Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991

Michael Azerrad exhaustively details the ins and outs of some of the greatest punk,indie, alternative bands from my youth. It reminded of me of when I was cool, and music meant a lot more to me. Replacements, Husker Du, Black Flag, Mudhoney. In a fit of nostalgia, I ended up repurchasing some of these albums on Itunes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it as somebody to whom this particular music scene was inexpressably important. Before my crappy former ISP ate and digested my website (some of you may remember evol.org), and I subsequently developed other interests, I used to run a well known website about Sonic Youth and The Minutemen; and it has always been one of my dreams to publish a book about my favorite band: The Minutemen. I still might do that! This book was a lot of fun to read - I recommend it to anybody who is interested in this era. I give this book a strong five stars even though I agree with a lot of the criticisms that were outlined in the review dated July 4, 2003. But in spite of these problems I ask: where else are you going to find a book like this? It is unreal to expect the book to be a fat encyclopedia - punk rockers just don't have that type of attention span - although I admit sections on the Meat Puppets and the DKs would have been nice. Or X, for that matter. But then again there were sections on bands I had hardly ever heard of like Beat Happening - that was refreshing. And also - it is obvious Azerrad loves and respects these bands as much as I do - but that doesn't mean he has to completely put them on a pedestal. Azerrad, it appears, sees 1984 as a pinnacle of punk/post punk music. Well, so do I. If you were listening to this music in 1984, or if you are just now discovering it - buy the book. You'll be glad you did.

This is one of the top rock books I've read -- funny, inspiring, well researched, and insightful all at once. Since the other reviews here go into plenty of critical and general detail, I thought I should just give a quick summary of what's featured in the book, since the bigger reviews here tend to not mention the key specifics: The main bands profiled: Black Flag, The Minutemen, Mission of Burma, Minor Threat (Fugazi), Husker Du, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Dinosaur Jr. Secondary subjects: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Henry Rollins, Sebadoh, Steve Albini, SST Records, K Records, Sub Pop Records, the birth of punk and hardcore and straight-edge, various `zines, underground and indie scenes, and producers, musicians, influences, etc... Quite humorous and harrowing, with awesome insider-interviews and wacky anecdotes, including a drunken cameo by Alex Chilton (of Chris Bell, Box Tops, and Big Star fame). Put this one on your bookshelf for some serious indie cred.

The story of the bands profiled in this book will inspire even the most jaded music fan. Besides how important these bands were to the whole "alternative" music scene, their stories will make you believe that there are still bands that really care about their music, their fans, and real artistic integrity. I only wish there were other books that covered the era of American indie / college rock. At least this book does a great job with the topic. By the way, I heard Michael Azerrad being interviewed about this book. The interviewer asked him how he was able to get so many notoriously private people to open up and talk about their careers. His answer was that nobody ever bothered to ask.

This is a book you can hardly put down. The exhaustive research and straightforward style of Mr. Azerrad are exceptionally presented for anyone who lived and breathed the indie music scene of the 80's, or for others who would love to know what they missed. Nicely connects the dots as an American social, cultural and musical history of the time, deftly bridging the late 70's punk era with the early 90's grunge era. The chapter on the Butthole Surfers was one of the funniest things I've read; I was forced to put the book down and wipe tears from my eyes! By all means get your hands on this book and enjoy it.