Bomp!: Saving the World One Record at a Time [Hardcover]

Suzy Shaw (Author), Mick Farren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

From 1966 to 1978, "Bomp!" was the magazine of rock-and-roll commentary and criticism that provided a view from the garage of the most crucial era in rock history. This retrospective is composed of rare gems from the magazine, including early interviews with The Doors and The Grateful Dead.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A columnist, critic, recording artist, teacher of a science fiction and horror course at UCLA, author of a number of non-fiction works on popular culture, including popular works on Elvis Presley, the CIA and various conspiracies, Mick lives and works in LA, writing for publications such as Citybeat.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 301 pages
• Publisher: Ammo Books (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978607686
• ISBN-13: 978-0978607685
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #729,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consider It Saved, December 13, 2007

By 

The Recordchanger "Tim" (Kettering, Oh, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bomp!: Saving the World One Record at a Time (Hardcover)

'Bomp: Saving The World One Record At A Time' is much more than just the chronicle of a small, independent record label. It's also part cultural history, part sociological study, part "how to" (or "how not to") guide to running a record label, part scrapbook, part family album, and part rock journalism anthology. Between the pages of this marvelous book is nothing less than an alternate history of rock & roll as told by those who were helping to create and document it.

The book is a feast for the eyes with generous helpings of artwork, and memorabilia lovingly reproduced for your browsing pleasure. It also contains some of the best rock journalism of the past 40 years written by some of rock's best writers (Mick Farren, who co-authored the book with Bomp's Suzy Shaw, Greil Marcus, Lester Bangs, Lenny Kaye, Greg Shaw himself, and many, many more). There is both archival stuff - including the legendary lost and previously unpublished issue #22 of Greg Shaw's Bomp magazine - along with new essays which lend needed context to the entire project.

I've read stacks upon stacks of rock books throughout the years, not to mention countless piles of magazines, and periodicals as well, and I have never read a book about the music or the music business that I enjoyed more. We seem to be getting ever closer to a time when music will only exist as computer files. So it will be left to books, and blogs to chronicle the history of where the music came from, and what the culture that birthed it was like. 'Bomp: Saving The World One Record At A Time' tells that story better than any other I've read.

Should the day ever come when there are no records or CD's or cassettes, and maybe no rock 'n' roll (at least as it once was), if someone should ask you what it was all about and how it all came to pass, and how it sounded, even, hand them this book. You can hear the guitar riffs, and the organ runs, and the drumbeats, and the pounding bass notes with every turn of the page.

And I should add that as we are less than 2 weeks away from Christmas as I write this, it makes the perfect gift for anyone on your list who loves rock 'n' roll. And I mean REALLY loves it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe Best Music Book Ever, February 3, 2008

By 

Brian J. Greene "djbrian" (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bomp!: Saving the World One Record at a Time (Hardcover)

What a wonder. Greg Shaw is one of the most fascinating characters of pop/rock music history, and this book does such a great job of letting the reader get to know him. As a music journalist, fanzine publisher, and label owner, Shaw was a leading light in the genres of Psychedelic San Francisco, 60s garage, Power Pop (he is credited with naming that genre), Punk and New Wave. When some bands (DMZ, Barracudas, Vipers, Fleshtones, et al) in the 80s turned away from synths and looked back to the 60s for inspiration and went back to rocking out and freaking out, Greg Shaw was a force behind that movement. Shaw was also an irresponsible businessman who couldn't be bothered with the "little details," and this is where Suzy Shaw, his lifetime partner and co-editor of the book, stepped in to keep the more eartly aspects of their life (the running of the businesses) together while Greg chased his dreams and entertained his genius. We all know that Lester Bangs was every bit as rock and roll as the bands he wrote about, and Greg Shaw is right there with him. The Mojo Navigator and Bomp! were two of the best music magazines ever to see print, and this book contains page after page of reproductions of the original band profiles, record reviews, passionate editorials, cool photos, etc from the mags. You feel that you are living inside the world of Greg and Suzy Shaw, of the Bomp! record label and magazine, when you are reading the book; and, if you're like me, you feel like you are walking away from friends and comrades in The Cause when you finish it. If you care anything about real garage rock, Power Pop, New Wave, etc., or about music fanzines, or about the reality of running an independent record label, you will find this book as enthralling as I did.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rock and Roll Yearbook, February 8, 2008

By 

Todd Zimmer (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bomp!: Saving the World One Record at a Time (Hardcover)

It's yearbook size and I want my copy signed by everyone. It's hardcover and yellow and looks like the 70's...
BOMP was a GREAT music magazine, on par with CREEM in it's day and it's good to see that it has been canonized.
I do have some minor complaints though:
1- Not a single issue is reprinted, but snippets of several, not all, issues.
2- The color section is not big enough.
3- No letter sections were included, and to be honest, it was one of my favorite things about the magazine.
But these complaints don't even knock a star off my review. What is published within is golden the only people that want this book have the original issues anyway. It's got AMAZING pictures and you can listen the Weirdos while reading it.