Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

A Low Culture Manifesto

Chuck Klosterman

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN:
  9780743236010
• eBook ISBN:
  9780743258241
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Literary Essays
• Index: Social Sciences

From the author of the highly acclaimed heavy metal memoir, Fargo Rock City, comes another hilarious and discerning take on massively popular culture—set in Chuck Klosterman’s den and your own—covering everything from the effect of John Cusack flicks to the crucial role of breakfast cereal to the awesome power of the Dixie Chicks.

Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman. With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an almost effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter, Klosterman attacks the entire spectrum of postmodern America: reality TV, Internet porn, Pamela Anderson, literary Jesus freaks, and the real difference between apples and oranges (of which there is none). And don’t even get him started on his love life and the whole Harry-Met-Sally situation.

Whether deconstructing Saved by the Bell episodes or the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of The Empire Strikes Back or the Celtics/Lakers rivalry, Chuck will make you think, he’ll make you laugh, and he’ll drive you insane—usually all at once. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is ostensibly about art, entertainment, infotainment, sports, politics, and kittens, but—really—it’s about us. All of us. As Klosterman realizes late at night, in the moment before he falls asleep, “In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever ‘in and of itself.’” Read to believe.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Chapter 1: This Is Emo 0:01
• Chapter 2: Billy Sim 0:12
• Chapter 3: What Happens When People Stop Being Polite 0:26
• Chapter 4: Every Dog Must Have His Every Day, Every Drunk Must Have His Drink 0:42
• Chapter 5: Appetite for Replication 0:56
• Chapter 6: Ten Seconds to Love 0:71
• Chapter 7: George Will vs. Nick Hornby 0:86
• Chapter 8: 33 0:97
• Chapter 9: Porn 1:09
• Chapter 10: The Lady or the Tiger 1:19
• Chapter 11: Being Zack Morris 1:35
• Chapter 12: Sulking with Lisa Loeb on the Ice Planet Hoth 1:49
• Chapter 13: The Awe-Inspiring Beauty of Tom Cruise’s Shattered, Troll-like Face 1:59
• Chapter 14: Toby over Moby 1:74
• Chapter 15: This Is Zodiac Speaking 1:87
• Chapter 16: All I Know Is What I Read in the Papers 2:03
• Chapter 17: I, Rock Chump 2:19
• Chapter 18: How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found 2:28
• Footnotes
• Acknowledgments
• ‘Downtown Owl’ Teaser
• ‘But What If We’re Wrong: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past’ Excerpt
• About the Author
• Index
• Copyright