Rock on: An Office Power Ballad

by Dan Kennedy

Book Overview

How do you land a sweet six-figure marketing gig at the hallowed record label known for having signed everyone from Led Zeppelin to Stone Temple Pilots? You start with a resume like Dan Kennedy's: - Dressed up as a member of Kiss every Halloween - Memorized Led Zeppelin IV at age ten - Fronted a lip-sync band in junior high - Worked as a college DJ while he was a college drop-out In his outrageous memoir, McSweeney's contributor Kennedy chronicles...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565125096
• ISBN13: 9781565125094
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Greatest Book!

Hey this is one funny book! Buy it read it laugh a lot. I loved it and I know next to nothing about music just about nothing about working in an office..and nothing about being a guy. BUT I loved it. Very funny. Very smart writer. !

Hilarious!

I gave this book as a gift, after hearing the author on NPR. The book is really hilarious, and was a big hit as a gift.

Brilliant!

As a 40-year-old white guy who grew up in the suburbs, played in occasional bands, and worked in record and book stores, I was immediately smitten with this book. Fortunately for me, I steered clear of the major label nightmare world that Kennedy hilariously describes, and I'm grateful to him for reassuring me that was a good decision. This book is certainly a must for anyone who's spent time working in the "music biz" but it also should appeal to anyone who's worked in the surreal and maddening world of big corporate America.

No Sympathy for the Record Industry

Very amusing, and worth buying if only for the fantastic description of an Iggy Pop concert, an authentic moment that highlights the inauthenticity and phoniness of the record business Kennedy exposes throughout the rest of the book. The McSweeney's/DF Wallace style may not be to all tastes, but "Rock On" shows why the major labels deserve everything that's happened to them.

Funniest book I've read in a long time

This was hilarious. My favorite lines (out of many): Free lyrics for any all-girl rock band trying to win over the middle-aged white suburban male demographic: I think that's muscle, not fat I think your hair's still rad . . . I think your four-door rocks, I love those sandals with those socks . . . I also thought his "corporate goodbye email never sent" was hysterical. An excerpt: "As we all know, these are challenging times. Not for the mail-order homemade salsa and sauces business (Bob from radio promotions, I think you were right to choose this time to take the leap of faith), but these are certainly challenging times for the record business." If you loved The Office and love music, I highly recommend Rock On.