A meditation on the artistry and influence of Patti Smith (book excerpt)

'Why Patti Smith Matters' is the first book about the iconic artist written by a woman. The veteran music journalist Caryn Rose contextualises Smith's creative work, her influence, and her wide-ranging and still-evolving impact on rock and roll, visual art, and the written word. Photo: Handout

To those who know, Patti Smith, pioneering punk poetess and rock star without peer or precedent, requires no introduction. But times change, generations succeed generations, and sometimes the world needs to be reminded of things like Why Patti Smith Matters, which is exactly the book that veteran music journalist Caryn Rose published recently via University of Texas Press.

Rose, whose work has appeared in Pitchfork, Salon, the Village Voice, Vulture, Backstreets, the Guardian and Variety, explains, "I was eager to take on the formidable task of chronicling Patti Smith's career because aside from Smith's own work, the existing scholarship didn't possess the kind of informed, careful perspective of her life and art that it deserves."