[5BD]∎ PDF Free Nothing Feels Good Punk Rock Teenagers and EMO Andy Greenwald 9780312308636 Books

Nothing Feels Good Punk Rock Teenagers and EMO Andy Greenwald 9780312308636 Books

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Nothing Feels Good Punk Rock Teenagers and EMO Andy Greenwald 9780312308636 Books

There is always this problem I have found with books written about scenes (i.e. hardcore, punk, grunge etc) is that it either goes two ways: someone who wasn't really there, usually a so-called music journalist, end up leaving information out, invent or reinterpret events to fill in gaps, or even get it completely wrong. On the other hand there are the books written by the scene veterans or people who were "totally there man", either writing with unbridled nostalgia (books on 90's hardcore make it sound like the second coming) or they take the bitter route deriding everything that happened and pointing the blame towards whoever they think ruined it (of course leaving themselves out of that equation). Obviously Andy Greenwald is the former, as a writer for the now defunct Spin magazine (essentially a "hip and with it" version of Rolling Stone) he tackles the subject of emo music with the aplomb of a clueless mall punk who usually accepts the textbook definitions of punk. While I do applaud Greenwald for his effort on tackling a subject that is better left not researched, unlike other musical movements (if you can call it that) emo has the distinction of being rigidly undefined, I had many issues with this book that go beyond it's caviler dealings with the early years (which more than a few reviewers have griped about so I won't really go in depth on that).

The first issue I had with this book was Greenwald's complete disregard for the virtues of brevity. If there was ever a dead horse to beat Greenwald presumably relished each lash upon it's decaying body. Needlessly in depth when it doesn't matter and hopelessly brief on the more so interesting or intellectually stimulating topics Greenwald gets hopelessly caught up in tedium whether it be writing about Makeoutclub (which was a notoriously snobby proto-hipster online club which if I recall correctly was usually derided as a hook up site), a group of Dashboard obsessed teenage boys (which I found entirely homoerotic which I believe was Greenwald's giddy intention), the sloppy love letter to the Kleptocratic Vagrant Records (while the more virtuous and honest Jade Tree get only a brief chapter), and more especially the large portion of the book dedicated to Chris Carraba that reads more like a groupie's fan journal than any sort of journalistic effort.

I'll take care not to take cheap jabs at the honorary profession of music journalism but even so Greenwald certainly isn't much for research or fact verification. He relies on second hand material and hearsay when talking about Jawbreaker (who are rarely referred to as an emo band in my opinion) and Sunny Day Real Estate, fails to mention the early 90's San Diego hardcore scene (which had an integral part in shaping what we call emo), gives Lifetime a passing mention and there is not a single reference to Moss Icon, skramz (for lack of better words), Gravity or even Ebullition records. The interviews he conducts in the book are mostly uninformative he fills in the gaps with needless details such as what type of car Geoff Rickley drove in the early aughts or how many groupies seem to be hassling Chris Carraba as he endlessly toured for his masters at Vagrant.

Which brings me to my last real bone of contention with this book, he tends to give the people who exploited underground culture for their own gain credit for placing emo in the modern lexicon than those who either created it (much to their chagrin I'm sure) or those who continued to take a more ethical DIY or independent path. Instead he focuses on the wolves in sheep clothing such as Richard Egan at Vagrant Records and his often envious competition at Drive-Thru Record. As far as Vagrant Records he delicately address the fact that most of their roster was stolen from other labels, which I believe needs to be addressed. Vagrant Records never really signed unknowns, most bands on their roster had already found a decent following on a different label and much the the D league to the NBA Vagrant often times would swoop up said bands with promises of success and a fat record deal which obviously most smaller labels could not possible match. To Vagrant's credit, unlike Victory Records, they did treat their artists well for the most part (mostly the bands they second handed) the offense really wasn't toward the artists but more so to the DIY scene in a way that isn't so obvious as smaller labels having to find new talent. The problem I have isn't so much that I don't think Vagrant is DIY more so that other smaller labels started following Vagrant's lead, realizing that an "indie" (of course major label distribution has always been a favorite loop hole in indie labels upholding DIY credibility) could be on even footing with major labels many in-scene labels followed suit promising bands success and careers. I found it troublesome that so many bands were spending more time on promo shoots, mega tours, and music video shoots than creating anything meaningful. Soon words like hardcore, emo, and screamo started becoming terms that sprinkled into the mainstream lexicon and for most of the 2000's underground music was a mess in my opinion. But by now we all now what happened, streaming and downloading sunk the music industry and bands are more concerned with singing for their supper now than they were with looking like rock stars during photo shoots (for better or worse you decide). So when Greenwald,this book was written in the infancy stage of the whole emo boom before My Chemical Romance and the girl jean fiasco so I'm sure none of us could see it coming, praises the Vagrant model he fails to see how that could have spelled disaster for the underground scene (which in fairness I'm sure he could have cared less about).

Though at rare times Greenwald does inform, to my complete surprise I gained a new found respect for Chris Carraba, he spends more time filling in gaps with needless exposition writing and has more than few throw away chapters (does anyone really want a recount of an evening out with teenage boys?). He comes across as a creepy vulture when it comes to teen lifestyles as if he's the middle aged guy at the party. he doesn't quite get it but he is trying his best so that nobody thinks he's uncool or no longer relevant. You can tell that he really did not have much to work on which is a shame because it seems as if he could have done a far better job if he spent more time on the more real aspects of emo as opposed to the commercialized cheap shot aspect of emo, which was really an extension of the boy band craze for more rebellious teenage girls. The 2000's were a disastrous period for hardcore and punk music a decade replete with selling out, a lack of innovation, and internet gossip becoming the more interesting aspect of an otherwise worn out and confused underground scene. There were great bands not doubt, amazing emotional hardcore bands (skramz or screamo if you will) and heavier music got a much needed refinement, yet as far as emo, punk and hardcore go... it's a time we will hopefully forget as opposed to remember and I'd be very surprised to see anyone wax nostalgic on aughties hardcore.


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Nothing Feels Good Punk Rock Teenagers and EMO Andy Greenwald 9780312308636 Books Reviews

I thought I'd read this book and be all like oh Dashboard Confessional is so great and they're helping me straighten myself out. He's upset and I'm upset and we'll be upset together and then I realized none of that is true.

we all die alone.
Well I enjoyed reading this book its basically this guy who writes for spin magazine and writes about early 90s "emo" bands. Im halfway thru the book and its hard for me to put it down cause im into this kind of music.
Overall I gave this a 4 out of 5. Pick this up if you want to learn about the beginnings and some culture of punk-emo stuff!
Andy Greenwald writes with love and knowledge. He doesn't think
every last emo record is pure outpouring--after all, it's still a marketed
product. But, savvy as he is, he also finds art among the Hot Topic
poseurs, and lets us know why, love them or hate them , Weezer and
Dashboard Confessional are such seminal bands.
This is one of my favorite books, but I had loaned it out previously and lost track of it. Greenwald is on point with the history, passion, and impact of emo music. highly recommended to any fan of music, particluarly those who came of age in the 90's and early 2000s. Chris Carraba profile might have been the most interesting section.
Andy Greenwald explores today's "emo kids", their bands, and how the relationship between them has evolved into a dialogue seen (and heard) powerfully at concerts where the kids are singing with the same fervor as the performers.

Greenwald traces emo from its 80's roots in the DC area to today (or at least 2002). He focuses on many bands, from Weezer to Sunny Day Real Estate to Taking Back Sunday, and devotes a bit more attention to Jimmy Eat World, but his real focus is on Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional, who has transformed his real life pain into music that his teenage listeners sing, and empathize, and relate to their own confusing lives.

The real stars of the book, though, are the kids and the communities they form. While once upon a time, a high school loner would have locked himself in his room and listened to music with no contact with anyone else, now, as Greenwald notes, with a computer, he is never alone. Perhaps the most powerful language comes at the end of Part I "Someone is singing about problems just like yours . . . You switch on your computer. You're safe in your room. You control everything. You're alone. But you check your buddy list and know, you are anything but alone."

Greenwald fittingly devotes a chapter each to the teenage Internet phenomena of Makeoutclub.com and LiveJournal.com, each communities where teens interact, writing entries to be read by "strangers" that they could never have spoken aloud to their "in real life" peers at their schools, and the online community members comment or reply, making the teens' ordinary lives seem special.

The teens sing the song of their lives online as passionately, if less tunefully, as their musical heroes do on CDs. And like the performers, each has an audience singing it right back at them.
There is always this problem I have found with books written about scenes (i.e. hardcore, punk, grunge etc) is that it either goes two ways someone who wasn't really there, usually a so-called music journalist, end up leaving information out, invent or reinterpret events to fill in gaps, or even get it completely wrong. On the other hand there are the books written by the scene veterans or people who were "totally there man", either writing with unbridled nostalgia (books on 90's hardcore make it sound like the second coming) or they take the bitter route deriding everything that happened and pointing the blame towards whoever they think ruined it (of course leaving themselves out of that equation). Obviously Andy Greenwald is the former, as a writer for the now defunct Spin magazine (essentially a "hip and with it" version of Rolling Stone) he tackles the subject of emo music with the aplomb of a clueless mall punk who usually accepts the textbook definitions of punk. While I do applaud Greenwald for his effort on tackling a subject that is better left not researched, unlike other musical movements (if you can call it that) emo has the distinction of being rigidly undefined, I had many issues with this book that go beyond it's caviler dealings with the early years (which more than a few reviewers have griped about so I won't really go in depth on that).

The first issue I had with this book was Greenwald's complete disregard for the virtues of brevity. If there was ever a dead horse to beat Greenwald presumably relished each lash upon it's decaying body. Needlessly in depth when it doesn't matter and hopelessly brief on the more so interesting or intellectually stimulating topics Greenwald gets hopelessly caught up in tedium whether it be writing about Makeoutclub (which was a notoriously snobby proto-hipster online club which if I recall correctly was usually derided as a hook up site), a group of Dashboard obsessed teenage boys (which I found entirely homoerotic which I believe was Greenwald's giddy intention), the sloppy love letter to the Kleptocratic Vagrant Records (while the more virtuous and honest Jade Tree get only a brief chapter), and more especially the large portion of the book dedicated to Chris Carraba that reads more like a groupie's fan journal than any sort of journalistic effort.

I'll take care not to take cheap jabs at the honorary profession of music journalism but even so Greenwald certainly isn't much for research or fact verification. He relies on second hand material and hearsay when talking about Jawbreaker (who are rarely referred to as an emo band in my opinion) and Sunny Day Real Estate, fails to mention the early 90's San Diego hardcore scene (which had an integral part in shaping what we call emo), gives Lifetime a passing mention and there is not a single reference to Moss Icon, skramz (for lack of better words), Gravity or even Ebullition records. The interviews he conducts in the book are mostly uninformative he fills in the gaps with needless details such as what type of car Geoff Rickley drove in the early aughts or how many groupies seem to be hassling Chris Carraba as he endlessly toured for his masters at Vagrant.

Which brings me to my last real bone of contention with this book, he tends to give the people who exploited underground culture for their own gain credit for placing emo in the modern lexicon than those who either created it (much to their chagrin I'm sure) or those who continued to take a more ethical DIY or independent path. Instead he focuses on the wolves in sheep clothing such as Richard Egan at Vagrant Records and his often envious competition at Drive-Thru Record. As far as Vagrant Records he delicately address the fact that most of their roster was stolen from other labels, which I believe needs to be addressed. Vagrant Records never really signed unknowns, most bands on their roster had already found a decent following on a different label and much the the D league to the NBA Vagrant often times would swoop up said bands with promises of success and a fat record deal which obviously most smaller labels could not possible match. To Vagrant's credit, unlike Victory Records, they did treat their artists well for the most part (mostly the bands they second handed) the offense really wasn't toward the artists but more so to the DIY scene in a way that isn't so obvious as smaller labels having to find new talent. The problem I have isn't so much that I don't think Vagrant is DIY more so that other smaller labels started following Vagrant's lead, realizing that an "indie" (of course major label distribution has always been a favorite loop hole in indie labels upholding DIY credibility) could be on even footing with major labels many in-scene labels followed suit promising bands success and careers. I found it troublesome that so many bands were spending more time on promo shoots, mega tours, and music video shoots than creating anything meaningful. Soon words like hardcore, emo, and screamo started becoming terms that sprinkled into the mainstream lexicon and for most of the 2000's underground music was a mess in my opinion. But by now we all now what happened, streaming and downloading sunk the music industry and bands are more concerned with singing for their supper now than they were with looking like rock stars during photo shoots (for better or worse you decide). So when Greenwald,this book was written in the infancy stage of the whole emo boom before My Chemical Romance and the girl jean fiasco so I'm sure none of us could see it coming, praises the Vagrant model he fails to see how that could have spelled disaster for the underground scene (which in fairness I'm sure he could have cared less about).

Though at rare times Greenwald does inform, to my complete surprise I gained a new found respect for Chris Carraba, he spends more time filling in gaps with needless exposition writing and has more than few throw away chapters (does anyone really want a recount of an evening out with teenage boys?). He comes across as a creepy vulture when it comes to teen lifestyles as if he's the middle aged guy at the party. he doesn't quite get it but he is trying his best so that nobody thinks he's uncool or no longer relevant. You can tell that he really did not have much to work on which is a shame because it seems as if he could have done a far better job if he spent more time on the more real aspects of emo as opposed to the commercialized cheap shot aspect of emo, which was really an extension of the boy band craze for more rebellious teenage girls. The 2000's were a disastrous period for hardcore and punk music a decade replete with selling out, a lack of innovation, and internet gossip becoming the more interesting aspect of an otherwise worn out and confused underground scene. There were great bands not doubt, amazing emotional hardcore bands (skramz or screamo if you will) and heavier music got a much needed refinement, yet as far as emo, punk and hardcore go... it's a time we will hopefully forget as opposed to remember and I'd be very surprised to see anyone wax nostalgic on aughties hardcore.