I Hate New Music: The Classic Rock Manifesto
Backbeat Books
Nov. 2008

The Deal: Dave Thompson comes across as a grumpy, old man in his new book about the music industry and why all of the bands these days lack originality.

The Good: Thompson doesn’t just berate some of the modern-day bands, as he always gives plenty of words to back up every argument. There are plenty of sidebars that are usually top 10 lists of songs you should hear, ones you’ve avoided or maybe “never played more than once.” He goes in depth enough to examine why eight-track cassettes were the best format out, how CDs can never match the format of vinyl and how the business has changed in general over the years. He also examines the phenomenon of double-live albums and which ideas worked (Peter Frampton), and which didn’t (Genesis and Pink Floyd).

The Bad: The problem is that he sometimes contradicts himself. While at one point claiming Kiss is basically worthless, he later includes them on a list of the top 100 classic rock songs. He attacks grunge and jam bands and just about every other kind of music on the market today. There are many times when reading that I wanted to yell out, “You’re full of shit!” and argue my point with the author.

The Verdict: An interesting read that offers up some valid points, but if we lived by his argument, there would be no bands touring or putting out music today. What fun would that be?

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