Major Labels

Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kelefa Sanneh (2021) 496 pages

This has been on my reading list for a couple years, so I moved it to the top when I saw the Rhythm & Books book group was reading it. I did not finish it in time for the discussion, but I did enjoy it. I learned a lot. The Rock, R&B, and Country chapters were very informative and the most like a broad history. The author was a big fan of Punk and Hip-Hop, so those chapters switch to a more first-person point of view. Then the chapters on Dance music and Pop music are much shorter. Through the author's record store job as a teen, to his college radio DJ experience, to his work as a music critic for a couple different newspapers he shows how deeply he understands the business and art of popular music. The research and analysis is fascinating. My reading pace was a bit slow getting through it, but it could have been even slower if I stopped to make or find a playlist for all the songs mentioned.
 

I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) by Chuck Klosterman

I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) by Chuck Klosterman, 214 pages.

Klosterman is someone that I have always assumed that I would have read. I have thumbed through his books, and checked them out from the Library, but I have (until now) never actually read them. Cindy recommended this one, and though she no longer blogs about her reading (why is that, Cindy?) she is still a force to be reckoned with in competitive reading circles, and her recommendations are not to be ignored.
I Wear the Black Hat is witty and well-thought out, but could have been expanded. It is basically a series of essays on villains such the Eagles, The Oakland Raiders, NWA, Bill Clinton vs. Linda Tripp vs. Monica Lewinsky, and O. J..
Sort of tongue-in-cheek, and funny, and insightful-Klosterman is a fine writer. After I was done, though, it seemed that Klosterman could have said more.

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