This Ain't No Disco: New Wave Album Covers

Those who are nostalgic about the '80s-that era of leg warmers, big hair and stylized pop music-will enjoy this trip down memory lane via the best album covers from the decade's New Wave artists. New Wave refers not only to the style of music predominant at the time, a music based on unadulterated fun with ""an appreciation of the synthetic and artificial,"" but to the fashion, art and prevailing attitude of the generation. The more than 300 album covers collected in this volume are alternately innovative, bizarre and hilarious, but they all perfectly encapsulate the outrageous New Wave sensibility. From classic portraits of artists like Billy Idol and Cyndi Lauper to a cartoon drawing of cats throwing a party, these designs are as varied as the music they represent. The book is most entertaining as a guide to the various fashion faux pas of the '80s, like the Romantics' red leather suits, Roni Basil's super shoulder pads and Boy George's familiar braided hair. Although the book would have benefited from more commentary on the history and significance of these album designs, it is still an entertaining look at a unique-and certainly memorable-era in pop history.