Published in 2001
344 pages
Kim Cooper is the creator of 1947project, the crime-a-day time travel blog that spawned Esotouric’s popular crime bus tours, including Pasadena Confidential, the Real Black Dahlia and Weird West Adams. Her collaborative L.A. history blogs include On Bunker Hill and In SRO Land. With husband Richard Schave, Kim curates the Salons of LAVA – The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. When the third generation Angeleno isn’t combing old newspapers for forgotten scandals, she is a passionate advocate for historic preservation of signage, vernacular architecture and writer’s homes. Kim was for many years the editrix of Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. Her books include Fall in Love For Life, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, Lost in the Grooves and an oral history of the cult band Neutral Milk Hotel. Her debut literary map is The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles: A Guide to the Usual and Unusual, illustrated by Paul Rogers. The Kept Girl is her first novel.
What is this book about?
Dedicated to the late music critic Lester Bangs and punk legend Joey Ramone, this wonderfully quirky title leaves no stone unturned in its coverage of bubblegum music. Cooper, publisher of underground culture ‘zine Scram, and Smay, a Scram contributor, lay out this music’s long and winding parameters, concentrating on the “classic” years (defined as 1967-72).
More than 30 contributors offer essays on forgotten artists whose songs are still played on oldies radio stations: the Archies, the Cowsills, and 1910 Fruitgum Company, among others. The book excels at showing the human side of these mostly forgotten artists and their producers. Also included are pieces on bubblegum progeny of the 1980s and 1990s, including Britney Spears. And there’s more: surveys of the media as it relates to the music, the international scene, and various bubblegum artifacts (remember cereal box records?). An excellent “Recommended Listening” section and a useful index round out the volume. Full of illustrations of classic album covers and artist photos (regrettably in washed-out black and white), this quirky and entertaining book is recommended as a reference for all comprehensive music collections.
