Rock This! Thursday with Stephanie Kuehnert

Rock This! Thursday is a weekly feature that focuses on books that are centered around or are about another thing we love: music! (And once in a while a concert story, a song, or a band we think everyone should be listening too.)

This week we have Stephanie Kuehnert (author of I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone and Ballads of Suburbia) to give out her music suggestions and answer a few more questions.


Five songs we should be listening to right now:

I really don't know if I can do songs. I have to do entire albums. I'll name my favorite tracks though.

-Hell Hath No Fury by Civet in my opinion is one of the best albums to come out in years. They are in my top five favorite bands. The other favorite bands are Nirvana, Hole, Social D and Rancid. Bands I discovered in the early 90s when I was like 13. What that means is that no one has impressed me as much as Civet has in the past 17 years. Stand out track: "Son of A Bitch"

-Siren Song of the Counter Culture by Rise Against. The frat boys have discovered Rise Against now, which disturbs me because they just don't get it. But you can bet that those frat boys won't bother to check out RA's older stuff and this in my opinion is their best album. "Swing Life Away" is my favorite track, even though it's acoustic and not at all like the other songs. It's just ohhhhhh

-Let the Dominoes Fall by Rancid. And Out Come The Wolves will always be my favorite Rancid album. I love them, but nothing they've done since has lived up to that album for me... until now. This new album is freakin' amazing. "New Orleans" is my favorite song right now.

-The '59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem. I just discovered these guys late last year and am totally addicted to them, especially the title track.

-Anything by Johnny Cash. Anything at all. If you haven't discovered him yet, you need to. You should listen to him while reading Ballads of Suburbia. Especially his cover of the song "Hurt" originally done by Nine Inch Nails.


If you could hang out with one musician - living or dead - who would it be and why?

Kurt Cobain. I've loved Nirvana since I was 12. Their music opened so many doors for me. I discovered so many bands, gained confidence in myself. And I will always admire Kurt as an artist in such a huge way. I think he'd be very interesting to talk to.


Most guilty pleasure song or band you have on your iPod, MP3 player, etc.

I don't have guilty pleasures because I don't feel guilty about anything I like. Maybe I'd lose punk rock points for loving Pink, but she's got a great voice and she's way too much fun and unlike the other pop stuff, she is totally her own woman and she doesn't seem to give a damn what anyone thinks, so as a feminist I totally respect her. On the other hand, my love for 80s hair rock like GNR and Poison conflicts with my feminist beliefs, but GNR just rocks and Poison is just cheesy fun. And I'm sure I'd get mocked for liking bands like Matchbox 20 and the Gin Blossoms, but both bands sing about situations that remind me of situations I've been in with bad boys, but instead of the boy hurting me, in the song the girl has left the boy and I just get some perverse pleasure out of that. That Matchbox 20 song where the boy just gets left by the girl on the highway? Total catharsis.


First tape or CD you bought:

Hmm that I bought with my own money? It was definitely Madonna, but I'm not sure if it was True Blue or Like A Prayer.


What is the one thing you love most about music?

That I can find a song that reflects everything I've been through, every emotion I've felt. There's a song out there for every mood and every moment. It's the perfect release.



Don't forget to click the link onthe sidebar ---> to win a copy of Ballads of Suburbia. (I even added an extra entry.)

♥amber