Customer Reviews

Bomp!: Saving the World One Record at a Time

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

'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 There is both archival stuff - including the legendary lost and previously unpublished issue #22 of Greg Shaw's Bomp magazine - along with new essays which lend needed context to the entire project.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.

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.

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.

If you love Rock 'n Roll, you probably already know about Bomp! magazine. In my opinion, one of the greatest Rock magazines of all time. Unlike Rolling Stone, or other such offerings, Bomp! never lost its "grass roots" feel.

This huge 304 page book is a fitting tribute to Greg and Suzy Shaw, and a wonderful journey into a world of Rock journalism that existed primarily "just below the radar". If you can't get your hands on any of the actual magazines, or have never even heard of Bomp!, this book is a great starting place. It's also a MUST HAVE for collectors, and in fact just about anyone who loves Rock music in general.

The other reviewers have already done a fine job of covering the details; I just wanted to add my two cents and give this excellent book five stars :)

JM

I discovered Bomp magazine in the late seventies, right around the same time I discovered the equally important Trouser Press magazine. Both helped guide me through the very confusing music scene that had emerged in the wake of the Sex Pistols. Bomp magazine was almost at the end of its run, but I made sure that I bought every back issue available. Thanks to that action I discovered a new term: Power Pop. I started buying anything labeled "power pop", a term coined by Bomp supremo Greg Shaw. That was helped by having Bomp mail order available, where I would sometimes get personal handwritten notes from Suzy Shaw suggesting other singles that I might be interested in. It was also Bomp that justified my long standing endorsement of long forgotten bands like Big Star and the Flamin' Groovies. God Bless `em!

This wonderful, huge book brings back all those memories and more. How about the note from Lenny Kaye discussing this project he had on the go and asking Greg his opinion on it? That project just happened to be the first Nuggets collection on Elektra, a watershed album (and event) that changed the course of music, make no mistake. There are all kinds of pieces like that in this book and tons of fascinating photos as well. If you have ever uttered the phrase "I love rock and roll", you really need to get this thing (look how cheap it is!!). It not only justifies that phrase, but shines a light on an important (albeit forgotten) catalyst that changed everything we now hold so dear in music. Thank you Greg and Suzy.

I can't wait to read this book. Without having seen it, I can safely give it a 5-Star rating, because Bomp! Magazine and Bomp! Records were 5-Star entities.

This is the Bomp! records who, through label signings and distribution deals, opened the doors for such great Punk and Power Pop artists as The Plimsouls, The B52s, Devo, The Romantics, Josie Cotton, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Shoes, 20/20, The Weirdos, Stiv Bators, Flamin' Groovies, The Pandoras, and the list goes on and on.

Bomp! Magazine stood in stark contrast to the mainstream '70s music press, by ignoring the biggest acts of the times in favor of articles on The Easybeats, The Flamin' Groovies, Downliners Sect, The Rattles, Dave Edmonds' Rockpile, The Standells, The Sonics, The British Invasion Sound, The Boston Sound, The Akron Sound. All the while, Greg repeated his battle cry, "It's ALL Coming back!". He was so right.

Before long Greg released The Flamin' Groovies' "You Tore Me Down", and Bomp! Records was launched. A reader asks Greg if he'll promote his band's homemade 45RPM. Overnight, there's a tidal wave of homemade 45s from all over hitting the Bomp! offices, and Bomp! sets up distribution for them. There is probably no Punk or Power Pop band of the late'70s to early '80s that doesn't owe its big break in whole or part to Greg Shaw.

Then there was the Bomp! record store, home of obscure underground 45s and cool '60s rock & roll. The Ramones came by, Blondie came by, Talking Heads, The Germs, The Dickies, The Dead Boys, Devo, and Cheap Trick came by.

Nikki & The Corvettes rehearsed in the back room at night. England's Eddie & The Hot Rods performed with Spencer Davis, on the back of a truck in the Bomp! parking lot. Yeah, Greg, "It ALL came back!

Like I said, I can't wait to read the book. However, I did get to live it. I worked for Greg and Suzy at Bomp!. It was the very center of the Punk/Power Pop universe.
~Dave C. (Bomp! Class of '77-'79)

I see I'm in the minority surrounded by rave reviews of this book.
I was more of a Creem magazine guy and didn't really read Bomp.
Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I had Circus, Hit Parader, Crawdaddy, Trouser Press and the aforementioned Creem.
I thought I'd check out this book and see what I'd missed.
Not much, apparently.
It took me forever to get through this endless barrage of bulls#$%.
As a time capsule portraying the emergence of some great rock music, this book (and I assume the magazine itself these articles were taken from) doesn't capture the excitement and thrill of the music.
Way too much pontificating and overblown drudgery.
Even the interviews go nowhere.
I realize that Greg Shaw might have been the precursor to such great rock writers as Lester Bangs, R. Meltzer, Billy Altman, but I'd take those guys anytime over this drivel.
The punk explosion of the mid to late 70s has always been my favorite era of music.
I was hoping for something a little more cutting edge from that era in this book.