Mouthing Off

by John D. Luerssen

The Telegraph Company

 
Back when I used to manage a bookstore, one of the most fun and challenging parts of my job was finding new books to turn into hot sellers by making them impulse items – something catchy, fun, and light to display at the cash register that will catch people’s eye and inspire them to throw one more book on their stack of purchases. I was pretty darn good at it, too. And John D. Luerssen’s Mouthing Off is exactly the kind of book that would have got a prominent display at the register in my store.

Subtitled “A Book of Rock & Roll Quotes,” Mouthing Off is less of a Bartlett’s Familiar Rock Quotations and more of a Rock Stars Say the Darndest Things. Compiled from years of interviews from a variety of sources (where’s Ink 19?), Luerssen takes comments from the deep to the banal and groups them into cleverly-titled chapters (for a few examples: the sex chapter is titled “Orgasm Addicts,” the influences chapter is “Kill Yr Idols,” and the chapter on what artists think people think of them is “The Impression That I Get”).

This is a breezy little book that’s ideal for coffee-table conversation starting and bathroom reading. The quotes assembled are funny, wisened, sad, deep, and even stupid -- but always interesting -- and the book is nicely dressed up with photos of the quoted (some of whom probably merit their own quote books; hell, I’d be first in line for The Quotable Mojo Nixon). Mouthing Off is a great addition to the library of any music fan, and should be a surefire hit. Mr. Luerssen, when you do Volume Two, you should drop us a line at Ink 19 – we can give you some great material…

The Telegraph Company: http://www.thetelegraphcompany.com

Julio Diaz