Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This compendium of 300 album covers from the late 1970s to the mid-80s will send Gen X-ers everywhere into nostalgia overdrive. It shows how the New Wave movement was defined as much by style, fashion and graphic design as the music itself - witness the ruffled cuffs and heavy make-up of the New Romantics, the skinny ties and porkpie hats of the Mods, and the unsettling robotic personae of Gary Numan and Devo. Bursting with wild hairstyles, futuristic typography, geometric shapes and outlandish clothing, these are the album covers that defined a generation and continue to influence music and fashion styles today. A nostalgic trek with a piercing soundtrack, This Ain't No Disco will inspire readers to don those rubber bracelets once again and proclaim 'let's dance this mess around '.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Those who are nostalgic about the ?80s?that era of leg warmers, big hair and stylized pop music?will enjoy this trip down memory lane via the best album covers from the decade?s New Wave artists. New Wave refers not only to the style of music predominant at the time, a music based on unadulterated fun with ?an appreciation of the synthetic and artificial,? but to the fashion, art and prevailing attitude of the generation. The more than 300 album covers collected in this volume are alternately innovative, bizarre and hilarious, but they all perfectly encapsulate the outrageous New Wave sensibility. From classic portraits of artists like Billy Idol and Cyndi Lauper to a cartoon drawing of cats throwing a party, these designs are as varied as the music they represent. The book is most entertaining as a guide to the various fashion faux pas of the ?80s, like the Romantics? red leather suits, Roni Basil?s super shoulder pads and Boy George?s familiar braided hair. Although the book would have benefited from more commentary on the history and significance of these album designs, it is still an entertaining look at a unique?and certainly memorable?era in pop history. (May) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.