Ugly Things

The Outsiders: Wally Tax of the Outsiders: An Interview

Interview by Richie Unterberger, Ugly Things, 1998

OF ALL THE GREAT BANDS who sang in English as a second language in the 1960s, the Outsiders were the coolest. It's a subjective judgment, ...

Real Kids, The: It's Been Real: The Real Kids

Interview by Dave Laing (Australia), Ugly Things, 1999

WHEN I FIRST picked-up a dog-eared copy of that issue of Big Star in a Melbourne store in 1981 I was 16 and hooked on ...

Byrds, The, Gene Clark: John Einarson: Mr. Tambourine Man – The Life and Legacy of the Byrds' Gene Clark by John Einarson (Backbeat)

Book Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Ugly Things, Summer 2005

GENE CLARK of the Byrds was many things - a charismatic stage presence in a '60s band that became an American icon; a gifted and ...

Monkees, The: Andrew Sandoval: The Monkees – The Day-to-Day Story of the '60s TV Pop Sensation (Thunder Bay Press)

Book Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Ugly Things, Summer 2005

IF SOCRATES, the George Carlin of his day, was right that "the unexamined life is not worth living," then The Monkees have nothing to worry ...

Flamin' Groovies, The: 'We Can't Stop Now To Think About The Past, We're Moving To Fast': An Appreciation of the Flamin' Groovies on Sire

Overview by Dave Laing (Australia), Ugly Things, August 2006

(Note: the following piece was written prior to the recent release of the wonderful UK 2CD set At Full Speed: The Complete Sire Recordings, which ...

Gram Parsons: Grievous Angel: An Intimate Biography of Gram Parsons by Jessica Hundley with Polly Parsons (Thunder's Mouth Press)

Book Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Ugly Things, Summer 2006

LET'S TALK, BRIEFLY, about what constitutes a biography. From James Boswell writing in the late 1700s about Dr. Samuel Johnson to Hunter Davies in the ...

Pre-Punk Rock

Retrospective by Jon Savage, Ugly Things, February 2008

NOTE: This was written as an introduction to a brilliant Ugly Things article by Johan Kugelberg called "No More Jubilees: Punk Before Punk", which aimed ...

Various Artists: THE T.A.M.I. Show (Shout Factory)

Film/DVD Review by Gene Sculatti, Ugly Things, 2009

FIRST OFF, any regular reader of this publication whose home doesn't house a copy of this DVD–man, where are you at? Filmed before a Santa ...

Dwight Twilley Band: Live From Agora (Gigatone)

Review by Dave Laing (Australia), Ugly Things, 2010

POWER POP ICONS the Dwight Twilley Band shared a number of attributes with Big Star apart from the obvious '70s power pop connection. Both band's ...

Mothers Of Invention, The, Frank Zappa: Frank Zappa: The Freak-Out List (Chrome Dreams)

Film/DVD Review by Gene Sculatti, Ugly Things, 2010

YOU GOTTA HAND it to the folks at Chrome Dreams. Recognizing a good thing, they've come up with yet another "unauthorized" Zappa title (their fifth, ...