Rob Sheffield is the best. He is clever, funny, and loves music. I mean he LOVES music. “Music isn’t an accessory to a lifestyle – it’s part of a life.” His music nerdiness transcends anything that mere mortals would even begin to dream about which is awesome. A longtime Rolling Stone writer, Sheffield has been a favorite of mine for over 20 years. His ability to interject song lyrics into his writing (see special quote section below) is brilliant and his reviews of artists and albums are always entertaining. Although I’ve read countless Sheffield articles, I’ve only read two books: Love Is A Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time (2007) and, most recently, Turn Around Bright Eyes: A Karaoke Journey of Starting Over, Falling in Love, and Finding Your Voice.
Love Is A Mix Tape is a horrifying account of Sheffield’s young wife Renee dying out of nowhere of a pulmonary embolism. He courageously tells their tale of love through music – more specifically, various mix tapes. While the story is beautifully written, it was difficult to read because that kind of loss is absolutely unfathomable. Turn Around Bright Eyes, on the other hand, is the author’s brave history of getting through his grief and finding new love – while singing karaoke. “Music responds to a lot of human needs, but one of those is public communication – feeling like you’re part of an audience, connected with other people who care about the same things.” His ability to tell the world how he picked himself up and eventually opened himself up again, all while analyzing why karaoke helped save him and which songs he sings for certain reasons/occasions, is a pleasure to read. As always, Sheffield’s writing is raw, real, and packs a punch.
Out of the gate, chapter one, nine pages in: the author actually makes me care about karaoke. That’s how good he is. Similar to Sheffield, I love music but can’t sing. Unlike the author, I’m way too embarrassed to do karaoke. He isn’t and I love that. In fact, early on in the book he states: “If you’re someone like me, a fan who loves music but could never hack it as a musician, karaoke changes everything.” Towards the end of the book, he states what we already know: “As you can probably guess, I do not embarrass easily…It’s a flaw in many ways, but it does help with the sangfroid required for karaoke.” It sure does! I don’t have the guts to sing in front of people in any capacity but he does – and that is a superpower in and of itself.
But this book is only about karaoke to a degree. Although karaoke serves as the framework, the book is a memoir. In addition to talking about being a widower, Sheffield writes about his parents, his sisters, his work, and, of course, Ally. While discussing all these topics, and his love of music in general, he seamlessly goes back and forth between depicting exactly how his heartbreak changed the trajectory of his life and analyzing a variety of singers, bands, and their songs. He makes it very clear that he loves Morrissey, Bon Jovi, The Beatles and Depeche Mode, but thinks Rod Stewart is the biggest sellout. “His most famous hit, ‘Maggie May,’ sounded like he dug it out of a trunk in the attic.” That entire chapter is hilarious.
Another hilarious chapter of Turn Around Bright Eyes is chapter 13, during which Sheffield details his Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp experience. It’s one of my favorite chapters for several reasons – the first of which being that Rock & Roll Fantasy is such a ridiculous concept: random people from all over the country pay big bucks to mingle with strangers for a week and play songs together as part of several different bands at the helm of rock stars. It’s insane. I could write an entire review of just that chapter so I’m not going to get into all the people he meets, the tambourine he plays, and the musicians he deals with – all for a Rolling Stone article that never comes to fruition. If you read nothing else in this book, please read chapter 13. “For a few hours, the torments of our hearts are explained by the gospel of rock & roll. Every cowboy sings a sad, sad song.” It’s so good.
Back to Sheffield’s writing – which is sarcastic, self-aware, and hysterical. As I said, he does an excellent job of going back and forth between talking about his life and karaoke. When he makes the declaration that “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Livin’ on a Prayer” are the two most popular karaoke songs (accurate) he also points out that “the karaoke state of mind is so perfectly encapsulated in these twin apostrophe-abusin’ anthems” which made me laugh out loud. And then he mentions that, over the many years he’s being interviewing musicians for Rolling Stone, one of his go-to questions is asking the interviewee about their favorite karaoke song. He explains that “nobody ever has to think about [their answer]” which I find fascinating.
While analyzing the history of karaoke, the author makes several interesting points: 1) There is not any forum like karaoke in our culture. 2) “There is simply no other American ritual that rewards people for doing things they suck at doing.” 3) Karaoke really gained popularity in the early 2000s on the heels of the decline of radio and MTV. 4) “There’s no way to age out of karaoke. It doesn’t recognize time or history.” 5) Karaoke gives participants the opportunity to listen as well as sing. That last point may sound obvious but it caught my attention because, even if we sing along, seeing live music is more about listening and watching the performance than singing.
Sheffield isn’t joking when it comes to karaoke – it’s sacred to him – and he reminds the reader that “nothing expresses joy like singing together.” I can relate to that sentiment even though I’m HORRIBLE at it. He adds, “Once you’re in, you’re in for the night. You follow the song all the way to the other side.” But it’s when he talks about singing with Ally that the reader feels his deep emotion. He’s very transparent about finding love with her and how much she means to him. “It’s a lot more fun with two of us. Before I met her, I was working hard on learning how to open up and sing my life. But singing our life is better.” Ultimately that is what Turn Around Bright Eyes is about – Sheffield’s redemption and happiness with Ally. There is no questions that his ability to talk about relationships through music is what I love most about his writing.
Sentences that namecheck song lyrics:
“But hey – it’s Saturday night, so I guess that makes it all right.”
“Dearly beloved, we have so totally gathered here today.”
“Is this thing on? Good. Because I am. We’re here to sing. Every now and then we come together. Every now and then I fall apart.”
“I distrust grace when it’s amazing.”
“We’re all just strangers wandering through the night, with nothing except the song to bring us together. But we’ve got each other, and that’s a lot.”
“He’s good, which is why we’re all broke and he’s so paid.”
“My rebel yell can’t be stopped: You give me the midnight hour, I’ll give you the mo-mo-mo.”
“When I’m stuck in traffic, I’m John Bonham thumping out ‘Good Times, Bad Times’ on the dashboard. I’ve seen a million faces, and I’ve rocked them all.”
Quotes:
“This room was obviously decorated by a color-blind stripper in 1982.”
“Tacos will grow on Christmas trees before I learn to carry a tune.”
“When you chew your way out of a steel trap, you don’t return for a receipt.”
“The song didn’t have any answers. But the way everybody sang along – it felt like maybe there were some answers in there somewhere.”
‘‘Barracuda’ will always be my third-favorite Heart song. I have nothing against sharks at all. My soft-on-shark credentials are solid.”
“I already knew I impressed my mom. She’s not shy. She had loved me fiercely my whole life and she never let me (or anyone else in earshot) forget it.”
“You better watch what you sing, if you don’t want to sing it for the rest of your life.”
“Somewhere along the line, deep into my thirties, I grew up into an adult who cared a lot less about what was fair to fucking say.”
“Rush are easily, beyond any rational dispute, the most intensely despised rock band who ever existed.” (YES!)
In the Acknowledgments section, Sheffield thanks fellow writer Chuck Klosterman (of course they are friends!) who he says “beats the drums of my brainpan like Alex Van Halen attacking a flaming gong.”
Leave a Reply