RJ Wheaton

Trip-Hop by RJ Wheaton is part of a 33 1/3 series that looks at musical genres, written primarily as an intro for those either unfamiliar or just becoming familiar with them. This volume does an excellent job of presenting trip-hop so people can understand the cultural environment when the term was coined as well as how well the term does or does not fit the music.

Like many people who were at least in their mid-teens, and I was well past that age, during the 90s, this music will either bring back fond memories of great songs or the shudder that comes from remembering an unappealing label given to often only loosely connected artists and styles. While this wasn't necessarily my go-to genre at the time, I listened to a lot of this and enjoyed it enough to buy quite a few of the albums (yes, I'm old enough to call anything that isn't a single an album). So that is some idea where I came to this book from.

Because I tend to listen to lots of different types of music, I often don't pay attention to labels that start making subtle differentiations. It isn't that I don't think many of them work and are valid, just that I don't care when it comes to me deciding what to listen to or buy. To go back to my youth for an example, the lines were very blurred between folk rock, singer-songwriter, country rock, easy rock. The first few Eagles albums, JD Souther, James Taylor, etc could be classified as at least two of them at any time. So they meant nothing to me as a listener.

Having said all that, I absolutely love learning about why and how these genres (sub-genres?) came to be, what their characteristics are, and, I think quite importantly, who created the name (artists, fans, marketing people, record execs?). This volume goes a long way toward answering these questions, showing what these artists and their music had in common as well as how the term wasn't entirely embraced or even completely accurate.

While I definitely enjoyed learning about the stories behind the name and the music, I also have to admit to just having a great time revisiting these songs. This was as much a trip down memory lane for me as it was a learning experience.

Highly recommended for those interested in learning more about how we classify music, rightly or wrongly, as well as those simply curious about what falls into this strange sounding (the name, not the music) genre. And, of course, anyone who remembers this music fondly will enjoy the nostalgic aspect.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (plus d'informations)