Customer Reviews

Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth: The Dark History of Prepubescent Pop, from the Banana Splits to Britney Spears

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

 

 

A pleasant surprise. I picked this up even though I thought it would be another disposable hoot at popular culture. It turns out, however, to be a thoughtful and intelligent, only-partly-tongue-in-cheek collection of biographies, essays, and analyses of "bubblegum" music (and related media). Lots of detail, critical discography, and a clear love of the form by its collective authors. Covers everything from 60s kid-pop through 70s/80s bubblegum-punk to 90s teen-pop, everyone from Steve Barri, P. F. Sloan, and Kasenatz-Katz to Lou Perlman, the Bugaloos to Vitamin C. A cover-to-cover read.

Why don't you own this already? Don't you want to know the connections between the Ramones and the Bay City Rollers, or the Beatles and the Backstreet Boys? At times frightening, often hilarious, and always illuminating, this collection of essays is written by people who clearly know music--not just the sub-genre known as Bubblegum Pop--backwards and forwards. This is a smart book, and a must for everyone from music criticism completists to closet Partridge Family fans.

The naked truth, indeed!

Editors Kim Cooper and David Smay have outdone themselves in producing the definitive work on the wildly popular yet strangely esoteric world of bubblegum rock, compiling dozens of essays written by some of the finest scribes of the underground press.

Case in point: "Looking for the Beagles" by Steve Mandich, the author of the fantastically comprehensive biography "Evel Incarnate: The Life and Legend of Evel Knievel." Here Mandich sheds a similarly swell light on the all-but forgotten rockin' doggie duo the Beagles, who starred in their own short-lived late-'60s Saturday-morning cartoon series and released one gleeful pop album.

Other contributors include the comic world's Peter Bagge ("Hate") with a hilariously enthusiastic overview of his young daughter's contemporary bubblegum CDs, Jake Austen ("Roctober") deconstructs KISS, and, in the interest of fairness, Dennis Eichhorn ("Real Stuff") bursts the bubble with "I Hate Bubblegum!"

Buy for its long-lasting flavor.

Splat!

This was a rarity in non-fiction for me: I couldn't put it down! So many of the essays were so wonderful, I just had to keep reading to see how strong the next one was. There are a few that I can tell were included more for completeness than quality compared to some, but overall this book is highly educational and entertaining at the same time. Worth it for anyone with an interest in pop culture. Also would make a good gift for that too-snobby-for-the-room culture vulture in your life that needs to be reminded that even The Ramones got into kitsch.

I'm a big fan of bubblegum music (it's not often someone will openly admit that), and I thought this book was going to be interesting. It was, to an extent. All of my favorite bands were listed (1910 Fruitgum Company, Ohio Express, and my personal faves, The Monkees), and a lot of the cartoon rock bands were talked about, too (mostly from Hanna-Barbera Studios, such as The Impossibles, Josie and the Pussycats, and the Banana Splits, just to name a few). Another one of the book's best moments was the "100 Greatest Moments of Bubblegum" list in the beginning (or something like that)

However, there were some drawbacks to this book. When they were talking about the producers and record labels, the essays got kind of long, and sort of boring. I got bored with this section very quickly. Another downside to the book was when the authors were talking about the Backstreet Boys, 'NSync, Britney Spears and the like (which in my opinion are NOT bubblegum) and then comparing them to The Monkees (which is totally bogus, becuase the Monkees DID play their own music after the first 2 albums, and 'NSync and the rest have yet to actually pick up a guitar, but I digress).

Other than the drawbacks listed, I think you'll get a bang out of this book. It's the perfect thing for those who grew up with the Partridge Family and the Monkees, or those of you who are new fans, and want to know more about the subject of bubblegum music.

Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth is the first book to (semi) seriously tackle the 30 plus years of rock aimed at young and pre-teens. On the good side, the information here is incredible--it's like a long party with a house full of lively music geeks. Did you know that George Harrison played on a Cheech and Chong record? That the man who sang for the Archies later became the publisher of the snobby arts & letter journal The Paris Review? Amazing tidbits abound. On the downside, it looks amatuerish, many of the graphics are too small or non-existant, the writing is at times painfully uneven, and like a record geek party, the whole affair smacks of being a tad insular. But for those who have treasured memories of late 60s early 70s AM radio, ever danced wildly to a Saturday morning cartoon rock band, or thirst for pop/rock trivia, this book is still a must.

If you,like me,are an avid fan of the bubblegum rock bands of the 60s-70s you will love this book!Besides looking at classic bands like the archies,ohio express,1910 fruitgum co,boyce and hart,etc the book covers the people behind the scenes who were,literally,pulling the strings.Very revealing read.Buy this!

This book has a fresh quirky writing style that is intoxicating. In each chapter we are brought into the recording and sometimes television studios
to learn the subversive craft of selling culture to the youth. Fascinating
and insightful.rock history

This is truly an amazing book. As a young kid in the 70's, I grew up on AM radio hits: The Osmonds, 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Archies, and so on. What I had no idea was that a majority of those groups were the brainchild of a producer and the recordings were made up of studio musicians. Half the time, no such band ever really existed. This book documents the different groups and songs, the successes and failures, and the product cross-marketing of all those hits that used to come through the radio (or on the 45 single that I'd buy with my allowance money). This is essentially a group of assembled essays and they are very well written. I feel like it's a pop (bubblegum) music history lesson. The interviews with the many people who contributed to the genre are also very informative. I honestly have to pull out this book periodically and read it cover to cover, it's that good.

I haven't read it...it's a gift. A sadly overlooked area of music. At a time in ones life when everything is fresh and new,Bubblegum music is forever fondly,if jadedly, remembered.