"SONIC BOOM! The HISTORY of NORTHWEST ROCK" BOOK

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  • Expressmilwaukee.com: "Sonic Boom will remain as the source book for anyone interested in the rock of the Pacific Northwest."
  • Record Collector: "...monstrously well-researched... Blecha’s unswerving eye is pretty hard to beat...Sonic Boom is the only story to date on this fertile musical region. More fool the person who tries to write a better one."
  • ink19.com: "...fascinating, highly readable...Blecha has written a definitive musical history of the region."
  • popmatters.com: "...incredibly engrossing. ..Sonic Boom does a commendable service to the musical history and the sonic identity of the area and its artists."
  • popsyndicate.com: "...an excellent and informative look at the birth of a music scene...Blecha knows his regional music history...an easy and enticing read."
  • Seattle Sound: "...an often surprising and entirely enlightening exploration of Northwest rock history... thanks to Blecha, the rollicking musical past of this corner of the country won't quietly disappear... the stories are skillfully compiled and thankfully told..."
  • Seattle Metropolitan: "Sonic Boom reclaims our region’s dominance in rock annals and cements Blecha’s reputation as its foremost historian."
  • blogcritics.com: "...one hell of a story. ...Blecha does not spend a whole lot of time on the Grunge days, which is fine. There has been so much discussion of that period, it really is not necessary here. His research into the early Rock N' Roll days of Seattle is riveting, ...and makes great reading for any music fan."
  • Historylink.org: "...a breakthrough book...Blecha expertly weaves quotes into his text, bringing the Northwest rock scene to life through the stories of those who created it... Sonic Boom spends most of its pages covering the 1950s and 1960s, which is needed since that period has largely been glossed over or ignored in the few previous books on Northwest rock. Certainly it has never been told this well and the combination of solid information and Blecha’s superb writing skills make this an important book."
  • Blurt: "Blecha strikes a winning balance through a mixture of scrupulous research and genuine passion for his subject."
  • Jerseybeat.com: "...written exactly the way a book, or a song should be written - I felt like I was there experiencing the clubs, the bands, and the whole scene throughout the years. ...it was hard putting it down, and I practically dog-eared every page for reference points."
  • Allan Handelman, Rock Talk radio host: "The Northwest musical influence on the entire rock culture has been overlooked for way too long. This is a great book for anybody who loves Rock 'n' Roll and its hidden history."
  • Booklist: "Blecha lovingly limns the history of rock music in Seattle and the northwestern U.S. ...and the predominant celebratory tone can be infectious."
  • Vintage Guitar: "...highly readable...above all, it establishes the region's long and storied musical past..."
  • Crawdaddy: "Although I’ve become good at judging books by their covers, I’m misled by Sonic Boom...You’d expect grunge...but I’m happily misled, since...a new book on the subject is unnecessary. Blecha sheds new light on the early developments of rock ‘n’ roll. Sonic Boom is a labor of love. Every detail has been painstakingly researched over two decades through hundreds of interviews...authoritative..."
  • Puget Sound Business Journal: "Blecha’s angle is different. He pens the story from behind the scenes of the early radio stations, recording studios and record labels."
  • CMJ: "The deep rock 'n' roll history of the Northwest has finally been fully chronicled so grab your favorite flannel shirt and find the nearest Starbucks to sit down in and soak up the Sonic Boom."
  • curledup.com: "Finally...this puts it all in perspective for those who thought Oregon and Washington were little more than places with a lot of rain."
  • Tom Dyer, President, Argosy University: "The NW Gospel according to St. Peter - To begin, this is, plain and simple, a highly enjoyable read...Blecha's latest stands up with Charles Cross' Hendrix bio as NW canon. Buy it. Enjoy. I did."
  • Gibson.com: "Seattle’s unofficial curator of rock ’n’ roll charts the evolution of Northwest rock—specifically the era book-ended by those two unmistakable riffs—as told by the musicians, fans, promoters, scenesters, and label heads who lived it."
  • fastertimes.com: "'Louie Louie' is embedded into the collective psyche of every fan of rock n’ roll...one thing that Sonic Boom clearly demonstrates is that certainly no song has played a bigger part in laying the template for an entire regional scene...In many cases, a [regional] sound can be traced back to a record label, or a specific venue...In the odd case of the upper Western reaches of the United States, as demonstrated in Peter Blecha’s book, it only took a song to influence nearly half of a century of music."
  • unitedmonkee.com: "...amazing...this book really educated me on an era of rock and roll that I was mostly unfamiliar with and, better yet, an entire subgenre of music I didn't know...fascinating..."
  • King Dinösaur: "If you thought that the Northwest only spawned 'grunge' and...had its musical peak in the 90's then you seriously need to read this book. ...a fascinating look at a long and illustrious musical heritage. ...READ THIS AMAZING BOOK!!!"
  • Jet City Blues: "This is a great read, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of Northwest rock and roll."
  • Jeffrey Beals: "Peter Blecha has come up with THE DEFINITIVE account of the history of Northwest Rock And Roll, in this new book...an incredible, and very important work, masterfully prepared, and so well written."
  • Seattle Weekly (Brian Miller): "...the jacket flap of Sonic Boom informs us that, 'Pete Blecha was crowned Seattle's unofficial curator of rock 'n' roll by Seattle Weekly.' Really? I can't find that reference..."
  • Pat Lee @ Oyster Bay Archives: "Short review: Stunning achievement."
  • Nardwuar: "In my Top-5 for 2009"
  • NortonRecords.com: "...get ready for a wild ride..."
  • easystreetonline.com: "MAY -- Book of the Month"
  • University Book Store: "Staff Pick!"
  • genestout.com: "...the book that needed to be written..."
  • Seattle Post-Intelligencer [3/17/09]: "...fascinating..."