Smith's 1998 major label debut defies the "tortured singer-songwriter" stereotype, and takes up this defiance as a central theme. At a time when Smith was being groomed for a particular (and particularly condescending) brand of stardom, he produced a record that eviscerated one of the central assumptions of singer-songwriterdom: that pain is beautiful. This book is an original take on a widely beloved album and steers clear of the sensationalist suicide angles that have dogged most analysis of Elliott Smith's extraordinary work.>