The Arch Drude in his natural habitat ... Julian Cope at the ancient Ninestone Close in the Peak District. Photograph: David Sillitoe
Avid readers of the books blog may recall a piece I wrote a few months ago on the literary non-talents of musicians. There I cited Julian Cope as one of the primary exceptions to the rule that rockers shouldn't write and finished with the suggestion that the man who likes to be known as the Arch Drude might be cooking up part three of his autobiography (following on from Head On and Repossessed ... books for which I'm prepared to put my head on the line by declaring them the BEST rock'n'roll autobiographies EVER).
Now I look into that rumour, the only online evidence I can find for it is my own idle speculation. That rather leads me to think that it's entirely baseless. My only excuse for putting about such ridiculous misinformation is that it was obviously some kind of attempt at wish fulfilment on my part ...
... Sorry ...
... Anyway. The point I'm getting to is that even though there is, as yet, no part three of Cope's crazy life story, he has come up with something almost as good: the new and utterly wonderful Japrocksampler.
Of course, I'm aware that by this stage I've blown even the pretence of objectivity in this review. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm someone who would love to read even Julian Cope's shopping list. (I'm serious. What does someone who looks like this actually eat?) Even so, I hope you'll believe me when I tell you that this is a great read.
Subtitled How The Post-war Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock'n'roll the book, on its most basic level, provides a guide to the explosion of youth culture and wild guitar music in Japan from the 1950s to the 1970s. Before reading it I knew nothing about this subject. I didn't even know I had an interest (not surprisingly if we are to believe Cope's claims that this is the first book of its kind in English). Now, in a mark of the book's singular persuasive power, I'm utterly fascinated.
After all, who wouldn't be intrigued by the wonderfully odd culture-clashing pioneers that Cope sets before us? What's not to love about groups who call songs I Love You Nuts About Him and albums Christmas With Electric Guitars? Or from the opposite end of the spectrum, who could resist the dubious charms of Speed, Glue and Shinki whose "entire canon of work" consists of: "1) I'm Taking Too Many Drugs; 2) The Man is a Bitch So I'm Taking Too Many Drugs; and 3) My Bitch is a Man So I'm Taking Too Many Drugs"?
And who wouldn't be fascinated, most of all, by a music scene where the fact that the bassist in one of the leading bands took part in a plane hijacking wasn't regarded as all that unusual? Even though this event kicked off when the terrorists shouted "the fearful words": "We are Ashinto Jeo!" - a reference that receives the following delicious explanation: "129 passengers on board, still bleary-eyed and expecting a 45-minute flight, had become hysterical with fear because their assailants were screaming longhairs who were aligning themselves with a famous Manga outsider TV hero who's striven to win a boxing championship in a TV series of the same name."
Cope's style is the same beguiling mix of serious scholarship and rock'n'roll attitude that made his two huge tomes on stone circles such compelling reading (not to mention the model for this book, the much lauded Krautrocksampler). He's clearly put in long hours of research and part of the pleasure of the book is his unbounded enthusiasm for the strange arcana he has dug up.
At root, Japrocksampler is an intelligent look at the way Japanese society doesn't so much adopt foreign cultural ideas as filter them, shake them and make them totally new. It also provides a fascinating potted history of Japanese development after the second world war and the unique way they dealt with the generational struggles that were sweeping the whole world. It's just that it's all wrapped up in such resplendently over the top language that it's only after you've finished laughing along with the author that you realise you've taken in something that's actually quite serious.
That's not to say that Japrocksampler is all profound, however. Sometimes, it's just gloriously bizarre and all the richer for it:
"Nineteen year old singer Keiji told the blissed out audience that he wanted to kill them, and proceeded to scream obscenities into the mike. The festival erupted as protestors, farmers, Yakuza hard men, Bon Odori performers, organisers and union attempted to avoid the vile noise emanating from the PA by killing those guilty of creating it."
Rock on!
