Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing

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By Benjamin Nugent

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$10.99

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$13.99 CAD

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  1. ebook $10.99 $13.99 CAD
  2. Trade Paperback $19.99 $25.99 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around April 27, 2009. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

Best known for his Oscar-nominated song “Miss Misery” from the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, Elliott Smith was catapulted to the status of indie rock star after performing at the 1997 Academy Awards. Some of his albums, XO and Either/Or among them, would become ’90s classics, helping to define an understated aesthetic that owed as much to the melodic emphasis of The Beatles as it did to punk. In the afterglow of the success of “Miss Misery,” Smith’s fame grew–alongside his struggles with depression and substance abuse. First relocating to Brooklyn, and then finally to L.A., he fell into a downward spiral evident to friends and fans alike, even as he continued to write such beautifully realized songs as “Waltz #2” (XO). Drawing on new interviews with those who knew and loved Smith, and focusing on the crucial interplay between Smith’s life and music, Ben Nugent compellingly and sympathetically portrays an enormously gifted, yet troubled, artist.
 

Genre:

On Sale
Apr 27, 2009
Page Count
256 pages
Publisher
Da Capo Press
ISBN-13
9780786738106

Benjamin Nugent

About the Author

Benjamin Nugent is a former music and film reporter for Time magazine. He has written for New York Magazine and has appeared on CNN, Fox News, the BBC, and NPR. Like Elliott Smith, he has lived in Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and Amherst, Massachusetts. He now resides in New York City.

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