Great Pop Things

by Colin B. Morton, Chuck Death

"A comic-book collection that brilliantly depicts the story of rock & roll"--that's how Rolling Stone summed up "Great Pop Things." Colin Morton and Chuck Death's comic strips, serialized over several years in LA Weekly, offer a heartfelt and devastatingly funny history of rock. Like Monty Python, their version is surreal and ridiculous--yet somehow it all rings true. As they pinpoint the absurdities and oddities of rock history, the authors come closer to its truth than most conventional accounts--and they're way more entertaining. The caricatures--of rock figures from Mick Jagger to Captain Beefheart, Johnny Rotten to Courtney Love--are priceless. "Chuck Death" is a pseudonym of musician/artist Jon Langford ("Nashville Radio").

Genres: Music, Comics, Humor, Comix

96 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.