Has anybody had the chance to read Gigantic: The Story Of The Pixies by John Mendelssohn?

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It's easily the WORST music biography I've ever read, and most likely IN EXISTANCE. Though I have yet to read all music biographies, of course. I'm going to bet on that nonetheless.

Not only does John Mendelssohn (who is American but takes on all UK spelling and phrases) seem to NOT like any post-Doolittle output, but absolutely HATES all Frank Black material. My question to this is: is it a good idea to write a book if you don't like 80% of a musician's output?

Also, for every chapter there's a fiction fan's account (Vicky's Story(?!)) of sort-of the same events. Like a teenager telling a story about liking the Pixies at the same time that we're getting a half-baked account of the real thing. I'm not entirely sure what it was about, I FOUND IT FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE TO READ.

Mendelssohn also like to repeat the same cliches two or three times on the same page. He also has a habit of quoting favorable reviews and then adds responses such as "rubbish". And couldn't help but mention Frank Black & Kim Deal's weight gain.

There's also two photos of Joey Santiago in which the author mentions how he does or doesn't look like Matthew Broderick. He also refers to Kim as "La Deal".

Ultimately I'm just wondering, what the fuck? Can any jerk write a book about somebody and get it published in the timing is right? It's quite obvious that it was written mostly pre-reunion and a rushed last 1 page was thrown together on the topic of Coachella.

Point is, I want my $20 back.

― Pancakle, Friday, 12 August 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

do you still have the receipt?

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 12 August 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

you spent $20 on a book about the pixies?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 12 August 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

Dude, it's a hard cover!

― Pancakle, Friday, 12 August 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

you bought a hardcover book about the pixies?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 12 August 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

It came with a latte!

― Pancakle, Friday, 12 August 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

Was the latte good tho'?

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Friday, 12 August 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

wow...you got took!

j.m. has always been a slightly, ever so slightly, arch writer. how old is the guy anyway now? he was reviewing the move and the kinks way back in the olden rolling stone days. anyway he writes like a guy who's wearing a bow tie, like that fucking tucker carlson guy I hate so much.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 12 August 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

There's nothing wrong with a critic championing a handful of items and dissing the rest (paging Orson Welles). If I were to write a book length study of, say, Aztec Camera, I'd come to the same conclusion.

The rest sounds inexcusable though.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 12 August 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

Soundz entertaining, I'll give it a good look (*before* buying)(hey why doncha special order Lester's Blondie book heh)

― don, Friday, 12 August 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

I'm surprised to discover that he liked ANY portion of their output - in his heyday, he was a real Anglophile who always seemed to like virtually nothing but mid-60s Brit Invasion bands, and more for their mod fashion sense than their music. I always liked his writing style, tho he came off as an asshole 70% of the time.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 12 August 2005 21:33 (twenty years ago)

ill read it inside the store thanks. i once spent 20 on a piece of pixie feces.

― kephm (kephm), Friday, 12 August 2005 21:55 (twenty years ago)

he came off as an asshole 70% of the time

that's probably a low estimate. but his 8-zillion-word liner notes to the kink kronikles is one of the funniest, on-the-moneyest music pieces i've ever read, and for that alone mendelsohn gets a free pass for life. he did a sequel for the great lost kinks album that was ok but not nearly as good. i assume he's 248 years old by now.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 12 August 2005 22:20 (twenty years ago)

and i should note that he doesn't like all the kinks' material either, and not only was he writing about them, he was writing about them in the liner notes to their own album which happened to include some of the material he didn't like. personally, i think it's a GREAT idea to write a book about a musician who's output you largely hate. more people should do it.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 12 August 2005 22:22 (twenty years ago)

Cuz OTM as usual.Anybody read that Kill Yr. Idols? I got the idea from lurking on thread about it that it was at least partially (aside from sheer hate factor) to challenge us to actually go back and listen to and think about our household godz...

― don, Friday, 12 August 2005 22:55 (twenty years ago)

personally, i think it's a GREAT idea to write a book about a musician who's output you largely hate. more people should do it.

haha albert goldman to thread!!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 13 August 2005 03:34 (twenty years ago)

i was gonna largely echo what fact checking cuz said re: mendelssohn & the kinks. anyway, in his bio of the kinks (the kinks kronikles) he openly admits that he really doesn't like much of the kinks' music after muswell hillbillies (and i wouldn't be shocked if john gosling has a contract on mendelssohn's life after the snarky things that mendelssohn had to say about him in said bio), so his dissing a good chunk of the pixies' back catalogue is def. in keeping w/ his past behavior.

that said: pixies & jon mendelssohn = DOES NOT COMPUTE.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 13 August 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

A biography of the Pixies...not ever really going to be interesting though is it? It's not like they have a story that would make an interesting narrative. Especially after it's been dulled (Morissey-style) by a subsequent decade or more of dross.

― paulhw (paulhw), Saturday, 13 August 2005 22:50 (twenty years ago)

i flipped through this the other day at borders, it looks pretty lazy and awful, with most of the "research" taken from previously published articles. i can't really see why every band has to have a biography these days!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 13 August 2005 22:56 (twenty years ago)

It's Been Awhile: The Struggles and Sorrows of Staind

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 13 August 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

Hard to Explain: How the Strokes Invented Punk Rock

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 13 August 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

conor oberst: the last american hero

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 13 August 2005 23:12 (twenty years ago)

Believe it or not
My music still sucks...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 13 August 2005 23:33 (twenty years ago)

Still a nice rack though.

― don, Sunday, 14 August 2005 00:07 (twenty years ago)

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