Book info

• Title Good Pop, Bad Pop
• Author Jarvis Cocker
• Year 2022
• Genre Memoir

We all have a random collection of the things that made us - photos, tickets, clothes, souvenirs, stuffed in a box, packed in a suitcase, crammed into a drawer. When Jarvis Cocker starts clearing out his loft, he finds a jumble of objects that catalogue his story and ask him some awkward questions: Who do you think you are? Are clothes important? Why are there so many pairs of broken glasses up here? From a Gold Star polycotton shirt to a pack of Wrigley's Extra, from his teenage attempts to write songs to the Sexy Laughs Fantastic Dirty Joke Book, this is the hard evidence of Jarvis's unique life, Pulp, 20th century pop culture, the good times and the mistakes he'd rather forget. This is not a life story. It's a loft story.

Thoughts

I was expecting good things from this book, and of course it delivered. It’s a memoir of sorts but with Jarvis Cocker, it was never going to be a straightforward story delivered from A to Z. Instead, we’re trawling through a loft and getting stories and insights into a life from the things found there. A fascinating way to find out about someone’s life… and it’s a fascinating life. Great stuff.

Rating: 5 / 5