A very elite few of rock music journalists have reached the level of recognition that Eddie Trunk has attained. Demonstrating his vast knowledge of even the minute details of bands and their histories, he has now released his first novel entitled ‘Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.’ 

The basis of the piece is his summary of various different artists mixed in with personal experiences, discographies, a list of essential members, recommended playlists and even some unheard of facts. 

Considering the fact that Eddie Trunk is, quite honestly, the best and most knowledgeable rock music journalist out there right now, it was only a matter of time before ‘Essentials’ was released. 

Not only does his complete understanding of the genre shine through every page, but the way he professionally presents himself in a job full of legends is highly respectable.

The foreword is written by the one and only metal god known as Rob Halford who shares a close relationship with the author. His incredibly kind words are an impactful and promising start to this already masterpiece. Trunk is one of the only rock journalists who puts all of his being into what he does and easily became one of my many music reporting influences. It was an honor when his manager revealed to me that I was going to be interviewing him.

“I always wanted to do a book,” said Trunk. “We came up with the concept that incorporated these phenomenal photos that many people have never seen before that are directly from many of the shows that I talk about and also my stories and commentary about those photos.”

These photos he speaks of were taken by Ron Akiyama, and there are over 150 of them throughout the book. 

Trunk bases his writing on the older, classic bands, starting off with the AC/DC chapter and concluding with the Y&T paragraph. Of course, and unfortunately, every band that was planned to be in the book didn’t make the cut or just landed in the ‘More Essentials’ section.

“I picked bands that I felt were important to me and also bands that I felt were important to shaping the scene,” he said.

Thankfully, he does mention that he does want to do another book which might include the excluded bands or it might just be an autobiography. However, this is nowhere on the near horizon, considering he’s focusing more on his current release at the moment.

There’s also the fact worth mentioning that this book attracts a wide range of people. It’s not just for those fans who have known about these bands for ages and want to learn more about them.

“Tons of people in the teens have come up to me and said that they love the book and have me sign it and said that they’ve learned about these bands and went out and found their music because of talking about them.”

So, if anyone who is just getting into the genre wants something besides CDs to bring them into the light, this is an extremely helpful starting point.

  Eddie Trunk is the crème de le crème, and there isn’t any argument out there that can counter this reality.

The man is an expert at what he does, and according to him, there’s a simple answer to his success: “It’s just living it.” And that, headbangers and moshers out there, is the secret to the rock music journalism triumph.