Jennifer Nathan speaks with Karen Schoemer 5-30-07

Albany, NY – For years, rock critics have been labeling 1950's pop music as juvenile and formulaic- think cheesy pop standards like "Where the Boys Are" and "How Much is that Doggie in the Window." But Karen Schoemer, who writes about artists like REM and Lucinda Williams for publications like Rolling Stone and The New York Times, was determined to find cultural significance in a pile of dusty LPs. The result is her new book Great Pretenders: My Strange Love Affair with '50s Pop Music. She tells Jennifer Nathan how she found herself attracted to this stereotypically bland era in rock'n'roll history.

Great Pretenders: My Strange Love Affair with '50s Pop Music. By Karen Schoemer.
Published by Free Press.