Retro Pop Culture A to Z

Retro Pop Culture A to Z
Author: Brett Weiss
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2014-01-31
Genre: Games
ISBN: 9781495234804

Retro Pop Culture A to Z: From Atari 2600 to Zombie Films is a window to the past-a time of 8-bit video games, Silver Age super-heroes, Saturday morning cartoons, rock 'n' roll music, and scary movies at the drive-in. The book includes 60 fun-filled, feature-length chapters on such icons of popular culture as Alien, the Batman TV show, the Beatles, Dynamite Magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland, The Flash, Forbidden Planet, Golden Age arcade games, He-Man, the Intellivision, Jaws, MAD magazine, the Nintendo NES, Ray Bradbury, The Wizard of Oz, the X-Men, and many others. If you've ever stayed up all night trying to beat Super Mario Bros., dressed up as a member of KISS on Halloween, watched Thundarr the Barbarian while eating a bowl of sugary cereal, set a VCR to record your favorite show, wiled away an entire day reading a stack of old comics, or listened to Elvis or the Rolling Stones on a turntable or 8-track tape player, Retro Pop Culture A to Z is for you. If you haven't done any of these things, no problem-feel free to dive right in and discover why your parents (or grandparents) are always talking about "the good old days." Includes: *60 essays/articles on nostalgic pop culture favorites *More than 200 photos *More than 115,000 words *Quotes from the experts *Production histories *Collectibles pricing *Author anecdotes *And much more!

Retro Hell

Retro Hell
Author: The Editor of Ben Is Dead Magazine
Publisher: Little Brown & Company
Total Pages: 276
Release: 1997
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 9780316102827

An alphabetical encyclopedia of 1970s and 1980s pop culture is at once a send up and celebration of the icons of the times, offering nearly one thousand entries that range from eight-tracks and Farrah Fawcett to Valley Girls and break dancing. Original.

Velvet Retro

Velvet Retro
Author: Veronika Pehe
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2020-02-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1789206286

Scholars of state socialism have frequently invoked “nostalgia” to identify an uncritical longing for the utopian ambitions and lived experience of the former Eastern Bloc. However, this concept seems insufficient to describe memory cultures in the Czech Republic and other contexts in which a “retro” fascination with the past has proven compatible with a steadfast critique of the state socialist era. This innovative study locates a distinctively retro aesthetic in Czech literature, film, and other cultural forms, enriching our understanding of not only the nation’s memory culture, but also the ways in which popular culture can structure collective memory.

Retromania

Retromania
Author: Simon Reynolds
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2011-07-19
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1429968583

One of The Telegraph's Best Music Books 2011 We live in a pop age gone loco for retro and crazy for commemoration. Band re-formations and reunion tours, expanded reissues of classic albums and outtake-crammed box sets, remakes and sequels, tribute albums and mash-ups . . . But what happens when we run out of past? Are we heading toward a sort of culturalecological catastrophe where the archival stream of pop history has been exhausted? Simon Reynolds, one of the finest music writers of his generation, argues that we have indeed reached a tipping point, and that although earlier eras had their own obsessions with antiquity—the Renaissance with its admiration for Roman and Greek classicism, the Gothic movement's invocations of medievalism—never has there been a society so obsessed with the cultural artifacts of its own immediate past. Retromania is the first book to examine the retro industry and ask the question: Is this retromania a death knell for any originality and distinctiveness of our own?

Freddie Mercury A to Z

Freddie Mercury A to Z
Author: Steve Wide
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019-11-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1925811344

Salute everyone's favorite Queen in this alphabetic journey through a larger-than-life career in artistry. Celebrate Freddie Mercury in the next iteration of Steve Wide's Icons A to Z series. Follow Freddie, born Farrokh Bulsara, as he harnesses hyperdontia to develop an unparalleled vocal range. See Smile, Freddie's first complete band, graduate to become the global phenomenon Queen. Dissect lyrical oddities like "radio gaga" and "Scaramouch," and revel in the glorious chevron mustache Freddie grew in 1980... Ripples of Freddie's legacy are still felt in music recorded today. He was a juggernaut of technical and conceptual innovation and left the world far before his time. This illustrated book pays homage to the impact Freddie left on pop culture and in all our hearts.

A Field Guide to Grunge

A Field Guide to Grunge
Author: Steve Wide
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2021-09-07
Genre: Music
ISBN: 192241719X

This book is your gateway to the 90's gritty, plaid-wearing underground. A Field Guide to ... delves into music’s most influential genres to uncover the innovators and agitators who changed music history forever. In A Field Guide to Grunge, Steve Wide explores the dynamic scene that sprung from the ashes of punk and underground metal in America’s Pacific Northwest. From the sludge metal of Melvins and the noise punk of Mudhoney, to the point where Nirvana blew the charts apart, this book examines the artists, albums, music labels, who’s who, and hangouts that shaped an alternative scene into a worldwide phenomenon.

Bowie A to Z

Bowie A to Z
Author: Steve Wide
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 57
Release: 2016-11-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1925418219

A celebration of the unparalleled impact of cultural icon David Bowie. This decidedly not-for-kids illustrated A–Z, celebrates the many faces and facets of David Bowie. From Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust, Bowie A–Z is densely packed with everything you need to know about the rock legend – from the greatest hits of trivia to the most obscure B-side facts. Bowie’s extraordinary cultural significance was highlighted by the worldwide outpouring of love following his tragic passing in January 2016. A huge influential source to many in the fields of music, art and fashion, David Bowie towers as a cultural figure of the twentieth (and into the twenty-first) century. Celebrate his enormous life in this fun, pop-cultural book.

Velvet Retro

Velvet Retro
Author: Veronika Pehe
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2020-02-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1805394096

Scholars of state socialism have frequently invoked “nostalgia” to identify an uncritical longing for the utopian ambitions and lived experience of the former Eastern Bloc. However, this concept seems insufficient to describe memory cultures in the Czech Republic and other contexts in which a “retro” fascination with the past has proven compatible with a steadfast critique of the state socialist era. This innovative study locates a distinctively retro aesthetic in Czech literature, film, and other cultural forms, enriching our understanding of not only the nation’s memory culture, but also the ways in which popular culture can structure collective memory.

A Field Guide to Post-Punk & New Wave

A Field Guide to Post-Punk & New Wave
Author: Steve Wide
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-09-22
Genre: Music
ISBN: 192581176X

This book is your gateway to the pop-rock-y, disco-esque, electronic and mod-tastic movement that was (and is) New Wave. What makes New Wave... New Wave? It's the catchall name of punk's poppy offshoot, born in the 70s, simultaneously in the United States and United Kingdom. But how would you describe New Wave's context in the zeitgeist of the time, or explain how this new electro-rock made people feel? Well, that's precisely what DJ and author Steve Wide explains in this handy book. In these pages, Steve explains the social and music industry climates of the 70s and 80s, unpacking the influence of the punk genre on NYC-based groups like the Velvet Underground and New York Dolls. There's also a timeline on the usage of the term New Wave - for a long chunk of the 70s it was used almost interchangeably with punk. There are breakdowns on the key record labels, DJs, producers, engineers and magazines - all of which stitched their own layer on the New Wave patchwork. There are deep dives into controversies, rivalries, and messy band breakups. And lastly, there's a dissection of how ripples of New Wave are still felt today, in recorded music and across wider pop culture. If you, or someone close to you, is obsessed with the minutiae of the New Wave movement, then this book is a must-have.