ABSTRACT
R.E.M., The Replacements, Camper Van Beethoven: by the end of the 1980s it was not uncommon to find alternative bands like these lumped together under the generic label of “college rock.” Gina Arnold, a prominent rock critic and academic whose work has appeared everywhere from the Los Angeles Times to Rolling Stone, approaches the topic from a personal perspective, beginning her narrative as a teenager listening to KSAN-FM, San Francisco’s legendary, progressive station. Arnold portrays college radio as a social setting populated by outcasts and adventurous souls, unrestricted by formatting concerns and rigid playlists. We loved KSAN so much. Its deejays, its music, its spirit, its live broadcasts from the Savoy Tivoli and Winterland, and its unspoken conviction that rock ’n’ roll music still had meaning in this world, in spite of the marketplace.
