The strip was a satirical faux-history of rock and pop music. It lampooned many fashionable groups and singers of the time, as well as presenting the "stories" of established stars. Morton and Langford had a particular liking for rock stars of the 1970s, and presented multi-part histories of best-selling artists including Led Zeppelin, The Sex Pistols, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Zappa and the Rolling Stones. [2] One of their most featured characters was David Bowie, invariably referred to as "Dave" and depicted (even as a child) with a lightning bolt design on his forehead, similar to the make-up he wore on the cover of his Aladdin Sane LP. Unlike the real-life Bowie, "Dave" was shown to be particularly proud of his early single "The Laughing Gnome", which was described as "a mod anthem" and referred to at every opportunity.
The history presented by the strip was hugely inconsistent (even from one panel to the next), though one unchanging "fact" was that Elvis Presley was "the second white man to invent rock 'n' roll". (The first was Bill Haley, though as one strip notes, "he wasn't very good at it".) Other running jokes in the strip included a blanket denial that anyone involved in rock music had ever taken illegal substances, the conflation of all progressive rock bands into a single group with an ever-changing line-up, and the oft-made claim that punk rock originated in the writers' home county of Gwent.
Colin B Morton, otherwise known as Carlton B Morgan, is still based in Newport and contributed to Sound Nation magazine from 2003 to 2004.
In 1998, a complete collection of the strips was published with an introduction by rock critic Greil Marcus. A British TV series of 2008, Star Stories, bears more than a passing resemblance to Great Pop Things''. In 2011 Great Pop Things was included in list of 60 Favorite Music books by Pitchfork.[3]
great, things, comic, strip, colin, morton, chuck, death, latter, pseudonym, musician, painter, langford, mekons, first, appeared, record, mirror, 1987, transferred, musical, express, 1991, also, published, weekly, chicago, city, very, briefly, onion, strip, s. Great Pop Things was a comic strip by Colin B Morton and Chuck Death the latter a pseudonym for the musician and painter Jon Langford of The Mekons It first appeared in Record Mirror in 1987 transferred to the New Musical Express in 1991 and was also published in LA Weekly Chicago s New City and very briefly The Onion 1 The strip was a satirical faux history of rock and pop music It lampooned many fashionable groups and singers of the time as well as presenting the stories of established stars Morton and Langford had a particular liking for rock stars of the 1970s and presented multi part histories of best selling artists including Led Zeppelin The Sex Pistols Bruce Springsteen Frank Zappa and the Rolling Stones 2 One of their most featured characters was David Bowie invariably referred to as Dave and depicted even as a child with a lightning bolt design on his forehead similar to the make up he wore on the cover of his Aladdin Sane LP Unlike the real life Bowie Dave was shown to be particularly proud of his early single The Laughing Gnome which was described as a mod anthem and referred to at every opportunity The history presented by the strip was hugely inconsistent even from one panel to the next though one unchanging fact was that Elvis Presley was the second white man to invent rock n roll The first was Bill Haley though as one strip notes he wasn t very good at it Other running jokes in the strip included a blanket denial that anyone involved in rock music had ever taken illegal substances the conflation of all progressive rock bands into a single group with an ever changing line up and the oft made claim that punk rock originated in the writers home county of Gwent Colin B Morton otherwise known as Carlton B Morgan is still based in Newport and contributed to Sound Nation magazine from 2003 to 2004 In 1998 a complete collection of the strips was published with an introduction by rock critic Greil Marcus A British TV series of 2008 Star Stories bears more than a passing resemblance to Great Pop Things In 2011 Great Pop Things was included in list of 60 Favorite Music books by Pitchfork 3 Anthologies editGreat Pop Things Penguin 1992 ISBN 0 14 017156 8 Great Pop Things The Real History of Rock and Roll from Elvis to Oasis Verse Chorus Press 1998 ISBN 1 891241 08 7 References edit Chuck Death lambiek net Retrieved May 26 2021 Chuck Death lambiek net Retrieved May 26 2021 Words and Music Our 60 Favorite Music BooksExternal links edit The Lester Bags Story 1 The Fall Story 2 Captain Beefheart cartoons 3 Reviews 4 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Great Pop Things amp oldid 1025289521, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
