So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star

April 26, 2004
Slichter's bittersweet recollections of Semisonic's rise from unassuming Minnesota trio to international rock stars navigates through the strange and uncomfortable worlds of the music business, fame and constant worry. Taken from his tour journals as the band's drummer, Slichter's insights alternate between funny and poignant as they peel back the curtain on a lifestyle that most people consider luxurious and carefree, but that is actually mentally and physically taxing. Slichter quickly learns that all the bills, from dinner to the cost of making a record, go to the artist while most of the profits go to the record label. He also finds out that the existence of profits depends on the suits at the record company picking the right song to release, a fickle radio station program director deciding to play it and MTV deeming the video cool enough to air. All this pressure to simultaneously create music and make business decisions takes such a toll on Slichter that he becomes more focused on album sales than on the fun of playing drums. Even when the band does hit it big with "Closing Time" and their 15 minutes of fame start ticking away, Slichter and his band mates Dan Wilson and John Munson never seem at home in the spotlight. But Slichter's uneasiness makes for interesting tales, like being starstruck at the Grammys or his lacking the ability to rein in his celebrity personality, which causes him to talk in sound bites. Thanks to Slichter's good-natured presentation, these stories and Slichter's work as a whole, despite their rock star origins, are surprisingly easy to relate to. Agent, Daniel Greenberg.

June 15, 2004
Slichter is the drummer of Semisonic, a marginally successful 1990s alt-rock band from Minneapolis that mined a hit with the late-night anthem "Closing Time." Considering Slichter's relative anonymity, one has to wonder how he got a deal to publish these road diaries-no doubt his Harvard education and stint reading them on NPR's Morning Edition helped. Ultimately, the drummer's recollections of life in the music biz are far more interesting than his band ever was. With conversational ease, Slichter details the scary side of rock semistardom, freely recounting how much money MCA Records spent on promoting Semisonic (millions) and why the band was expected to repay every cent. And when Slichter writes about his band getting dropped from the label's roster, it's easy to feel his despair. For diehard Semisonic fans, the book provides insight into the band's formation and touching details concerning the lyrics of "Closing Time." But for casual readers, the best information has little to do with a band. Recommended for libraries in the upper Midwest, specifically those in the land of 10,000 lakes.-Robert Morast, Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, SD

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.