Greil Marcus is the author of many books, including Lipstick Traces (1989/2009) and, most recently, Three Songs, Three Singers, Three Nations (2015). A previous essay on Allen Ruppersberg is included in Allen Ruppersberg: You and Me or the Art of Give and Take, edited by Constance Lewallell (2010). With Werner Sollors, he is the editor of A New Literary History of America (2009). He lives in Oakland and Minneapolis.
Collector’s Paradise: Greil Marcus on Allen Ruppersberg’s Rock ’n’ Roll Chronology
From collaborations with musicians like Terry Allen to his El Segundo Record Club, music has played a vital role in Allen Ruppersberg’s art. A keen observer of this thread is Greil Marcus, author of music histories including Lipstick Traces and The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs. Here he zeroes in on Ruppersberg’s passion through Collector’s Paradise, a book that traces rock’s roots through 1,500 recordings in the artist’s collection, from Gipsy Smith’s “Saved By Grace” (1909) to Al Green’s “Full of Fire” (1975).