Rock on: An Office Power Ballad Book

Rock On: An office power ballad by Dan Kennedy is an unapologetic Gen-X book about the author's experiences inside a corporate record label that straddles the line between memoir and novel. It is wry, sarcastic, neurotic and self-referential in all the ways that we (as gen-exers and post gen-exers) have come to love in our media. There are lists and side notes on fake bands and real bands and almost-were artists and have-been artists, not to mention the casual references to real public figures and Kennedy's neurotic obsessiveness over how to interact with them.

I loved it. Of course, the fact that I, as a white, suburban thirty-something could trade places with Kennedy and have almost word for word identical reactions to the same situations guarantees that I should love it.

And that is the great conceit and great flaw in the book. Kennedy assumes that we are all as neurotic and cautiously hipster as himself. Some reactions in the book could use more explanation; some set pieces need more definition to be more easily understood by someone who is not in the music business.

Having said that, the book is a lot of fun. There were several laugh-out-loud moments in the story and a lot of insights into corporate culture. Kennedy seems to have taken great pains to squeeze as much story as he could into as few words as possible, making it very fast paced and fun to read.

Recommended for aging thirty-somethings who still wish they could be rock stars.