Present Tense

“Present Tense is compelling and vital; not simply as a literate take on rock culture, but as a document of the struggle to come to terms with rock’n’roll’s technologies and an attempt to capture the essence of those forms by forging unique styles of criticism.” - Sydney Pokorny, ArtForum

“If you aspire to a career in music, there are plenty of how-to books on the subject. But perhaps the sagest advice on the subject can be found in an unlikely place - David Menconi, News & Observer

"Ever since people started writing about rock, other people have made fun of them. Anthony DeCurtis's anthology, with its clutch of academics, rock writers and musicians, will strike cynics as inherently pretentious. They will be wrong: This is a smart, witty, ingeniously balanced assortment of rock commentary, with a healthy number of pieces that seem prescient and, even, moving." - John Rockwell, European Cultural Correspondent, New York Times

"This collection brings together two of the cultural right's favorite targets—mass culture and high theory—and demonstrates brilliantly how mutually illuminating they can be as a way of understanding the American scene." - Stanley Fish, Duke University

"This collection is a useful and provocative addition to rock literature. Its collage of forms—scholarship, journalism, interviews, and fiction—allows access to a variety of readers, and provides a diverse forum for addressing the current consciousness about rock." - Andrew Ross, Princeton University

"This shit rocks! To wit: Exhibiting a wide range of critical music writing, this collection speaks volumes about how music, and our varied perceptions of it, are intrinsically woven into the social and ideological web of end-of-the-century thought." - Michael Stipe, R.E.M.