BOSTON BABYLON
The Sordid History of Boston Rock & Roll
Written by Charles William White III
Illustrated with artifacts from the David Bieber Archives
A Boston 400th Anniversary Project (2030)
They called it the City on a Hill. But in the shadows of the State House and the steeples, something dirty was screaming through the amplifiers.
From the acid tests at Harvard to riots on The Esplanade, from the Combat Zone to The Rat, from Donna Summer’s disco ascension to GG Allin’s final excretion, Boston Babylon is a no-holds-barred crash course in the city’s most glorious and grotesque musical moments.
Illustrated with rare photographs, flyers, press clippings, and deep cuts from the legendary David Bieber Archives, this book captures the raw, weird, and unforgettable truth of a city that never quite made it—but changed everything anyway.
Meet the junkies, geniuses, cult leaders, club kids, mobsters, bouncers, prophets, and burnouts who lit the fuse—and sometimes paid the price. Relive the night James Brown stopped a riot, the Stones were arrested on the tarmac, and the Bosstown Sound fell flat on its face.
This is the secret soundtrack of Boston—unfiltered, unsanitized, and banned for good reason.
Sex. Scandal. Feedback. Welcome to the dirty truth behind New England’s loudest sins.
- Intro - Hurricane Carol: It's Swan Boat Time In Boston
- One - MIT Riots - Doo Wop: The DJ Songwriters
- Two - Banned In Boston: Alan Freed: Blacklisted
- Three - We Shall Overcome: Club 47, The Kennedys & Malcolm X.
- Four - Harvard Squares: Timothy Leary & Richard Alpert
- Five - The British Are Coming!
- Six - The Birth of Americana: Gram Parsons
- Seven - The Combat Zone
- Eight - God As A Concept: Dylan Goes Electric; Mel Lyman On Fort Hill
- Nine - Velvet Underground Hits Provincetown
- Ten - My City's On Fire: James Brown: Blinstrub's & the Cocoanut Grove
- Eleven - The Ultimate Spinnage: Bosstown Sound
- Twelve - The Taylors
- Thirteen - Miss Christine: GTOs & Modern Lovers
- Fourteen - Out On Bail: The Rolling Stones
- Fifteen - The Original Bad Boys of Boston: Geils & Aerosmith
- Sixteen - Love To Love You: Donna Summer
- Seventeen - I Found It In The Trashcan, Honest! Boston: Charlie McKenzie & Paul Ahern
- Eighteen - Live At The Rat: A History of Boston Punk
- Nineteen - Moving In Stereo: The Cars
- Twenty - This Is Boston Not LA: A History of Boston Hardcore
- Twenty-One - I Want My MTV: Billy Squier
- Twenty-Two - Boston, We've Got A Problem: Billy Ruane
- Twenty-Three - NEA Hitlist: AIDS, Performance Art, Joe Coleman
- Twenty-Four - Bunratty’s: Abel Harris & Mike Castleneck
- Twenty-Five - House Of Hits: Maurice Starr
- Twenty-Six - Hated: GG Allin
- Twenty-Seven - Help: Green Day On The Esplinade
- Twenty-Eight - Zanzibar: The Nanny
- Twenty-Nine - Main Men: Paul Pierce & Bob Gamere
- Thirty - FSU: Boston Beatdown
- Thirty-One - Left Nut: Mikey Welsh
- Thirty-Two - The Channel: Steven DiSarro
- Thirty-Three - Myles Connor: Gardner Museum Heist
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