Kyle Anderson

"The sad fact is that much of the music has aged quite poorly," declares the assistant editor of Spin, Kyle Anderson. Grunge, the groaning soundtrack to the cultural malaise of the '90s, gets a good, well-deserved kick in its slacker ass as the star of the book Accidental Revolution. In an often humorous look at the Northwest origins through the Creed-led funeral of the despondent genre, the author isn't mocking it, just stating the facts as perceived a sobering 16 years after the flannel-clad year of Nirvana's apex. Most of the book lives in the early '90s, but Anderson also examines the underground roots of the Seattle-based founders and the scene's inevitable cross-fertilization from punk and metal. He makes special mention of Athens' R.E.M. – not as grunge heroes, of course, but as a successful conduit for the do-it-yourself mantra that empowered the whole, careening indie movement. 4 stars