IV

Just to report on a little binge shopping over the weekend (and to return a volley at Stace), I feel compelled to plug Chuck Klosterman's "IV".

I remember the first time I picked up Klosterman's "Fargo Rock City" ... read the thing in one sitting at the book store and totally deprived him of the royalties my appreciation of his work truly warrants. He did alright, though. SPIN magazine came calling on the heels of that book and this latest one - his fourth, in case it wasn't obvious - is the fruits of that labor. At first, it struck me as odd that I'd consider plunking down brick and mortar prices on a book of material that dates back to the first half of this decade. But considering that much of what Klosterman's topics cover material from final quarter of the previous century⁽¹⁾, I guess that nudged me toward the checkout counter. And nevermind that I'm picking it up nearly a year after it's publication ... that's just there for irony points. I mean, seriously, how can material from the 80s really lose any more shelf-life in the past year that the entire grunge era didn't already inflict? Suffice it to say, Klosterman is a brilliant writer for those of us who believe the following proposition:

That no good band ever formed after 1989, with the exception of The Donnas, which is justified since they're schtick has been to mimic the bands formed previous to 1989. Well, that and the fact that the chicks in the band are pretty hot.

So even though the book is a clip show of Klosterman's scribbling in the magazine trade, it's still required reading for understanding the way the world is at this present moment. At once, a book without the form of a book. Prescient, timely cultural observations that revolve around not-so-obvious, dated material from decades past. It may be the best book Chuck Klosterman didn't sorta, kinda really write. Even if he did ... technically.

A few samplings of the genius in action ...

"If you discount the crime and the poverty and the overabundance of goats, Jamaica is a wonderful place."

"Being a fan of Metallica in the '80s was not supposed to be fun. Loving Metallica was like being Catholic if you truly believed, it was supposed to inform every aspect of your life."

"... anti-intellectualism is a dangerous problem, but it's not as annoying as pretend intellectualism, which inevitably manifests itself as antipopulism. Which is why I always want to blow up my brains whenever I hear people talking about "guilty pleasures."

Like I said ... genius.

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⁽¹⁾ - There's one notable exception in the form of a story dated 1995 covering the oxymoronic notion of underground music at the time.