A review by justine014
The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic by Jessica Hopper

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I stumbled upon Jessica Hopper’s essay “Emo: Where the Girls Aren’t” over a decade ago as an angsty teen scrolling a corner of Tumblr that was very much entrenched in the emo scene. I remember trying to shrug it off at as “too much of a downer,” as nearly all of the bands I worshipped at the time were dominated by men. But it continued to fester in the recesses of my mind, and as the years went on, I found myself drawn, mostly organically and occasionally intentionally, more and more to music created by women (or anyone who was not a man). Despite reading more of Jessica’s work over the years, I had nearly forgotten about this essay until I picked up this collection about a month ago, and reading it as an adult I actually don’t think it’s one of her stronger pieces. I found the feature on Warped Tour, which precedes it, to be more detailed and interesting. 

Jessica Hopper is one of, if not the most, thoughtful and empathetic music critics I’ve read. I was engaged even with the works on artists who I don’t particularly follow or care about. It’s clear just how much she truly loves, and believes in, music as a force for and creator of community. I would recommend this to anyone who, like me, is a complete and absolute nerd who lives for understanding every inch of the music scenes they care about.