Customer Reviews

Catalog of Cool

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When I first discovered Gene Sculati's book in the early 1980s, I had the feeling of finding something I had been searching for without realizing it. The Catalog of Cool covers the hippest of everything--from books to Bond, sounds to screen. The best sci-fi, cool jazz, Jack Kerouac, Ray Bans, the 63 Corvette Stingray, Hostess cupcakes--it's all here. The book keeps its cool tone throughout, but with a great sense of humor. Almost 20 years later, I still refer to it and its sequel, Too Cool, regularly. My only question is: When will we see book three, Gene?

In 1982, I was an eighteen-year-old high schooler with a penchant for the early version of alternative rock, then called "new wave." Not only was I fanatical about music by artists like Elvis Costello, The Clash, Squeeze, Nick Lowe, Blondie, The Ramones, etc., but I saw their attitudes and fashion statements as a new kind of alternative lifestyle. Now mind you, this was a good ten years before my age group was defined as "Generation X." I simply knew that I did not buy into the post-hippie excesses of "baby boomers," nor the ultra-conservative traditionalism of my parents' generation.

Before I digress any further, I discovered Gene Sculatti's book, "The Catalog Of Cool," at this watershed point in my life. I was initially intrigued by Mr. Sculatti's intelligent essays on new wave bands, but then, I discovered something deeper. Sculatti actually traced the evolution of this artistic aesthetic over a period of sixty-some years. He started with Russian avant garde art of the 1920's, continued with jazz of the 1940's, rock 'n' roll in the 1950's, the mod British influence of the 1960's, and finally, the punk/new wave culture of the 1980's. Reading this collection of essays by various writers was a sort of affirmation for who I was. The book heaped praise on so many of the things that I already loved; continental suits, big-finned cars, early rock 'n' roll, James Bond films, and of course, new wave music. "The Catalog Of Cool" also opened my mind to many things that I was unfamiliar with, like be-bop jazz, independent cult films, Jack Kerouac, and many other concepts that have since become a cherished part of my life. In other words, the affirmation of Gene Sculatti's "Catalog Of Cool" made me aspire to be a "Hipster Saint," and definitely shaped the person I am today.