Recent Rock Reads
2 Tone Records, Coming Of Age In The Late '60s & A Lifelong Love Of Music
A confession: I’m reading fewer books in 2024.
That also means I’m writing less about them here. Which is kind of ironic given how proud I was about all the fiction and non-fiction books I enjoyed last year.
I love reading and think of it as both a necessity and a luxury, but I sometimes have to concede there’s only so much time in the day. Between family, exercise, eating/cooking and sleep—four things I treasure—reading sometimes suffers.
Not to mention work, chores, doctor/dentist/mechanic/tax appointments and other trappings of adulthood. I also listen to podcasts and have recently noticed an uptick in my streaming TV consumption (damn you British crime dramas and The Bear). The double-edged sword of social media continues to be a time suck as well.
On the plus side, I have published a lot this year—but I strongly believe my writing improves the more I read. Conundrum! Which is all a long way of saying, I’ve got some serious work to do in the next 6 months if I want to hit 31 Books by Dec. 31™.
But that doesn’t mean I’m enjoying books any less.
If anything, I’m actually savoring them more since I read a little slower and take longer breaks in between. Such is the case with the trio of excellent nonfiction music books featured in this overdue installment of Recent Rock Reads. All three had been on my pre-order radar for a while and none of them fell short of my high expectations.
This time around we explore the late ‘70s/early ‘80s 2 Tone craze in England (and parts of America), spend 1967 with a young and impressionable Robyn Hitchcock (one of my all time favorite artists), and get an interesting overview of an experienced DJ/author/music writer’s favorite tracks from the last 70+ years.
⚡️💥 What Are Some Of Your Favorite Recent Rock Reads?
Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story
By Daniel Rachel
I still remember the day my friend first popped The Specials into his car’s cassette deck. This was probably 1986, a few years after the band’s meteoric rise in the late ‘70s and disintegration in the early ‘80s. We were still listening to a lot of punk rock at the time, but songs like “A Message to You Rudy,” “Nite Klub,” “Concrete Junge” and “Stupid Marriage” seemed more radical than most of it—while also making me want to dance. I was instantly hooked and their debut album is still an all-time favorite, but I never knew the full inspiring and semi-tragic story behind the band and record label.
So, I was thrilled to read Daniel Rachel’s excellent book about the history of 2 Tone Records, the label spearheaded by The Specials’ mastermind Jerry Dammers. Combining ska, rocksteady and reggae with punk energy, the 2 Tone sound swept across England on the tail end of punk’s first wave—briefly attrac ting other young acts such as The Selecter, Madness and The English Beat to the label.
Rachel does a great job of showing how skinheads undermined the core message of racial unity, fostering an atmosphere of violence at out-of-control shows. But it was ultimately bad business practices, in-fighting and the rise of New Romantic bands that led to The Specials breaking up and 2 Tone Records folding. This is a fun read and interesting narrative, even if you aren’t the biggest 2 Tone or ska fan.
1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left
By Robyn Hitchcock
I’m a total sucker for rock and roll origin stories. Spin a tale about how a budding musician first picked up a guitar or how a young band got together because of the British Invasion and I am all in. Such is my fascination with these well-worn narratives that I will often read them back-to-back(-to-back), the trials and tumults of teen troubadours blurring together into a soup of musical mythology. Which is why Robyn Hitchcock’s unique approach to his new memoir is such a breath of fresh air.
Unlike straightforward autobiographies that track the highs and lows of an artist’s entire career, Hitchcock treats us to extended glimpses of his groover origin story as a student at an all boys school and his colorful home life. Anybody who has dedicated themselves to rock music—either as a musician or fan—will instantly relate to the series of events that set him on the path to an impressive 45+ year music career.
According to Hitchcock, 1967 was the year that acts including The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, The Incredible String Band and The Velvet Underground helped form the foundation for the inimitable psychedelic guitar pop he later created with The Soft Boys, The Egyptians and as a longtime solo artist. Highly recommended.
The Greatest Record Ever Made (Volume 1)
By Carl Cafarelli
Carl Cafarelli is a pop rock lifer. An experienced music historian, he has written for Goldmine Magazine, authored the book Gabba Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, and co-hosts the weekly radio show This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl—among many other accomplishments. But more than anything else, Cafarelli is a dedicated music fan who approaches his thoughtful writing with a wealth of experience, humor and genuine passion. (Full disclosure: Cafarelli also contributed a great ode to the Ramones in my latest Guitar Pop Journal.)
With The Greatest Record Ever Made (Volume 1), Cafarelli channels the energy of his Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) blog into a compelling narrative encompassing a range of music styles from AM radio pop, bubblegum and punk to soul, hip hop, R&B and beyond. Each chapter offers a short blast of insightful prose that explores his own relationship with the featured artist/track along with the kind of historical facts that fans like us find addictive.
A few of my favorite chapters include “The 13th Floor Elevators: You’re Gonna Miss Me,” “The Kinks: Waterloo Sunset,” “Linda Ronstadt: You’re No Good,” “The Shirelles: Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “Patti Smith: Gloria” and “Translator: Everywhere That I’m Not.” Love music? You’ll love (and relate to) this book.
⚡️💥 Speaking Of Books…I’ve Published A Few Myself
Go All The Way: A Literary Appreciation of Power Pop
Go All The Way is a dive into the Beatles-inspired pop rock of the last five decades.
Forbidden Beat: Perspectives on Punk Drumming
Forbidden Beat is an uptempo ode to six decades of punk rock drumming.
Bad Citizen Corporation: Greg Salem Punk Rock PI Series, Book 1
An East Los Angeles police officer by day and a beach cities punk rock legend by night, Salem is forced into action when his two worlds violently collide.
I thought "This Band Has No Past" by Brian Kramer was pretty good. Aside from history about Cheap Trick (primarily from Bun E. Carlos vantage point), it also shed a lot of light on the music and music bar/club scene in northern IL./southern WI. in the late '70s/early '80s...
Steven Hyden's There Was Nothing You Could Do, which is about Born in the U.S.A. and so much more is very good. I also liked Jeff Gomez's There Was No Alternative, about the No Alternative comp. I got to Tweedy's World Within a Song this year as well. Finally, I devoured Remember the Lightning Vol. 3. :)