The Faber Book of Pop

by Hanif Kurieshi

Charting the course of pop from its underground origins, through its low- and high-art phases, out to the mainstream, this book takes in fiction, reportage, fashion, art and fantasy, as filtered through pop music. It includes work by authors such as Joe Orton, Roddy Doyle and Malcolm X.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Robert Bagnall · Rating 3 out of 5]

The back cover of this promises an ‘epic thali’; a ‘new testament’ of pop. It’s more like leafing through the reading matter in a particularly pop-literate dentist’s, with a fairly random collection of newspaper and magazine articles. For every Greil Marcus there is, unfortunately, a semi-literate tract from i-D or The Face, or some ill-chosen and inadequately edited extract from a novel with only passing relevance.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a real treasure house of lively, earthy, evocative eye-witness and fictional accounts of what made music and fashion so exciting from the fities and sixties on. One item entitled "In defence of Disco' made me understand its virtues for the first time, albeit nearly 40 years later! It also gives more than usual space to the voices of women and those on the periphery at the time. And its big: more than you can digest in a long week-end! I think its out of print so I suggest you keep a sharp look out for it.

[Open Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read to anyone who's interested in pop culture. Savage and Kureishi did an amazing job with the selection - it's a perfect balance of thorought analysis and emotional first-hand accounts. You can read an excerpt from Warhol's diary (and it's a funny feeling to realize that "Marti" he's talking about is Scorsese) next to a serious sociological article. And you simply can't get bored, if only for the number of anecdotes.

[Linwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

an article about just about everything pop......