Popular music was in a creative upheaval in the late 1970s. As the singer-songwriter and producer Chris Stamey remembers, “the old guard had become bloated, cartoonish, and widely co-opted by a search for maximum corporate profits, and we wanted none of it.” In A Spy in the House of Loud, he takes us back to the auteur explosion happening in New York clubs such as the Bowery’s CBGB as Television, Talking Heads, R.E.M., and other innovative bands were rewriting the rules. Just twenty-two years old and newly arrived from North Carolina, Stamey immersed himself in the action, playing a year with Alex Chilton before forming the dB’s and recording the albums Stands for deciBels and Repercussion, which still have an enthusiastic following.
A Spy in the House of Loud vividly captures the energy that drove the music scene as arena rock gave way to punk and other new streams of electric music. Stamey tells engrossing backstories about creating in the recording studio, describing both the inspiration and the harmonic decisions behind many of his compositions, as well as providing insights into other people’s music and the process of songwriting. Photos, mixer-channel and track assignment notes, and other inside-the-studio materials illustrate the stories. Revealing another side of the CBGB era, which has been stereotyped as punk rock, safety pins, and provocation, A Spy in the House of Loud portrays a southern artist’s coming-of-age in New York’s frontier abandon as he searches for new ways to break the rules and make some noise.
Chris Stamey has participated in indie music of all stripes since the 1970s, as both a musician and a producer. His recent albums include Lovesick Blues and Euphoria, as well as Falling Off the Sky with the dB’s. As a producer, he has worked with Ryan Adams, Alejandro Escovedo, Flat Duo Jets, Skylar Gudasz, Tift Merritt, Le Tigre, and Yo La Tengo.
Table of Contents
Preface: The Story behind the Painting
1. Don’t Stop to Think
2. I Love the Sound of the Traffic
3. In Our Wildest Dreams
4. Have You Seen the Last Elite?
Jukebox: Just Tryin’ to Tell a Vision
5. The More You Learn, the Less You Know
6. Pavement Slapping My Feet
7. Eyes Submerge Your Face
8. Caress and Spite
9. I Loved You, and You Did, Too
10. Exhilaration; or, Gorging a Neuronic Aperture
11. Just Like Yesterday
12. Who Will Baudelaire?
13. Cut It Hot, Cut It Up, Cut It Clean, Cut It Slow
Jukebox: The More You Look, the More You See
Jukebox: We’ve Got Your Sons’ Blood on Our Hands
14. Your Ballerina Curls
15. She Took the Soda Pop
16. Wine in Plastic Cups
17. The Distance That Surrounds Us
Jukebox: Don’t Push Me, ’Cause I’m Close to the Edge
"This North Carolina outsider gets deep inside the coolest scenes—New York City, playing Max’s and CBGB with Alex Chilton and Richard Lloyd, then spinning into the heart of 1980s alternative rock with the dBs and pals Mitch Easter and REM, and on to Hoboken’s glorious 1990s. Stamey is a songwriter, musician, and producer, but this book proves that, paramount, he’s a listener, and a damn good writer about what he hears."
Steve Earle
Chris Stamey arrived in New York City just as rock and roll had begun to reinvent itself, and he was—and is—particularly qualified to bear witness to that moment.
Anthony DeCurtis
Informed, eloquent, and daring, this book stands as a model of excellence for both music writing and memoir. Stamey moves effortlessly between analysis and reminiscence, history and personal revelation, shedding light on his own creative journey as well as the city—‘planet New York’—that provided a good deal of the inspiration for it. I simultaneously learned so much and was deeply moved.
Bob Mehr
A Spy in the House of Loud is an endlessly fascinating odyssey through the worlds of Southern pop, New York City art punk, and American indie rock. Stamey’s stories capture you with same finely etched detail and emotional depth that have always marked his best songs. Both an engrossing personal memoir and an eye-opening peek into the creative process, this is a truly essential work of music lit.
