Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing

Infobox Book
name = Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Benjamin Nugent
illustrator =
cover_artist = Alex Camlin, Karen Mason-Blair
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Biography, Music
publisher = Da Capo Press
release_date = October 30, 2004
media_type = Print
pages = 230
isbn = ISBN 0-306-81447-1
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing" is a biography of musician Elliott Smith by Benjamin Nugent. It was published by Da Capo Press on October 30, 2004, just past the one year anniversary of Smith's death. The book contains interviews with two of the musician's producers, Rob Schnapf and David McConnell, and friends such as Pete Krebs, but does not contain any original interviews with Smith, his family or his close friends.

Reviews

The book received mixed reviews, with "Publishers Weekly" remarking that while "Nugent manages to patch together the major beats of Smith's life, he can offer little meaningful insight" and that Smith's fans "will be disappointed by this short and shallow biography." [cite web | author= Bemis, Alec Hanley | title= "Sleepwalker"| publisher= "LA Weekly" | url= http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0306813939/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books | accessdate= 2008-05-12] PopMatters cited that Nugent "fails on a very basic level to discriminate between his privilege as a fan of Smith's unforgettable music and his responsibilities as a journalist writing an objective study of Smith's life" and the book is murky, indistinct, and woefully incomplete." [cite web | author= O'Neil, Tim | title= "Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing PopMatters review"| publisher= "PopMatters" | url= http://www.popmatters.com/books/reviews/e/elliott-smith-and-the-big-nothing.shtml | accessdate= 2008-05-12] CNN said in their mixed review that "Nugent sometimes gets a little too insider-y -- too many details about too many '90s indie bands -- and his insistences on Smith's sense of humor, though no doubt true, ring hollow.". [cite web | author= Leopold, Todd | title= "Two musicians, dying young"| publisher= "CNN.com" | url= http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/books/12/13/review.musicians/index.html | accessdate= 2008-05-12] Many of the book's detractors complained about the absence of original testimony from Smith's family and close friends such as Joanna Bolme, Neil Gust, Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss. [cite web | author= Williams, Amy | title= "Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing review"| publisher= "Publishers Weekly" | url= http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/sleepwalker/1289/?page=2 | accessdate= 2008-05-12] [cite web | author= O'Neil, Tim | title= "Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing PopMatters review"| publisher= "PopMatters" | url= http://www.popmatters.com/books/reviews/e/elliott-smith-and-the-big-nothing.shtml | accessdate= 2008-05-12] Ironically, many of his close friends granted interviews for the December 2004 issue of SPIN Magazine just as "Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing" was sent to print. [cite web | author= O'Neil, Tim | title= "Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing PopMatters review"| publisher= "PopMatters" | url= http://www.popmatters.com/books/reviews/e/elliott-smith-and-the-big-nothing.shtml | accessdate= 2008-05-12]

Perhaps the most damning review of the book came from LA Weekly's Alec Hanley Bemis, who himself is ironically thanked in the acknowledgement section of Nugent's book. He graded "Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing" as "shallow", "sloppy", "a quickie", reliant on "second-degree friends and third-party accounts" and includes "fact checking that doesn't extend far beyond Google." [cite web | author= Williams, Amy | title= "Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing review"| publisher= "Publishers Weekly" | url= http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/sleepwalker/1289/?page=2 | accessdate= 2008-05-12] He cited one particular passage wherein Nugent incorrectly wrote that Smith spent an evening partying in New York with hip-hop mogul and Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons, when in fact he was actually hanging out with the drummer from the indie rock band The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Russell Simins. [cite web | author= Bemis, Alec Hanley | title= "Sleepwalker"| publisher= "LA Weekly" | url= http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/sleepwalker/1289/?page=2 | accessdate= 2008-05-12] Bemis goes on to say that Nugent "failed to realize the Blues Explosion’s drummer happens to be named Russell Simins, a profoundly inconvenient homonym for a writer hurriedly transcribing interviews and rushing a book into print. The biography is filled with many such errors and approximations." [cite web | author= Bemis, Alec Hanley | title= "Sleepwalker"| publisher= "LA Weekly" | url= http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/sleepwalker/1289/?page=2 | accessdate= 2008-05-12] The Simmons/Simins mistake was not corrected subsequent editions of the biography.

However, Jim DeRogatis wrote in the "Chicago Sun-Times" that Nugent "did his research and left few stones unturned in telling Smith's relatively short and very sad story," and the "Austin Chronicle" stated that Nugent "opens a window of insight into our reluctant hero."

In a paperback edition released a year later, Nugent used a new afterword to respond to his critics, revealing that his publisher had given him an option of two deadlines: either on the first anniversary of Smith's death, or on the release date of Smith's posthumous album "From a Basement on the Hill". Nugent aimed for the release of the album, but when it was revealed the album was to coincide with the anniversary of Smith's death, he had no choice but to rush the book to completion.

References

External links

* [http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/books/12/13/review.musicians/index.html "Two musicians, dying young"] Review by Todd Leopold for CNN.com
* [http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/sleepwalker/1289/ "Sleepwalker: Elliott Smith's unhappy dream life"] Review by Alec Hanley Bemis for "LA Weekly"