Jittery White Guy Music

Book excerpt: Every rock star seems to have a memoir these days. The first guitar; the drugs and debauchery; the rise, fall, and redemption. But what about the rest of us-the ordinary fans whose own lives were shaped by rock & roll? The passionate listeners who organize the moments of our lives around the albums that happened to be spinning at the time? Marc Fagel shares his own moments: from escaping pre-teen angst with the help of the Who, to spending his teen years buried in the darkest corners of used record stores, gorging on everything from Bowie to the Clash; from carving out his own musical identity in college courtesy of R.E.M. and the Replacements and a shoebox full of Grateful Dead tapes, to still finding room for occasional musical epiphanies as an indie rock-obsessed adult. Your own musical associations undoubtedly differ. But if you, too, have a story for every record that's touched your life; if you view every event as an excuse to throw together the perfect playlist; if you sometimes forget birthdays, but can recall the album that was playing that one night back in high school, hanging out in your friend's basement, dreaming about the future-then you'll see a little of yourself in these pages as well.