How The Left Lost Spirit

by Danny Goldberg
Books/Akashic Books
akashicbooks.com

Who the hell is Danny Goldberg and why should we listen to him? To answer the first question, he’s an all-around big-shot kind of guy, especially in the music industry. Some might remember him as a manager to illustrious bands such as Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and the Beastie Boys. Some others might remember him as President of Atlantic Records, Chairman of Warner Brothers Records, and Chairman of Artemis Records, to list a couple of his former positions off of his impressive resume. Most recently, he was also named CEO of Air America, the liberal radio network that features the likes of Al Franken and Jerry Springer.

Onto the second question: Why should we listen to him? Well, you most likely won’t agree with most of what he says if you’re politically right of Barry Goldwater, definitely not if you’re closer to George W. Bush or Ted Nugent, or God forbid, right of them. If a bit of self-important attitude bothers you a great deal, this book has a potential to annoy the shit out of you. This is, though you may not realize it going in, more or less a memoir with political thoughts and rants thrown in, and he does talk a whole lot about how cool and hip he is. But if you’re a tree-hugging, bleeding-heart, hippie liberal like me, you’ll find yourself nodding to what he says every so often, and the last chapter “To My Fellow Former Hippies” will especially speak to you whether or not you lived through the sixties. On top of that, being an insider to music industry, he’s got quite a few anecdotes about a few famous folks, ranging from Led Zep to Hanson, that you wouldn’t hear anywhere else, and some may think those alone might be worth the cover price.



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