CLEVELAND, Ohio — Bloomsbury’s ongoing “33 1/3” book series is a gift and a godsend to music obsessives.
The short, smart (borderline scholarly) entries are deep personal explorations of legendary albums that shaped genres, fandoms and generations.
It should surprise no one that those penned by sturdy writers with regional ties are among the series’ best.
Jason Pettigrew, Annie Zaleski, Kimberly Mack and DX Ferris tackle their subjects – Ministry, Duran Duran, Living Colour and Slayer, respectively – with professorial depth, big-picture eyes and ears and zeal that only comes from a heart anchored in fandom.
While the subjects might seem wildly different, what connects the books is the authors’ ability to combine deep reporting, cultural critique and personal insight that puts words to how people feel about the artists and their work.
Two are pretty new; two others have been given the deluxe treatment. These aren’t just album reviews. They’re love letters to noise, neon and catharsis:
“Ministry’s ‘The Land of Rape and Honey’ by Jason Pettigrew”
Pettigrew, a longtime editor of then-CLE-based Alternative Press and one of the scene’s sharpest and most sardonic minds, takes on Ministry’s 1988 breakthrough “The Land of Rape and Honey.” He delivers a book as brutal and confrontational as the record itself.
More than a turning point for the band, the album marked the moment industrial music stopped flirting with the mainstream and threw a Molotov cocktail through its window.
Pettigrew doesn’t just dissect the music, he immerses us in the world it came from: rusted-out cities, Reagan-era paranoia, underground clubs humming with nihilism and noise.
He explores how Ministry’s shift from synth-pop to sonic warfare wasn’t just about sound; it was about identity, aggression and survival.
Pettigrew’s writing style mirrors the record: aggressive, funny, loaded with subtext. He pulls no punches, giving Al Jourgensen his due as mad scientist and accidental prophet.
For anyone who ever found power in abrasive music — or wondered why some of us feel more at home with distortion than melody — this one’s 100% essential. With “Uncle Al” flirting as well (with retiring Ministry, that is!) this is the right book at the right time.
Duran Duran played before an enthusiastic crowd at Blossom Music Center on Sunday night, September 10, 2023. The band is on their 2023 North American Future Past Tour along with Nile Rodgers & CHIC and Bastille. The band includes Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Roger Taylor. David Petkiewicz, cleveland.comDavid Petkiewicz, cleveland.com
“Duran Duran’s ‘Rio’ by Annie Zaleski”
Zaleski is one of the more respected music critics working today and a proud Clevelander.
She rescues and reclaims Duran Duran’s seminal “Rio” album from the “guilty pleasure” bin and places it where it belongs: among the most influential pop albums of the 1980s.
What makes her book so compelling? Smart reporting, interviews and historical context. She unpacks the cultural and emotional resonance of the record with both clarity and care.
Zaleski argues that “Rio” wasn’t just a soundtrack for MTV-era teens; it was a sonic revolution wrapped in silk suits and eyeliner. Her love of the heartthrobs underscores this.
Whatever you thought of DD before you started reading, it’s clear they’re as important as Roxy Music in the DNA chains where glam, New Wave, funk and fashion entwined.
As a reader, you’re left thinking that “Rio” changed the way we all consume pop and might have even accidentally birthed the “boy-band” aesthetic in the process.
Zaleski gives due credit to often-dismissed teenage girls who were first to recognize Duran Duran’s genius – flipping the script on who gets to be a “serious” fan and why.
This is a book you’ll have trouble putting down. If you ever had a poster on your wall, danced alone in your bedroom, or found something transcendent in perfect pop hooks, it’s for you. Bonus: there’s a deluxe, hardcover version out there to enjoy. And it’s good.
Don’t “Save a Prayer” to find one “‘till the morning after.”
DETROIT, MICHIGAN – AUGUST 14: (L-R) Guitarist Vernon Reid, Drummer Will Calhoun and Singer Corey Glover of the rock band Living Colour. (Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images)Getty Images
“Living Colour’s ‘Time’s Up’ by Kimberly Mack”
Mack, associate professor of African American literature and culture at the University of Toledo, tackles the sophomore effort from the “New York quartet of Black dudes playing loud metal and punk-influenced rock ‘n’ roll,” as our very own Malcolm X Abram wrote upon the book’s release.
The group of Corey Glover (vocals), Vernon Reid (guitars), Muzz Skillings (bass) and Will Calhoun (drums) had already smashed stereotypes with the 1988 debut album “Vivid” (with the Top 15 hit song “Cult of Personality”) which gave them a bona fide chart success.
That record would sell over two million copies. It also earned Living Colour its first Grammy Award, for best hard rock performance in 1990.
“Time’s Up” rang up a second such award for them the following year.
Mack’s beautifully written account does something authors don’t always do well: connecting the personal in an engaging way. The album is 35 years old but remains fiery-fresh today, even without a guidebook to map things out.
The book and record it serves are pointed, tough, jazzy, eclectic, subversive. Mack’s track-by-track drill-down is insightful; her interviews note perfect.
What’s crazy? The roster of cameos on “Time’s Up.” We’re talking Queen Latifah, James Earl Jones (?!), Doug E. Fresh, Maceo Parker and Little Richard.
Mack brings all of that and more into sharp focus… and with minutes to spare. Can one hold out hope she will do an installment on ska-punk legends Fishbone or prog-metal trio King’s X? This one can.
QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC – JULY 11: Tom Araya and Kerry King of Slayer perform at the Festival d’été de Québec on July 11, 2025. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/WireImage)WireImage
“Slayer’s ‘Reign in Blood’ by DX Ferris”
Ferris doesn’t flinch. Never has. His deep dive into Slayer’s “Reign in Blood” album is as intense and surgically precise as the album itself. And now there’s a “director’s cut” with even more haunting metal madness.
Released in 1986, “Reign in Blood” record was a game-changer: a 29-minute thrash metal sledgehammer that broke rules, melted faces, put Rick Rubin on the map and became a constitutional for heaviness.
Ferris, a veteran CLE music writer and “metal dad,” gets right to the core of why “Reign in Blood” matters. It’s an album not just for metalheads; it’s for anyone who cares about rebellion, discipline and the razor’s edge between chaos and control. Perfectly fitting for the times we are living in now.
His storytelling is sharp and efficient, balancing musicology with behind-the-scenes insights. Whether he’s analyzing Rick Rubin’s role in shaping the band’s sound or putting Slayer’s satanic imagery in historical context, Ferris respects both genre and reader and deeply affirms Slayer fans.
It’s “surgery, with no anesthesia,” as frontman Tom Araya might say.
The imagery (as is so often the case with heavy bands) belies a deeper message lost on those who judge things by their cover instead of practicing what they preach. “Reign in Blood” is a great entry point for the uninitiated.
Al Jourgensen, frontman of Ministry at Blossom Music Center on August 28, 2024.Judie Vegh, Special to Cleveland.com
We like big books and we cannot lie
We like smaller books with big impact, too.
What links these books transcends geography. There’s honest sensibility, deep knowledge of subcultures and a refusal of the authors to write down to their audience. They elevate subjects without over-intellectualizing them.
It helps to be a fan of these bands (no doubt) but also not required. There’s so much to take in with all four books, you might have trouble concentrating on others in your “to read” pile.
PS: It may be a little early to be thinking about the holiday season, but if you know an audiophile or tune-obsessive who pores over facts and consumes music like oxygen, get them in the loop on the larger series ASAP.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.