Bomp! Magazine

BOMP! (Magazine)

Who Put The Bomp was a rock music fanzine edited and published by Greg Shaw from 1970 to 1979. Its name came from the hit 1961 doo-wop song by Barry Mann, “Who Put the Bomp”. Later the name was shortened to Bomp!. Shaw was one of the first and best known rock fanzine editors, having founded one of the earliest rock fanzines, the mimeographed Mojo Navigator and Rock ’n Roll News in 1966. Bomp! was an early publishing venue for many subsequently well-known writers, including Lester Bangs and Greil Marcus. Bomp! later morphed into an independent record label, Bomp! Records, headed by Shaw until his death in 2004. (More from Wikipedia)

Greg Shaw continued publishing Who Put the Bomp with ideas both modest and grandiose; in the sixth issue for instance, he introduced a bold mission statement: “Prelude to the Morning of an Inventory of the 60’s”. The name of the magazine would eventually be shortened to just Bomp!, and the 22nd issue that was due to come out in 1981 was never published.

Shortly after Greg Shaw’s death, his ex-wife and business partner Suzy Shaw had her own mission: to cement Shaw’s place in the rock and roll firmament. The result was a gorgeous 2007 hardbound book called Bomp! that was subtitled Saving the World One Record at a Time. In the “Dedication”, Suzy Shaw writes: “The idea for this book came in the early 1980s right after BOMP! magazine first folded. . . . When Greg died I knew it was the most important job I had, as this book is not just the story of BOMP! and Greg Shaw, but a unique document of a time, place, and perspective in the history of rock and roll.”

The co-writer is one of my very favorite musicians (and a prolific writer as well), Mick Farren of the bold English underground rock band, the Deviants. The book opens with the modestly titled “Introduction” by Farren that is as good an overview of the rock music scene as any that I have ever read.

(May 2013)

* * *

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.”

(January 2015/2)

* * *

Allmusic reports that the Weirdos reformed in 1988 with original members the Denney brothers (John Denney and Dix Denney), Nicky Beat, and Cliff Roman, plus Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers; they released a new album in 1990 called Condor. I haven’t heard that record, but I couldn’t resist sharing the above cartoon that was on the back cover of Destroy All Music. Greg Shaw used to put this kind of thing in his Bomp! Records releases and publications like Bomp! Magazine all the time.

(March 2017)