Music in a Word Volume 1

A lifelong New Yorker, Ira Robbins studied to be an electrical engineer but became a music journalist instead. He co-founded Trouser Press magazine in 1974 and ran it until the end, in 1984. He was subsequently an editor at Video magazine, pop music critic for New York Newsday and editorial director in syndicated radio. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books and contributed to many more. He now runs Trouser Press Books.

• PrefaceA Few MemoriesStarting Out (1954 – 1974)Rocked by the RadioWhere It All BeganGood Times and Bad TakesThe Start of Something BigCreem and BeforeMy Circus ActTrouser It to Me! (1974 – 1984)Karen RoseThe SpeediesEarly InterviewsJohn Lydon LunchesAlex HarveyUndertonesThe New Wave Washes OutTaking Stock, 1978 – 1979Marc Bolan's Brief Blaze of GloryRemember those Fabulous '70s?The End of the LineVIDEO Magazine (1985 – 1989)Entertainment Weekly (1989 – 1999)Record ReviewsVic ChesnuttVulgar BoatmenSparks50,000,000 Backstreet Boys fans can be wrongShlock Europop, From ABBA to ZZZZZShoesThrough the Past Lightly: The 1980sGot Live (If You Want It or Not)Newsday (1993 – 1995)Woodstock '94Rolling StonesMichael JacksonBilly JoelPhil CollinsLinda RonstadtBusting the Boys ClubHolly Beth VincentIce CubeMarianne FaithfullIsaac HayesFucking UpThe Rock and Roll Hall of FameThe CureDepeche ModePoguesR.E.M.The New Mainstream?PavementStrolling Down Punk-Rock LaneKirsty MacCollIan McCullochJulian CopeTears for FearsThe QueersThe B-52'sElvis Presley, Milton Berle and Steve AllenBirth of the BluesMy Greatest HitsGrand Funk RailroadJoan JettSecond Thoughts (Bruce Springsteen)Where Were They Then?J. Geils Band