Music geeks like us (and you, we know this isn't the only music blog you read) live, breath and eat this stuff up. I've long since stopped watching films that aren't about music, or at least have bitchin' soundtracks. Shit, most of the music I listen to is about rock n roll nowadays (thank you The Hold Steady). Recently, I've even given up books that don't contain references to mythical concerts and long out of print singles.
Well here, my friends is one of the holy grails of music books. Ex-leader of British psychedelic standouts, The Teardrop Explodes, Julian Cope found it disconcerting that the public at large did not share his taste for Krautrock. An endearing term for German rock in the 60's and 70's that resembled an unholy combination of Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground, and the Krupps steelworks, the genre had been briefly influential as post-punk rose from the mouldering body of The Sex Pistols, but had by the mid-90's become an interesting footnote. His solution was a book which explained the history and social context of the West German music scene of the era, with tales and commentary on bands like Can, Faust, Neu!, Kraftwerk, and Amon Düül II.
Did this book single handedly influence Radiohead to abandon rock music as we know it during the Kid A sessions? Probably not, but when your favorite band starts pulling shit like Wilco's "Less Than You Think", you only have Julian Cope to blame.
(You could either spend upwards of $174 dollars on this out of print book, or enjoy the semi-legal, until we hear otherwise pdf courtesy of Swan Fungus. Make your pick. If you are joining the dark side, click on the post's title for the jump.)
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