Examiner L.A.

Once upon a time before there was an internet and bloggers who wrote about rock 'n' roll, the only way fans -- us fans -- could keep up with the news and the times was through the print media -- magazines.
There was, of course, Rolling Stone. But RS, in its move to the mainstream, started to veer away from the real excitement of rock 'n' roll in the '70s. It was left to magazines like Who Put the Bomp (and later Bomp!) to take up the slack.
"Bomp! 2 - Born in the Garage" is a great way to jog memories of the days when a new issue of Who Put the Bomp! was an exciting time.
Bomp's guiding light was the late Greg Shaw, whose love of rock 'n' roll was obvious in the detail in his publications. Bomp was truly his labor of love.
Bomp started out as a typewritten magazine. It wasn't until later that it was actually typeset. I remember my excitement in seeing Vol. 3, No. 1, a full issue devoted to the British Invasion. It was almost an encyclopedia with all the various entries discussing the Beatles and the Swinging Blue Jeans, Wayne Fontana, the Stones, the Dave Clark Five, the Kinks, the Nashville Teens, the Pretty Things, the Downliners Set, the Yardbirds, the Small Faces, the Troggs, the Who and the Easybeats. And those were the more well-known names -- the issue also explored lesser knowns -- the Hep Stars, who included keyboardist Benny Andersson, later of ABBA, the Rockin' Berries, Denny Laine and the Diplomats, the Escorts and more.
The next issue, summer 1974, was even more interesting -- it turned to the American scene. It had articles on the Standells, the Seeds, the Knickerbockers, the Leaves and the Beau Brummels and several pages on the Bay Area rock scene, including the Golliwogs (later Creedence Clearwater Revival), San Jose's Count Five and Syndicate of Sound.
And it just kept getting better. Bomp never published often, but when it did, it was great.
This 300 plus page book features full page reproductions of extensive portions of Who Put the Bomp and Bomp! issues from the '70s. It features vintage writings by such rock scribes as Lenny Kaye, Ken Barnes, Lester Bangs, Richard Meltzer, Dave Marsh and more -- names that inspired yours truly and many others, plus a cover by William Stout, whose vinyl bootleg collectors will remembers as the artist for many releases on the Trademark of Quality label.
All in all, they don't make 'em like Bomp anymore. 'Nuff said about that.
-- Steve Marinucci / Examiner