This may be the only music biography I’ve read where the subject profiled seemingly never courted controversy of any kind.

Sure, there’s a segment relaying late Game Theory/Loud Family frontman Scott Miller’s audit by the IRS during his touring days in the 1980s but apart from that, Miller was an amiable musician with a few quirks and a bard’s wit who just never made it big.

While similar stories in the annals of music history (Death, Rodriguez) involve a resurgence in popularity once new audiences get wind of their work, Miller tragically ended his life before this could occur, making him in essence a tragic figure who left friends and loved ones scrambling to determine what tragedies he may have experienced while alive.

Brett Milano’s (tribute) narrative about Miller is compact at 170 pages. Across two decades, two bands, and two marriages, friends and loved ones piece together Miller’s accomplishments and personality as he balances the life of wannabe rock star with that of Regular Joe, daytime computer programmer. While this makes him a good guy worth getting to know, it doesn’t necessarily make for inspired reading. Given the recent re-release of Game Theory’s Lolita Nation, it’s best to listen to that first, absorb what you hear, and then read this book to understand why it stands as a landmark achievement.

-Ira Kantor