The Art of Rock: Posters from Presley to Punk

It's very interesting. There are a lot of posters in it, and it's very organized and easy to read. It's also a great read, so you can skim through it quickly or take your time. It's a really fun book. Thank you!

This book is large, heavy and expensive but well worth it. It is beautifully printed in bright colors of all the posters I remember during the hippy years of the sixties and seventies. I remember going into "head shops" with incents burning and black lights aglow seeing many of these band posters is very much memory lane inducing fun, at least for me.

This large size edition of this book has been o.o.p. for a number of years. The only edition available until now was the much smaller edition-almost a pocket-size version. Just be aware that this new edition (printed in Oct. 2015) is a bit smaller than the 80's edition by about an inch or so. The original hardcover edition was approximately 13" X 11" X 1 3/4" (the last measurement including the hardcovers), and had 516 pages. This new edition has the same number of pages as the earlier edition. Plus there's no dust jacket, but this new edition's cover is embossed which is pretty cool. I just thought if you were familiar with the original edition you might assume this newest edition is identical to that one. But when all is said and done the slightly smaller dimensions is a minor quibble. This new edition is well worth owning if you don't already have the original version. The printing is nicely done and the essays are informed. Grab this while it's still available if you're into rock poster history--and if you love rock and poster art from those years--when posters became a new art form (1950's and beyond), this is for you. For all of us who remember many of these posters it's a good trip back to another time. And for those who missed that whole era this is a nice signpost for a time in the late '60s/early '70s when music was really important, not just a life-style choice.

It's very small, about 3.5 inches by 3.5 inches, but it's fantastic, a real overview of concert posters through the ages.

"The Art of Rock: From Presley to Punk" is a mammoth hard-cover collection first published in the mid-1980s. And I do mean mammoth - I have seen college text books that weigh less than this thing! The 2015 version, despite a couple of freshly-written introductions, is basically the same exact book as the original and hasn't been otherwise updated or expanded in any meaningful way. This is a book that many aspiring graphic artists pored over in the 1980s, and the artwork is impressive even today. The artwork contained here was all made using analog, old-school manual labor - there was no Adobe Illustrator in the 60s! Despite many pieces falling into a familiar style, no two posters here are exactly alike and the artists never seem to cheat by reusing a same basic composition again. "The Art of Rock" is an essential resource for anyone who loves classic poster art, but with a few caveats. 1. The true focus of the book is on the San Francisco Scene of the mid-to-late 1960s. Since this is the author's passion, with hindsight I would have preferred an entire book dedicated to this fruitful graphic period. 2. All other periods in the book (the 1950s "boxing card" letter press posters, the DIY punk posters made with Xerox machines) are really given short shrift. You'll find some great reproductions of these posters here, but the amount of space given to them is relatively small compared to the obsessive detail given to the Fillmore posters. Given that the book hasn't been updated, you won't find any classic 80s styles here, which is a shame. 3. Beyond the West Coast, very little attention is given to concert poster art elsewhere in the United States. There's a little about Europe (mainly England), and nothing I could find about South America. So, not a lot about Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. While some work is reproduced, most of the commentary about poster scenes in general is pretty negative. 4. In case you can't tell, the book focuses primarily on concert posters. Posters related to album releases, movie posters, backstage passes, etc. are barely mentioned. Boomers who aren't artists will still be able to appreciate this book, especially as it leans so heavily on the late 1960s-era. Deadheads will especially appreciate all the vintage Grateful Dead artwork reproduced here. Both may be disappointed because there aren't any concert photos of the artists to accompany the posters. Do I recommend this book? Absolutely! This is one of the very few books about the late 1960s graphics revolution that I think is essential reading for anyone interested in the era. So many ideas from these posters made their way into the mainstream via Peter Max and multiple ad campaigns, but these are the originators and they are still influencing graphic design to this day.

So you can look inside the book for the contents etc. What separates this "The Art of Rock" book is that it has "The Numbered Series" for the Family Dog posters FD1 to FD144 and "The Numbered Series" for the "Bill Graham" posters BG1 to BG287. And there is a whole lot more! This book is not cheap, but it is the one to buy. Please note that the vast majority of negative, one star reviews for this book has to do with the fact that there are two size versions of this book, one large, and one small. Almost all the negative reviews have to do with the purchaser getting the small version of this book, and do not have to do with the contents. (I got the larger version of this book.) Also very good it "Classic Rock Posters," (2012), Mick Farren and Dennis Loren. One to avoid is "Art of Modern Rock: The Poster Explosion." This book is not very good.

Large coffee table book. Quite heavy because the paper stock is thick and sturdy. Very thorough - covers the years from 1955 to 1987. In order to be this thorough, many of the posters are reduced to the size of a pack of cigarettes. Each ~10 year era begins with a detailed history with several posters and photos in black & white. Once you get through this… The color quality of the posters is extraordinary. The posters have fine color graduations and are beautiful. The printing is very detailed and clear - even with the small posters. I remember some of these posters, and the quality is better than the originals. A book to cherish for years to come.

Here’s the problem with this book Unlike Eric kings guide with dimensions and overall every single minute detail of every color letter and effect to determine if your buying a first or second printing, This book has nothing but photos of the poster no number, no sizes, nothing to help determine if it’s a first print, it’s ok Eric kings guide is truly king

I've been wanting to buy this book for years, I don't regret buying this.

Great book, so informative with great history of the poster as an art form and how the people in charge of the various venues, went about getting them designed and eventually making them into a great marketing commodity and a peace of history for the average fan to keep.

小さいのに、とても見ていて楽しいです。

very satisfied, good product

Art of Rock, Paul Grushkin: bello per carità, una chicca! Però nella scheda di descrizione non c'era la foto comparativa (con le proporzioni umane) che mostra subito che si tratta di un book mignon. L'inserzione è ambigua e non rivela che è una perla editoriale veramente piccola.