Bat Chain Puller: Rock and Roll in the Age of Celebrity

Numerous interviews with rock legends reveal how rock 'n' roll—once the soundtrack for the counterculture and rebellious youth—has gone mainstream, prepackaged by image consultants and openly bowing to authority. Kurt Loder, rock and pop culture journalist for Rolling Stone and MTV, discusses fame with the famous themselves, getting the scoop on what it means to be a rock star nowadays. Interviews focus on people who have had lengthy—in some cases two—careers: Rock wildmen turned British gentry Mick Jagger, The Who, and David Bowie; American originals Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, Iggy Pop, and Bruce Springsteen; and unclassifiables Captain Beefheart, Laurie Anderson, and Frank Zappa. Along with a few pieces on strictly-80s phenomena (e. g. Cyndi Lauper and Max Headroom), Bat Chain Puller examines a time and place saturated by media and enthralled by celebrity, and what those at the center of all this attention have to say about it.

Kurt Loder, MTV newscaster, contributing editor to Rolling Stone, and co-author of I, Tina, lives in New York City.