Shake It Up: Great American Writing on Rock and Pop from Elvis to Jay Z

The essential playlist of great writing about the music that rocked America, from rockabilly and doo-wop to punk and hip-hopThe essential playlist of great writing about the music that rocked America, with fifty landmark pieces on Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Lez Zepplin, and other rock n’ roll legendsJonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar’sShake It Upinvites the reader into the tumult and excitement of the rock revolution through fifty landmark pieces by a supergroup of writers on rock in all its variety, from heavy metal to disco, punk to hip-hop. Stanley Booth describes a recording session with Otis Redding; Ellen Willis traces the meteoric career of Janis Joplin; Ellen Sander recalls the chaotic world of Led Zeppelin on tour; Nick Tosches etches a portrait of the young Jerry Lee Lewis; Eve Babitz remembers Jim Morrison. Alongside are Lenny Kaye on acapella and Greg Tate on hip-hop, Vince Aletti on disco and Gerald Early on Motown; Robert Christgau on Prince, Nelson George on Marvin Gaye, Luc Sante on Bob Dylan, Hilton Als onMichael Jackson, Anthony DeCurtis on the Rolling Stones, Kelefa Sanneh on Jay Z.The story this anthology tells is a ongoing one: “it’s too early,” editors Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar note, “for canon formation in a field so marvelously volatile-a volatility that mirrors, still, that of pop music itself, which remains smokestack lightning. The writing here attempts to catch some in a bottle.“Also features:NAT HENTOFF onBOB DYLANAMIRI BARAKA onR&BLESTER BANGS onELVIS PRESLEYROBERT CHRISTGAU onPRINCEDEBRA RAE COHEN onDAVID BOWIEEVE BABITZ onJIM MORRISONROBERT PALMER onSAM COOKECHUCK KLOSTERMAN onHEAVY METALJESSICA HOPPER onEMOJOHN JEREMIAH SULLIVAN onAXL ROSEELIJAH WALD onTHE BEATLESGREIL MARCUS onCHRISTIAN MARCLAY