Book Review: Good Music is Better then Sex

My life has a soundtrack running in the background.  I often turn to music as therapy for my relatively small problems like boredom or difficulty concentrating on a mundane task. Luckily, I don't have any big problems right now but if I did, God forbid, I would turn to music to help with those as well.

Judy M. Core, the author of Good Music is Better than Sex and My Search for the Old Blue Chair is a huge Kenny Chesney fan and credits his music, specifically the song "Old Blue Chair" with saving her life from the downward spiral of alcoholism and partying.  Throughout the book she refers to the songs that are her personal soundtrack. I picked up her book because I was curious to read the story of another woman who claims country music has had a large affect on her life.

Good Music is Better than Sex... is a self-published memoir. It's a conversation with an dirty-mouthed girlfriend who won't let you get a word in edgewise. It took a few pages but eventually I was pulled into the story by this description of Core's younger self.

"...I transitioned from the invisible girl with glasses and braces in high school to the Larger than Life Blonde Creature. You've probably seen her. You can't miss her...pissed off, big hair, loud mouth, short skirts and big boobs, life of the party. She might be telling someone to fuck off, she might be dancing sandwiched between two guys, she might be making out with some stray at the bar...trust me, you've seen her."(p. 9)

Core inserts humanity into the "Blonde Creature".  Her "Blonde Creature" transcends the eye-roll inducing, scantily clad stranger at a bar, by having feelings and a brain. When she manages to put a halt to her life's downward spiral she does a lot of soul searching on the subject of sex and relationships. She makes some very good points about self-respect and the roles women cast themselves in. I think that her story could be very helpful to young women who are caught-up in the self-destructive lifestyle of booze, sex, and unhealthy relationships, especially if those women are music lovers.

Her story is compelling not because it is exceptional, like a rags to riches or obscurity to fame story, but rather because it is common. She takes some unusual steps in her process, like going to the Caribbean to write a book, but it's more about what happens in her head than where she decides to do her thinking. It's the story of a woman who makes mistakes she not proud of, takes full responsibility for her actions and turns into a woman who takes consequences and goals into account before she acts. It's a book that says all the things that most mothers try to tell their daughters about partying, men, and marriage. The problem is that most mothers, if they are speaking to their daughters from experience, won't admit it. Good Music is Better than Sex is written in the voice of  a woman who is not embarrassed to tell the world how she behaved, and how it damaged her. The wounds are fresh. 

While reading this book I was aware that it was written and published in the mid-2000s. I wonder if Judy Core was writing this today, she would have chosen an online format with an interactive advice element and links to video. It could easily be moved into that format and reach a wider audience.