Trouser Press Books – serie

In the first collection of his essays, outspoken critic Tim Sommer challenges some conventional beliefs about rock and explains how left-of-the-dial music in the '80s turned a generation of awkward loners into a cultural community.Sommer is a musician, journalist, record producer and radio DJ. He was an on-air news correspondent for MTV and VH1 and later did A&R for Atlantic Records, where he signed, among others, Hootie & the Blowfish.Dispatches From the Kingdom of Outsiders contains dozens of fervent and often surprising takes on music, culture and politics, offering a powerful and entertaining corrective to the timidity of so much modern music journalism.From his precocious emergence as a teenaged rock writer, Sommer describes the Zelig-like experiences of his life, mounts controversial arguments about well-known artists, connects music and politics in unexpected ways and reflects on a handful artists whose deaths affected him.Grouped into seven themed sections, the book covers U2 and R.E.M. to the Beatles and Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan to Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen. It also includes in-depth interviews with Dave Davies of the Kinks and a previously unpublished interview with Mark E. Smith of the Fall.Sample chapter titles: I Was Almost a Temporary Beastie BoyMeet the Beatles’ First Left-Handed BassistWhat Was the First Punk Rock Record?Weezer’s cover of Toto's “Africa” Is the Most Repugnant Pop Recording of All TimeHow Kent State Helped Create the Template for American Indie RockWith its diverse collection of subjects and entertaining opinions, this colorful, rollicking collection of writing will appeal to (and perhaps infuriate) a wide variety of music fans.Billy Idol: "Tim Sommer goes deep on a whole century of rock and pop culture, from Bowie to Buddy Bolden, Spike Milligan to Taylor Swift, and everything in between. Punk was always a state of mind, as much as a sound or a look, and this book is punk AF."Thurston Moore, co-founder of Sonic Youth: "It was the pleasure of noise, be it from the margins or from the mainstream, that inspired Tim to pontificate so excitedly. While his “dispatches” are modestly critical and discerning, they are essentially informed by joy, an aspect of shared dialogue utterly welcoming -- and one the world necessitates now more than ever."Geoff Edgers, national arts reporter, The Washington Post and author of Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever: "Sommer is a throwback to when people writing about music wrote whatever they wanted, took shocking takes not to garner social media attention but because they really believed in them, and did not worry about industry repercussions. He's also a little insane. This is a truly original document of the kind of smart, free, joyous writing we so rarely find anywhere today. Tim Sommer writes because he has to, not because he's trying to impress anyone, and his takes -- on the Beatles, Glenn Branca, Kent State and just about anything that pops into his brain -- are refreshingly disinterested in scoring social media points."

New York City in the 1960s was a musical melting pot, in which folk, R&B, rock and roll, blues, girl groups and Brill Building pop produced a wealth of great artists and records. This book tells their story.Using numerous new interviews with major figures from the time as well as contemporaneous trade magazines and other sources, author Mitchell Cohen captures this rich (but often underestimated) musical era's history and sounds. He chronicles the arrival of new artists on the scene — bands like the Lovin' Spoonful, the Young Rascals, the Blues Project, the Shangri-Las and the Vagrants — as well as solo artists from Dion to Darin to Dylan and the local producers, songwriters and label executives who all helped shape the music. He also explores the role TV, radio and the press all played to show not only what was going on, but how it was being promoted, exploited and attacked.An acclaimed music journalist and former record company talent scout, Cohen lived in New York when all this was happening and adds his own memories to those he interviewed. The result is illuminating, entertaining and sure to be both informative and nostalgic for anyone who remembers songs like “Do You Believe in Magic,” “Groovin’,” “Good Lovin’,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Summer in the City,” “Chapel of Love” and “In the Midnight Hour.”Includes an extensive, annotated discography of albums and 45s and a bibliography.Fans will find that this book details a lot of what they might have long forgotten about one of the most vibrant and influential eras in American rock and roll. It adds to the scholarship regarding New York culture and will send readers scurrying to play these old songs.“It was such an exciting time for music, and Mitchell brings it vividly to life.” —Clive Davis. author of The Soundtrack of My Life“Mitchell Cohen, as always, connects the dots from the perspective of a true believer in rock and roll … Wake Me, Shake Me is music history told with much insight and detail.” —Dion DiMucci, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and author of Dion: The Rock and Roll Philosopher“Cohen puts a decade of profound musical change into celebratory perspective … A bravura accomplishment.” —Lenny Kaye, rock guitarist, author of Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments in Rock & Roll“Cohen writes about the breadth of New York’s music with all the noise, animation and attitude of the city itself.” —Jim Farber, music journalist (New York Times, The Guardian)“Cohen conjures the hustle, magic and ecstasy of Gotham’s groove during one of its most happening eras with a helping of context that makes it all come alive.” —Dennis Diken of the Smithereens“A wonderful love letter to the chaos, craft and blind faith behind the music of ‘60s New York.” —Sam Hollander, songwriter, author of 21 Hit Wonder: Flopping My Way to the Top of the Charts

POW! is the fascinating memoir of a precocious English teen in the early 1980s who published a music magazine, interviewed many of the era's top artists, befriended rock stars, ran a record label, appeared on television, played in a band and found first love -- all at the same time!In this sequel to his Boy About Town (2013), Tony Fletcher's incredible adventures in the world of British post-punk make for a compelling adventure of highs (an exclusive interview with Paul McCartney, friendship with Paul Weller of the hugely successful Jam, playing to huge audiences, discovering love and sex) and lows (heartbreak, learning the financial challenges of running a label the hard way, the collapse of his band). Despite the passage of time, he summons up all the enthusiasm he felt for the music and women he loved and marvels at the incredible experiences he had as a hard-working young striver.The generation raised on MTV, the New Musical Express and bands like Madness, Wham!, the Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dexy's Midnight Runners and Killing Joke will love reading this inside view of a knowledgeable fan who got to know them all.“Tony Fletcher, one of the great post-punk inspirational writers and thinkers: his fanzine Jamming! inspired me to start Creation. This early '80s memoir POW! is his story of that period. Take a bow Tony, you always were a cool chap.” Alan McGee, author of Creation Records: Riots, Raves and Running a Label“Tony writes with the energy of the music he loves and knows. Forward motion: it’s the life he’s lived.” Johnny Marr, author of Set the Boy Free: The Autobiography“What makes POW! special is that it captures the early-'80s UK music storm not from the top of the industry but from knee height, through the eyes of a 16-year-old who had somehow blundered into the middle of it.” Mark Jay, author of The Nudniks of 1977“Anyone who ever fell in love with pop music will be enthralled by Tony Fletcher’s Access All Areas adventure. Packed with anecdotes and insight, this is an absolute gem of a book.” Russ Litten, author of Scream If You Want to Go Faster"Tony's compulsively readable memoir takes me right along with him on his youthful adventures in grimy early-'80s London and beyond." Dan Epstein, author of Now You're One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross“POW! is quite an extraordinary achievement, at the very least for showing that Tony’s memories are as detailed and full as if these things has happened just last week. Memories that stimulate and force my own to come rushing, partially, back: both good and bad. It was an extraordinary time to be that age, to be steeped in such action and excitement, as we were. Most autobiographies skim over the bad bits with a wry eye, a 'whoops' with a grin. but Tony has no such tone. Or shame, even! His gods are as slammed as they are revered, showing both their humanity and their human-ness, their own faults and problems.” Hugo Burnham, Gang of Four