"A love letter to the hard-rocking, but often snubbed, music of the era of excess: the 1980s There may be no more joyous iteration in all of music than 1980s hard rock. It was an era where the musical and cultural ideals of rebellion and freedom of the great rock 'n' roll of the '50s, '60s, and '70s were taken to dizzying heights of neon excess. Attention to songcraft, showmanship, and musical virtuosity (especially in the realm of the electric guitar)...

In the mid-'70s four flamboyant bands reveled in revved-up anthems and flaunted a novel theatricality. Brod offers an eye- and ear-opening look at a crucial moment in music history, when rock became fun again and a gig became a show. He seamlessly interweaves the narratives of KISS, Cheap Trick, and Aerosmith with that of Starz, a criminally neglected band whose fate may have been sealed by a shocking act of violence. Brod shows how these distinctly...