Nik Cohn was only in his early twenties when he wrote -Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom (retitled -Rock from the Beginning in the U.S.) in the late '60s. This was one of the very first attempts to write a history of rock itself, and if judged by its research and factual detail, it's lacking and incomplete. Its true significance is that Cohn's hip, irreverent prose helped set the standard -- for both good and ill -- of cutting-edge rock criticism for decades to come. In addition, the very notion of treating rock as a subject worthy of a book was revolutionary in the late '60s, and in that respect, Cohn's volume was an important groundbreaker, even if it's been superseded since by more serious and dedicated scholars.

Raised in Northern Ireland, Cohn moved to London in 1963, in time to view the onslaught of the British beat boom first-hand. Soon he was writing for The Observer, "pontificating on Youth," according to his introduction to the 1996 printing of -Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom. After writing about rock for English and American publications for four years, he wrote his rock history in a couple of months in the spring of 1968, still only 22 years of age. -Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom was prone to sweeping over-generalizations, ignorance about influences and roots, and highly inflammatory opinions. This found Cohn dissing icons like the Beatles and Dylan, and devoting an entire chapter to a personal hero, P.J. Proby, of marginal musical importance. Its real value was in the attitude and passion Cohn brought to the subject. He was not afraid to take his idols down a peg or two, to be downright blunt and nasty on occasion, or to pay attention to image and stage presence as much as recordings, musical innovation, and songwriting craft. These are the qualities, rather than the straight history, that make the book worth a perusal several decades later.

You might think that writing a well-received rock history in your early twenties might be the ticket to launching a lengthy, successful career as a rock critic. Cohn, however, actually viewed his manifesto as a summing-up of sorts, after which he concentrated on other forms of non-fiction and fiction writing, in both books and magazine pieces. He was not entirely done with rock & roll, however. Cohn was friendly with Pete Townshend, and both were enthusiastic pinball players; Cohn, indeed, wrote a novel about a 14-year-old pinball zealot named Arfur. It's been speculated that Cohn influenced Townshend's writing of the Who's Tommy in this regard, especially as the central character becomes a hero through his pinball skills, as fleshed out by one of the rock opera's most popular songs, Pinball Wizard. It's also thought that another Cohn novel, -I Am Still the Greatest Says Johnny Angelo, was based on P.J. Proby, and might have influenced David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" character. Also, one of his short stories, "Another Saturday Night," became the basis for the film #Saturday Night Fever. Cohn at one time was planning to write a book about Phil Spector, based on interview material with the reclusive genius himself. It "came to nothing," in Cohn's estimation, but the eccentric experience of hanging around the man in the process did provide the core material for a superb chapter on the producer in -The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock Roll. Cohn did co-author one more rock history book, the unusual -Rock Dreams, which consisted chiefly of Guy Pellart's illustrations of rock legends through the ages. Cohn provided the brief captions, which were very much in the spirit of -Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom in their colorful, sometimes savage capsule summarizations of what specific artists had contributed to the sound and image of rock music. -Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom has, confusingly, been printed with different titles both in the U.S. (where it was called -Rock from the Beginning when it first came out) and the U.K. (where it was called -Pop from the Beginning when it first came out). In 1996, Da Capo Press reissued it under the -Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom title in the States, with a new preface by the author, who is now widely read in Britain as a columnist for -the Guardian. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi