SHAKE IT UP GREAT AMERICAN WRITING ON ROCK AND POP FROM ELVIS TO JAY Z EDITED BY JONATHAN LETHEM and KEVIN DETTMAR A Library of America Special Publication Volume compilation copyright © 2017 by Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., New York, N.Y. Introduction copyright © 2017 by Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Distributed to the trade in the United States by Penguin Random House Inc. and in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Ltd. LIBRARY OF AMERICA, a nonprofit publisher, is dedicated to publishing, and keeping in print, authoritative editions of America’s best and most significant writing. Each year the Library adds new volumes to its collection of essential works by America’s foremost novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and statesmen. Visit our website at www.loa.org to find out more about Library of America and to explore our popular Story of the Week and Moviegoer features. Library of Congress Control Number: 2106959719 ISBN 978–1–59853–531–0 eISBN 917–1–59853–532–7 First Printing Manufactured in the United States of America Contents Introduction by Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar Nat Hentoff THE FREEWHEELIN’ BOB DYLAN Amiri Baraka FROM THE CHANGING SAME (R&B AND NEW BLACK MUSIC) Richard Poirier LEARNING FROM THE BEATLES Jules Siegel GOODBYE SURFING, HELLO GOD! Richard Goldstein MASTER OF MEDIOCRITY Paul Williams OUTLAW BLUES Stanley Booth THE MEMPHIS SOUL SOUND Lillian Roxon FROM LILLIAN ROXON’S ROCK ENCYCLOPEDIA Lenny Kaye THE BEST OF ACAPPELLA Richard Meltzer FROM THE AESTHETICS OF ROCK Ellen Sander INSIDE THE CAGES OF THE ZOO Vince Aletti FROM THE DISCO FILES Paul Nelson VALLEY OF THE NEW YORK DOLLS Lester Bangs WHERE WERE YOU WHEN ELVIS DIED? Greg Shaw IN DEFENSE OF ROCK THEORY Robert Christgau PRINCE Jon Pareles THE CARS’ POWER STEERING Ellen Willis JANIS JOPLIN Carola Dibbell THE SLITS GO NATIVE Debra Rae Cohen DAVID BOWIE EATS HIS YOUNG Nick Tosches FROM HELLFIRE Ariel Swartley BOYS’ NIGHT OUT: AZTEC CAMERA CLICKS Nelson George THE POWER AND THE GLORY Peter Guralnick KING SOLOMON: THE THRONE IN EXILE Donna Gaines SYLVIA’S HUSBAND Dave Marsh FROM THE HEART OF ROCK & SOUL: THE 1001 GREATEST SINGLES EVER MADE Chuck Eddy THE RAMONES Eve Babitz JIM MORRISON IS DEAD AND LIVING IN HOLLYWOOD Gina Arnold FROM ROUTE 666 Ann Powers HOUSES OF THE HOLY Robert Palmer SAM COOKE’S NIGHT BEAT Gerald Early FROM ONE NATION UNDER A GROOVE Ed Ward BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: BORN TO RUN Camden Joy TOTAL SYSTEMS FAILURE Chuck Klosterman FROM FARGO ROCK CITY Geoffrey O’Brien SEVEN YEARS IN THE LIFE Devin McKinney FROM O.P.D. / DEUS EST VIVUS: THE BEATLES AND THE DEATH CULTS Jessica Hopper EMO: WHERE THE GIRLS AREN’T