Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey In Rural North Dakota

By Chuck Klosterman

The year is 1983, and Chuck Klosterman just wants to rock. But he's got problems. For one, he's in the fifth grade. For another, he lives in rural North Dakota. Worst of all, his parents aren't exactly down with the long hairstyle which rocking requires. Luckily, his brother saves the day when he brings home a bit of manna from metal heaven, SHOUT AT THE DEVIL, Motley Crue's seminal paean to hair-band excess. And so Klosterman's twisted odyssey begins, a journey spent worshipping at the heavy metal altar of Poison, Lita Ford and Guns N' Roses.

In the hilarious, young-man-growing-up-with-a-soundtrack-tradition, FARGO ROCK CITY chronicles Klosterman's formative years through the lens of heavy metal, the irony-deficient genre that, for better or worse, dominated the pop charts throughout the 1980s. For readers of Dave Eggers, Lester Bangs, and Nick Hornby, Klosterman delivers all the goods: from his first dance (with a girl) and his eye-opening trip to Mandan with the debate team; to his list of 'essential' albums; and his thoughtful analysis of the similarities between Guns 'n' Roses' 'Lies' and the gospels of the New Testament.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Dec 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781471104503

Chuck Klosterman

Chuck Klosterman is the bestselling author of many books of nonfiction (including The Nineties, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, I Wear the Black Hat, and But What If We're Wrong?) and fiction (Downtown Owl, The Visible Man, and Raised in Captivity). He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Esquire, Spin, The Guardian, The Believer, Billboard, The A.V. Club, and ESPN. Klosterman served as the Ethicist for The New York Times Magazine for three years, and was an original founder of the website Grantland with Bill Simmons. 

Reviews for Fargo Rock City

[murphyjesus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Klosterman likes to hear himself talk, but it's less annoying in this book.

[naleagdeco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Confirms that I very very much enjoy Klosterman's writing style and dialectic technique.

The subject matter was less difficult for me to grasp than the other work of his that I've read, but I'm now more interested in checkout the Crue and Warrant than I've ever before been.

Doubt I'd ever buy the artists in question, but I have a new arsenal for thinking about the songs that were near and dear to my teenage heart.

[stephenbarkley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I resonate with Klosterman's musical obsession despite being one generation removed. Sure, he's only two years older than me, but when he was listening to Mötley Crüe, I was into Michael W. Smith. It wasn't until the early 90s that I started obsessing over albums and liner notes.In Fargo Rock City, Klosterman pays tribute to the genre he loves—lovingly called "hair metal" today. The narrative is a trip through musical and personal landmarks that defined the pre-grunge era.Klosterman's penchant for ridiculous arguments is on full display in this critical tour of 1980s heavy metal. He also makes a surprising number of astute musical observations. (For example, he presents an unorthodox yet logical argument for why Bush signalled the death of Grunge.)If you long for the days of Def Leppard, Poison, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, and especially G'n'R, this book is for you.

[rockstarninja_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There is just something about Chuck Klosterman that I just get. Of course I have to preface this review by saying I am a huge rock fan, Motley Crue in particular, and of my top 3 favorite bands of all time 2 are classic glam rock acts, the aforementioned Crue, Bon Jovi, and a band that I actually categorize in the truest sense of that era Hinder. Anyway, I've actually read a few of Mr. Klosterman's books and each one is always better than the last, maybe because there's usually a few years between each book reading, but they are always highly entertaining, and almost always either confirm, or at the very least, give me some new insight on whatever it is he was writing about at the time.Fargo Rock City begins with Chuck when he first learns about Motley Crue and then continues to tell how metal music (and all it's incarnations, glam-, speed-, etc.) effected his life, and gives (sometimes) answers to how and why people love, hate, and say they hate but secretly love, metal. The first half of the book I was literally cracking up the entire time I was reading. The second half got a little deeper, with him going into the images rock stars portray and how they affected him, particularly his alcoholism. The whole book is entirely readable and if you are a fan of metal, or even a fan of music history/sociology I would get a copy and read it immediately. If for mo other reason it's just hilarious.

[pbirch01 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great book about music, but would have been better as a blog. I enjoyed reading about the different bands, songs and videos and had to repeatedly put the book down and go listen to the song online. A blog with embedded mp3s and videos over a year would be an excellent way to read this book. That being said, it was thoroughly enjoyable and pretty funny as well. Klosterman is excellent at cutting through hype and delivering a well-balanced, if slightly biased review of pop culture. I highly recommend his other books as well.

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not as good as Hidden Talents, but still good. Written for a slightly older audience, too - more real threats, not kid threats (death or slavery rather than expulsion or shaming). Graphics less interesting and less useful, though.

[dvf1976 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Solid, but not as good as his other books.I liked his comparison of Heavy Metal and Pro Wrestling... (as well as his analysis of Ted Nugent fans)

[fantasmogirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All I can say is Klosterman can virtually do no wrong. Being from a small, midwestern town full of people who couldn't remotely grasp my love of all things metal---I laughed outloud with fond memories in commiseration.