Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me Audiobook By Steven Hyden cover art

Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me

What Pop Music Rivalries Reveal About the Meaning of Life

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Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me

By: Steven Hyden
Narrated by: Ben Sullivan
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Music critic Steven Hyden explores 19 music rivalries and what they say about life.

Beatles vs. Stones. Biggie vs. Tupac. Kanye vs. Taylor. Who do you choose? And what does that say about you? Actually - what do these endlessly argued about pop music rivalries say about us?

Music opinions bring out passionate debate in people, and Steven Hyden knows that firsthand. Each chapter in Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me focuses on a pop music rivalry, from the classic to the very recent, and draws connections to the larger forces surrounding the pairing.

Through Hendrix vs. Clapton, Hyden explores burning out and fading away while his take on Miley vs. Sinead gives listeners a glimpse into the perennial battle between old and young. Funny and accessible, Hyden's writing combines cultural criticism, personal anecdotes, and music history - and just may prompt you to give your least favorite band another chance.

©2016 Steven Hyden (P)2016 Hachette Audio History & Criticism Media Studies Music Popular Culture Social Sciences
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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book examines so many fun, interesting rivalries, and generates lots of good conversations. So, yes, I would recommend this to a friend, because it would be great to discuss and debate these pop cultural ideas.

Did Ben Sullivan do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Ben Sullivan is fine as the narrator, but there were some definite mispronunciations of band names, album titles, etc.; this really isn't that big of a deal, but when it happens, it just pulls you out of the book to remind you that this isn't the author reading it, but someone "playing" the author. Having learned about this book from a radio interview with the author, Steven Hyden, I kind of think this was a missed opportunity to simply just use the author as the narrator; I think it would have made it just a bit more authentic.

Any additional comments?

The first rivalry discussed in this book, Oasis vs. Blur, is the weakest of them all. It's a strange choice to begin with, because it's probably the most niche and least interesting. Full disclosure: I'm an Oasis fan and I really didn't connect with this chapter at all. My suggestion, either power through this one, or just skip it, because there is lots of better material after it.

Lots of Fun

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Got this book because I love music a lot. However the book isn't very interesting other than a few nice details here and there. I couldn't finish the book...

Great title but not very good overall

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i liked the concept of this book and overall i enjoyed it, but for me there were too many other stories and anecdotes. chapters went on for far too long

too many ancedotes

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This book made the music lover inside of me laugh, raise an eyebrow, and sometimes stir uncomfortably. Your Favorite Band is Killing Me is a deep yet light-hearted think piece. I highly recommend it.

Great Book.

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I loved it. It was like a very long article on the history of music feuds. Very interesting. I think it needs to be updated. But it’s great.

Great

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checked this out after listening to the Rivals podcast. very cool to here some of the stories told in a more personal way. Steven is the best critic in the indie world

an excellent and personal take on pop music

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I had high hopes for this book. I had hoped that it would address all the pop-culture music comparisons we all know. Instead the book spent most of the time describing why these types of comparisons exist without trying to answer them. Sure, final decisions are personal, but I was looking forward to reading an attempt.

Good Title (Mediocre Story)

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