Rob Sheffield used to write an article for Rolling Stone called "Pop Life". Tales from a middle aged music uber-appreciator who liked to tie his musical tastes in with all that is pop culture. Sound familiar? Rob Sheffield is so much like Chuck Klosterman (see: sex drugs and cocoa puffs, killing yourself to live, etc) that it's hard to believe they've been getting away with being clones of each other for this long without causing an uproar. However, after reading Rob's first memoir "Love is a Mix Tape", you might find that the two are not as similar as they seem. (Although they DO seem to be aware of one another's existence, as Klostermans raving review is printed on the front of the book). Like Klosterman, Sheffiled compiles his memoir into chapters that surround their stories around one major theme: music, or more specifically, how being a music-centered human being makes you deep, different, and awesome. Unlike Klosterman, Sheffield doesn't seem to have a cynical, darker view on his life. Rob's handicap instead is that he once was in a quirky and perfect relationship with a woman which turned into a quirky and perfect marriage. Then one day, in the middle of sewing a second hand mod dress, said wife died instantly from a brain aneurysm, leaving Rob in a permanent fetal position for two years. Chuck Klosterman may have had enough dysfunctional break-ups to last a lifetime (or so he boasts), but this is the kind of real, important emotion we don't find in Chuck's more humorous, lighthearted books.
Aside from the emotion factor, this memoir is just plain good. Each chapter is organized into mix tapes that Rob personally owns, collected over the years. Up here in Gen-X, we understand the concept of a mix "tape", as we've tried to recreate them with our digital CD's and playlists on our mp3 players. But the act of creating and playing a literal mix TAPE, is something we can only vaguely recall from our early years. Rob explains the late 80's through the 90's with a kind of romantic, rose colored haze, that even Hanson's Mmmbop seems like a lovely addition to the music world. Anyone will enjoy this memoir, for its humor, its human-ness, and its honesty. But anyone who genuinely enjoys music will relate on a level only we music craved individuals can process.
