Table Of Contents:
Preface 15(6)
Acknowledgments 21(2)
Introduction: Falling Into Place 23(6)

Peter Guralnick
1. DEFINITION OF TERMS

``What we talk about when we talk about rock and roll.'' 29(2)

Bringing It All Back Home 31(2)

Bob Dylan

In Me Around Me and Everywhere 33(2)

Irvine Welsh

Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy 35(8)

Pete Townshend

Looter 43(4)

Nick Hornby

A World Worthy of Our Yearning 47(1)

Salman Rushdie

And If It Dances 48(3)

Levon Helm

Martin Scorsese

Robbie Robertson
2. ANCESTORS

``Jerry Lee... beat the boogie so hard that there was nothing left of the hymn, nothing but the sounds of the Holy Ghost.'' 49(2)

From the Introduction to The Sound of the City 51(1)

Charlie Gillett

Me and the Devil 52(2)

Robert Johnson

The Land Where the Blues Began 54(4)

Alan Lomax

Blind Willie McTell 58(2)

Bob Dylan

From the Delta to Chicago 60(8)

Robert Palmer

The Myth of Staggerlee 68(16)

Greil Marcus

King of the Delta Blues 84(7)

James Miller

Jerry Lee Lewis Sees the Bright Lights of Dallas 91(2)

Nick Tosches

Fats 93(7)

Grace Lichtenstein

Laura Dankner

Up Against the Wall with Little Richard 100(2)

Bumps Blackwell

706 Union Avenue 102(6)

Colin Escott

Martin Hawkins

The Five Styles of Rock'n'Roll 108(13)

Charlie Gillett
3. SUPERSTARDOM

``We sing the guitar electric.'' 119(2)

Do You Remember? 121(2)

Brian Wilson

Elvis, Scotty, and Bill 123(12)

Peter Guralnick

Got to Be Rock and Roll Music 135(6)

Chuck Berry

The Godfather of Soul 141(7)

Nelson George

A Good Stomping Band 148(9)

Philip Norman

Words to the Wild 157(3)

Tom Wolfe

dog dream 160(2)

Patti Smith

Hendrix in Black and White 162(6)

Charles Shaar Murray

These Are the Good Old Days 168(4)

Joel Selvin

Next Year in San Francisco 172(5)

Richard Goldstein

Return of the King 177(10)

Peter Guralnick

Riding the Lapping Tongue 187(10)

Terry Southern

I Dreamed I Was Onstage with Kiss in My Maidenform Bra 197(11)

Jaan Uhelszki

Worth Dying For 208(1)

Bob Marley

Timothy White

A Life at the Crossroads 209(12)

Anthony DeCurtis

I Wanna Know if Love Is Real 221(10)

Dave Marsh

Primadonna 231(5)

Joyce Millman

Precious Oddball 236(2)

Jon Pareles

Articulate Speech of the Heart 238(5)

Gavin Martin
4. WEIRDNESS

``Fame requires every kind of excess.'' 241(2)

Testimony in the Payola Hearings 243(6)

Mae Boren Axton

The Plane Crash 249(1)

Unknown

A Fool in Love 250(9)

Tina Turner

Kurt Loder

Merchants of Filth 259(8)

Dave Marsh

More Popular Than Jesus 267(6)

Maureen Cleave

Inflatable Phil 273(7)

Ronnie Spector

Vince Waldron

Altamont 280(14)

Stanley Booth

Gear 294(5)

Richard Goldstein

Every Inch of My Love 299(7)

Pamela Des Barres

Free of Old Saints and Martyrs 306(6)

Don DeLillo

The Ballad of John and Yoko 312(4)

John Lennon

Ruined for Life 316(11)

Jon Savage

Rock and Roll Tragedy 327(3)

Robert McG. Thomas, Jr.

Fed by Things We Hate 330(7)

William S. Burroughs

Devo

Statement to the Senate Commerce Committee 337(7)

Frank Zappa

Strangelove 344(14)

Lynn Hirschberg

Our Little Satan 358(7)

Jeffrey Rotter
5. PRESENT AT THE CREATION

``The tape is going and that is Bob fucking Dylan over there singing, so this had better be me sitting here playing something.'' 363(2)

Treatise on the Blues 365(3)

Doc Pomus

The T.A.M.I. Show 368(4)

James Brown

Bruce Tucker

Rise of the Sacred Monsters 372(12)

Patti Smith

How Does It Feel? 384(3)

Al Kooper

Ben Edmonds

A Teen-age Hymn to God 387(13)

Jules Siegel

Waiting for Morrison 400(4)

Joan Didion

Woodstock Nation 404(11)

Bill Graham

Robert Greenfield

Video Pioneer 415(4)

Michael Lindsay-Hogg

The Load-Out 419(2)

Jackson Browne

Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night 421(20)

Nik Cohn

Punk Apostles 441(17)

Legs McNeil

Gillian McCain

Integrating MTV 458(7)

Tom McGrath

Licensed to Download 465(6)

Jason Gross
6. SOUL

``Unless my body reaches a certain temperature, starts to liquefy, I just don't feel right.'' 469(2)

Girl Groups 471(8)

Lucy O'Brien

A Change Is Gonna Come 479(8)

Daniel Wolff

Life According to Motown 487(1)

Patricia Smith

Otis Redding, King of Them All 488(6)

Jon Landau

Dan and Spooner 494(9)

Robert Gordon

The Queen of Soul 503(8)

Jerry Wexler

David Ritz

Soul Men 511(5)

Gerri Hirshey

The Commitments 516(13)

Roddy Doyle

What's Going On 529(8)

David Ritz

The Mothership Connection 537(6)

Rickey Vincent

My Father Named me Prince 543(5)

Michael Gonzales

Hip-Hop Defined 548(7)

Greg Tate
7. CRITICS

``In the twentieth century, that's all there is: jazz and rock-and-roll.'' 553(2)

Little Willie John 555(6)

Joe McEwen

Rock Lyrics Are Poetry (Maybe) 561(7)

Robert Christgau

All Along the Watchtower 568(2)

Paul Williams

Reviews of After the Goldrush and Live Dead 570(5)

J.R. Young

Of Cock Rock Kings and Other Dinosaurs 575(4)

Cintra Wilson

Inside the Cages of the Zoo 579(7)

Ellen Sander

The Delicacy of Rock and Roll 586(5)

Dave Hickey

Fanzine 591(5)

Jeff Gomez

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung 596(17)

Lester Bangs
8. TRIBUTES

``Because when he was alive, he could not walk, but now he is walking with God.'' 611(2)

Saving Jimi 613(10)

Lewis Shiner

Where Were You When Elvis Died? 623(5)

Lester Bangs

Statement to the Press 628(1)

Yoko Ono

More than ``The Piano Player'' 629(6)

Joel Selvin

Kurt Cobain's Road from Nowhere 635(5)

Mikal Gilmore

Save the Last Dance for Me 640(5)

Phil Spector
Credits 645(8)
Index 653