The Basketball Diaries

(Island)
by Chris Adams

…In which Jim Carroll‘s harrowing tale of growing up with a golden arm becomes a palatable consumable ‘cos “hey kids! It’s an ‘Alternative Nation!'” Right? Right. Now kindly fuck off. The album? Well, it features Pearl Jam and Soundgarden and a bunch of other bands that today’s tattooed, pierced “youth culture” victims will lap up like the good consumers they are. Oh, it’s got the Jim Carroll Band and the Doors on it too, which slightly redeems it. Chris Adams’ pop rule #33: All movie soundtracks are crap.