The Decibel Diaries
A Journey through Rock in 50 Concerts
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- $29.99
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- $29.99
Publisher Description
Sometimes a rock concert is more than just an event. Every so often a band’s performance becomes a musical milestone, a cultural watershed, a political statement, and a personal apotheosis. On any given night a rock concert can tell the truth about who we are, where we are, and what’s going on in music and life right now. In The Decibel Diaries, Carter Alan, longtime DJ and music director at WZLX in Boston, chronicles a lifetime in rock with a tour through fifty concerts that defined such moments—from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young playing in the rain when Richard Nixon resigned to Talking Heads and the first stirrings of punk in the basement bars of New York and Boston to the bluegrass angel Alison Krauss and the adaptable veteran Robert Plant forging a plangent, plaintive postmodern synergy. For each event Alan shows us what it was like to be there and telescopes out to reveal how this show fit into the arc of the artist’s career, the artist’s place in music, and the music’s place in the wider world. Taken together, The Decibel Diaries is a visceral and visionary portrait of nearly fifty years of rock ’n’ roll.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Boston deejay Alan's memoir focuses on his experiences of 50 different rock concerts and their influence on his life. Each episode is meant to bring insight into the artists that have driven American music and culture at different junctures of history. Alan (Radio Free Boston) bore witness to many bands in their prime, including U2 and Pearl Jam. He profiles pivotal concerts in the history of bands such as the Clash, whose first American tour in 1979 is discussed in the book. Alan was present at their show in Harvard Square, where they opened with "I'm So Bored with the U.S.A." He was also lucky enough to see Prince before he became a major star. Alan mostly sets out to communicate his impressions of the artists in the moment, providing matter-of-fact summaries without necessarily knowing for certain that these musicians would eventually become legendary acts. In some key moments, Alan recalls revealing facts about particular artists, such as when Joe Stummer walked around the Harvard Square crowd talking to concertgoers.
