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“Killing Yourself to Live” is pop-culture analysis that has the capability to go down as a great rock history book. Each line is filled with an in-depth analysis of the subject and ends it with a quick punch line leaving readers satisfied with the content.

For 6,557 miles and 21 days, Chuck Klosterman embarked on a cross-country journey, which lead him to the final resting grounds of some of the most famous musicians in recent memory.

Drug overdoses, plane crashes and club fires all come across in his rock tourism journey, but through it all he explores a greater question that is often ignored when a rock star’s heart stops beating: why does fame go hand-in-hand with death?

“Killing Yourself to Live” stemmed from an article he wrote for Spin magazine and what blossomed was another pop culture analysis by Klosterman, whose ability to find deep meaning within popular culture never ceases to amaze readers.

With 600 CDs packed in the back seat, Klosterman drove from New York to Seattle, visiting places like the Chelsea Hotel where Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols may have stabbed his girlfriend, the Iowa field where Buddy Holly’s plane crashed, and the site where Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain took his life with a shotgun blast.

His exploration of the public’s odd fascination with dead musicians allows Klosterman to explore the thought of a musician’s best career move being the one that ends it. Throughout the book, death is larger than life.

Upon seeing where Kurt Cobain took his own life, he points out the fact that prior to Cobain’s death, many people preferred Pearl Jam to Nirvana.

Klosterman even manages to interpret Radiohead’s “Kid A” album as a warning to the events of Sept. 11.

But the main purpose of this book is held within Klosterman’s quest to find significance within these deaths; he quickly becomes overwhelmed with the sexual relationships he has with three women in his life.

The centerpiece of the book revolves around a fake conversation he creates with each of the three women while he is driving in the car.

The cross-country journey makes him come to grips with the fact that each of those relationships had run its course (oddly enough, each of those women resembles the member of KISS, Klosterman’s favorite band).

Readers can feel a sense of comfort upon reading each line as Klosterman’s honesty resonates with the voice of his audience.

An important aspect is that he allows readers to develop their own theories as to why society is fascinated with dead rock stars.

But most importantly, readers are immediately sucked into Klosterman’s journey and soon discover why musicians are so eager to kill themselves to live.

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