This Ain't No Disco: New Wave Album Covers

by Jennifer McKnight-Trontz

Why did Frankie say "Relax"? Did anyone really want to hurt Boy George? And why didn't anybody walk in L.A.? This Ain't No Disco can't answer all these head-scratchers, but it does bring the New Wave era back with page after totally awesome page of 300 of the best album covers. This rad collection includes covers from the late 1970s to the mid-'80s and will have true believers of a certain generation totally spazzing. New Wave was defined as much by style, fashion, and graphic design as the music itselfwitness the ruffled cuffs and heavy makeup of the New Romantics, the skinny ties and peg-pants of the neo-Mods, and the unsettling robotic personae of Devo and Gary Numan. Bursting with wild hairstyles, futuristic typography, pastel shapes, and outlandish clothing, these are the album covers that defined an era and continue to influence music and fashion styles today. A nostalgic trek with a mental soundtrack, This Ain't No Disco will inspire readers to don those rubber bracelets once again and proclaim, "Let's dance this mess around!"

Genres: Music, Art, Nonfiction, Photography, Design

256 pages, Paperback

Published April 7, 2005

Reviews

[Devowasright]

these kind of books are always always always dangerous for me. i see far too many albums i don't own yet. i really don't need help adding to that list. ever. it grows exponentially while i sleep. i need no help in not resisting the siren's call of the many used record stores in walking distance from my humble abode.
be that as it may, this book is a blast. providing, of course,that new wave records are your thing.

[Mark]

Short intro aside, this volume is sorely lacking in annotations, trivia or just (personal) stories. Otherwise it's a pretty but smallish-sized (the book is comparable to a 7") collection of eighties new wave covers.