Why am I passionate about this?

That’s a terrible question that gives me spiritual anxiety. But to get right down to it, I’m just someone who loves culture. I’m fascinated by why people do the things they do, from ethics to aesthetics. As a music journalist, I have interviewed everyone from local bands to Grammy award-winning artists for publications like Alternative Press, Kerrang!, Revolver, and Loudwire. My work as a freelance entertainment writer carried me to other types of lifestyle writing, including food and travel. I am a regular contributor for Reader’s Digest.


I wrote

From the Basement: A History of Emo Music and How It Changed Society

By Taylor Markarian,

Book cover of From the Basement: A History of Emo Music and How It Changed Society

What is my book about?

From the Basement is part narrative, part oral history. It weaves my personal journey as a lover of emo music…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk

Taylor Markarian Why did I love this book?

This oral history gets in at the ground floor of 1960s proto-punk and chronicles how it led to the infamous punk bands of the 1970s. Written and recorded by Punk Magazine founder Legs McNeil, this book gives you a front-row seat to the exploits of New York Dolls, David Bowie, and Sex Pistols. It is incredibly genuine in the way it captures the flippant and belligerent attitudes of the era. It’s witty and it’s gritty, which are the two requirements of excellent journalism.

By Legs McNeil, Gillian McCain,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Please Kill Me as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is the true story of a misunderstood culture phenomenon, one embracing Andy Warhol, Jim Morrison, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Patti Smith, The Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, The New York Dolls, The Clash and The Damned. It is a story of sex, drugs and rock and roll, documenting a time of glorious self-destruction and perverse innocence - punk was possibly the last time so many people will have had so much fun killing themselves. Legs McNeil, founder of "Punk" magazine has interviewed those who were members of the punk scene, from the brightest stars to the most observant groupies.


Book cover of American Hardcore: A Tribal History

Taylor Markarian Why did I love this book?

American Hardcore is like the more aggressive cousin to Please Kill Me. While the latter is more of a narrative, American Hardcore is an audiophile’s masterpiece. It catalogs the evolution of hardcore music from coast to coast: its code of ethics, bloody brawls, and unrelenting spirit. It is as much a compilation of photographs and shows flyers as it is in interviews, providing a bird’s-eye view of the subculture. I appreciate this book for its scope and its commitment to documentation. 

By Steven Blush,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked American Hardcore as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"American Hardcore sets the record straight about the last great American subculture"—Paper magazine

Steven Blush's "definitive treatment of Hardcore Punk" (Los Angeles Times) changed the way we look at Punk Rock. The Sony Picture Classics–distributed documentary American Hardcore premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. This revised and expanded second edition contains hundreds of new bands, thirty new interviews, flyers, a new chapter ("Destroy Babylon"), and a new art gallery with over 125 rare photos and images.


Book cover of The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band

Taylor Markarian Why did I love this book?

This is the off-the-wall, outrageous rock n’ roll autobiography that satisfies your guilty pleasures. It’s the insider story of Mötley Crüe’s ultimate rock star life that is at once disgusting, exciting, and freeing. Post up on a beach somewhere with this whirlwind tour diary for a fun afternoon of sex and drugs.

By Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil , Nikki Sixx , Neil Strauss

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Dirt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Celebrate thirty years of the world's most notorious rock band with the deluxe collectors' edition of The Dirt-the outrageous, legendary, no-holds-barred autobiography of Motley Crue. Fans have gotten glimpses into the band's crazy world of backstage scandals, celebrity love affairs, rollercoaster drug addictions, and immortal music in Motley Crue books like Tommyland and The Heroin Diaries, but now the full spectrum of sin and success by Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, and Mick Mars is an open book in The Dirt. Even fans already familiar with earlier editions of the bestselling expose will treasure this gorgeous deluxe edition. Joe…


Book cover of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Taylor Markarian Why did I love this book?

Speaking of drugs, let’s talk about Hunter S. Thompson. For me, this seminal work rooted in 1960s counter culture is more about how to write like yourself than a misguided road trip on drugs. Thompson’s voice is so uniquely brazen; he writes his story with the same grittiness that the best rock autobiographies possess. It’s an amazing example of how much a journalist can insert himself into the topic he’s covering. It breaks the cardinal rule of objective journalism, but in doing so, tells a true story of its own.

By Hunter S. Thompson,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive ..."'

Hunter S. Thompson is roaring down the desert highway to Las Vegas with his attorney, the Samoan, to find the dark side of the American Dream. Armed with a drug arsenal of stupendous proportions, the duo engage in a surreal succession of chemically enhanced confrontations with casino operators, police officers and assorted Middle Americans.

This stylish reissue of Hunter S. Thompson's iconic masterpiece, a controversial bestseller when…


Book cover of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Taylor Markarian Why did I love this book?

Culture critic Chuck Klosterman is essentially the next-gen Hunter S. Thompson. This book is a stream of consciousness foray into contemporary pop culture, ranging from essays on sports to music to reality TV. It’s an odd, brilliant, self-indulgent take on the American zeitgeist. Feel smart and have a laugh at the same time.

By Chuck Klosterman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter, Klosterman attacks the entire spectrum of postmodern America: reality TV, Internet porn, breakfast cereal, serial killers, Pamela Anderson, literary Jesus freaks, and the real difference between apples and oranges (of which there is none). Sex, Drugs and Coca Puffs is ostensibly about movies, sport, television, music, books, video games and kittens, but really it's about us. All of us.


Explore my book 😀

From the Basement: A History of Emo Music and How It Changed Society

By Taylor Markarian,

Book cover of From the Basement: A History of Emo Music and How It Changed Society

What is my book about?

From the Basement is part narrative, part oral history. It weaves my personal journey as a lover of emo music with the confessions of the musicians themselves. It explores what was at once the most mocked and adored genre, as well as its wider societal implications regarding subjects like mental health and toxic masculinity. Spanning 1980s hardcore through present-day emo rap, this book features interviews with Minor Threat, Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional, Saves the Day, and more.

It is a passionate analysis of how pop culture affects deeper aspects of our lives, as told from the point of view of someone who has suffered from depression.

Book cover of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Book cover of American Hardcore: A Tribal History
Book cover of The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band

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The Nightmarchers

By J. Lincoln Fenn,

Book cover of The Nightmarchers

J. Lincoln Fenn Author Of The Nightmarchers

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up in New England, my mother had a set of books that she kept in the living room, more for display than anything else. It was The Works of Edgar Allen Poe. I read them and instantly became hooked on horror. In the seventh grade, I entertained my friends at a sleepover by telling them the mysterious clanking noise (created by the baseboard heater) was the ghost of a woman who had once lived in the farmhouse, forced to cannibalize her ten children during a particularly bad winter. And I’ve been enjoying scaring people ever since.

J.'s book list on horror that will make you cancel your travel plans

What is my book about?

In 1939, on a remote Pacific island, botanical researcher Irene Greer plunged off a waterfall to her death, leaving behind a legacy shrouded in secrets. Her great-niece Julia, a struggling journalist recovering from a divorce, seeks answers decades later.

Tasked with retrieving Dr. Greer’s discovery–a flower that could have world-changing properties–Julia unearths a story rife with hidden agendas and a missionary community unwilling to share the truth. As she confronts the eerie legends and a fellow traveler with his own motives, Julia finds that the longer she stays, the thinner the line between reality and the fantastical becomes until she…

The Nightmarchers

By J. Lincoln Fenn,

What is this book about?

From the award-winning author of Dead Souls and Poe comes an all-new bone-chilling novel where a mysterious island holds the terrifying answers to a woman's past and future.

In 1939, on a remote Pacific island, botanical researcher Irene Greer plunges off a waterfall to her death, convinced the spirits of her dead husband and daughter had joined the nightmarchers-ghosts of ancient warriors that rise from their burial sites on moonless nights. But was it suicide, or did a strange young missionary girl, Agnes, play a role in Irene's deteriorating state of mind?

It all seems like ancient family history to…


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