`Fargo Rock City' strikes a familiar chord for this metal fan.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

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I am not alone.

Chuck Klosterman, who covers rock music for Ohio's Akron Beacon Journal, is just like me. He's a music critic who respects rock's true greats, yet also likes heavy metal. Especially the pop-rock sounds of the big `80s.

And he's damn proud of it.

Oh, I may have a Paul Stanley-style rose tattoo on my right arm, and I did write the liner-notes to Motley Crue's "Crucial Crue" series, but Klosterman has one-upped me by far. He's written what is perhaps the first book on the "hair metal" movement of the `80s. And it's a pretty good read.

Titled "Fargo Rock City," the text chronicles Klosterman's zany adolescence in rural North Dakota and his lifelong appreciation for bands frequently featured on `80s radio and MTV's now-defunct "Headbangers' Ball." Cleverly combining slick humor with smart musical analysis, Klosterman provides a fair and balanced look at the genre of music Kurt Cobain supposedly killed, but now seems to be enjoying a renaissance.

The inspiration for the book, says Klosterman, came from his desire to give `80s metal artists their proper respect.