Perfect from Now On How Indie Rock Saved My Life [Paperback]

John Sellers was powerless to resist the call of indie rock -- once he finally heard it. In this hilarious and revealing memoir, Sellers meticulously charts his transformation from a teenage headbanger rebelling against his Dylan-obsessed father to a thirtysomething fixated on the obscure Ohio band Guided By Voices. Along the way, he commemorates the deaths of Ian Curtis and Kurt Cobain, makes a pilgrimage inspired by the Smiths, and riffs on Pavement and the other raucous bands that have ruled college radio since the 1980s. Packed with compulsively constructed lists, ridiculous formulas, and embarrassing confessions, this is a book for anybody who thinks that corporate rock still sucks. I will always know John Sellers as the Donkey Kong champion of the U.S., circa 1982. Why this is not appended to his name every time it is printed is unknown to me. But reading this brilliant, hilarious recalling of how indie music hijacked his life, I realized that Sellers was doing more than playing the game. Even back then, as he navigated Mario up the impossible structure of his yearning, leaping barrel after barrel thrown to him by monstrous fate, Sellers surely was not just showing off. I suspect he was already appreciating how pop culture shapes and soundtracks not only our adolescent passions, but our grown-up lives as well. Shakespeare may have taught us how to be human, but pop culture taught Sellers how to smash every barrel and move on to the next level.

-- John Hodgman, author ofThe Areas of My Expertise Perfect From Now Onis clever and interesting and sincere, and I completely disagree with everything the author says.

-- Chuck Klosterman, author ofSex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs Writing in a style that fuses the parenthetical asides of Nicholson Baker (exemplified by 179 'footnotes') with pop culture and musical insights à la Nick Hornby, [John Sellers] chronicles [his] musical 'origin story'Š[Perfect From Now On]will pl3*