Great Pop Things: The Real History of Rock 'n' Roll from Elvis to Oasis

by Colin B. Morton, Chuck Death

The comic strips of Colin B. Morton and Chuck Death deliver an irreverent, heartfelt, and devastatingly funny history of rock and roll. Like Monty Python at its best, their version is surreal and ridiculous - yet somehow everything in it rings true. According to Morton and Death, the bass player in Led Zeppelin was Jean-Paul Sartre. And despite having been able to think up brilliant titles for their first three albums, Led Zeppelin were stuck for what to call the fourth one - so they put a load of prunes on the front. In strip after strip, Morton & Death pinpoint the absurdities and oddities of rock history. In the process, they often come closer to its truth than conventional accounts do, as well as being far more entertaining. As for the drawings, their caricatures of rock stars from Mick Jagger to Frank Zappa, Johnny Rotten to Courtney Love, are in themselves worth the price of admission.

Genres: Music, Comics, Humor, Comix

232 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 1992

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny as hell in spots, though it loses steam at the end. (Stones jokes are timeless, but Pulp? Hardly.) I also would have preferred only half as many jokes about Bowie, Eno and Morrissey (all fishes in barrels), though admittedly one of the funniest bits in the whole book is Strangeways prisoners complaining about overcrowding and inhumane conditions which resulted from obsessed Smiths fans breaking in. Overall, a very fun collection that even a merely casual fan of rock history should enjoy.

[Scott Butki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had so much promise so I felt quite let down. A few jokes made me laugh but mostly I felt
disappointed and underwhelmed.

[Yannis Cosmadopoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything one needed to know about Rock & Roll.

For Example:

Bill Haley was the first white man to invent Rock'n'roll, unfortunately he was a small, chubby man who wasn't very good at it. Bill became the only rock singer to die of old age...

The Second white man to invent rock'n'roll was ELVIS PRESLEY. He sang like a black man. Previously there had been Sammy Davis Junior, a black man, but that, like Bill Haley didn't really catch on...

[Kym]

"pomposity-puncturing at its finest..."

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious. Improves quality of life.