THE HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL IN TEN SONGS

In his introduction to this wonderfully dense and decidedly nonlinear history of contemporary music and culture, narrator and raconteur Henry Rollins describes author Greil Marcus as a poet, which seems only fair. More than a history, this book is an ode to rock and roll. Reading Marcus’s words with the intensity and focus of a performance artist, Rollins describes how songs such as “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” by Buddy Holly, “Sweet Home Chicago” by Robert Johnson, and “Money Changes Everything” sung by Cyndi Lauper changed music and changed lives. There’s an almost reverential tone to Rollins’s reading that might seem over the top, until one remembers a song in one’s own life that once described one’s world perfectly, and suddenly rock and roll becomes what it is—seriously magical stuff. B.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2015]