The first and last word on the rock movie.
From Blackboard Jungle to Quadrophenia, from 8 Mile to Abba: the Movie, no one has seriously looked at the strange phenomenon that is the rock 'n' roll movie.
Garry Mulholland, critically acclaimed author, turns his focus away from classic records to the best, the worst, the weird and the completely deranged from the world of the rock movie. Part serious critical appreciation, part celebration of B-movie trash, Garry Mulholland's inclusive approach is the key to his success.
He is as comfortable deconstructing the likes of Performance, Gimme Shelter or Jubilee as he is celebrating Footloose or Jailhouse Rock.
As he writes: '... Anyone who rejects the joy that the likes of Grease or Dirty Dancing or Fame have brought to millions of people without even attempting to engage with why such unapologetic trash works can't really be that interested in filmgoers at all.'
Popcorn aims to be the first and last word on music in film.
About the Author
As well as being the author of This is Uncool and Fear of Music, Garry Mulholland has contributed frequently to the Guardian and Time Out. He currently writes for the Observer Music Monthly and Q.
Industry Reviews
'[An] archly entertaining and often passionate anthology of "50 years of rock'n'roll movies", which celebrates and bemoans music movies in all their vivid, outlandish and occasionally brilliant glory... the book compels us to revisit and reappraise films either forgotten or simply unloved. It also proves that, despite popular opinion, rock'n'roll movies can in the right hands be beautiful too.' INDEPENDENT 'Entertaining, cherry-picking saunter through half a century of musical celluloid... It's a book that will pique the interest of DVD completists and historians of popular culture alike.****' -- David Sheppard MOJO 'A refreshing, original account of pop culture, permeated with affectionate knowledge of its subject, this list is a gleeful, idiosyncratic and knowledgeable as you'd expect from Mulholland.' METRO 'Mulholland is an amiable guide through his selection of the hundred most important rock movies... His writing is breezy chatty and fitfully humorous' OBSERVER 'For post-war baby boomers - we who grew up in the 1950s - this is like Proust... Entertainingly, the rock journalist motors us on a long and winding road past every milestone in pop music movies.' FINANCIAL TIMES 'The author is terrific at maintaining a balance between the enthusiast's excitement and critical deconstruction and adds his own schmaltz-free recollections to provide personal contextO and establish writer/reader connection. Popcorn is a love-fuelled but also level-headed compendium' TIME OUT 'Smart, opinionated and always readable... it's ideal for dipping into and makes you want to watch the films as well as read about them.' Q magazine 'You're not going to agree with every choice, but you should definitely enjoy a list which awards five stars to Slade in Flame and a measly one to The Doors.' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 'Compelling reading' GLASGOW HERALD 'Mulholland's writing is pithy, witty and displays limitless knowledge of his subject.' MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS 'Once I started going through the list I couldn't stop... Overcoming my initial misgivings, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Popcorn' and will surely return to it on many occasions.' THE BEAT '[This] compact books is the perfect length and style: pithy, irreverant and on the money about the best movies and makers.' FINANCIAL TIMES - Books of the Year 2010
