Words and Music, A History of Pop in the Shape of a City - Paul Morley

On the one hand this is an exasperating and pretentious load of old twaddle. Morley looks at the history of pop by writing a fantasy about Kylie Minogue driving a cybercar to a virtual city and meeting John Cage....oh God, I can't go on. This twaddle takes up most of the book and much of the rest is taken up by pointless lists. As for the omissions, his lists tend to run from Debussy to Cage to Eno to Aphex Twin, thereby missing any music that can be said to have originated with Leadbelly, Cole Porter, Gershwin, Hank Williams or whatever.

It's maddening stuff to read, but there are glimpses of brilliance when he slags off The Strokes or Simon & Garfunkel, or eulogises Kraftwerk. Unfortunately, the good bits just make the majority of the book that much more annoying.