320 pages, Dey Street Books, ISBN-13: 978-0062657138
In Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock, Steven Hyden explores “the end of classic rock” which he defines as beginning with the release of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and ending with Nine Inch Nails’ The Fragile. Throughout he discusses the importance of the live show to classic rock and “life on the road” while exploring artists and bands he adores and throwing shade at those he doesn’t. All of which is expected and quite well done (I particularly liked when he wrote about the “Midwestern” music his Mom loved and “Dad Rock”; both rather patronizingly but also respectful, if you can imagine). Still, I never felt it added up to more than just a fun approach to music criticism, which is all well and good but rather, I dunno, lacking.
I found that reading Twilight of the Gods was rather like having a very long conversation with a friend with similar cultural touchstones who is super into Classic Rock: when the conversation was about those bands I love (or have heard of, at least), I enjoyed the book more, was more engaged in the conversation. However, when the talk turned to artists I was less familiar with (or never heard of, like Phish) it was like having a dude drone on in my ear about a killer track that changed his life; that’s all well and good, mate, but could we steer the conversation back to how Moving Pictures by Rush is the greatest progressive rock album EVER? Anyway, as much as I might not want to hear about these other bands, by and large I enjoyed the conversation with a man who has obviously devoted his life to the music that affected and moved him like no other.
Of course, knowing the political leanings of most classic rock artists – “Imagine no possessions/I wonder if you can”; no, I wonder if YOU can, you bleeding-heart millionaire – you just KNOW a rock journalist from Minnesota might also identify with those leanings. And of course he does, but not to the point of preaching. Usually. What I initially appreciated about Hyden was his very likeable, regular guy demeanor, one who loves beer almost as much as classic rock music and the musicians that made it. I appreciated his sparing us politics and just delivering a great read – until he didn’t. Don’t like disco? Well, then, Sir, you are a racist sexist bigoted homophobe who kills puppies. Plus: Trump = BAD. The obligatory snarkiness toward Trump, his voters and Republicans in general was tedious and unimaginative, and spoilt some parts of the book for me.
Hyden also makes sure to lament his white privilege, along with the lack of diversity in classic rock. But is it possible that undefined cultural norms drive more whites to rock and more blacks to rap (or before that blues, funk or Motown)? The art world seems best served through evolution rather than forced moral calls for diversity. He then doubles down to posit that the lack of diversity in rock actually makes it reactionary. As if Neil Young, John Lennon, Joni Mitchell et al pounded the pavement for Richard Nixon back in the day. Aside from Ted Nugent and maybe Alice Cooper, can anyone name a rocker who is not thoroughly Progressive? Indeed, it is the seeming uniformity of (leftist) opinion in music that makes so much of it seem fake and tired, as if everyone in school is just aping what the popular kids are saying so they can fit in.
Alright, alright, alright, enough negativity. Hyden’s central thesis is that music of any stripe is mostly a proxy for the listener’s own life: “When a rock star dies, what people are mourning is their own mortality”, he writes, and it’s a damn good point. With the passing of a Rock God, a little bit of the world dies – a world inside of us, for the music these people made is the soundtrack to our very lives. You can say the same of any other genre, too – whether it’s a pop star, a movie star, a popular author, or what have you – for these larger-than-life personalities affect people far outside their families or personal circles. Like so many things, music is about subjective taste, OUR taste, which is why MY music is so much better than YOURS. A never-ending argument, until the subject of that argument kicks off.
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