synopsis:

in this book nik cohn described his fear that by the end of the 60s the golden age of rock was ending, as he saw the "superpop" he loved so fiercely threatened with extinction by pretense and self-consciousness. In an act of faith, he culled his wisdom about and love for the music in this brief and effervescent history. In retrospect, Cohn was often naive, vague, misguided, and plain wrong. he for example describes Bob Dylan as "pretty" and Dionne Warwick as a "negress"; he calls Eric Clapton's decision to sing "a mistake"; and praises Creedence Clearwater Revival while he blasts Led Zeppelin. Most curiously, he carps at a legacy for the Beatles (see john lennon), dismisses Paul McCartney as a "no talent" and professes with a straight face a fondness for Ringo's solo work. on the other side he admires the Rolling Stones in every respect.but What 'Awopbopaloobop...' lacks in scope, perspective, and historical accuracy, it makes up for in style and passion.

on this book:

this book was Originally published in England as 'Pop From The Beginning', then in America as 'Rock From The Beginning', and Revised in 1973 and republished in 1996.nik cohn, together with greil marcus (see "what appealed to me were its gaps...") and jon savage (see "History is made by those who say no.") is seen as one of the pioneers of rock criticism, as he writes about rock in a passionate way, approaching it from a larger cultural scope.the manics also liked cohn's 1989 'ball the wall: nik cohn in the age of rock'. This anthology was published only in England and is now out-of-print. It compiles nearly 400 pages of Cohn's early writing and collects highlights from 'Johnny Angelo', 'Awopbopaloobopalopbamboom', and 'Arfur'.