This surprisingly slim volume packs in a ton of information for Swifties and music fans in general. Rob Sheffield is one of the great music journalists of our time and is 100% a Swiftie. Those who love Taylor will enjoy the many Easter Eggs and jokes he drops along the way, as well as the whole catalog of knowledge he possesses, and music fans will enjoy his professionalism for this deep-dive into one of the greatest pop icons of all time.
Sheffield has been there from the very beginning, back when Taylor was just another young girl with her guitar and a dream, landing her first record deal in Nashville. He is Taylor's preferred journalist and he's had much more contact with her throughout her career than any other music journalist, period. He knows her work inside and out, and that knowledge is on full display here. With his unique perspective, he is able to chronicle Taylor's career and connect with fans in ways other journalists only dream of.
Taylor is at once both one of the most loved icons of all time, as well as the most heavily criticized. For the most die-hard fo fans, she can do no wrong. For the biggest haters, she can do no right. It's a battle that I don't think anyone is particularly intersted in winning, and that's fine. Like it or not, what Taylor has done for pop music, and music in general, will echo for generations to come.
One of my most favorite things Sheffield does is rank every single Taylor song, currently sitting at 274 entries. He updates the list with each new album and I highly recommend Swifties check it out if you haven't already. While I wildly disagree with some of his rankings, I love seeing what songs other Swifties love and hate. It's crazy how ten randon fans could come up with ten wildly different lists, but that's due in part to the many genres of music Taylor dabbles in - from country, to pop country, to pure synth pop, indie, back to pop, and more. She does it all.
While Swifties will catch many inside jokes and Easter Eggs, that should not dissuade a casual fan from picking this one up. It is a fantastic look at everything that makes Taylor, Taylor. He gets to the heart of the albums and eras, writes of specific songs and what they've meant to him at various stages of his life, and so much more.
Taylor has inspired two generations of young girls now (Gen Z and Gen Alpha) to pick up their pens (glitter gel, quill, and/or fountain - the three ways Taylor has categorized her own music) and guitars and write their own songs. When Eleanor had to stop dancing in the fall of 2023, she had been messing around with a hand-me-down accoustic from one of our cousins. Within a couple weeks, she was at a music school for guitar lessons, determined to learn every single Taylor song ("Our Song" was the first one and she nailed it within just a couple lessons). She's since expanded to take vocal lessons and a performance class, as well as recently adding drum lessons. I am so, so thankful to Taylor for inspiring this in her. Even as Eleanor discovers new artists that she loves even more, Taylor is where it all started.
Though it is obvious that Sheffield loves Taylor, he does not shy away from the times where she has made some serious errors in judgment, nor does he overlook her flaws. But, she's human just like the rest of us. Those issues along the way make her even more relatable, just as her songs do.
This book was not written simply to make a buck off of Taylor's name. In the end, this volume is a love letter - to Taylor, to Swifties, and to music.
This would be a great gift for the Swiftie in your life, or the new listener who wants to know more about one of the greatest music icons of all time.
The book gives an overview of both her life and her work, accompanied by illustrations from each era.
Time and again, those who are not fans are dismissive of her song-writing, claiming all Taylor writes about are her exes. This could not be further from the truth, and that's what makes her so universally appealing. Are there numerous break-up songs? Of course. But what artist doesn't use their personal life to make music? Taylor touches on so many more topics than that though, and this book showcases her talent beautifully. From Debut through Midnights, Taylor captures the feelings of growing up, young adulthood, and the real world - and all the highs and lows that come with each stage of life she's experienced thus far.
Beyond a detailed dive into Taylor's skills as a songwriter, the author looks at her discography as a whole (except for Tortured Poets, which must have come out after the book went through final editing or went to print?), the showmanship and creativity she pours into her tours and live performances, and so much more.
I'm not sure I can truly describe how much Taylor's music has impacted me. Prior to the Eras Tour, I only owned Fearless, which came out in 2008. But Eleanor was a massive fan and begged me to really listen to Taylor. I resisted for months, but finally gave in, and nothing has been the same since then. The emotion that Taylor puts into all her work is absolutely captivating. She can have me in tears as I scream-sing a song that has not been applicable to my life in twenty years. But that is her gift. She taps into these deep wells of emotion and truly heals, long after the cuts have scabbed over but never gone away.
Through her music, we see Taylor's personal growth as well and her development as a songwriter and performer. Her stories are universal, and that's why her music evokes such powerful responses from fans; she is just like us.
In addition to looking at the music, the author also drops in other content that I enjoyed. There's a playlist of songs that are not about exes, mini-bios of her beloved cats, and why the number thirteen matters so much in the Taylor-verse.
This was a thorough journey through Taylor's career, calling attention to the themes that flow from song to song, album to album. Each era is given its time to shine, from her beginnings as the darling of country music (she won her first Grammy awards for only her second album, Fearless - Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Album, Best Country Song [White Horse], and Album of the Year), through her complete genre shift and the dizzying heights she achieved with 1989 (one of the greatest pop albums of all time - and what's crazy is that it isn't even her best album), to her "comback" after disappearing in the aftermath and of Kim and Kanye's bullshit and lies, to her surprise Covid albums, to where she is now, the undisputed icon she is today.
I really had to argue with myself about how to rate this one. The cover and the title are both so gorgeous, but there were some issues I can't ignore. Some of the annotations didn't fit with what we already know about the songs and the deep Taylor-lore that comes along with a nearly 20-year career. Some of the notes were also a bit of a stretch, but there was enough that made sense to keep me going.
The author does a deep dive into the poetry of Taylor Swift - at this point, let's call it what it is. She takes us line-by-line througha massive amount of songs - forty-six total, spanning all eleven albums. These songs are chosen carefully; they are among the most-loved and also the ones that cause Swifties the most grief in never-ending debates about the content and subject.
Each song is given its space to shine as the author takes us through the development and structure of each. The notes in the margins indicate literary references (TayTay LOVES literature. Check out this review on her many, many inspirations) and poetic techniques. Unfortunately poetry is not really my thing, so I had a crash-course in what some of the terms meant because certain ones were unfamiliar to me. She touches on the numerous easter eggs that we've come to know and love from Taylor, as well as cross-song connections and themes that flow from one song or album to the next.
Following the text of the song itself and notes, the author provides an in-depth analysis on the meaning and symbolism of each, and this is where I disagreed with some of the interpretations.
I loved the format, but felt the text was too small and the colors too light for those who may have issues with sight. Editing is one of my favorite things, so I loved the chaotic scribbles in the margins, the arrows connecting concepts, etc. I could see though how it would be overwhelming for some readers.
Overall, depsite some of the issues I found, I think this book is still of great value to Swifties - and weirdos like me who just love words. The text is impressive and the author clearly knows what she is talking about in terms of analysis of Taylor's songs as poetry. Taylor's work truly is deep and thoughtful in so many instances, and it is art. What she has created in the last twenty years is incredible and I am so eager to see what kind of album she will create next.
Highly recommended for Swifties, also recommeneded for those with open minds who want to see what the big deal is about Taylor's lyrical genius.
I don't think non-fans truly understand the depth and complexity of the stories that Taylor tells through her music, or the recurring themes from album to album. This is probably the book I would recommend to those who are not fans, but don't hate her just to say they hate her. It breaks down so many literary references that Taylor brings to life, even ones that I missed because I was scream-singing or ugly crying to some of my most favorite songs.
One author is a lit prof and the other an actor in musical theatre, so each have their area of expertise and absolutely know what they are talking about. I always go into these Taylor books cautiously, because you never know what might end up just being a cash-grab with no real substance that rehashes basic entry-level info that any casual fan might know.
Luckily, that is not the case here.
Anyone who has a remote interest in literature will catch the numerous references to The Great Gatsby and Alice in Wonderland (beyond the obviously titled 'Wonderland' from 1989, one of the greatest pure synth pop albums of all time). However, Taylor is also inspired by the Romantics, Gothic fiction, Postmodernism, and more. She is Dr. Swift after all (has an honorary PhD from NYU), so Taylor knows her stuff.
While Feder is a lit professor, the book remains an easier read and explains things in an academic way without being too dense. This is definitely important for younger readers and those who are not super familiar with literary eras but want to know how those informed Taylor's eras.
I am torn on the book's organization, which is why I rated four stars instead of five. The authors chose to go chronologically, which makes sense because then over time you see how themes developed and which references she continued to draw on. The downside to this is that there is some repetition from album to album, which would have made grouping songs thematically make more sense. But then the reader would miss out on the chronilogical growth, so really there are pros and cons to each.
Each album is accompanied by a reading list, which I found really cool. I like that the authors really dug into authors of each era and did not recommend titles or authors that many might already know. Of course we get Shakespeare and Greek mythology, but there is so much more that they offer up that keep with the themes Taylor was exploring on a particular album. The authors also did the reverse, offering playlists of Taylor's songs that matched up with different novels. The attention to detail and type of information offered here truly is far-reaching.
Whether you're a fan of Taylor or not, this book is gorgeous and those who enjoy reading about fashion may very well like it as well.
I was unfamiliar with the author prior to reading this one; she has been blogging about Taylor's fashion ensembles for over a decade and has a massive following.
Here she not only details the designers who dress Taylor, but provides commentary and analysis on signature looks, daily wear, and concert costumes. She documents Taylor's entire career, from the cowboy boots and dresses of Taylor's early days, to the dazzling choices she displays on red carpets.
Understanding Taylor's clothing choices play a huge role in the narrative of each era. Nothing Taylor does is accidental. Fans know that ANYTHING can be an easter egg and she truly is a Mastermind. Taylor herself has said she typically has things planned two years in advance, so much of what she is showing us now even as she enjoys well-deserved time off after the greatest tour in music history could indicate what is to come.
The author dives into the specifics of each album, detailing a selection of looks that Taylor wore in that particular era. The author connects various outfits to certain songs and lyrics, and why she thinks Taylor and her stylist chose certain pieces. The commentary is subjective of course, but much of the analysis makes sense. The chapter dedicated to what the author calls 'bloopers' is a perfect example - outfits she personally did not think worked for Taylor.
It's almost impossible to not recognize these looks, even if one is not a fan. Through over 200 photos, I found I recognized most of them, despite being a newer fan. I loved seeing the evolution of Taylor's style from her start in Nashville to now being literally the most famous woman on the planet.
Despite being 'unauthorized', I don't feel lke this book was just a chas-grab, unlike much of the other nonsense currently being published. It is clear from start to finish that the author is a fan who loves Taylor so much. Her dedication is apparent throughout, because she is one of us.
Continuing with my celebration of Taylor finally owning her life's work, here is one book you can absolutely skip. Giving it two stars was extremely generous.
The first issue is that the author clearly is not even a Taylor Swift fan. That would be fine if the author wrote factual and correct information, but she didn't. If she were, there's no way she would have made such massive, glaring errors throughout the entire book. In looking at her other writing, this is actually from a whole series about several artists - Harry, Gaga, Rhianna, etc. It reads like the author went through other books about Taylor, looked at Swiftie TikTok accounts, rounded up more info on Twitter, and STILL managed to get a lot wrong.
Secondly, Taylor would absolutely HATE the cover. She opened up about her eating disorder in the 1989-days, and the choice for the cover image is a supremely emaciated, elongated version of Taylor? Gross. Like, Taylor is tall, but not that tall. And she's healthy, not stick-thin with no muscle.
Now for the content. It will be easiest to just bullet point all the ways this book got everything SO, SO wrong.
Author states that Red only references Jake and Conor. No Harry? Are you kidding me? Some of the best songs on the album are about Mr. Harry Styles (The Very First Night, Trecherous, Come Back...Be Here, Run, Begin Again, I Almost Do, Everything Has Changed, and obviously I Knew You Were Trouble).
Song titles in the wrong sections for whatever she was talking about
About folkore, the author says the love triange is between Betty, Inez, and James and he cheats on Betty with Inez. NO. Inez is the only who likes to gossip. He cheats with Augusta/Augustine.
The song is called You're on Your Own, Kid, NOT You're on Your Own Now, Kid.
Book claimed to include all eras, but did not include The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. TTPD dropped at midnight on April 19th, 2024 and The Anthology dropped two hours later. It's a double album, 31 amazing songs. The book was published way after the albums came out, so why exclude some of the best songs she's ever written?
There's a section called 'Who's the Muse' and man, did she fuck this up, too. The author says Jake, John, and Calvin can breathe a sigh of relief for not being referenced on TTPD (and Calvin can, but he's the only one. She literally wrote a song about him for Lover called 'I Forgot That You Existed'). Yet anyone who has half a brain can listen to this amazing collection of songs and realize that it is Taylor looking back on her entire career, all of those relationships, friendships, situations, and people. Almost everyone is included here somehow - Jake/John, Harry, Kim and Kanye, Joe, and even Ratty fucking Healy. To reduce this album to a break-up album only about Joe is incredibly insulting.
The color theme for folklore is gray, not brown.
Quite simply, there are way better books about Taylor Swift and her music. In-depth break-downs of literary references, her work as poetry, etc. This is a cash-grab by an author who probably doesn't know much about ANY of the musicians she writes about.
Eleanor and I were lucky enough to attend The ERAS Tour twice - in June of 2023 (Minneapolis N1) and November of 2024 (Indianapolis N2). It was pure magic and I miss it so much. I miss making and trading friendship bracelets, I miss watching grainey and laggy TikTok livestreams "with" my cousin as we shout at each other via text, I miss eagerly awaiting the surprise songs, I even miss the post-concert come-down and exhaustion.
TikTok is full of Taylor fans lamenting the fact that it has been MONTHS since anyone asked us if we know the lyrics to this bridge (Cruel Summer), if we're ready to go back to high school (Fearless set), if we have ten minutes to spare (All Too Well Taylor's Version Ten-Minute Version From the Vault), or if we have one more song to give (Karma, the very last song of the three hour and 15 minute show).
This book was the perfect way to relive all of it.
Captured within these 250+ pages are personal reflections written by Taylor, hundreds of photos from every Era, plus rehearsal photos, design and costume sketches, costume/instrument/equipment photos, and so much more.
Like it or not, Barbara Walters was not lying in 2014 when she said, "Taylor Swift IS the music industry." That was eleven years ago when 1989 came out and Taylor is bigger than ever. 1989 marked Taylor's complete genre-shift that went from country to pop-country to full-on pop. The album is one of the greatest pure synth pop albums of all time, and what's crazy is that it's not even Taylor's best album. There is no one who comes even close to doing what she does.
I was late to the party, not going to lie. I bought Fearless back in 2008, but was not a Swiftie by any means. For a while there she even annoyed me, and I don't have a particularly good reason why. But Eleanor was hooked and she begged me for MONTHS to listen to Taylor. I refused, despite having liked 1989 when it came out, but not really listening to anything else by her in those following years. But seeing how sad my girl was when the tour sold out so fast was hard.
So, we went through it all to get tickets. The shows had long-since sold out when I came to the realization that Taylor's music is fantastic, so StubHub was the next stop. I snagged what I thought were pricey tickets at the time ($450 a piece and worth every penny) and off we went to Minneapolis Night 1.
THEN TayTay announced MORE US dates. My cousin and I both tried for presale, because why not? We wouldn't go if we didn't get presale, because resale tickets would be astronomical this time around. (Resale tickets in our section at the top level were going for $2500. We paid $140 for face value. Don't ever let anyone tell you that it was Taylor who made the tickets so expensive).
Neither of us expected to get a code, but I did. So in August of 2023, sitting in a first-teacher-day of the school year meeting, my phone was clutched tightly in my hand as I watched the minutes tick by until the sale began. My friends couldn't stop laughing at me as my knee bounced nervously, watching me continue to look back and forth from my phone, to the principal, to the clock on the wall, over and over. With minutes to spare we were released for lunch and I bolted outside as fast as I could to make sure that the cement walls of our building would not be the reason my connection lagged or kicked me out of the queue.
But I did it, I got the tickets, and off we went to Indianapolis fourteen months later.
My mom drove my cousin from Minnesota, and I spent mannnnny hours in the car with two eleven year olds. Eleanor's BFF had never been to a concert EVER, and I loved being part of that experience for her. Back when the Eras Tour movie was released, we'd gone a couple times to the drive-in to see it. The first time we did, Eleanor's BFF looked at me with wide eyes during the opening set of Lover and asked, "This is what we're going to see???" Magical is the only way to describe it.
Highly, highly recommended for the Swiftie in your life.
I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rating ⭐⭐⭐
I'm not quite sure what I was expecting with this one. I saw 'Siberia' and the cover and requested it without another thought. But as a result, I am equally as unsure about how to review this book.
The author's journey through Siberia on a quest to seek out these long lost treasures. Not exactly what one thinks about when they hear 'Siberia'. Instead one thinks of the Gulag, exile, and mass, unmarked graves.
The author was on the hunt for a different kind of history altogether - though Russian history itself is a main character. You can't have the histories of these instruments in such a bleak place without context of what makes the juxtaposition so beautiful at times.
Yet even when the travel is about pianos, at the same time it really isn't. There is just as much, and more, about the people and their times, culture, lives. The book is basically in chronological order from pre-Soviet, to Soviet, to post-Soviet. From there it is also divided up by region as the author treks to and fro across the massive continent. A stop in Yekaterinburg where the Romanovs came to their violent end is also on the agenda as she travels through the region - and it came to be that these parts I was almost most interested in than the piano search. These slices of life that people are carved out, those who willingly live here, I could not get enough of those passages. I am a Minnesota girl through and through, I will take winter over any other season no contest and yet Siberia...there's no way. Even I could not live there. I have so much respect for those who can, and do, continue to make their homes in one of the harshest climates on earth.
The author details how pianos came to be so beloved in Russia, and Siberia specifically. From large and grand pianos, to sturdier but simple uprights, she seeks out as many as she can find. That these instruments even survived the trip to and through Siberia to begin with is a testament to those that loved them. That some survive still, so many centuries to decades after they were constructed, is another.
Recommended for those with an interest in the history of Russia.
Ignore for a moment the ridiculously long subtitle, because the book was really good.
I've not read Sullivan's previous book LAbrynth about Biggie's murder but I will be when I can find it (my library doesn't have it). There Sullivan focused on the investigation by Detective Russell Poole, who sought to do everything he could to bring Biggie's killers to justice. The higher-ups in the LAPD did everything they could to stop that investigation cold, and that is exactly what happened. Greed and corruption run rampant as we see in this book as well, which details the wrongful death suit brought by the Wallace Estate against the LAPD, and what has all happened in the years since the first book was released. It was Poole who discovered a group of LAPD officers who were working for Suge and Death Row Records. (Despite the fact that when he gets out of jail he will be in his 80s, Suge Knight remains someone I would never want to meet in a dark alley. Or a well-lit alley. Or at all.)
I was amazed by all the information here, so much of it not released to the public before - or at least as far as I can remember. It's been very obvious for quite a long time who the perpetrator of Biggie's murder is, but so much of the rest of the info was new to me. The author cares deeply about this case and his research into it is exhausting.
Despite the fact that there is more than enough evidence to prosecute this case, I fear it never will be. Given that the bullet casings recovered are extremely rare, only manufactured at a couple places here, and the same bullets were found in the home of the man who everyone believes was involved, that should be enough, no? Well, no. Because literally everyone who had or has the power to do something won't. The corruption runs deep, far deeper than I even knew, and this is not a story I am unfamiliar with.
More than anything, Voletta Wallace (Biggie's mother), Faith Evans (Biggie's widow) and Biggie's children deserve to know the truth. They deserve for that truth to come out, no matter who it brings down in the process. This cover-up has gone on for years and I really hope that the publication of this book will remind people that no one was ever punished for either of the murders, despite as I said, everyone knowing just exactly who is responsible. I know that fear is a huge part of this, because no one else wants to end up dead, but enough is enough. The wrongful death suit filed by Ms Wallace was dismissed in 2010, but it sounds like she is ready to move forward with the suit once again, as so much more evidence has come to light. It will be hard on the family no doubt, but everyone deserves justice, and Christopher Wallace, Notorious B.I.G., is no different.
The fact that two of the greatest rappers in the history of music can be murdered in front of dozens of people, and no arrests ever made despite everyone knowing who pulled the trigger in each case is thoroughly depressing but not at all surprising.
Okay, so five stars, obviously. I fucking love this book. It is a beautiful tribute to a time, place, decades-spanning career, and a friend gone far too soon.
I love Beastie Boys. My youngest uncle is only 11 years older than me, so I heard a lot of music I probably should not have, fairly early in life (but no worries, not License to Ill. At least not all of it. Okay, just 'Fight For Your Right (To Party'). As such, I play their music for my own daughter (stop the pearl-clutching, I only play the songs with no cussing - impossible to find - or I just shout a different word over the cussing, or I just tell her not to sing it. She is especially fond of 'Intergalactic' - she is actually singing that as I type this review - and 'An Open Letter to NYC').
I have every album, even 'Some Old Bullshit', which is not even full-on Beasties. I had a huge poster from the Hello, Nasty shoot of the three on my ceiling in high school - it was so huge there was no space on the wall big enough.
And yet, I have not been able to write this review until now, despite having started and finishing it in three days last November. I would have finished it even sooner than that, but I put off reading 'The Last Gig', because I could not bear for the book to end. I could not bear for Yauch to really be gone, again. I started crying when I finally picked it up to finish it. I cried reading that whole section. And I cried long after I closed the book and was officially finished reading it. Yauch left this huge fucking hole in the hearts and lives of everyone who knew him and this book is such a beautiful tribute to the group as a whole, those who helped them along the way, and Yauch himself. Though he has been gone now seven years, he is very much alive here and it is clear on every page just how much ADROCK and Mike D love and miss him.
Everything you could ever want to know about the guys and their career is here, recalled in remarkable details. Horovitz and Diamond are truly exceptional writers, something that is not at all surprising, given their catalog of work. We are pulled along for the ride starting in 1981 (two years before I was born) when the group started out as a hardcore punk band. They evolved into rappers and signed with Def Jam, only to split very messily after Licensed to Ill became the first hip hop album to ever make it to #1. They take us to Los Angeles next, and we follow their evolution as the guys grow and mature, from Paul's Boutique up through Hot Sauce. For thirties years, Beastie Boys defied genres, grew as musicians, became social activists, and have left their unique mark on the world of music and pop culture forever.
Have I said before how much I fucking love these guys?
As often happens when I am super into a book, I rarely stop to take any notes of things that I want to mention in my review. As such, this review is pretty much based off how the book made me feel, and even now just thinking about it, I get sad because Yauch was not here to contribute. But on the other hand, part of the magic of this book is how it truly is a tribute to him, both overtly and subtly. Here are a few of the notes I took as I was reading, and quotes that clung to me:
Page 132:It's so beautiful and dirty and perfect. This is the NYC that I wanted to live in, the NYC that created Beastie Boys.
On pages 318-319, in the essay 'Yo Paul, This is Allen', ADROCK recounts the story of Paul's Boutique, a store in Brooklyn, and the ad for the store that he used to put on mixtapes he made. Ultimately, of course, their second album would become 'Paul's Boutique', and the store closed not long after the album came out. Horovits wonders if the two incidents are related, but they couldn't possibly be, right? Anyway, Yauch contacted the phone company and paid to get the phone number for the store after it closed. Because they'd put the ad on the album, they got all kinds of messages from people who called the number. The answering machine tape would fill up, the line would then just be a busy signal, and people kept calling and calling and calling. Eventually someone hacked the four digit code and changed the outgoing message. Yauch would change it, and then it would be changed again next time he listened to it. "He'd (Yauch) unplug the machine for a while. Plus it back in six months later. Only for more weirdness. So he left the machine off for years. Every once in a while it would come out of retirement for a couple weeks. And maybe, just maybe, it still does." I couldn't resist calling the number, just to see if by chance the answering machine was plugged in. Hearing Yauch's voice on the outgoing message would've been something. I let it ring about twenty times before I could bring myself to hang up. It made me really sad to do so. If you want to call the number yourself to give it a try, it's 718-498-1043.
On page 522 are two photos. It shows all three on a stage, looking out on the crowd. Yauch is closest to the foreground, and you can tell who is each Beastie, despite their backs being to the camera. The opposite page is one of the shortest essays, only one page, titled The Last Gig. The guys headlined Bonnaroo, using the daytime to record the video for "Too Many Rappers" with Nas.
These are the two pages that gave me pause, because this was it. ADROCK recalls how it was another normal day, messing around before the show. As the essay comes to a close, he laments the fact that in life, things never really come full circle, and mentions all the people who were not there for the final show, though they didn't know at the time that's what it was. Only the benefit of hindsight allowed this introspective thought. I started crying when I saw the photos and read the essay title. I bawled the entire way down the page. I closed the book there and cried a while afterward. I would love to quote the entire essay here, but instead I will leave the last few lines:
"Me, Adam+Mike were older and we knew it. Still very much in the game, though, getting ready to start all over again. Headlining a huge festival is very different from a nice turnout at CBGB. But shit, man, we didn't know it was gonna be the last show we'd ever play"(page 523).
Mike D writes on page 549: Over the years the band transformed from a non-stop recording and touring machine into something sustainable, something that we could all come back to when we wanted and needed it. Grown-up things happened to us. We had our own families, kids, separate interests, the whole deal. But we would still come back together to have fun and make stuff. And we would be coming back together today if Yauch was still alive.
This gutted me all over again.
In this glorious love letter to NYC, to music, to Yauch, there is nothing but honesty. If you are of the mindset that the Beasties are still the same beer-swilling frat boys they originally meant to make fun of, but ultimately became in the License to Ill era, I beg you to read this book. Listen to any other album (my personal faves are 'Ill Communication', 'Hello, Nasty', 'To the Five Boroughs' and Hot Sauce) and see how they evolved into one of the greatest musical acts of all time. Here once again, ADROCK and Mike D completely own up to what giant assholes they became very early on with all the douche-tastic misogyny running rampant. They claim it, they don't hold back, and they apologize for it with all sincerity. Consider the line from "Sure Shot", off Ill Communication, where MCA comes out with the apology, "I want to say a little something that's long overdue/The disrespect to women has got to be through/To all the mothers and the sisters and the wives and friends/I wanna offer my love and respect til the end". Original Beastie Kate Schellenbach is given space to share her side of the story, what it looked like from the outside when she was essentially fired from the group. Both in the book and subsequent interviews following its publication, the guys are genuinely bothered by the shitty things they said and did in their earliest work. They are not the same people now that they were in 1986, and we are extremely lucky for that because the music they made from Paul's Boutique and beyond is truly and greatly grand on the largest scale you can imagine. Don't get me wrong, I love License to Ill because of how obnoxious it is and even then, it is still fun. But Beastie Boys grew up quickly, and the catalog we have now is truly something special. All the more special because it is all we will ever have, as the band ceased to exist the moment Yauch passed away.
The book is much more than a book. It feels like one long conversation with Horovitz and Diamond, sitting around telling ridiculous and almost unbelievable stories that even they acknowledge as sounding totally crazy, but are nonetheless true. They take turns telling about what it was like, three teenagers running around, with NYC as their playground and a character all its own in the many anecdotes recounted, as they explored the music scene that they would soon become part of. The liner notes, guest essays, articles, letters, photos, artwork, anything and everything necessary to tell the story of a group that transcended genres while remaining true to hip-hop.
I can not recommend this book enough. Easily one of the best books I have ever read. It is so moving and beautiful and silly and happy and sad. It is everything an autobiography should be.
If you are the type who doesn't believe that a teen-bop boy-bander can evolve and go on to prove he is one of the most talented people on this planet, this obvs isn't the book for you.
OMG THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING AND THERE IS NO WAY ANYTHING CAN TOP IT FOR MY #1 READ OF 2018.
An actual review is forthcoming, but man, I had to say something. I finished the book last night and it was exhausting because there were only so many pages left and when I turned to "The Last Gig" I started bawling my fucking eyes out and couldn't stop. If I stopped reading, MCA wouldn't be gone yet. Logical, right? So instead of reading, I watched a couple videos, An Open Letter to NYC, Intergalactic, and Sabotage. I then found footage of that last show at Bonnaroo in 2009, the last time Beastie Boys ever performed - Sabotage as their finale, no less - and it was everything.
Then I finally opened the book and read "The Last Gig"...And cried for another fucking hour.
Full review to come. But seriously, if you are any kind of Beastie Boys fan at all, you need this. It's exactly what a band memoir should be and I laughed and cried the whole way through.
