Play This Book Loud - (Crux: The Georgia Literary Nonfiction) by Joe Bonomo (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

More than at any time in human history, our daily lives are scored and imprinted by music. We listen while bicycling, while taking walks, on the train to and from work, and at home on stereos or streaming. We're immersed in music and music making virtually 24/7. Why is music such an essential part of the way we live, and how does it enrich and fasten itself to our very beings?

Play This Book Loud tunes in to many voices, from mainstream bands to obscure artists, from Lydia Loveless singing her heart out and DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist endlessly crate digging, from the Detroit Cobras playing for a few dozen to Green Day filling stadiums, from Riot Grrrl punk to the traditional styles of Connie Francis, from the Stooges' messiness and psychedelic rock to the careful orchestration of anonymous session players and 1960s commercial jingles.

In this compelling and exuberant book, song by song, Joe Bonomo moves between zones of listening, turned on while wearing headphones or watching a band in a club. With the heart of a fan and a generous ear, he enthusiastically explores the reasons music, and those who devote themselves to it, matters so deeply. Play This Book Loud explores our urge for sonic existence.

Review Quotes

Writing about music is not as easy as it might seem. Joe Bonomo nimbly threads the line between pomposity and naivete in these essays and reviews. In the finest rock critic tradition, Play This Book Loud reads like literary journalism or an impassioned conversation with a friend.--Evelyn McDonnell "author of The World According to Joan Didion"

Play This Book Loud is a tribute to a life spent obsessing over rock, the louder the better, and makes turning up the volume seem like a heroic quest. Joe Bonomo evokes the memories buried in the music, from the Kingsmen to the Cramps, from Joey Ramone to Margo Price, from Dick Clark to Walter Benjamin.--Rob Sheffield "author of Love Is A Mix Tape and Dreaming the Beatles"

From the origins of the great 'Tobacco Road' to the debauched glory of disco-era Stones to a gimlet-eyed close-up of indie legends like the Reigning Sound and the Devil Dogs, Play This Book Loud is a treasure trove of great rock writing, social history, and some of the finest cultural code breaking of the century. Top-shelf criticism, worthy of the very best works in the genre.--Elizabeth Nelson "lead singer of The Paranoid Style"

Joe Bonomo is a fellow traveler: a total music nut and aesthetic electrician, obsessed with old media and new ways to understand how we connect, and fully live, through art. Old 45s, The Who and The Stones, The Cramps and The Jam, Green Day, Bikini Kill and Lydia Loveless; these thrumming essays make palpable his passions. Tune in, pump the volume, and they may become yours too.--Will Hermes "author of Lou Reed: The King of New York and Love Goes To Buildings On Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever"

The purpose of Play This Book Loud is to electrify readers, set them on fire, and send them running out into the night in search of their own life-altering experiences. Bonomo lets us in on the secret, rounds out the picture, supplies the details, presents us with the whole world of rock and pop. There's so much more to that world than the golden oldies everybody knows. Historians and fans alike will be glad to have this book.--David Kirby "author of Help Me, Information"

About the Author

JOE BONOMO has written about music for many years. His books include Field Recordings from the Inside; Sweat: The Story of The Fleshtones, America's Garage Band; AC/DC's Highway to Hell (33 1/3 Series), and Conversations with Greil Marcus. He lives in DeKalb, Illinois. Visit him online at No Such Thing as Was.