Review of Chuck Kolsterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

One of the Most Insightful and Interesting Reads of the Year

A genius walks among us. A dorky, bespectacled, fire-bush, genius who simply knows everything about any single topic that has ever been created. His name is Chuck Klosterman, and his manifesto titled Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, has become a work of biblical proportions within the pop culture community. His writing is witty, smart (too smart for me, I had to ask someone smarter what a lot of the words meant), and he delves into random topics with such detail that he's almost Rainman-esque.

Take for example his chapter on Guns N' Roses cover bands. His attention to detail is uncanny and makes the reader think that he spent a great deal of time as a roadie for second-rate rock stars. Which in fact he did. His tales of smoking pot and hanging in sleazy motels with the cheesy band Paradise City are priceless. However, it's not Klosterman's story telling that sets him apart form other writers. His ability to deconstruct each and every aspect of every situation he's ever been involved in makes him the stuff of legend. Not to mention the footnotes (newly added into a second printing), which give us deeper access into his dementia.

I say dementia, because that's the only way one could describe Klosterman's endless supply of knowledge about pop culture. If you don't believe me than read his chapter on Saved By the Bell. His relationship with the show is sickening. He confesses to watching the show up to 20 times a week during the height of its popularity in 1993. The fact that he watched it 20 times a week is not the frightening part. Hell, I could easily sit down and watch Seinfeld 20 times a week, much to the delight of disgustingly rich Larry David who gets paid every time it airs.