Acid Detroit: A Psychedelic Story of Motor City Music

Acid Detroit is an exhilarating, technicolour view of Detroit’s musical and social history from the 1960s to the present day.

Redefining the counterculture as a time of Acid Communism, Acid Detroit diverges from most books on the Sixties, which centre on California, to show that Detroit was an unequalled hotbed of radical activism, urban unrest and sonic innovation. Considering Detroit’s unique mix of people and cultures and enduring sonic legacies, it covers everything from incendiary garage rock, to European-influenced techno and experimental hip-hop crews, intertwining the artist’s lives and works with the city’s rise and decline, from its establishment as an industrial powerhouse to the high point of Motor City, into its decline and tentative rebirth.

A mind-expanding tour through time and space that explores the lost possibilities, histories and hidden potentials of the city, Acid Detroit reveals a history of resilience and transformation hidden in the shadows of the abandoned factories and warehouses of the Motor City.

Praise:

“Resituating and extending Mark Fisher’s concept of Acid Communism into vibrant new territory, Acid Detroit takes a clear passion for a city and its culture and reveals the radical political potentials that are to be found not only in its past but, perhaps even more importantly, in its present and proximate future.” - Matt Colquhoun, author of Egress

“This gave me so much knowledge of the history of music in Detroit, and made me so proud to be a part of our city’s history and culture.” - Bruiser Wolf

“Through the toxic runoff of snowed-in flyover country and psychedelic outsiderism, Molloy untangles the creative minds that go fast and furiously into new musical territories while honoring the decades of untouchable classics that came before. Acid Detroit is a music lover’s insider look into the sublime joy of seeing time catch up to itself.” - Will Lorenz, The Stools

“Joe’s in-depth and emotionally charged writing, specifically about John Brannon’s career, really pulls in and enraptures the reader. You can tell by the attention to detail how much research and heart has been put into this book on Detroit music.” - Joey Hanania, Toeheads