"There isn't a single section in which his insinuating, conversational style doesn't illuminate his subjects. Kogan writes - and I mean this as a compliment - like a twenty-year-old intoxicated by the reaches of his power to conjure. Every one of REAL PUNKS DON'T WEAR BLACK's chapters is directed at the ideal listener; each awakens us from the torpor of saturation. More music is accessible to us than ever." - Stylus Magazine"One of the greatest books of collected music criticism. Kogan is one of the fiercest and most dependably fascinating cultural theorists working, and he's absolutely on fire when he digs hard into something like the Iggy Pop death-drive in DMX's music or the frantic violence of the Contortions' live shows ... Kogan's starry-eyed idealism and conceptual rigor make him one of the best writers and thinkers in rock criticism." - Pitchfork
"A book that convinced me that reading about pop music can be cooler than actually listening to it ... Kogan isn't so much writing about his time as writing himself into existence through pop. It's a damn fine performance." - Eye Weekly
Check out Frank Kogan's MySpace blog
Read the rolling teenpop thread on ILX - a frequent hangout for Frank
Words and Music and But Is It Garbage?: two more great books about pop music and contemporary culture
