Fargo Rock City
My best friend in college [yes, Chuck, I said that] had a book come out recently on Scribner. I read an early draft of it about two years ago and mostly disliked it. But I'd still recommend it to anyone unfortunate enough to have listened to heavy metal in the midwest in the '80s.
Fargo Rock City (originally titled Appetite For Deconstruction) is a genre-romp of memoir, criticism, rock gospelizing and list-making. The best parts are memoir, and the worst parts are criticism. And I can attest that the half of it that I lived through with him is amazingly accurate. (The simple fact that anyone reputable has chosen to publish a book that includes stories about us eating Chicken McNuggets at a Hardees in Grand Forks, ND is simply astounding.)
Eric Weisbard in The New York Times Book Review called it "ridiculously engaging," which is the most accurate description I've heard. I think that if you read it you'll find yourself suprised when the last page is turned (an acccident that you finished it) with a curious grin on your face as to why you made it all the way through. Chuck would say you had imbibed a "guilty pleasure."
Anyway, read the first chapter or buy it and see what you think.
