A review by yukbon
Fear of Music by Jonathan Lethem

1.0

Lethem begins by telling you he loves this album and it blew his teenage mind away when he first heard it. He loves it so much, he had to write a book about it. But, not wanting to taint his writing, he's going to cocoon himself away while writing it -- no outside sources, no internet, no interviews, no references, nothing. You get 100% Lethem, 100% of the time. Want to know what the songs are about? Let's hope 16-year-old Lethem knew, otherwise you're S.O.L. Interviews with the band? Nope. Anything from or about Brian Eno? Band members discussing each other? Byrne being dismissive, everyone else bagging on Byrne? Nope. Media interviews? Any word on how the shows went? Radio reception? How did anyone other than Lethem feel about it -- fans, the band, whatever -- at the time, or now with the benefit of time, distance, experience and age? None of this and less is in the fucking book. After reading the book you will know exactly as much about the Heads and "Fear of Music" as you did going in, and a whole lot more than you wanted to about Jon Lethem. It's a shame the book isn't titled "Jonathan Lethem", because the title is misleading as hell. I'd give this book negative stars if I could, so that it took stars away from anyone who struggled their way through it.