SPIN: 20 Years of Alternative Music: Original Writing on Rock, Hip-Hop, Techno and Beyond

For a magazine founded to cover the artists that Rolling Stone neglects, SPIN’s retrospective book surprisingly praises many mainstream artists. Rather than the title of SPIN: 20 Years of Alternative Music: Original Writing on Rock, Hip-Hop, Techno and Beyond, the book may be better named SPIN: 20 Years of Influential Music and Some Other Stuff Our Writers Really Like. Either way, the title’s too bloody long.

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Beginning with R.E.M.’s indie-rock model and ending with the White Stripes ushering in the return to rock, 45 chapters create a rough timeline of the history of music since SPIN began in 1985. Though the book sounds hefty, the three- to six-page chapters consist of new, up-to-date essays and massive photos, as well as various lists, article snippets, and CD reviews that previously ran in the magazine. The essays — written primarily by SPIN’s big dogs Sia Michel, Will Hermes and Chuck Klosterman — offer crash courses in genres and help put musical movements and icons into perspective for the casual fan. The music nerds, however, will get more enjoyment out of old SPIN material, like the letter to the editor that blasts the mag for choosing the Beastie Boys as its first hip-hop cover instead of a black artist.

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In general, the hip-hop coverage is where the books slips most from its “alternative” stance, which, admittedly, gets tricky to define. Many musical movements — the synth-pop of Depeche Mode, the grunge of Nirvana — became so influential or profitable that the mainstream usurped them. Gangsta-rap pioneers N.W.A. earned a chapter when the group helped show that the West Coast’s brand of thug rap was every bit as important as New York’s. But by the time Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. stepped on the scene, the rappers chose sides in the West Coast/East Coast beef and enjoyed most of their careers with heavy-rotation video and radio play. They weren’t so much pioneers as innovators — ditto for Eminem, also discussed in his own chapter.

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While some subjects are debatable in alt-value, others just break from the theme completely. The sore thumb is a lengthy bit on teen movies. It would almost work if just once the chapter referenced the ever-growing importance of soundtracks, or for that matter, mentioned soundtracks at all.

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A few liberties with “alternative music” aside, the book still offers a valuable overview of the last 20 years of music and some pop culture in short, digestible segments, like an encyclopedia with a sarcastic sense of humor.