This Is the Sound: The Best of Alternative Rock

by Randi Reisfeld

Overview

From Nirvana and R.E.M. to Green Day and Belly, alternative bands are dominating the airways. This book looks at the hottest bands on the alternative music scene—their history, influences, concert personas, and distinctive styles. This is their sound—the sound of drums pounding and guitars wailing—the sound of rock'n'roll. Includes 50 photos.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442430983
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	04/26/2011
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Randi Reisfeld is the author of numerous original series and novels for teens, including three New York Times bestsellers. Her series with HB Gilmour, T*Witches, is the basis for two popular Disney Channel TV-movies. Her trilogy Starlet also reflects her life-long obsession with all things Hollywood. Randi lives in Washington Township, NJ. Visit her on the web at www.randireisfeld.com.

Editorial Reviews

From the stomach-wrenching perversity of Nine Inch Nails to the Celtic sound of the cranberries, the nine groups profiled here represent alternative rock's startling diversity, but this routine assortment of hype and soundbites does neither the music nor the musicians justice—and any survey that leaves out the likes of REM and Nirvana is bound to be seriously deficient. Acknowledging no specific sources and using language that ranges from inept ("They flat rejected all the big money offers") to laughable (the group Belly "was bulging with promise"), Reisfeld (Melrose Place, 1992, not reviewed, etc.) tells essentially the same story over and over: unhappy childhoods, serendipitous meetings with other teenage outsiders, a short period of obscurity, an album or three, huge success. The frontmen and frontwomen ("There are just as many women rocking just as hard as the guys"—oh, really?) contribute the usual platitudes about fans, money ("does absolutely nothing for you," says Eddie Vedder), and being true to themselves, and the taboo subjects—drugs, sex, business—are barely mentioned. At publication it will already be dated; stick with the sketches in Spin, Heavy Metal, and other periodicals.

Kirkus Reviews