HYDEN’S FIRST BOOK...the only one of his I have read so far, but on the strength of this one I would definitely try the Radiohead book.
Great premise, looking at the feuds and rivalries that arise between performers (and those performers’ fan bases) and what they reveal about our libidinal investment in the music we love—which does in fact amount to “the meaning of life” for a lot of us. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I thought of the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Kenny Loggins, Toto, and the Doobie Brothers as The Enemy, the Forces of Blandness who had to be overcome so that Music that Mattered might prevail. I was a zealot, in short. I have calmed down and now enjoy Rumours once in a while (still, give me Sonic Youth or the Replacements any day).
Hyden looks at some of the more public band-vs.-band feuds, from those that were mainly P.R. (Oasis and Blur) to those that actually became deadly (Tupac and Biggie). Kanye and Taylor Swift, Pavement and Smashing Pumpkins, White Stripes and Black Keys, and several more are analyzed both for what they were actually about (often not much) and what they meant to partisans of the performers involved (often a great deal).
The Stones and the Beatles get a chapter, too, even though the bands themselves got along fine most of the time, because the who-is-better debate was such a staple among music obsessives.
Why no Smiths-vs.-the Cure, though? Insufficient USA appeal?
Hyden strikes a nice reconciliatory note in his final chapter. Do we really have to hate Toby Keith? No. Music is love. Mainly.
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