Hang the DJ

Book excerpt: The literary equivalent of a great dive bar jukebox--inspiring, provocative, irresistible, and the perfect gift for all music lovers. At the heart of all music fetishes, there are lists: ten essential female murder ballads, ten unsettling songs for a midwestern white guy to wake to from a coma, ten smutty Bob Dylan moments, and of course the ever-popular staple of all music lists (and listeners)--ten best breakup songs. Hang the DJ compiles what contributors might once have scribbled in the back of their textbooks or school folders, when they--like all of us at one point--were absolutely sure that they alone were the sole guardians of Musical Truth; that Sparks' number two hit, "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us," really should have made it to the number one spot, that Gary Numan was merely a misshapen progeny of Bowie's Thin White Duke persona, that female singer-songwriters are better than their male equivalents. Mixing anecdote, humor, reference, and sheer dorkiness--but with the bizarre insight of an anthropological study in pop-culture protocol--Hang the DJ is a collection of lists about musical loves, hates, dreams, and nightmares from music-lovers such as Rick Moody, Jonathan Lethem, Simon Reynolds, Ali Smith, Amanda Petrusich, and many other bloggers, journalists, novelists, poets, and musicians.