Customer Reviews

The Trouser Press Record Guide

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The out-of-print Fourth Edition of the Trouser Press Record Guide is the great lost guide to rock's great lost cause - the 80s indie scene. Nothing else published in the English language has ever come close. Its nearly 800 pages of artist biographies and discographies map the sprawling wilderness of the post-punk era. Here lies the buried treasure of the alternative dark ages, when far-flung spontaneous ragtag erruptions of creativity thrashed and crashed and burned brightly in doomed glory.

I got hooked on the TP Record Guides in the mid 80s by luck browsing a cool bookstore. Love at first sight. Ira A. and crew approached a gigantic task with a process and a great sense of humor. Their reviews are amazingly complete for some amazingly obscure bands. I actually feel honored to own music of obscure underground bands that were somehow unbelievably, under their radar. They treat most bands with respect, excepting bands of the "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" ilk, heck I trash them too even if I don't know any better! How's that for loyal?

A couple examples of the wonders that drift among the pages. One of my favorite reviews is Simple Minds. The reviewer carefully goes over the bands' brilliant first releases and then lashes out at an apparent total sell out after they got sucked into big production movies. And this book, plus the 1990s edition following it up, will give you an enduring look at the rise and fall of underground music.

Try this at your local library, open this book to Nirvana...read the terse review of the band. Now thumb to Nirvana in the New TP Guide to 90s Music, written many years later, but right next to it in the stacks (dream on). It says things like "every generation has events like hula hoops and Nirvana, they explode out of nowhere" These books are a look at what is important to young people at an important time when their brains look beyond the mirror, even farther outward than the next meal, and they turn to music. It's all-together mindbending and probably important.

This book is a quest giver. Ever hear of the Morels? Me neither, but from what Ira says in his review in this book, I've been on a quest to find some of their musical legacy and so far I've failed. But I'm persistent, they're out there somewhere on some dusty shelf. I'm zealous about this book because in this world you've got to edit.

Before there was such a thing as P2P music downloads and other ways of getting ear candy for free (hopefully just to listen before you buy the real CD from the artist you like) you had to rely on word of mouth or radio. Since radio did not play most of the great music listed here, take it from a Suicidal Tendencies/Thin Lizzy fan, this was the one way I KNEW the music I risked my money on was worth it. As far as guides go, this one surpasses them all.

You've got to own all volumes of the Trouser press guides if you're serious about 80's underground music (although good luck finding the first volume). While not entirely comprehensive, the bands that are covered do get pretty thorough treatment. Much more objective and helpful than the other guides that purport to cover this kind of music.

An indispensible handbook to alternative music. Becoming slightly dated but still a valuable resource for anyone interested in alternative rock

I love this book. I have to say that I didn't always agree with Robbin's et al views of the music on display. One reviewer mentions their treatment of Simple Minds, and I could make a case for the Silencers. a great Scottish band of the mid to late 80's.

What makes this book great isn't the reviewing they do (concise and well written, always), but rather the fact that Trouser Press provides histories for each band before jumping into their material, and traces the progression of bands through their careers (read the Sonic Youth entry if you don't believe me).

This book leaves all others I've ever read far behind for that simple fact. If you want little info on the bands and sketchy histories and lineups, then by all means, run to Rolling Stone and Dave McKean. But if you want to understand the individual formations of bands, their original vision, how and why they changed, and a full critical accounting thereof, buy the Trouser Press guides.

Magic, I tell you. Magic.

this book is actually one of the best of its kind. It documents quite well the music of the New Wave era and is a nicely done update of the previous edition.

Well worth finding a used copy -- it reviews bands and solo artists covered nowhere else.

I got hooked on the TP Record Guides in the mid 80s by luck browsing a cool bookstore. Love at first sight. Ira A. and crew approached a gigantic task with a process and a great sense of humor. Their reviews are amazingly complete for some amazingly obscure bands. [I actually feel honored to know music of obscure underground bands that were somehow unbelievably, under their radar. I wonder what ever became of the "Cache Valley Drifters"? I sure hope Pete and Lou Berryman are still out there too.] They treat most bands with respect, excepting bands of the "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" ilk, heck I trash them too even if I don't know any better! How's that for loyal?

A couple examples of the wonders that drift among the pages. One of my favorite reviews is Simple Minds. The reviewer carefully goes over the bands' brilliant first releases and then lashes out at an apparent total sell out after they got sucked into big production movies.

This book, plus the 1990s edition following it up, will give you an enduring look at the rise and fall of underground music.
Try this at your local library, open this book to Nirvana...read the terse review of the band printed shortly after "Nevermind"s release. Now thumb to Nirvana in the New TP Guide to 90s Music, written many years later, but right next to it in the stacks (dream on). It says things like "every generation has events like hula hoops and Nirvana, they explode out of nowhere" The book is a look at what is important to young people at an important time when their brains desire to look beyond the mirror, even farther outward than the next meal, and they turn to music. It's all-together mindbending and probably important.

This book is a quest giver. Ever hear of the Morels? Me neither, but from what Ira says in his review in this book, I've been on a quest to find some of their musical legacy and so far I've failed. But I'm persistent, they're out there somewhere on some dusty shelf. I'm zealous about this book because in this world you've got to edit.