Pin-Ups 1972

Bringing together meticulously researched material from the media of the time the book covers the rise and demise of Marc Bolan, the culture shock of The Stooges and the all-pervading influence of The Velvet Underground and Bowie among an abundance of other inter-related artists . . . The unpredictability of success is underlined whilst future punks stand ready, absorbing their influences, in this fascinating and thoughtful look at a turbulent period in popular music. * Shindig! *
The pre-punk bloodline – from the Velvet Underground and MC5 to The Stooges to New York Dolls and Roxy Music – is the one Peter Stanfield focuses on . . . his research on the period is incredibly thorough . . . [his] deep dive into the media coverage . . . illuminates the moulding of several stars’ images over the space of a few years – in particular Bowie, Roxy and T. Rex’s Marc Bolan. * Dave Mandl, The Wire *
An engaging, detailed writer, Stanfield anoints Roxy Music as purveyors of suburban glamour, while featuring Mick Farren, who couldn't sell a record, and Marc Bolan, who (briefly) couldn't stop selling them. He tells us of Lou Reed living in Wimbledon, and Iggy Pop conceiving Search & Destroy while strolling in Kensington Gardens . . . and a reminder that nobody noticed when the New York Dolls first came to town in - hurrah! – 1972 . . . the journey is . . . riveting . . . Splendid stuff. * Classic Rock Magazine *
Exhaustively and meticulously researched, Pin-Ups 1972 is essential reading. * Rich Deakin, Vive Le Rock magazine *
Momentous new book . . . an academic treatise that reads with the manic energy of an early Lester Bangs . . . Opposing views of authenticity, the underground’s clash with the mainstream and art’s clash with artifice and commerce, these are things that went into shaping the music, and Stanfield explores them with an addictive enthusiasm. . . Pin-Ups 1972 will leave you breathless from the number of different ways it comes at the music and reeling from the sheer number of points it makes. Together with Stanfield’s A Band With Built-In Hate, it presents what I consider to be a new way of writing – amphetamine academia – about what is some of the most exciting music ever made. I can’t recommend it enough. * Dave Laing, Ugly Things magazine *
The level of research is quite astounding; I know that Peter meticulously went through hundreds of period magazines, NMEs, Melody Makers, Newspapers, Fanzines and more to ensure historical accuracy, rather than falling into the trap of repeating oft-heard myths. This trawl through culture really pays off as it gives a tremendous sense of period for the reader and envelopes you completely in the world of the greaser as the story emerges. * Grant McPhee, www.intocreative.co.uk *
looks at a year that saw the emergence of a vibrant new generation of rock and rollers – spearheaded by David Bowie, T Rex and Roxy Music. * Choice Magazine, UK *
[A] remarkable book . . . Peter Stanfield wrote the best book on The Who, and their London called A Band With Built-In Hate. And like that book, Pin-ups 1972 is a fascinating look into what made 1972 a unique and essential year for British and Pop music. * Tosh Berman *
Stanfield gives a clear account of tectonic plates shifting within the London music scene and how this helped rock’n’roll shake off the last fringes of the 60s . . . recommended to bored teenagers of all ages. * www.onlyrockandroll.london *
A fabulous new book . . . What you don’t get is recycled anecdotes, biography or even too much in the way of music criticism – although the reappraisal of Bowie’s Pin-Ups is magnificent. Stanfield is more interested in the wider culture, with rock being as much about performance and publicity and fandom as it is about chords and melodies. Which for the writers and musicians of 1972, it almost certainly was. * Peter Watts (Uncut, Time Out, The Observer) *
Peter Stanfield has scavenged the ruins – foxed paperbacks, illegible underground press layouts, yellowed national newspaper cuttings, tatty pages from Disc and NME and creased copies of curious sex magazines (including Curious) – to join the dots between art and artifice, from avant-garde interiors and anti-fashion boutiques to wayward rockers, glam-Mods and anachronistic Teds. Pin-Ups 1972 is an exhilarating ride through pomo popular culture at its peak. * Paul Gorman, author of The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren *
This intensely researched, vividly detailed book plunges you into the electric moment of 1972 – a year as revolutionary in rock history as 1967 or 1977. * Simon Reynolds, author of Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy and Rip It Up and Start Again *