History Literature / TheArmageddonRag

* TheBodyPartsThatMustNotBeNamed: Very much averted when it comes to females. Vagina is written multiple times, and nearly every woman's breasts are described, sometimes multiple times. Male genitals are only referred by euphemisms though.

* CoolCar: Sandy Drives a Mazda RX-7, which he names Daydream. He uses on more than one occasion to get laid. It works.

* DoubleStandard: When Sandy returns home from investigating Lynch's murder to find his girlfriend in bed with another mad, he's furious. This despite the fact he hooked up with two women on the road since they both agreed to an an open relationship.

* FreudianTrio: The three surviving members of the Nazgul; the sleazy drug-addicted paedophile Rick Maggio is the Id, the intellectual, morally-atuned and slightly pompus Peter Faxon is the Superego, and Gopher John is the Ego.

* FunctionalAddict: Maggio the guitarist. He loves being a junkie and continues taking speed pills throughout their reunion tour, before and and after going on-stage. It doesn't seem to impair his performance, but he is very unpleasant in person. Lynch, the old promoter, once gave him drugs as a Christmas present. He was thrilled.

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: The surviving members of Nazgûl. Gopher John the drummer is running a hole in the wall club, Maggio the guitarist is playing gigs with a bunch of scrubs to get in a girl's pants. Faxton the bass player is also the primary songwriter so he's doing fine with royalty checks coming in, but secretly yearns to be back on top. All three are eventually convinced to reunite, one way or another.

* OnlySaneMan: Once Sandy find out what is going on behind the scenes, he's the only one who questions it and tries to stop it.
** in the band, Peter Faxton, the bass player and principle songwriter. The drummer is an alcoholic who wants nothing to do with the Nazgûl anymore, the guitarist is a junkie, pedophile psychotic, and the singer is, well, dead. Since all the publishing rights go to him, he has the least need to reunite. He just does it for the music.

* ShoutOut: Lots and lots to 60s rock music in general, and the flower-power movement as a whole. Each chapter beings with a quote from a famous song, which roughly mirrors the chapter's plot, and other lyrics are sprinkles throughout the text.

* TitleDrop: Many times. The Armageddon Rag is the name of the band's extended jam from side B of their most famous album, so it get talked about a fair bit. Technically it's The Armageddon/Resurrection Rag, but it's usually just referred to as Armageddon Rag.

* AbusiveParents: Sandy's buddy Slum, who's father is a stereotypical American macho-man who writes trashy, but successful, thriller novels. He has Slum declared mentally invalid and cuts him off from the world, and rules all his kids through fear and intimidation.

Back in the 60s, the fictional rock band Nazgûl was at the top of their game, and a rallying cry for the burgeoning hippie movement. However this all ended September 20, 1971, when their lead singer, Patrick Hobbins, was murdered on stage in New Mexico. The band broke up and the world moved on.

* OneSteveLimit: Almost averted. One of Sandy's old flames is named Maggie, and the guitarist of Nazgûl is named Maggio.

Back in the 60's, the fictional rock band Nazgûl was at the top of their game, and a rallying cry for the burgeoning hippie movement. However this all ended September 20, 1971, when their lead singer, Patrick Hobbins, was murdered on stage in New Mexico. The band broke up and the world moved on.

At least, until the band's old manager, Jamie Lynch, is found dead. Alternative movement 'zine ''The Hedgehog'' calls its old editor Sandy Blair to write a feature piece about the murder, seeing as how he covered the band in the ''Hog'''s past. Along the way to interviewing the surviving members of the band and hopefully solve the murder, Blair reconnects with his own troupe of flower-power hippie revolutionaries he used to pal around with in the 60's.

The book was published in 1983 by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin well over a decade before Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire was a twinkle in his eye. As a meditation on 60's rock music and the flower-power movement, it's most famous for being a colossal commercial failure, so much so that it almost killed Martin's career and causing him to retreat into film and TV Writing for a few years. Despite this, the novel remains in print.

* AuthorAppeal: Creator/GeorgeRRMartin must really love 60's rock music.

* NewAgeRetroHippie: Sandy and his comrades from the 60's were all this. Some still are, some fell out of it. Part of the reason Sandy took the assignment in the first place was to reconnect with them.

* MostWritersAreWriters: The main character, Sandy Blair, is a novelist who got his start editing a 60's revolutionary 'zine.

* ShoutOut: Lots and lots to 60's rock music in general, and the flower-power movement as a whole. Each chapter beings with a quote from a famous song, which roughly mirrors the chapter's plot, and other lyrics are sprinkles throughout the text.

->Well I'm here to make things right,
->To fight the last good fight,

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Sandy ends up having visions that do end up coming true. Once he realizes this, he tries to stop things.

* PropheticDream: Sandy keeps having prophetic dreams, and a recurring one features a woman being sacrificed on-stage. He later realized it's about a groupie who hangs around Maggio, based on her scream in real life matching the one heard in his dream.

* AdultFear: Sandy keeps having prophetic dreams, and a recurring one features a woman being sacrificed on-stage. He later realized it's about a groupie who hangs around Maggio, based on her scream in real life matching the one heard in his dream.

* TheWoobie: Larry Richmond. Poor kid. He's albino, which already makes him physically different. But he's also cajoled into becoming an exact replica of Patrick Hobbins up to the point of getting facial reconstruction. It's implied he's not even half bad at guitar or singing on his own merits, but the only thing anybody sees is his resemblance to the late singer. Then he gets possessed by the dead singer during concerts so he's not even conscious when the band is getting applause. Oh, and his dog gets killed for no reason. Luckily the ending implies that he earned his own place in the band as rhythm guitarist, leaving the vocal work to a new kid who's better able to handle it.

* JustHereForGodzilla: Any attempts to play Faxton's new material is met with complete apathy from the audience. Only their old material gets any reaction. Possibly intentional, caused by [[spoiler:black magic]].

* TheFaceOfTheBand: Patrick Hobbins, so much so that any attempts at a Nazgûl reunion are instantly nixed without him.

His leads go nowhere and the story evaporates, but a mysterious man named Edan Morse offers, or should we say plots, to reunite the band with a new lead singer. Sandy is called in to be Nazgûl's PR man for the upcoming tour. Despite his misgivings, he accepts. However what seems like a typical reunion tour turns to the surreal and macabre as Sandy uncovers the sinister motivations behind the reunion.

The book was publishing in 1983 by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin well over a decade before Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire was a twinkle in his eye. As a meditation on 60's rock music and the flower-power movement, it's most famous for being a colossal commercial failure, so much so that it almost killed Martin's career and causing him to retreat into film and TV Writing for a few years. Despite this, the novel remains in print.

!!The novel The Armageddon Rag provides examples of:

Back in the 60's, the fictional rock band Nazgûl was at the top of their game, and a rallying cry for the burgeoning hippie movement. However this all ended September 20, 1971, when their lead singer, Patrick Hobbins, was murdered on stage. The band broke up and the world moved on.

At least, until the band's old manager, Jamie Lynch, is found dead, his heart cut out of his chest. Alternative movement 'zine calls its old editor Sandy Blair, to write a feature piece about the murder, because he covered the band for the 'zine in the past. Along the way to interviewing the surviving members of the band, Blair reconnects with his own troupe of flower-power hippie revolutionaries who he used to pal around with in the 60's.

His leads go nowhere and the story evaporates, but a mysterious man named Edan Morse convinces, or should we say plots, to reunite the band along with a new lead singer. Sandy is called in to be Nazgûl's PR man for the upcoming tour. Despite his misgivings, he accepts. However what seems like any other reunion tour turns to the surreal and macabre as Sandy uncovers the sinister motivations behind the reunion.

-->-- lyrics for the song Armageddon/Resurrection Rag

Back in the 60's, the fictional rock band Nazgûl was at the top of their game, and a rallying cry for burgeoning hippie movement. However this all ended September 20, 1971, when their lead singer, Patrick Hobbins, was murdered on stage. The band broke up and the world moved on.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: Edan Morse's plot is to [[incite a massive riot that causes mass anarchy]], in order to rebuild a better world. He realizes it won't progress past all the [[spoiler:death and destruction]] and tries to call it off but unfortunately, [[spoiler:Ananda]] sees it more as a case of UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans.

* Blackmail: Maggio the guitarist likes his women underage. Lynch took pictures once and used them as leverage until Faxton managed to get them destroyed.

* SelfHarm: Edan Morse, the Nazgûl's new benefactor, has scars all over his left hand from cutting himself. [[spoiler:Sandy finds out later it's part of a blood sacrifice]].