Mighty as a Sword

Nothing musical has truly and utterly shaken me this week, at the very least nothing that could make the headlines of our constantly evolving Gogocommando blog, so here follows a list of top enthralling readings.

The first two batches are mainly journalistic works. Consequently, don't be surprised here, you'll be faced with the propensity that many rock critics, rock reviewers or rock fans display for exaggeration and myth at the expense of truth. However, all the biographies or musical movement studies consist in in-depth researches, buttressed with a cautious treatment of sources and are in consequence totally exhaustive. I am talking about reference books here,'right?
Of course, you can exclude Bangs' Gonzo-ish work from such a search for objectivity. Ok I spare you all the chitchat about Gonzo, but, yeah, just a few words. The quest for objectivity is doomed to failure; starting from the premise that as soon as you talk about something, no matter how hard you try to be detached from the initial subject, you're irremediably biased. However, by definition, subjectivity is indeniably fraught with reality. Gonzo's stumblig block is to acknowledge the validity and celebrate the pre-eminence of this inherent subjectiveness.
Nevertheless, no need to introduce Bangs; everyone knows is a dogmatic c***.

The last batch is made of more theoretical works. They are extremely valuable and helpful in order to conceptualise a musical object or a subculture and learn how to consider it. They provide really useful information for the layman, and a clear outlook upon the research made in their branch of learning for the scholar. However, be careful. Hall's and Hebdige's books are great, and gound-breaking, but not flawless. Indeed the two authors engage throughout their book in a plethora of contextual elements, while completely omitting any treatment of music as text. When music is referenced at all, you'll see, it is done only in passing. There is a total prioritisation of context over music as text. It is therefore necessary to complete the reading of these books with journalistic works that take the music into account.
That's all for now.

Bangs, Lester. Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung. New York: Albert A Knopf, 1987.
Bangs, Lester. Mainline, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste. London: Serpent’s Tail, 2003.
Gilbert, Pat. Passion is a Fashion: The Real Story of The Clash. London: Aurum Press Ltd, 2004.
Greil, Marcus. Lipstick Traces. Cambridge, Massassuchets: Harvard University Press, 1989.
Harris, John. The Last Party -Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock. London: Fourth Estate, 2003.
Haslam, Dave. Manchester England. London: Fourth Estate, 1999.



Lydon, John. No Irish. No Blacks. No Dogs. London: Plexus Publishing Limited, 2003.
Mathur, Paul. Take me there -Oasis the Story. New York: Overlook Press, 1997.
Reynolds, Simon. Rip it up and Start Again. London: Faber and Faber, 2005.
Robb, John. The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop. London: Random House, 2001.
Savage, Jon. England’s Dreaming. London: Faber and Faber, 1991.
Thornton, Anthony, and Roger Sargent. The Libertines: Bound Together. London: Time Warner Books, 2006.



Frith, Simon. The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Frith, Simon, and Andrew Goodwin. On Record. London: Routledge, 1990.
Hall, Stuart. Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Great Britain. London: Hutchinson & Co, 1976.
Hebdige, Dick. Subculture-The Meaning of Style. London: Methuen &Co. Ltd, 1979.
Longhurst, Brian. Popular Music& Society. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995.
Roszak, Theodore. The Making of a Counter-Culture. New York: Double Days, 1969.



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