Rebels and Underdogs: The Story of Ohio Rock and Roll [Hardcover]

From Cleveland to Cincinnati and everywhere in between, Ohio rocks.Rebels and Underdogs: The Story of Ohio Rock and Rolltakes readers behind the scenes to the birth and rise of musical legends like the Black Keys, Nine Inch Nails, Devo, the Breeders, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, and many others who started in garages and bars across Ohio. Through candid first-hand interviews, Garin Pirnia captures new, unheard stories from national legends like the Black Keys and slow-burn local bands like Wussy from Cincinnati. Discover why Greenhornes' members Patrick Keeler and Brian Olive almost killed each other on stage one night, what happened to the pink guitar Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails gave to band member Richard Patrick, why Devo loved the dissonance when they were booed by 400,000 music lovers in England, and so much more! Entertaining, inspiring, and revolutionary,Rebels and Underdogsis the untold story of the bands, the state, and rock itself.

Garin Pirnia was born and raised in the rock and roll city of Dayton, Ohio. She has written about music forRolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Mental Floss, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Paste Magazine,and many more publications. She is the author ofThe Beer Cheese Bookand the screenwriter ofThe Finicky Cat, a short horror comedy, that has won several awards at film fests and screenplay contests. Music, beer cheese, and catsshe does it all.

Jerry Casale (DEVO) probably sums it up best in this book: 'In Ohio, nobody gave a shit.' But around that inversely proud axiom, Garin Pirnia gives it a fine archaeologist's try to plop meat all over the bones of one of rock'n'roll's unsung if inarguably most important locales, just as the genre is looking like a skeleton of its former fame.

Ohio's rock 'n' roll has always sounded like it was made by teenagers stranded in the wasteland, obsessing about music they'd never actually heard, then trying to make it themslR