Description
"For more than thirty years, David Hajdu has been a leading music and comics critic, weighing in on a range of artists both past and present from a variety of different genres. His infatuation with music began as an aspiring rocker growing up in suburban New Jersey and took on new life when he moved to New York City in the mid-1970s and saw bands like the Talking Heads at CBGB's as well as being introduced to the city's vibrant jazz scene. His love of music has gone hand-in-hand with his infatuation with comics. In The Night Before, Hajdu invites readers to rethink the music and careers of musicians as well as the artists and their works that have mesmerized and inspired him. In addition to capturing the depth and emotional intensity of the works of musicians and artists, Hajdu's critical and personal essays explore the shifting dynamics, as seen through music and comics, between what used to be thought of as high and low culture and the changing relationships of power and influence between schools of music and art we think of as popular or serious, junky or of value. He considers the fluidity of status among artists who earn recognition for challenging convention as cultural outsiders only to find themselves exalted as insiders. Throughout the book, Hajdu follows his nose through his ears and eyes, taking in a wide range of forms of music, as well as comics. Subjects include Bob Dylan's exploration of authorship; the enduring legacies of Billie Holiday; Ornette Coleman's musical philosophy; The Talking Heads and the NYC's 1970s music scene; Billie Eilish's exploration of isolation and vulnerability; and the works of comics authors Roz Chast, Daniel Clowes, Adrian Tomine, and others"-- Provided by publisher.
