I saw this book and I thought, HERE WE GO AGAIN! Someone described this to me as a book about Gen X pride. I started reading it and thought, great. Another dude trying to ramble about 80s-90s pop culture like Chuck Klosterman. But no!

I was wrong. This book is different. The book has two main arguments but comes to a completely different conclusion. The first argument is that there are three distinct generations vying for control of pop culture in American right now: Baby boomers, millenials and, stuck in the middle, Gen Xers. The second argument is that Gen Xers have talents that neither side has and has both changed the world from where the boomers left off and will bring about a more serious, lasting change than their younger siblings, the millenials, ever could.

The conclusion seems to be: Gen X, get off your asses and change the world (as cliche as that sounds… and Gen X HATES cliches).

He explains all of this while acknowledging a few important limitations. 1) The idea of “generations” is constructed and it is impossible to prove they even exist in any kind of a scientific sense. 2) Generations, as he defines them, are fluid and are not strictly defined by age.

Though I was born in 1982, I found myself associating myself with the Xers. Did the book make me want to prove to the world that I can make something of myself? Not really. Did it give a funny, entertaining look at the generation and all of the events that helped define it (and what makes us different from the baby boomers)? Absolutely! A fun, quick read. Thumbs up.

This was a tough one. A friend played The Gaslight Anthem for me and a few things struck me right off the bat:

1) They’re a band from New Brunswick. I’m a former resident and I breathed the music scene there for a while, but never heard of them.

2) They sound like an updated version of Bruce Springsteen… so much so, in fact, that they sound like a hipster Springsteen tribute band.

So I couldn’t decide… do I like this, or not?

I started to tip towards the “screw these guys” side when I heard the song “Old White Lincoln.” The song starts out sounding like The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” to a tee.

Next comes “High Lonesome,” which lifts an entire verse from Counting Crows’ “Round Here” and a piece of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire.”

I though… hmm… is this homage or plagiarism?

There’s a big difference, but after listening to the entire album, I sided with homage. Toward the end of the album, Gaslight Anthem makes references to parties in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (“Here’s Lookin’ At You, Kid”) and the Melody Bar (RIP) in New Brunswick (“Once Upon A Time”). As a New Jerseyan, and a Bruce fan, honest references to real places make me melt.

Upon closer inspection, The Gaslight Anthem is simply making new songs that sound like old songs. Ripping off the legends? Well sure! You wouldn’t want to rip off forgettable artists. They get my thumbs up. Write folk tinged rock songs with a new school, indie feel and throw in some Jersey pride, and you have a recipe for an excellent group.

I am an Against Me! fan. So when I say I did not like New Wave, let me put it into context. If someone heard New Wave without ever hearing their earlier work, they might say, Hey! Here’s a solid punk rock album! Great production value. Tastefully angsty vocals. Rolling, circle pit-inducing drum parts. Gritty, heavy guitars. The works. But compared to Reinventing Axl Rose, New Wave just falls flat. Don’t get me wrong. There are a lot worse things playing on the radio. A LOT! But lately, Against Me! has been cleaning up their act. The lyrics are more literal and less revolutionary. The lyrics are less raspy, vocal chord-tearing rants and more well-executed, man-shout verses. Against Me! will be a favorite of mine forever. New Wave will be forgotten. I only hope they come back on track, but I think their punk rock fireball learned how to sing like a normal person. Which sucks.

Jack White has the amazing ability of making a new song sound like an old song. The songs on Icky Thump sound like a lost album from (insert 60s/70s era classic rock giant here). But his music still sounds fresh, new and exciting. I have owned a burned copy of Icky Thump for about a year now and I finally gave it a listen and I haven’t stopped for a week. I truly enjoyed everything the White Stripes did before, but Icky Thump goes to a whole new level. Prepare to hear trumpets and bagpipes, but not without Jack White’s squealing guitar. The White Stripes are probably the best thing going in rock and roll right now. They embody the past, present and future of rock music. That was not an overstatement. I have to go give it another spin right now.

The novelty of Richard Cheese does not wear off easily. You’d think listening to rap rock and jock jams done up lounge style would get old fast. But you’d be wrong. Richard Cheese takes hits from Lincoln Park and Puddle of Mudd and strips the useless lyrics naked. What’s left is irony. He adds new dimensions to rap songs like “Baby Got Back” and “Insane in The Brain.” Baby Got Back has a nice shuffle while “Insane in The Brain” straight up swings! As if is great sense of humor weren’t thrown into every song, he has a clip of him doing a bit live at the Mercury Lounge. Listening to his persona tell a story makes me want to see him perform. He’s a stellar singer paired with top notch musicians and uproarious comedy. Thumbs up!

When I first heard Hot Hot Heat in ‘02, I thought they were one of the most novel bands I had heard to date. Glorious bubblegum pop songs performed with snarling vocals, gritty guitars, groovey bass, 80s beats and synth came together in something that sounded NEW! Years later, with every band doing similar things, Hot Hot Heat is doing more of the same. And that’s a GOOD thing, except, on Elevator, they got REALLY polished.

To me, polished is not always a good thing. By polished, I mean they took their gritty, snarling bubble gum pop songs and, through the wonders of high production value, edited out the grit and snarl.

Hot Hot Heat writes wonderful songs, but it doesn’t sound fresh to me now like it did seven (!) years ago. Can’t say it’s worth it. Check out Make up the Breakdown. Now I’m sounding like that guy who says “I just liked their old stuff better, man!” Oh well. I do. Sue me.

A good album is one where you set out to do something and you accomplish it. What were the Scissor Sisters setting out to do with “Ta-Dah”? I have no idea. I think the idea of indie disco sounds great in theory. The Scissor Sisters takes dance music from the 70s and 80s (think Queen, ABBA and Elton John) and plays it in a totally unironic, white boy sings the blues kinda way. It’s campy and corny, but grandiose, arrogant and far too over-the-top. Are they joking? Or do they think this is cool? If they are joking, then why not let the listener know with sillier words and dumbed down arrangements. I think they’re serious and it’s seriously bad.

Modest Mouse lays out a few more sleepy indie rock songs on “Everywhere.” To me, Modest Mouse is the kind of band with hundreds of songs and a dozens FANTASTIC ones, but the rest are just okay. “Night on the Sun” and “I Came As a Rat” fall into Column A. The rest, Column B.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Modest Mouse lately. Almost too much. This is a weird band who writes weird songs. Weird is good, in my book. What I’d like from Modest Mouse is more rock, and most of their albums bring it. This one is on the slower side. This is perfect music to take a nap, wash the dishes or do the dirty to, but not the stuff of dance parties.

“Never Ending Math Equation” and “All Night Diner” are deeply wonderful songs, however, that I can never get out of my head. When they are on, they are spot on and these two tracks demonstrate that well.

Civil War is a smart comic book with a different take on what it means to be a superhero. It’s about a group of superheros who accidentally wipe out a neighborhood in Connecticut while battling villains for a reality television show. This accident causes a public outcry and splits the superhero community down the middle. The plot is obviously inspired by the events following 9/11, which is why I feel like it would have been more fun to read years ago, when it first came out. My one criticism was that it seemed as if the writers wanted to pose each set of characters on opposite sides of a philosophical debate with no right or wrong answer, but you can kind of tell which side they favor. Moral ambiguity is what made Watchmen and the Dark Knight Returns such great comic books and Civil War flirts with this idea without taking it all the way. I also understand there’s more to the story beyond this collection and I would love to get my hands on it. The concept is brilliant but, unfortunately, the graphic novel was too short to delve deep enough into it.