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Taking its title with suitable slacker irony
from a song on Nirvana’s In Utero, Milk It! is an anthology of
pieces written in the heat of the moment—an urgent and diverse overview that
mirrors the chaotic rush of the postmodern sounds it covers. Headnotes and
connective material—the “stories behind the stories”—provide running
commentary on the music business, rock criticism, a troubled generation, and
an attempt to put the fast-moving alternative-rock era in perspective from
the safe distance of the comparatively bland new millennium. Compiled by a
critic who shared the Generation X outlook, attitude, and biting sense of
humor with the musicians that he covered—Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing
Pumpkins, Hole, and many others—Milk It! is the first serious attempt
to chart the alternative music scene. Compelling, amusing, and provocative,
Milk It! captures the excitement of an era, and reckons with its
enduring influence.
PRAISE FOR JIM DeROGATIS AND MILK IT!
“Even though DeRo can sometimes be a DICK,
he’s only exercising his right to free speech, and ultimately he’s got balls
and takes on the man—a lot. He can’t be bought, and he’s got ears.”
— Courtney Love
“Jim has always taken the ‘investigative
reporter’ approach to any area of exaggerated hype in music culture—which
usually means the bigger the egos of those being critiqued, the more fun he
has pointing out their blunders. If only he could’ve been around for the
birth of Christ.”
— Wayne Coyne, the Flaming Lips
“DeRogatis knows his stuff, as a lot of rock writers
do, but he also feels his stuff and communicates that feeling, so that we
know what it was like to be there, for better or worse.”
— Roger Ebert
“Jim has pissed off a lot
of people over the years, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. His
voice—caustic, ferociously opinionated, and always passionate—is that of a
moralist trying his damn best to right the wrongs of rock by the sheer power
of his convictions. It hasn’t worked, but he hasn’t stopped trying, God
bless him.” — Marc Weingarten,
author of Station to Station: The History of Rock and Roll On Television
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