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Rockin' Down The Highway
The Cars And People That Made Rock Roll
©2006 Paul Grushkin
MBI Publishing Company
240 pages Hardcover
This is a love affair with music and a love affair with the automobile, it's American of course but then here in Australia we have been influenced far more by American music than any other - with a few notable exceptions, of course - and our motoring history since WWII has been largely built on the American dream.
Despite it's inherent Americanism, see if this applies to you, "Americans have peculiar fascinations with travel and mobility ...and a long and abiding interest in the tools that offer protection from the outside and comfort on the inside while en route ...stagecoaches, Model T Fords, Dodge Daytonas, custom motor homes (in our case - caravans), rock music on the car stereo (which [outside] keeps the world at bay and [inside] soothes the soul)..." Check out chapter five for more: A Day In The Life, Reality and Metaphor.
Grushkin intertwines the automobile and music as two streams running into one lifeblood, sharing his views and memorabilia to entertain us on a 60 year journey.
What does this book have to do with drag racing? Directly speaking, nothin'. Music though, is one of those things that helps place us in time and colours our memories.
I can remember one night driving back to Sydney from the south coast through the early hours because of what I was listening to. I can also remember why I was there at that time and what I did when I arrived home - now ask me about the night before or, for that matter, the night after... wouldn't have a clue, mustn't have had the music on! What about you?
The book is literally packed to the rafters with rock music memorabilia. I realise we could get into long futile discussions about this music and that music, defining and re-defining it into little boxes and perhaps you the reader should, because this book is definitely a party animal. I know at least one person who could turn this into a year of trivia nights.
If you're under thirty this book will give you a mirror into your parent's past (and might explain a few things for you), if you're over thirty it's an amazing journey you will want to re-live again and again.
John Lennon rubs shoulders with Elvis, Bruce Springsteen with Bob Marley, Howlin Wolf with Jackson Browne and Bill Hayley with the Beach Boys. I doubt you will ever see a bill like this. As a style manual for the times, both for music and the automobile the collection of material here would be very hard to beat. You will also be surprised I'm sure to find out which rock star owns, or has at one time owned, what car!
Grushkin's text builds on this legacy of music and car, the lifeblood of youth through the years expressing love, emotion, and excitement, constantly bringing out the unshakeable bond the automobile has had throughout those years with music. Hell, there's even a cop-out discussion on Jazz, Pop and Hip-Hop (A Trunk Holds Six bodies If You Stack 'Em Right).
There are quite a few good motoring books on the market at present but this is a standout, even though it's out of left field, this one is a big value-for-money gem.
Review: Dan Burke, DRAGSTER Australia Magazine
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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