Rock On: An Office Power Ballad by Dan Kennedy

Part memoir, part essay collection, Rock On: An Office Power Ballad by Dan Kennedy discusses the author’s 18-month stint at Atlantic Records as a middle manager making 6 figures. I mention the salary because this book was published in 2008, a time when the music industry in general, and Atlantic Records in particular, were undergoing a sea-change away from previous business models (and toward ever-shrinking profits).

Pros:

There are eminently relatable passages about corporate culture, aging, and the unstoppable forward march of time
The author is at his funniest and most playful during interstitial sections about the music industry. This includes rebranding Jewel (singer-songwriter pop star) to J.E.W.E.L. and pitching ideas for bad band merch (e.g. a track suit with the band’s logo)

Cons:

The chapter markers in the audiobook make no sense, and there is no clear delineation of the various essays / ideas the author presents. Adding insult to injury, they are too few and far between, as well.
Some of the jokes are in poor taste; Kennedy jokes about being “developmentally disabled,” for example.
While I found the author’s concerns and neuroses relatable, by the end of the book they felt like a cudgel
(Nit-pick) The author does use the framing device of “tracks” and “liner notes,” in the final minutes of the book, but it was done better and more consistently in Twilight of the Gods: My Journey to the End of Classic Rock (by Steven Hyden).

Conclusion:

While I found this book both more tolerable and relatable than Attempting Normal by Marc Maron (which I almost didn’t finish), both feature a hapless white guy who is deeply in his own head and often gets in his own way. Both discuss the business of their respective industries (music and comedy), and both include jokes made in poor taste (i.e. “punching down”). Most of Kennedy’s jokes and observations are pointed at the industry, the “big-wigs,” and himself, however. If that sounds interesting, or if you’d like a snapshot of the music industry in the late 2000’s, this might be worth a look.

Check it out here.