National Book Award nominee, critic and one of America's least compromising
satirists, Alexander Theroux takes a comprehensive look at the colorful language
of pop lyrics and the realm of rock music in general in The Grammar of Rock.
With his usual encyclopedic insights into the state of the modern lyric, Theroux
focuses on the state of language - the power of words and the nature of syntax -
in the prose The Grammar of Rock. He analyzes its assaults on listeners'
impulses by investigating singers' styles, pondering lunacies in lyrics, and
deconstructing the nature of diction and presentation in the language. This is
that rare book that positively evaluates the very nature of a pop song, and why
one over another has an effect on the listener.
An erudite romp through the lyrics of classic rock and pop, covering such greats as Cole Porter, The Moody Blues, The Beatles, the Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, the Fall, and even Ghostface Killa!
