Terminated for Reasons of Taste

"Chuck Eddy, who possesses a rare knowledge of the process, sum, and esoterica of popular music making, manages to make familiar music seem fresh and suddenly open to new and even unlikely interpretations. He is also an electrifying guide to a wealth of music that you may not know or care about. Spirited, friendly, and highly energized, Eddy pulls readers in, exciting and surprising them." - RJ Smith, author of The One: The Life and Music of James Brown

"Chuck Eddy's breezy style and far-ranging genre enthusiasms may obscure the acute critical insight and fan's appreciation he brings to this dizzying collection of his piecework. It's like running amok at a record fair with a knowledgeable enthusiast who sees all music as having a place in the pop firmament, and can't wait to show you the next hidden treasure, or reveal a truth about a song you've heard many times before." - Lenny Kaye, musician, writer, record producer

"Taking his cue from rock writer Lester Bangs and gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, Eddy consistently assumes the literary character of a victimized, knowledgeable, smart-ass rock writer who has just uncovered the latest hidden musical treasure." - David P. Szatmary, Library Journal

"Eddy's smarts, freakish knowledge of the obscure, and some hilarious takedowns make the collection feel like hanging out with a cool uncle who gifts you music knowledge nuggets impossible to find elsewhere." - Libby Webster, Austin Chronicle

"Terminated for Reasons of Taste reads like an eclectic Spotify mix on shuffle. . . . Eddy’s knowledgeable and clever writing makes even his most exploratory essays feel less like indulgent ‘Think Pieces’ and more like listening to a clerk at a store that sells records to a very diverse customer base: no judgment, no arrogance, just a pure love of music and some honest opinion." - Eric Rovie, PopMatters

"Eddy is steeped in music so wide ranging he touches everything from classic country to alt music so obscure it hurts. His knowledge is beyond encyclopedic and he writes with such passion that you can’t help but seek some of this stuff out to give it a listen. If you're bored to death with cookie cutter, Mr. Microphone, Auto Tuned schlock, then Eddy’s book will be the equivalent to a travel guide to new music." - Jeff Johns, My Big Honkin Blog

"Can we talk for a second about what a good year Duke University Press is having with rock critic anthologies? They’ve released Greg Tate’s long-awaited FlyBoy 2: The Greg Tate Reader and this tasty slab by Austin-based, Detroit-reared critic Chuck Eddy . . . . This collection draws from such diverse outlets as the Village Voice, Creem magazine, Rhapsody.com, music message boards, and Eddy’s high school newspaper and presents all sides of the seasoned scribe: combative and thoughtful, contrary and compelling." - Joe Gross, Austin American-Statesman

"Prioritising enjoyment over critical dogma with a rigour that becomes almost ideological, Eddy scrapes off the barnacles of conventional wisdom to help the music he loves sail into uncharted realms of aesthetic scrutiny. . . . [A] selection which blends Eddy’s ‘proper’ Village Voice journalism with fanzine clippings and message board posts seamlessly enough (and with a sufficient absence of 'generational kvetching') to suggest music writing might have a future as well as a past." - Ben Thompson, Mojo

"A challenging and rewarding book for those interested in music history and criticism, and a quirky introduction to so much of what has passed for popular music over the decades. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers."
  - R. D. Cohen, Choice

"Eddy is a major figure in contemporary music criticism, & needs to be read by anyone seriously interested in the subject. Just don’t make me listen to early Styx albums." - Tim Allison, Fed on Peaches blog