DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile
Questlove, the bandleader of the Roots, the “Tonight Show” band, chooses one pop song from each of the past 50 years and gives his take on how it relates to other songs, his growth as a musician, and the headline cultural events of that year. His knowledge of pop music and its creators is substantial and a real treat to hear. He’s an industry insider and intelligent observer of music’s commercial and artistic arcs. His performance is a comfortable blend of pro-level reading and genuine enthusiasm that is punctuated with tasty sound effects and quotes delivered by an unnamed voice talent. Along with his keen insights on racial politics and culture, his easy-to-hear performance will make listeners feel like they are “in the room” with the personalities and cultural energy of each era. T.W. 2022 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
07/26/2021
“Whenever there’s a history happening, there’s more than one history happening,” writes five-time Grammy winner Questlove (Creative Quest) in this exuberant look at the last five decades of history through the lens of music. He explains how, throughout time, music has touched upon a wide range of societal, social, and racial shifts, influencing culture in instances both big and small. In an effort to examine these moments, he selects a song for each year (starting in 1971, when he was born), to unpack “what was happening in the world in general,” adding a layer of intimacy with biographical accounts of his life as a musician. The songs analyzed are quite varied: while A Taste of Honey’s 1978 hit “Boogie Oogie Oogie” may serve as the perfect encapsulation of the disco era’s carefree mindset, Steely Dan’s “Hey Nineteen” offers a more tongue-in-check lesson on aging. Conversely, Prince’s rerecorded version of “1999” registers as a failed attempt to resist change, and as a bittersweet reminder that the past is something that can’t be replicated. Richard Nixon’s presidency, “Black Power,” 9/11, and other key cultural touchstones are mentioned, with songs used as a springboard for further reflection into history and how memory actively shapes it. This stimulating work is sure to attract deep thinkers and music theorists everywhere. Agent: Marc Gerald, Europa Content. (Oct.)
Booklist
Questlove’s in-depth, witty, creative, personal, and authoritative musical history will keep people reading, listening, questioning, and musing for many years to come."
The Washington Post
Music Is History is an entertaining, informative and far-reaching work, meticulously excavating American culture and history with the eye of a seasoned cratedigger.
From the Publisher
Music Is History is an entertaining, informative and far-reaching work, meticulously excavating American culture and history with the eye of a seasoned cratedigger.”—The Washington Post
“This inspired volume continues Questlove’s thoughtful and thought-provoking work and is an enduring analysis of the effects of music on personal, political, and cultural histories.”—Library Journal STARRED Review
“Questlove’s in-depth, witty, creative, personal, and authoritative musical history will keep people reading, listening, questioning, and musing for many years to come."
—Booklist
“A palimpsestic, personal, and resonant journey with a living musical encyclopedia.”—Kirkus
“This stimulating work is sure to attract deep thinkers and music theorists everywhere.”—Publishers Weekly
Library Journal
★ 09/01/2021
Musician and producer Questlove examines the artists, songs, and albums that affected him artistically and personally, from 1971 (the year of his birth) on. Each section is devoted to a different year and starts with a list (he loves lists) of important cultural events, then focuses on a noteworthy track. Questlove does more than just offer musical analysis: he puts the songs into context and digs into deep cuts and artists sometimes lost to history as he considers how we create history and how we think about popular music and culture. Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen" becomes a jumping-off point for analyzing generation gaps; Living Colour's response to the racist Guns N' Roses song "One in a Million" leads to an exploration of race, music, and history. Questlove's playlists ("Singles I Actually Dig"; "Put You in My Mix") will make readers want to stop and listen—perhaps even on a Walkman, which was how Questlove first heard Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back (the focus of 1988). VERDICT This inspired volume continues Questlove's thoughtful and thought-provoking work and is an enduring analysis of the effects of music on personal, political, and cultural histories.—Rebekah Buchanan, Western Illinois Univ., Macomb, IL
DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile
Questlove, the bandleader of the Roots, the “Tonight Show” band, chooses one pop song from each of the past 50 years and gives his take on how it relates to other songs, his growth as a musician, and the headline cultural events of that year. His knowledge of pop music and its creators is substantial and a real treat to hear. He’s an industry insider and intelligent observer of music’s commercial and artistic arcs. His performance is a comfortable blend of pro-level reading and genuine enthusiasm that is punctuated with tasty sound effects and quotes delivered by an unnamed voice talent. Along with his keen insights on racial politics and culture, his easy-to-hear performance will make listeners feel like they are “in the room” with the personalities and cultural energy of each era. T.W. 2022 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2021-07-28
The iconic drummer, composer, and DJ tracks modern American history through music and vice versa.
Each chapter focuses on a specific year, beginning with 1971, when Questlove was born, and is structured around “a song that represents some idea connected to history: how it was experienced at the time, or how it is learned and understood, or what figures surface within it, or how different versions of it are reconciled, or how they cannot be.” Interspersed throughout are lists of songs—and the author’s commentary on each—divided into categories—e.g., songs worthy of being reinstated into communal memory; and hip-hop “deep cuts that…need to be excavated”; and songs in E minor, a key that “isn’t just a way of life for funk songs, but a world unto itself. In grappling with the mass of E-minor songs, I have divided the E-minor theme into two camps, the songs that get over and the songs that underwhelm.” Questlove also revisits songs by other artists on which he played drums. The scope of the book, like the author’s vinyl collection, is enormous, yet his tone makes for a fascinating, page-turning read. Whether he’s making a case that hip-hop was “at least in part a direct reaction to disco” or describing Bill Withers as his first true idol, Questlove makes for an engaging, dynamic narrator—just as he was in his excellent memoir, Mo’ Meta Blues (2013). Events, he writes, “can feel like closed boxes until we find our way in….And that’s why I decided to put ‘Does Everyone Stare’ [by The Police] not in 1979, the year it came out, but in 1981, the year it came out to me.” The author adds private stories such as the day, in 1993, when the Roots were signed by Geffen and his mother told him she was divorcing his father. From explicating protest songs to sampling, Questlove continuously encourages readers to cross-reference historical happenings and to read (and think) critically.
A palimpsestic, personal, and resonant journey with a living musical encyclopedia.
