Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Introduction 1
4. I. The Glamour of Extremity
5. 1. fairy tales from strangers 21
6. 2. Chinese radiation 35
7. 3. Venus, armed 45
8. 4. American maniacs 55
9. 5. jungle boogie 63
10. 6. Metal-liad 75
11. 7. Smells like . . . 81
12. 8. Vamp 87
13. 9. Screaming target 93
14. 10. Blood poet 102
15. 11. Sympathy for the devils 107
16. 12.“Nebraska” 122
17. 13. Everybody knows this is nowhere 140
18. II. Shoot the Guitar Player
19. 14. Let us now kill white elephants 167
20. 15. Bring me the head of Gordon Sumner 183
21. 16. Dueling cadavers 188
22. 17. Aftermath 197
23. 18. Build me an L.A. woman 203
24. 19. Do the clam 217
25. 20. Reification blues 231
26. 21. Moles on the beach / down in flames 239
27. 22. Mouse trap replica 247
28. 23. Eyewitness news 251
29. 24. Imaginary cities / holiday for strings 256
30. 25. Book of exodus 262
31. 26. Prophecy girls 268
32. 27. Money jungle music 275
33. III. Waterloo Sunset Boulevard
34. 28. Such sweet thunder 283
35. 29. Anatomies of melancholy 291
36. 30. My own private Benjamin 299
37. 31. Blur as genre 305
38. 32. Nice Gesamtkunstwerk if you can get it 311
39. 33. JLG/SS 328
40. 34. Lynch mob 336
41. 35. Flattering the audience 342
42. 36. Savant-idiot, or pull the last train to Dogville 352
43. 37. American daemons 372
44. 38. Wrecked in El Dorado 378
45. 39. Whatever you desire: Movieland and Pornotopia 387
46. 40. Gold diggers of 1935 407
47. 41. Apocrypha now! 413
48. Sources 427
49. Acknowledgments 441
50. Credits 445
51. Index 451