Best Music Writing 2011 Book

Introduction Alex Ross xi

"Beethoven's Kapow" New York Magazine Justin Davidson 1

"Keep Tickin and Tockin Work It All Around the Clock"Exist Yesterday Jonathan Bogart 6

"The Grandest Duke" New York Review of Books Geoffrey O'brien 20

"Growing Up Gaga" New York Magazine Vanessa Grigoriadis 34

"The Mothership, lost in space" Washington Post Chris Richards 53

"Excerpt from How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop" NPR.org Dave Tompkins 61

"Curiosity Slowdown" Frieze Jaceclayton 70

"Meet Your #operaplot 2010 Winners" The Omniscient Mussel Marcia Adair Micaela Baranello Ralph Graves Josiah Gulden James Harrington Bryan Johnson Daniel Kelley Stephen Llewellyn Sam Neuman 74

"A Pop Critic Takes on the Ring: Part 1, Das Rheingold" Los Angeles Times Ann Powers 77

"Word" The New Yorker Kelefa Sanneh 80

"Why We Fight #5: Why Risks are Risky" Pitchfork Media Nitsuh Abebe 92

"Tour Diary Day Four: Rock and Roll is Dead" Amyandronicus.tumblr.com Amy Klein 100

"Jetlagged Manifesto" Think Denk Jeremy Denk 108

"Making Pop for Capitalist Pigs" Chicago Reader Jessica Hopper 115

"The Underground Rises" Frontline's Tehran Bureau Morad Mansouri 119

"Pantha du Prince" Groove Magazine Philip Sherburne 126

"Wormrot, Defeatist, Mutant Supremacy, Psychic Limb and Curandera-October 3rd-The Acheron, Brooklyn" Sunyata: Mindful of Metal Mike Turbe 134

"Giant Steps: The Survival of a Great Jazz Pianist" The New York Times David Hajdu 137

"William and the Science of Global Pop Domination" Rolling Stone Chris Norris 150

"Notes from a Wedding" Washington Post Lauren Wilcox Puchowski 161

"For the Record" Washington Post Jason Cherkis 173

"The Curious Case of Nicki Minaj" Out Caryn Ganz 183

"Gasping, But Somehow Still Alive': The Persistence of Meat Is Murder" Stereogum Drew Daniel 190

"Nashville Skyline: Searching for the Heart of Country CMT News Chetflippo 194

"The Honeymooners" Oxford American Franklin Bruno 197

"The Long War" The New Yorker Sasha Frere-Jones 210

"The 'Thriller' Diaries" Vanity Fair Nancy Griffin 215

"The Runaways: Wild Thing" LA Weekly Evelyn Mcdonnell 237

"The Fun Stuff" The New Yorker James Wood 250

"Direction Nowhere" At Length Nate Chinen 265

"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free: The Secret Diary of Nina Simone" The Believer Joe Hagan 272

"Darkness Invisible" The Threepenny Review Wendy Lesser 291

Other Notable Music Writing of 2010 297

List of Contributors 303

Credits 309