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Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota
by Chuck Klosterman
A young North Dakotan’s coming-of-age via the events that shaped his favorite music genre: heavy metal.
This former art critic’s breakthrough book shows an intimate knowledge of music and pop culture that opened the door for books that followed, and columnist stints at Spin and Esquire.
Klosterman sets up his story with “I’ve never had long hair,” but his hairstyle seems to be the only part of his life that heavy metal didn’t pervade as he chronicles growing up by the events that shaped the genre nationally, from the release of Motley Crue’s “Shout at the Devil” in 1983 to when the same band reunited and played “Shout at the Devil ‘97” at the American Music Awards in 1997.
There’s no doubt that Klosterman knows his material as he goes through bands and albums that are foreign to casual metal fans, making access to Google a necessity for most readers. However, he schools even the most novice listener in his October 15, 1988 section, marking Bon Jovi’s “New Jersey,” Guns ‘N Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction” and Def Leppard’s “Hysteria” as “the three best-selling records on the planet” with a case for the merits of the genre via a list of albums that include a dollar amount for how much someone could pay him to never listen to it again. The result is more entertaining than a conventional album countdown while putting actual value with the critiques.
Although there are probably very few people out there that wouldn’t learn something about pop culture from this account, the funny, personable way it’s written still makes it a worthy read.
Title: Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota
Author: Chuck Klosterman
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN: 0743406567
Review written by: Elizabeth Lilly
Reviewer's Rating:8
Reader's Rating: 4.00
Reader's Votes: 1
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