A review by csquared85
You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and My Misadventures with Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes, by Nathan Rabin
2.0
1.5 stars.
I came to this book having read some of Rabin's writing about the Gathering of the Juggalos and was informed of the existence of this book through NPR's best of 2013 widget. I liked Rabin's Juggalo article and thought a hybrid immersion journalism / sociological study of two reviled music subcultures would be interesting. And it kind of is, when Rabin is actually talking about the subcultures and doing some of that good old-fashioned journalism thing he ostensibly got paid to do.
You know what's NOT interesting in a sociological study? A drug memoir mixed with endless rambling about the author's love for his girlfriend. If I wanted to read your memoirs, buddy, I'd read the memoir YOU ALREADY PUBLISHED. The one that's marketed as a MEMOIR. There are few things I can imagine caring less about than some stranger's catalog of concert drug binges except maybe his endless declarations of love for a woman who is even more of a stranger. Practically ALL of the writing about Phish was more about Rabin's troubling recreational drug use than the band or its fans to the point where he acknowledges that other people's drug use is interesting only to the user, which - oops! - means you're probably pretty damn bored right now. This meta revelation is pretty much his most important insight about the band's fans. -_- To be honest, Phish's appeal isn't all that mysterious. As a diehard Dave Matthews Band fan, it's not much of a stretch for me to imagine what Phish fandom would be like and I think Rabin did them a huge disservice by conflating it so much with its drug culture. His portrayal of Juggalo culture was much more nuanced.
When you break it all down, it's only the ICP chapters that attempt a bit of critical journalism and that's maybe half the book. And in that half he quotes and analyzes ICP member Violent J's memoir Behind the Paint fairly often. I really didn't glean much more than what he originally wrote about the Gathering from his Onion AV Club article, so this was mostly a waste. But if you like to read endless, redundant descriptions of people tripping out on drugs during Phish shows, this will be right up your alley.
I came to this book having read some of Rabin's writing about the Gathering of the Juggalos and was informed of the existence of this book through NPR's best of 2013 widget. I liked Rabin's Juggalo article and thought a hybrid immersion journalism / sociological study of two reviled music subcultures would be interesting. And it kind of is, when Rabin is actually talking about the subcultures and doing some of that good old-fashioned journalism thing he ostensibly got paid to do.
You know what's NOT interesting in a sociological study? A drug memoir mixed with endless rambling about the author's love for his girlfriend. If I wanted to read your memoirs, buddy, I'd read the memoir YOU ALREADY PUBLISHED. The one that's marketed as a MEMOIR. There are few things I can imagine caring less about than some stranger's catalog of concert drug binges except maybe his endless declarations of love for a woman who is even more of a stranger. Practically ALL of the writing about Phish was more about Rabin's troubling recreational drug use than the band or its fans to the point where he acknowledges that other people's drug use is interesting only to the user, which - oops! - means you're probably pretty damn bored right now. This meta revelation is pretty much his most important insight about the band's fans. -_- To be honest, Phish's appeal isn't all that mysterious. As a diehard Dave Matthews Band fan, it's not much of a stretch for me to imagine what Phish fandom would be like and I think Rabin did them a huge disservice by conflating it so much with its drug culture. His portrayal of Juggalo culture was much more nuanced.
When you break it all down, it's only the ICP chapters that attempt a bit of critical journalism and that's maybe half the book. And in that half he quotes and analyzes ICP member Violent J's memoir Behind the Paint fairly often. I really didn't glean much more than what he originally wrote about the Gathering from his Onion AV Club article, so this was mostly a waste. But if you like to read endless, redundant descriptions of people tripping out on drugs during Phish shows, this will be right up your alley.