Duke University Press

A veteran music critic whose word destinations have included Creem, Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and Spin, Chuck Eddy has been there and back and remained weird, smart, funny, and real as hell. The proof is in this collection, drawn from 30-plus years of Eddy’s work. One minute he’s dissecting the thought process behind the selection of artists for the Super Stars series of bubblegum cards; the next he’s recounting his childhood history (mother died of ovarian cancer in 1970 when Eddy was nine; father remarried, then hung himself in 1974) in a matter-of-fact way that ties in perfectly with an essay on Zager & Evans’ classic hit “In The Year 2525”. In the end, what you realize (if you didn’t know it already) is that Eddy is the master of marrow-goring insight and twisted rant sans Romilar, cigarette holder, or Dead Kennedys tee with a big rip down the front – he’s a brilliant everyman, husband, and father. The crazy guy that wrote “Chumbawamba At The Piss Factory”? Yeah – that’s him mowing the lawn.