WON'T BACK DOWN

A new look at the small-town rock anthems of the 1980s.

The term “heartland rock,” writes music journalist and author Osmon, emerged in the 1970s to refer to the “roots-driven rock music that spoke of small towns, the working class, the open road, and coming-­of-­age nostalgia.” If your mind goes right to a certain guy from New Jersey when you read that, you’re not alone—many credit Bruce Springsteen’s album Born To Run, released in 1975 to critical acclaim, as the moment the genre broke through, although Osmon credits Bob Seger with having more influence on the music than people realize. Her book is structured as a year-by-year history of the form in the 1980s, tracing the careers of, among others, Tom Petty, John Mellencamp, and Bonnie Raitt, placing the songs and albums in their correct sociopolitical concept “of Cold War paranoia, labor resistance, embattled farmers, Southern reckoning, technological advancements, national mourning, jingoism, generational change, and cultural appropriation.” The author writes convincingly about how conservative politicians co-opted the music of progressive artists—President Ronald Reagan played Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” while in New Jersey—and she notes that such songs’ “social and political messaging were remixed by the personal biases of its listeners.” The book contains some fascinating facts—who knew that Mellencamp and the decidedly non-rural Lou Reed were friends?—and is leavened with humorous asides: “The music video for [Springsteen’s] ‘Dancing in the Dark,’ featuring young Courteney Cox, is further evidence that straight white men can’t dance,” she writes. The book ends with her conclusion that the genre is “here to stay,” citing acts like the War on Drugs, Waxahatchee, and the Drive-By Truckers.

A smart, fun look at that old-time rock ’n’ roll.