Japrocksampler - Softcover

'This book's astonishing blend of seriousness and hilariousness is testament to perhaps the most remarkable mind in rock today' Word 'The most obscenely enjoyable book of the year ... enlightening, thrilling and occasionally hilarious ... Cope is a supremely engaging writer whose aim is to entertain, educate and freak out, like A. J. P. Taylor being spiked by Lester Bangs' Telegraph 'Fascinating ... keeps the reader gripped ... his evocations of all this authentically inauthentic music are enticing and convincing' ***** Observer Music Monthly 'Cope's first-hand knowledge of the petty rivalries and idiocies of life in the rock 'n' roll business lends his tales the sheen of authenticity. In its own way, Japrocksampler is a brave book' The Wire

Julian Cope, eccentric and visionary rock musician, follows the runaway underground success of his book "Krautrocksampler" with "Japrocksampler", a cult deconstruction of Japanese rock music, and reveals what really happened when East met West after World War Two. It explores the clash between traditional, conservative Japanese values and the wild rock 'n' roll renegades of the 1960s and 70s, and tells of the seminal artists in Japanese post-war culture, from itinerant art-house poets to violent refusenik rock groups with a penchant for plane hijacking.