Though I’m a live-music junkie, I don’t read an inordinate number of music books, especially biographies, unless the subject is truly unique (Lou Reed) or one of my favorite bands or musicians (Phish). I’m drawn more to music stories that approach the subject matter from a less straightforward angle, whether it’s a hyperfocused look at an indispensable period of an artist’s life or the excavation of an obscure recording studio or independent record label (see David Menconi’s history of Rounder Records, Oh, Didn’t They Ramble). December offers two such books:
Katherine Rye Jewell’s Live From the Underground: A History of College Radio (Univ. of North Carolina, Dec. 5) is a treasure trove for anyone whose musical tastes were shaped by college radio. That certainly includes me: After college, I spent nearly a year delivering pizza in Durham, North Carolina, before I got my first job in publishing, and I vividly recall listening to the late-night student radio shows from UNC and Duke. Those stations introduced me to a wide array of seminal indie bands (Pavement, the Pixies, Tortoise, Yo La Tengo), as well as the wondrous world of Afrobeat (Fela Kuti, Ebo Taylor, Antibalas), now one of my favorite genres.
This well-researched book takes me back to those wide-eyed days, offering what our reviewer calls “some wonderfully obscure tales—such as UCLA’s attempt to buy then-faltering KROQ, which turned around and presented playlists that were heavily influenced by what was happening on college radio, thus becoming a station without pedigree until emerging as ‘a launchpad to commercial success for underground artists in the 1980s.’” The review continues, “Another anecdote from Jewell’s deeply researched files concerns Sean Hannity, who was noxious even back when he was a student DJ on UC Santa Barbara’s station—and who, fired for his calumnies, recruited the ACLU to defend him, an affiliation he probably wouldn’t want to admit today.” The book is not only “a pleasure for fans of alt-rock and its dissemination”; it’s also a potent nostalgia trip for readers who miss the immeasurable influence of terrestrial radio.
Alt-rock would not exist without the rock revolution of the 1960s, and Jimi Hendrix was one of the leading lights of that musical generation. Screenwriter Jonathan Stathakis gives us a fresh look at the guitar Jedi in Jimi and Me: The Experience of a Lifetime (Permuted Press, Dec. 5), written with Chris Epting. In 1969, Hendrix asked the author to meet him in Manhattan to work on a film that would have no dialogue, instead featuring Hendrix’s guitar playing to drive the action. Though the film never got off the ground, Stathakis left the project with plenty of stories. As our reviewer writes, “[T]heir connection gave Stathakis an insider’s view of Hendrix’s life—creative process, relationships, management issues, and how he navigated the tumultuous 1960s as a Black artist—as well as historic events like Woodstock. The author’s observations are probably more valuable than anything Hendrix revealed in their conversations.” A must-read for all Hendrix fans, the book “provides an entertaining glimpse into rock history.”
Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction editor.
