UW-Eau Claire graduate Steven Hyden’s first book, Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me: What Pop Music Rivalries Reveal About the Meaning of Life, is an extensive collection of music-related essays that span genres and decades. This Appleton native, who has written for Rolling Stone, Slate, and salon.com, has taken his music journalism to long form in a narrative critique that takes on some of the most renowned pop music rivalries. This far-reaching chronicle, which moves fluidly from Biggie to Sinead O’Connor, is much more than a lyrical journey through time. In addition, Your Favorite Band is Killing Me is a reflective contemplation about how music speaks to us and what our musical preferences say about who we are as individuals.
Original and thought-provoking, Hyden’s writing combines pop psychology with jaw-dropping personal lessons and compelling music history. Whether you opt for The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, Prince or The King of Pop, Hyden’s arguments reveal the deep and lasting power of music. Each chapter in this fascinating record takes a comprehensive look at famous rivalries—Taylor Swift/Kayne West, Madonna/Cyndi Lauper, among many other classic divisive duos—as well as what these pairings (and our preferences) say about our society, our personal identities and our collective past. A deep and musing narrative, Your Favorite Band is Killing Me is a well-written and insightful cultural criticism that is destined to produce both passionate debates and fierce loyalty in music fans.
Hyden will appear 7 p.m. on Friday, June 24 at the Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave., for an event co-sponsored by Boswell Book Co.
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