16 Facts About Alan Betrock

Alan Betrock was an American music critic, publisher, editor, author and record producer.

Alan Betrock has written and edited several books, including the critically acclaimed Girl Groups: The Story of a Sound.

Alan Betrock produced Blondie's first demos in 1975 and launched the short-lived record label Shake Records.

Alan Betrock founded the fanzine JAMZ as an undergrad in 1971, which led to Rock Marketplace in 1973.

Alan Betrock himself was a passionate record collector with encyclopedic musical knowledge and a passion for obscure 1960s and 1970s garage rock singles.

Alan Betrock became fascinated with rock music during the rise of the British Invasion and frequently travelled to England in search for rare albums and singles.

Not long after its December 1973 opening, Alan Betrock found his way to gigs at CBGB in Manhattan's East Village.

In 1975, Alan Betrock financed and produced a demo for the then-unknown Blondie, whom he originally intended to manage.

Alan Betrock chose instead to manage another New York band, the Marbles.

In February 1976, Alan Betrock launched the influential New York Rocker magazine, chronicling the rising punk rock scene and other musical trends in the late 1970s.

Mostly published on his own Shake Books during the 1980s and 1990s, Alan Betrock wrote and edited books on, among other things, teenage exploitation films, rock and scandal magazines, and the history of the pinup.

Alan Betrock's short-lived Shake Records was the first to release recordings by the dB's, the Cosmopolitans and Marshall Crenshaw.

Later non-Shake Alan Betrock productions included Richard Hell and the Voidoids' Destiny Street and the Smithereens' Beauty and Sadness EP.

In 1989, Alan Betrock began working on a recording project with Ronnie Spector.

Alan Betrock died of cancer at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York City on April 9,2000, aged 49.

Alan Betrock was diagnosed less than two months before his death.