Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist, critic, and author. Reynolds began his professional career on the staff of Melody Maker in the mid-1980s, and has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music and popular culture, ranging from historical tomes on rave music, glam rock, and the post-punk era to critical works such as Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to Its Own Past (2011). Over the course of his career, he has contributed to Spin, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Guardian, The Wire, and others. (More from Wikipedia)
As quoted in the book by Simon Reynolds called Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to its Own Past: “Greg Shaw soon decided that words weren’t enough anymore; it was time for action. He folded the magazine Bomp! and injected all of his energy into Voxx, a Bomp! [Records] subsidiary label dedicated to the new breed of post-[Flamin’] Groovies garage bands.”
The first album by the Crawdaddys, Crawdaddy Express – recorded in monaural; talk about looking back! – came out in 1979 as the initial LP on Voxx Records. Mike Stax, who later founded and edited Ugly Things magazine, was so impressed with the album that he eventually moved to California from London so that he could join the band. As quoted in the Simon Reynolds book, Stax admitted that the band wasn’t “original in any shape or form”, but that their “total purity was thrilling in its audacity”, and that their debut album was “virtually indistinguishable from the real thing”.
(January 2015/2)
