Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #94461 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 301 pages

Synopsis
From psychedelia to punk, from 1966 to 1978, "Bomp!" was the magazine of rock and roll commentary and criticism. "Bomp!'s" founder Greg Shaw (1949-2004), was neither a singer nor guitar player, but still became a legend in rock and roll. Greg's legacy of two magazines, "Who Put The Bomp!" and "Mojo Navigator", were wild treasure troves of writing and graphics that gave birth to the modern rock press we know today. From psychedelic garage bands to early insurgent punk rock, "Bomp!" provided a view-from-the-garage of the most crucial era in rock history. Rare gems are featured here, many reproduced as facsimile pages, like early interviews with The Doors and The Grateful Dead, to the first writing about the New York Dolls and The Sex Pistols.

Customer Reviews

Who put the Bomp? Greg Shaw put the Bomp!
Reproducing many fine articles from the magazine's heyday, Bomp! the book traces the progression of Mojo Navigator Rock'n'Roll News in the mid-1960s, through Who Put The Bomp!, to plain old Bomp! before it finally folded in the early 1980s. Bomp! the book effectively tells the history of Bomp! and the late Greg Shaw's part in it, taking in all aspects of the musical spectrum along the way: from West Coast psychedelia; garage; rockabilly, glitter rock, power pop to punk - no stone is left unturned, it's all here!

The original material is interspersed by recent essays primarily from Mick Farren and Suzy Shaw, but other notable musicologists such as Greil Marcus, Lenny Kaye and Mike Staxx also contribute to add even extra gravitas to the book.

Visually, the book's layout is a sight to behold combining as it does full-page reproductions of magazine articles and covers etc., with colourful retro style, but, nevertheless, contemporary graphics from Ryan Corey.

All in all Bomp! the book is a hugely fascinating compendium of this influential American magazine, and well worth getting if you're seriously interested in your music history, or a casual observer just looking for a good read, or an insight into, arguably, a more interesting musical past than what's on offer today.

A Must For The Fanzine Generation.
Around the 'Punk Era' in the UK, we had someone shoving a copy of their fanzine up our nose, either at ever gig we attended, or sometimes, during the Saturday High Street shopping rush in town. Usually written on an enthusiasm driven by the band's they had been to see at local venues, then printed, as cheaply as possible, and tacked together with a staple; they were sold for ten or twenty pence each to (with luck) enable another one to be created.
And created they were, yet by accident moreso than design, one fanzine-ist had a key missing from the typewriter, so this became his trademark; as his work had the letter 'K' (for example) missing. Other's creating fanzines thought this was 'cool,' so they ripped a key out of theirs as well. Today, British fanzines like 'Sniffin Glue' are famous and have been reprinted in book form.
So, too, 'Bomp!' except Greg Shaw was doing his thing in the 60's, and he was interviewing the likes of Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison when their bands were still playing support on the circuit, and a far cry from the legends they became; and he didn't have a missing typewriter key, either, that was a 'British peculiarity.'
So this book presents those long-ago-and-precious-interviews with these and many more stars besides, and on occasion, even the original 'paste-up' pages of those now legendary fanzines are reproduced here. It's one of those books, well, if you're like me, anyway, who appreciates things like this, which takes your breath away. It's a knockout book, and an amazing tribute to Greg whom, little did he know at the time, was carving his name out in Rock History.

Excellent read on the 60s and 70s rock scene
This is essentially a compedium of choice extracts from Mojo Navigator and Bomp magazine articles from the mid-60s to the late 70s interspersed with passages on the development of the magazine etc by Suzy Shaw and Mick Farren. It is lovingly put together. The articles are most revealing; the insularity of 60s San Francisco bands and their ambivalent attitude to black people, the clear lineage of 'punk' from 60s garage bands thru UK pub bands and the despair at the atrophy of the early 70s. What works well is that these articles date from the time and therefore are a reaction to what was happening around them them instead of a history of rock written from today's perspective. And anyway any magazine which can cover glam rock and write about Bay City Rollers records as pure pop without prejudice deserves attention!