My Generation: Rock and Roll, an Imperfect History

ISBN 10: 1874675511 ISBN 13: 9781874675518

Publisher: The Lilliput Press, 1996

Synopsis

Sex, drugs, rock’n’roll, love, discovery and death – this is the journey mapped through music taken by us all. Here, writers, artists, poets and players, makers of films and young guitar-players – all with Irish connections – flash back together to earlier days, favourite LPs and formative ways. Ah, we were so much younger then – This is the rhythm of our youth, the backbeat of our revelation, the rock music that changed a generation. My Generation. This extraordinary book makes it your generation too. Dare to turn the page and drop the needle. Contributors include: Paul Brady, Donovan, Ron Wood, Marianne Faithfull, Noel Redding, Shane MacGowan, Ronnie Drew, Mary Coughlan, Terry Woods, Niall Toner, Mick Hanley, Paddy Moloney, Paul McGuinness, Jim Sheridan, Sebastian Barry, Frank McGuinness, Carlo Gébler, Hugo Hamilton, Joe O’Connor, Dermot Healy, Elgie Gillespie, Patrick McGrath, Fintan O’Toole, Anne Enright, Paul Muldoon, Roddy Doyle, Philip Casey and Colm Tóibín. The editors are Dublin-based and work in publishing and the media.

About this title

Review

When I first picked up My Generation, I expected another attempt to lash together the multitude of musical strands that, in one way or another, have led to or away from what we have come to call Rock and Roll. That which is considered Rock and Roll seems to depend more on who is doing the considering than any specific criteria. What a Clint Black fan considers to be Rock and Roll will vary considerably from what a Metallica fan would consider it to be. Thus we have a sort of hegemonic view of Rock and Roll, as well as its evolutionary history, that can and does change depending from whose point of view it is seen. There are those that would argue that it is this nebulous definition of Rock and Roll that has enabled it to grow and expand. The accretion of Rock and Roll has led to the idea that it is indeed immortal and will continue to stand the test of time. While this statement gushes with optimistic idealism, it is close to the mark as far as defining how most fans of Rock and Roll feel about this ever changing genre of music. This idea can be generalized to apply to music itself. Anyone who has ever been moved by music in any way, shape or form understands the incredible power music has to shape and color a moment forever. It becomes the impetus to and bridge to memories that are more vivid by association with a particular piece of music is. This, then, is what My Generation is actually all about - as John Dunne puts it: "Some records I value more for the memories they evoke; others for their purely musical highs..but more than any book I've ever read, more than all the films I've ever seen, music has given me a glimpse of what I call my soul." What this book comes down to is the connection of Rock-n-Roll with the senses and emotions, with memories and events, with catharsis and epiphany. My Generation was born when Antony Farrell and his stepbrother started naming their favorite albums one late spring evening in Ireland. It became a collection of "notes towards an autobiography through sound" from over 70 contributors who were all asked to select ten albums of classic, formative rock. What the editors got in return was an incredible variety of responses, not only musically but in approach, from mere lists to in- depth narratives that detail a precise moment in a person's life when music encapsulated an experience forever with crystalline clarity. My Generation is an imperfect history, but that is one of the most intriguing aspects about it. The imperfection allows a truer, finer more verisimilitudinous experience of the history of Rock-n-Roll. The fact that each of the contributors are Irish by birth, residence or association gives My Generation less of a hegemonic slant than I had anticipated. For any one of non Irish decent, such as myself, this Irish perspective simply gives My Generation a sort of outside-looking-in feel. My Generation is a treasure to read and will open up a memory or two for anyone who has tapped into this thing we call Rock-n-Roll. -- From Independent Publisher

Edition details

• Publisher: The Lilliput Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1874675511
• ISBN 13: 9781874675518
• Number of pages: 352
• Editor: Farrell Antony, Guinness Vivienne, Lloyd Julian