What he lacks in cool, he makes up for in indie rock enthusiasm

In this quirky music memoir, Sellers explains why he built his life around the indie music scene.

By Cristian Lupsa

from the March 6, 2007 edition

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Writing a book about indie rock is like praising technological innovation. By the time your book is printed, your subject may be obsolete.

But the difference is that in the case of technology, it's actually possible that a more useful device will have come along. In the case of indie rock, the adoring crowd has probably just moved on to the "next big thing."

"Indie rock" developed as a catchall term for artists who release material on independent labels. But today the label "indie" has come to mean not only a relationship with record companies, but also a generally more mellow sound.

Likewise, thanks to MySpace and music blogs, indie fans have evolved a distinct style of their own, becoming known as arrogant elitists, always on the prowl for that band that no one else has ever heard of.

Given this relentless snobbery, there are really only two things a chronicler of indie rock can do to spare himself the harsh judgment of the fan base. One is to beat the snobs at their own game and drop the names of as many obscure bands as possible. (Although chances are that at least one of those bands will start making headlines before the book makes it off the press.)

The other is to admit you are not up to speed with music hype, mock yourself, and then go to extreme lengths to prove your bona fides by writing about partying with indie legends. And this is exactly what John Sellers does in his delightfully quirky music memoir Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life.

The book, named after a Built to Spill album, is made up of roughly two parts. The first is dedicated to Sellers's youth and college years in Michigan, and spans almost two decades, from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, when for a long time Sellers's musical tastes ranked him barely above the kid swinging a ninja sword (in other words, at the bottom of the social ladder).

The final part of the book focuses on Sellers's obsession with Ohio-based Guided by Voices (GBV), a band fronted by a beer-drinking former algebra teacher who wrote more songs in a year than some artists release during their whole career.

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