Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977

This is an excellent book. Miller takes us to the behind the rock scenes where the real decisionmakers managed and provided our 'authentic' experience. Much of what we want from rock is pretty simple, just rhythm to dance to and some dreams to escape into. But rock's managers hyped it into so much 'more' than that. It's good and refreshing to read something that brings down the overblown edifice that rock is in many minds. A key scene in the book is when a be-feathered 'hippie' Jimi Hendrix runs into a record exec who'd known him a couple years earlier as a 'normal' rhythm-n-blues guy. Jimi sheepishly explains, "It's for the show." Miller probably should've given punk some recognition that it was intended as a rejection of the indulgent, decorated, overly pretentious rock of the early 70s and late 60s. Yeah, maybe a short chapter on the Ramones woulda been nice. But I can see the point that they never had a big impact, never had the numbers. And as for criticism of Miller for stopping at the end of the 70s: I think that is perfect, since the rock 'culture' had really ended, split forever into multiple subcultures. In fact, the split had occurred in the early 70s, but Miller rightly marches on for several of the 'great hopes', the next Beatles, who never panned out.

What an interesting book! I enjoyed reading it... and I feel a bit wiser about all the music that happened before I was born. Entertaining and enlightening!

Jim Miller brings his deep knowledge of rock across in this engrossing cultural history by exploring essential moments in the genre's rise--from Dylan "going electric" to American Graffiti, from Elvis discovering his body to "Anarchy in the U.K."--in entirely fresh and fetching vignettes that convince even hard-core fans that they've hardly skimmed the surface of what made rock the cultural watershed it was and the commercialized washout it was to became. If you're weary of the slavish celebrity pieces or muckraking music-mag stories that define most rock "criticism," give the clear-eyed accounts and ardent intelligence of Miller's Flowers in the Dustbin a try-‹it's a book that might strike you with the novelty and power of your first 45.

Frank Zappa is supposed to have once said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture--it doesn't make sense. He might have revised his opinion had he been able read Miller's latest work. Even if you have been weaned on music magazines and think you know everything there is to know about America's preeminent cultural contribution (just an opinion), you're going to get an education. But that's not the real reason to pick up this book. The bottom line is, it's just a good read--entertaining, challenging, provoking.

Some rock & roll books have an ear for the telling anecdote. Some have an eye for factual accuracy. Some have a voice to give their subject a larger context. This book has all three.I thought I knew this stuff, but Jim Miller makes the story sound fresh and new again. If you want to discover how rock & roll became what it is, read this book.