Da Capo Best Music Writing 2000: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Pop, Jazz, Country and More

Like the teen pop stars who dominate the airwaves, a lot of today's music journalism really can't sing--much less bring an audience to its knees with revelations. Blame it on corporations, commercials or MTV, but the sad fact is that the multi-octave feature--what Guralnick (Last Train to Memphis, etc.) calls ""the long-form story""--is headed for that library in the sky. However, the first edition of Da Capo's Best Music Writing series proves that it isn't going without a fight. Not surprisingly, hip-hop, the youngest popular music genre, generates the choicest copy. In ""Hip Hop High,"" David Samuels charts the making of teen rapper Lady Luck with a short story writer's omniscient eye. On the flip side, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds profiles hip-hop bad boy and mogul Sean ""Puffy"" Combs. With simple sentences, well-timed fragments and direct quotes, Hinds makes Combs likable--no small feat. Considering teen pop's ubiquitous presence, it's odd (but oddly satisfying) that no paeans to Britney, Christina, Mandy or Jessica made the cut; however, Guralnick addresses teen pop's snot-nosed brother, rap-rock, with David Moodie and Maureen Callahan's behind-the-latrines look at Woodstock '99. Given Guralnick's notoriety and the recent release of Cameron Crowe's cinematic autobiography of his own years as a teen rock journalist, Almost Famous, this anthology has a better chance than most of making a commercial dent. More likely, however, it will end up only on the night tables of Lester Bangs's spiritual children. (Nov.)