Thomson, Graeme

New York. 2008. August 2008. Continuum. Advance Reading Copy. Very Good in Slightly Worn Wrappers. 0826428578. 236 pages. paperback. keywords: Music. FROM THE PUBLISHER - ‘Death music' is not merely a byword for bookish solemnity, or the glorification of murder, drugs and guns. Over the course of the last hundred years it has also been about teenage girls weeping over their high school boyfriend's fatal car wreck; natural disasters sweeping whole communities away; the ever-evolving threat of disease: changing attitudes to old age; exhortations to suicide; the perfect playlist for a funeral; and the thorny question of what happens after the fat lady ceases to sing. Which means that for every `Black Angel's Death Song' there is a ‘Candle In the Wind,' and for every ‘Cop Killer' there is ‘The Living Years.' Death, like music, is a unifying force. There is something for every taste and inclination, from murderous vengeance to camp sentimentality and everything in between. Drawing upon original and unique interviews with artists such as Mick Jagger, Richard Thompson, Nick Cave and Will Oldham among many others, I SHOT A MAN IN RENO explores how popular music deals - and has dealt - with death, and how it documents the changing reality of what death means as one grows older. It's as transfixing as a train wreck, and you won't be able to put it down. As an Epilogue, I SHOT A MAN IN RENO presents the reader with the 40 Greatest Death Songs of all time, complete with a brief rationale for each, acting as a primer for the morbidly curious listener. inventory #36781 ISBN: 0826428578.