A new book titled ‘Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival’ aims to examine the original 90s run of the groundbreaking ‘Lollapalooza‘ festival. It will be published on March 25th by St. Martin’s Press and was co-authored by Richard Beinstock (Rolling Stone, Guitar World) and Tom Beaujour (Revolver, etc.).
Originally launched by then Jane’s Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell as a planned farewell tour for his aforementioned outfit and an alternative answer to the rock festivals at the time, the ‘Lollapalooza‘ festival would travel across North America annually. Amid its 90s run it gave an early boost to the likes of Tool, Rage Against The Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ministry, Body Count and many more.
The festival continued that trend from 1991 through to 1997, after which it would go on hiatus until 2003. Upon its return, ‘Lollapalooza‘ would eventually transition into a series of destination festivals and focus less on the metal and rock artists that peppered its earlier rosters, existing now more in the world of mainstream and pop culture.
Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil penned the foreword for this new book, with the following said of it via its official product listing:
‘The definitive, no-holds-barred oral history of 1990s alt-rock festival Lollapalooza-told by the musicians, roadies, and industry insiders who lived it. From the New York Times bestselling authors of Nothin’ But A Good Time.
In Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival, New York Times bestselling authors Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour tell the no-holds-barred history of the iconic music festival. Through hundreds of new interviews with artists, tour founders, festival organizers, promoters, publicists, sideshow freaks, stage crews, record label execs, reporters, roadies and more, Lollapalooza chronicles the tour’s pioneering 1991-1997 run, and, in the process, alternative rock’s rise – as well as the reverberations that led to a massive shift in the music industry and the culture at large.
Lollapalooza features original interviews with some of the biggest names in music, including Perry Farrell and Jane’s Addiction, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nine Inch Nails, Sonic Youth, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, Ice-T, Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, Patti Smith, Alice in Chains, Metallica and many more.
Conceived by Farrell as a farewell tour for Jane’s Addiction, Lollapalooza’s inaugural outing across the U.S. in the summer of 1991 helped to coalesce an ideology and aesthetic that not only washed over popular music but seeped into fashion, film, television, literature, food, politics and more.
Throughout the decade, Lollapalooza offered a vast and diverse ensemble of bands, breaking barriers of genre and uniting alternative rock, heavy metal, punk, hip-hop, industrial, goth, avant-garde, spoken word, electronic dance music and other styles under one big tent, and setting the template for the modern American music festival and the scores of other contemporary destination fests that are now an integral part of how audiences experience live music.
Unorthodox not just in music, Lollapalooza also spotlighted visual arts, nonprofit organizations, political outfits and even the occasional freak show, offering a tantalizing cocktail of culture, art, and activism that, taken together, defined the alternative mindset that dominated the 1990s.
Echoes of its impact reverberate strongly today – cemented by annual sell-outs at destination events all over the world, an estimation of 400,000 attendees at the flagship Chicago fest each summer, and a spot among the world’s largest and longest-running music festivals.
A nostalgic look back at 1990s music and culture, Lollapalooza traces the festival’s groundbreaking origins, following the tour as it progresses through the decade, and documenting the action onstage, backstage, and behind-the-scenes in detailed and uncensored and sometimes shocking first-person accounts. This is the story of Lollapalooza and the 1990s alternative rock revolution.’
Pre-orders are available now via Amazon.
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