1996 and the End of History

This book has some nice information in it but it feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity - there's a bit too much personal regretful reminiscence in it and not enough serious analysis, and it degenerates in sections into bullet point lists of 'forgotten' records the author liked. More on WHY exactly Britpop became so dominant at the time would have been good - there's a neat bit where he admits that good reviews for 'Be Here Now' were provided in order to guarantee access to Oasis, but more could have been good here. There's also a bit too much jumping around to 1997 with Blair and all that, and other years in hip hop in particular, and the praise for DJ Shadow, while merited, does make his album seem a bit more 'revolutionary' than it actually was - I'm sure Shadow would be much more willing than Stubbs to e.g. give the Dust Brothers credit for their innovations in sampling on 'Paul's Boutique'. There are also a few too many lazy replications of reviews he wrote at the time - I really don't think his review of Beck's Odelay is fair for instance.

buy

Interesting book but it is a long magazine article

a wonderful argument for why history needs a kick up the arse, and progress needs to get back on track