A friend of mine (a guitarist who has forsaken rock for classical in the past year) has been telling me quite a bit about a book by Allan Bloom called The Closing of the American Mind, specifically the section pertaining to music.  In this section he is very critical of rock music and pretty much any music that doesn’t fit under the broad classical nomenclature, at least this is the impression that I get from my friend and some of the quotes he’s used.  I wanted some z-listers’ opinions on this book and its views.  I have not had the time to pick the book up, so I’m going on what my friend has told me.  Is this book as hard lined as my friend is making it out to be, that Bloom has no tolerance for (or worse believes in the inherit evilness of) any non-classical music, especially rock?  If so that’s a very frustrating view to me as I know of a great many non-classical works that have enriched my life in a way many classical pieces have failed.  Mozart is nice, but I can only listen for so long (the Requiem is another story, though).

Zach