Selected writings on three decades of popular music from one of the most influential critics of his generation.
Spanning three decades worth of astute, acerbic, and overall astounding music writing, Kick Out the Jams is the first large-scale anthology of the work of renowned critic Dave Marsh. Ranging from Elvis Presley to Kurt Cobain, from Nina Simone to Ani DiFranco, from the Beatles to Green Day, the book gives an opinionated, eye-opening overview of 20th-century popular music-offering a portrait not just of an era but of a writer wrestling with the American empire.
Every essay bears the distinct Dave Marsh attitude and voice. That passion is evident in a heart-wrenching piece on Cobain's suicide and legacy; a humorous attack on "Bono's bullshit;" an indignant look at James Brown and the FBI; deep, revelatory probes into the work of underappreciated artists like Patty Griffin and Alejandro Escovedo; and inspiring insight into what drives Marsh as a writer, namely "a raging passion to explain things in the hope that others would not be trapped and to keep the way clear so that others from the trashy outskirts of barbarous America still had a place to stand-if not in the culture at large, at least in rock and roll."
If you want to explore the recent history of pop music-its politics as well as its performers-Kick Out the Jams is the perfect guidebook. Dave Marsh was among the first editors of Creem magazine and wrote extensively for Rolling Stone and other publications. He has authored twenty-five books, including two bestselling biographies of Bruce Springsteen, Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who, and The Heart of Rock & Soul: the 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. Marsh cofounded the newsletter Rock & Rap Confidential and currently hosts Kick Out the Jams and other programs on SiriusXM.
Dennis Boutsikaris won an OBIE Award for his performance in Sight Unseen and played Mozart in Amadeus on Broadway. Among his films are *batteries not included, The Dream Team, and Boys On the Side. His many television credits include And Then There Was One, Chasing the Dragon, and 100 Center Street.
Dennis Boutsikaris performs this selection of essays published between 1982 and 2017 with a driving energy that sounds exactly right for Dave Marsh's smart-alecky writing. Boutsikaris's quick pacing and assertive diction infuse the listening with the same immediacy that makes Marsh's arresting opinions so entertaining and thought provoking. Marsh is a nuanced observer of the people and cultural tr
