H
ey? What? The Smiths did Meat is Murder ,
not Joe Pernice (of Pernice Brothers fame). Oh
wait, it's a book. Well its more
of a pamphlet. Actually I have seen
menus that would give it an inferiority complex. Coming in at a
little over 100 pages, it is part of the 33
1/3 series. Normally
this series is factual, but this book is apparently fiction. Although
it reads very much like an autobiographical work about adolescence
and how Meat is
Murder became integrated into a period
of his life. Think of something pitched
in between Dazed and
Confused and High Fidelity , mercifully not heading
down the schmultzy Stand by Me route.
Personally I really enjoyed it. It was well written save from a couple of hiccups,
and had
some nice observations. Picking one almost at random, "We figured any
teenage kid living through those Reagan years who said The Smiths were
too miserable for them was either a liar, an imbecile, or so thoroughly fucked
up they had no idea how miserable they were". I do wonder if the book
would be as interesting to those who hadn't kissed Morissey ,
but I guess anyone who used non-mainstream music to help cope with adolescence
would easily identify with the characters. Plus it is only $10 and takes an
hour or so to read. How could you go wrong?
Addendum:
I wrote the review about a week ago, but on Friday the 4th I got to see The Pernice
Brothers at
the Mercury Lounge in NYC. Joe said, "The book is fiction!" I slurred, "What?
Even the Cystic Fibrosis
Kid?". Joe, "Oh yeah, especially the cystic fibrosis kid". Well he must be a
pretty good writer then
as he had me totally convinced. "But, you do really love the meat is murder,
right?" "Oh yea! It
has been a big influence."
On the bill that night were also Boxstep and the National. Both of them sounded
well worth
checking out again.
