you can buy this tripe brand new for a mere $2.50 on this site.

Rating:
Summary: A Must-Have Book (If you love music)
Review: In this world of criticism, there are two ways to go. You can either offer an objective take on the work you are criticizing or you can conform to the wishes of your editor and offer up a puff piece. Some critics will go for the puff piece. Lester Bangs never did. And neither has Jim Derogatis,

Derogatis, music critic for the Chicago Sun Times and frequent contributor to many music/entertainment related periodicals, is one of the most honest and objective music writers out there today. And he's one of the most entertaining as well as Milk It: Collected Musing On The Alternative Music Explosion Of The 90s proves. The 410-page book, a collection of his pieces from that era, positions Derogatis as the heir to Bangs throne.

Derogatis divides the book into 14 different sections. Each section is devoted to a particular band (Nirvana, REM) or a particular topic (Britpop, Women In Rock). The sections consist of various reviews, interviews and other essays. In other words, it's a rummage sale of recycled material. But as far as single author collections of works of criticism go, it's one of the better ones out there.

As I said earlier, Derogatis doesn't hesitate to call it as he sees it. There are two articles of Courtney Love quotes contained here. Unaltered quotes that portray Ms. Love as interesting and rather psychotic. The Smashing Pumpkins section cheers on the band for its success. But some of the portrayals of Billy Corgan are none too flattering.

In the intro to his women in rock section, Derogatis criticizes the music scene and industry observers for treating women in rock special, instead of as they would treat all other (non-female) bands. He seems to feel that this is demeaning in a way and he makes his point well for this being correct.

That's the good thing about this book, even in the case of artist he admires, Derogatis never falls victim to hero-worship. In one of the articles in the REM section, he questions the wisdom of their charging excessively high ticket prices. Although guitarist Peter Buck acknowledges that the $50 price tag was too high, bassist Mike Mills defends the high prices.

One thing that Derogatis has in common with Bangs is the fact that he too got fired from Rolling Stone. Bangs got the ax for writing negative comments on James Taylor albums. Derogatis devotes a whole section to his experience at the venerable RS, entitling the section "Hootiegate". The incident that earned Derogatis the wrath of RS publisher Jann Wenner was the release of Hootie And The Blowfish's second album. Derogatis wrote a very negative review of the album and awarded it two stars on the 4 star RS scale. The review interfered with Wenner's peace and love views of rock and roll and journalism and so it was yanked from the magazine. When Derogatis went public with the whole matter, Wenner sent him packing. The aforementioned review is included.

One area of the book that I recommend for particular study by fellow Epinioners is the section entitled "Unrepentant Hypes And Fabulous Frauds". Here he rips on easy targets like Bush (the band) and Britney of course. But he also goes after certain sacred cows. He offers up a negative review of NWA's N!ggaz4life album on the grounds of the album's miserable content of misogyny. He questions Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello about his former band's support of the Shining Path, a group of Peruvian Guerrillas that have murdered innocent people. And there is a hilarious interview with Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind. Jenkins did not like Derogatis review of his band's concert and so he takes Derogatis to task. At the end of the review, he tells Derogatis that the only thing ham-fisted is "your writing". Of course, Jenkins has managed to make himself look like a fool in the process. The skewering here is priceless.

So yes, Derogatis' work is a good example of how good music writing should be done. The only real drawback is that some of his viewpoints are a little overly simplistic. For instance, in one piece he simply dismisses the Counting Crows as a bogus Van Morrison rip-off. While that topic is worthy of debate, he doesn't really bring anything else to the issue. However, a good many of his opinions are right on the money (especially his ripping of Nickelback and Creed). His writing style is more straightforward and less gonzo than Bangs.

Milk It is an excellent book for all music fans to read as well as all those who are looking to write good music criticism. Don't miss this great book! Another terrific Amazon quick pick I love is THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez -- a great novel about the New York City music scene during the '90s

Rating:
Summary: A light but critical look at grunge, neo-punk, and hip-hop
Review: Jim DeRogatis attempts to sum up the music of the 1990s (with an emphasis on the first half of the decade) by reprinting ten years' worth of articles. The articles come from a dozen different publications.

The result is admirable but unsatisfying. He's critical of the bands, which is good. His articles on REM, for example, reveal their careful manipulation of the media. He lets Courtney Love bury herself in outbursts, he slams NWA for selling hate, and he attempts to portray Rage Against the Machine's guitarist as some sort of socialist dupe. That's the kind of entertainment journalism we need --- something skeptical, not the usual fawning over celebrities and rock stars.

The problem is, the book isn't focused. The articles should have been re-written, expanded, and combined into longer essays. Too many of them are so short, you wonder why he bothered to include them. (Maybe to make the book longer.) DeRogatis trivializes his own point of view by touching on each band too lightly. This book is worth reading but not worth buying. I'd gladly read a sequel, a complete review of music in the 1990s, written from scratch. Hopefully, he'll make this flawed but interesting book an introduction to a better one.

Rating:
Summary: Bland Musings on a Totally Awesome Music Phenomena
Review: Ok...I bought this book because it had a cool cover and featured stories on some of my favourite bands. But each article was so shallow and boring, I got absolutely nothing out of it. There was no in depth analysis or probing interviews. I totally understand why Billy Corgan hates this guy, his writing style is so bland and vanilla. Derogatis also has such a negative spin on so many cool bands, and champions fakers such as Courtney Love. And he also reckons Ride's "Carnival of Light" and the Pumpkin's last album were among their best ...uh...hello...these albums were sooo derivitive and lacked ideas...listen to both band's earlier wall of sound influenced albums for some true inspiration. But I guess this sums up Derogatis' musical tastes in a nutshell...he champions the bland music from this era, criticizes much of the truely innovative stuff, and puts you to sleep with his boring writing style. At least he gave the Flaming Lips a good plug. Approach this book with extreme caution, unless you know nothing about the genre and want a beginners guide to it.

Rating:
Summary: Bland Musings on a Totally Awesome Music Phenomena
Review: Ok...I bought this book because it had a cool cover and featured stories on some of my favourite bands. But each article was so shallow and boring, I got absolutely nothing out of it. There was no in depth analysis or probing interviews. I totally understand why Billy Corgan hates this guy, his writing style is so bland and vanilla. Derogatis also has such a negative spin on so many cool bands, and champions fakers such as Courtney Love. And he also reckons Ride's "Carnival of Light" and the Pumpkin's last album were among their best ...uh...hello...these albums were sooo derivitive and lacked ideas...listen to both band's earlier wall of sound influenced albums for some true inspiration. But I guess this sums up Derogatis' musical tastes in a nutshell...he champions the bland music from this era, criticizes much of the truely innovative stuff, and puts you to sleep with his boring writing style. At least he gave the Flaming Lips a good plug. Approach this book with extreme caution, unless you know nothing about the genre and want a beginners guide to it.

Rating:
Summary: Decent
Review: Problems with Mr. DeRogatis' Book
---------------------------------
1. Far too frequent use of the word "nadir".
2. Barely touches on the weirdo bands in the Freaks and Geeks chapter.
3. Nothing on Pavement.
4. Nothing on the Pixies (writing a book on alternative without at least an article on the Pixies is unforgivable).

That being said, Mr. DeRogatis' certainly has balls and is not afraid to insult some of the most critically acclaimed bands. Overall, a decent write-up of the alternative era before it became a mockery of itself.