{"id":8,"date":"2008-03-11T11:31:12","date_gmt":"2008-03-11T05:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com.vhosts2.main.nc.us\/?page_id=8"},"modified":"2026-11-10T12:08:53","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T17:08:53","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About Bill Kopp \/ Musoscribe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill’s first book, Reinventing Pink Floyd<\/em><\/a>, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in February 2018. His second book, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Dawn of New Wave<\/i><\/a>, was published in 2021 by HoZac Books. Late 2025 saw the release of his third book, What’s the Big Idea: 30 Great Concept Albums<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Depending on one’s interest, one is either amazed and entertained or bored to tears with Bill Kopp’s encyclopedic knowledge of the popular music of the last fifty years. A rock\/pop music historian, he has amassed a collection of way more than 6,000+ vinyl albums, plus nearly as many on CD.<\/p>\n

“Even when I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be a Rock Journalist™. People who have seen the film adaptation of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity<\/i> say that John Cusack’s character reminds them of me. I don’t know if that’s meant as a compliment or not.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In addition to Musoscribe (this site), Bill is a\u00a0frequent contributor at Living Blues<\/em> Magazine, The Tonearm<\/em> and SPIN<\/em>. He writes often for altweeklies Mountain Xpress<\/em> (Asheville NC), Good Times <\/em>(Santa Cruz CA), Salt Lake City Weekly<\/em> and Metro Silicon Valley<\/em> (San Jose). He also writes and\/or has written for GRAMMY.com,\u00a0No Depression, Trouser Press, Electronic Music, Ugly Things, WNC Magazine, <\/em>City Paper <\/em>(Pittsburgh), Flagpole<\/em> (Athens), Creative Loafing<\/em> (Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Charlotte), New City <\/em>(Chicago), Style Weekly<\/em> (Richmond VA), Colorado Springs Independent, SF Weekly<\/em> (San Francisco), SF Standard<\/em> (San Francisco), The Laurel of Asheville, Brooklyn Paper, <\/em>Mature Living (Toledo), Bass Guitar (UK), Shindig! Magazine (UK), Record Collector (UK), San Diego Reader, Electronic Musician, Electronic Sound <\/em>(UK), Prog Magazine<\/em> (UK), 60sgaragebands.com, <\/em>the long-defunct print magazine Skope<\/em><\/em> (where he ran things as Editor-in-Chief for two years), Billboard, <\/em>Stomp and Stammer, Best Classic Bands, Capital at Play, Edible Asheville, Rock and Roll Globe, Tangents Magazine<\/em> and Jambase.org<\/em>, among many others. In the past he has also worked as a copy editor for Spill Magazine<\/em> (Toronto) and as the Jazz Desk Editor and Prog Editor at BLURT<\/em>. For several years prior to its recent and unceremonious demise, he was a contributing editor at Goldmine<\/em> Magazine.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bill has written liner notes for more than 40 CD archival releases and reissues of albums by Brotherhood<\/strong> (a Paul Revere and the Raiders<\/strong> spinoff group), heavy rock giants Iron Butterfly<\/strong>, progressive rock keyboardist Rick Wakeman<\/strong>, Bobby Lance<\/strong>, Diamond Rio<\/strong>, The Ventures<\/strong>, Edgar Winter<\/strong>, Larry Coryell<\/strong>, Survivor<\/strong>, Ben Folds<\/strong>, Dan Fogelberg<\/strong>, Dave Mason<\/strong> and many others. He’s also authored liner note essays for four reissue albums by jazz legend Julian “Cannonball” Adderley<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Bill has interviewed and written features on more than thirteen hundred musical artists<\/a>. He’s reported on the Bonnaroo, Moogfest, Hopscotch, YepRoc 15, Dig!, Ponderosa Stomp, Big Ears, Americana Music Association, Mountain Oasis, Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival, Asheville Electro Music Fest, San Jose Jazz Fests, Transfigurations, Lollapalooza <\/strong>and Echo Project<\/strong> festivals, and written about consumer products including the Microsoft Zune, Rock Band: The Game<\/strong> and (huff, puff…) many<\/em> others.<\/p>\n

He has also authored press kits and\/or news releases for World Party<\/strong>, The dB’s<\/strong>, Gov’t Mule<\/strong>, Gin Blossoms<\/strong>, Holly Golightly<\/strong>, Cary Grace<\/strong>, Billy Jonas<\/strong> and others, and wrote several artist biographical entries<\/a> for the Amoeba Records website. He’s a frequent guest on AshevilleFM and assorted podcasts. After an acclaimed series of lectures, in 2022 he launched Music to Your Ears<\/strong><\/a>, a monthly live-and-in-person discussion series focusing on classic artists and albums. He also hosted the monthly Music Movie Mondays<\/strong><\/a> series at Grail Moviehouse. In Spring 2023 he co-taught a history of Rock ‘n’ Roll at UNC Asheville’s College for Seniors. In 2026 he presented a 90-minute talk, “Adventures in Music Journalism” at the Sigal Music Museum in Greenville, SC. In 2026 he launched another<\/em> discussion\/listening series — provisionally titled Tune-In Tuesdays<\/strong> — at Asheville’s Joyful Noise Listening Lounge. Topics so far have included The Dark Side of the Moon<\/em>, Abbey Road<\/em> and Who’s Next<\/em>. A member of the Asheville chapter of Toastmasters International, he often takes on the role of grammarian at meetings.<\/p>\n

In late 2026 he completed training that made him eligible to apply for a spot as a DJ at AshevilleFM 103.3. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

He lives in a nearly century-old house in Asheville, NC with his dear wife, an impossibly cute little dog, that mountain of vinyl, and way, way, way <\/em>too many synthesizers and guitars.<\/p>\n

And, like everyone else, he’s everywhere<\/em>:<\/p>\n