Gang of Four: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century (Warner Bros.)

IF YOU HAPPEN to own a copy of The Trouser Press Guide to New Wave Records, you can open it to just about any page, point your finger, and find glowing essays on any number of obscure and long-forgotten bands. If, like me, you've actually taken them at their word, you've probably wound up with a stack of unlistenable dross fit only for that shitpile of humanity that camps out at punk clubs.