RATING: 8 out of 10.
VERDICT: A book that really rocks!

Misleadingly subtitled "A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota", Klosterman’s book is actually an informed and semi-serious study of the 1980s glam metal phenomenon told with the knowledge and affection of a self-confessed teen metalhead. Klosterman, all grown up and now a music, film and culture critic for the "Akron Beacon Journal", was that teen and he successfully explains how important this much-maligned musical genre was to literally millions of other American teenagers during its heyday. Peppered with hilarious anecdotes from his youth, as well as tons of weird and wonderful facts, the book is one of the most entertaining studies of any musical genre you are likely to find. The fact that the genre concerned happens to be glam (or "hair") metal, just makes the whole thing even funnier. (Be careful if you plan to read this one in public.)

Klosterman’s love of the music is contagious and, while it didn’t exactly move us to blow our brains out with a shotgun while listening to Judas Priest, it did have us digging out our old cassette copies of Tesla’s "Five Man Acoustical Jam", Skid Row’s mighty "Slave To The Grind" and Cinderella’s downright dreadful "Long Cold Winter" and blasting them at full volume while downing large measures of Jack and Coke and reminiscing about the "good old days". Oh, and we just had to rewatch the video for Warrant’s "Cherry Pie" (any excuse will do).

If you have ever rocked out to the likes of Kiss, Skid Row, Tesla, Poison, Cinderella, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Warrant, Ratt, LA Guns, Guns N’ Roses and, of course, Motley Crue (and if you think we’re going to trawl the keyboard looking for umlauts, you can think again), then this may be the book you’ve been waiting for all your life. Highly recommended.