Farren provides an informative introduction which is accompanied by smaller pictures of some of the posters as well as other iconic images from the era. The actual preamble itself starts by pointing out how having been around for twenty years (at least it had been when it was written!) rock and roll had become an important part of popular culture, and says how 'It has chronicled the history of a generation more totally and more accurately than any book, newspaper, or magazine'. In other words, it literally provided the soundtrack for an entire generation. He goes on to trace the development of rock culture from the fifties to the seventies (echoes of Watch Out Kids but in a more condensed version) whilst simultaneously explaining how rock and roll would eventually be recognised as an art form in itself, having co-opted the best of contemporary ideas from other forms of media. However, Farren places most emphasis on the sixties as being the period in which this new creative force flourished. Particular reference being made to the emerging art schools/colleges in the UK and the States which had become a 'breeding ground for the second generation of rock musicians'. Therefore, Farren is perhaps justified in balancing this collection slightly more in favour of the posters from the late 60s and early 70s heyday of the counter culture.

It would be too easy to just say that the posters from both the sixties and seventies are typical of their eras. The sixties were typified by swirling acid induced lettering, often indistinguishable from the graphics (just check out Gary Grimshaw's 'Paupers at the Grande Ballroom' or Rick Griffin's 'The Doors at the Avalon'.), whilst bubble gummy airbrush pastels of kitsch 50s, as well as 1930s style art deco revivalism were characteristic of the seventies, but it would still be too easy to leave it at that as well. Mick Farren, however, elaborates on the development of rock and roll and poster art and its prime movers. He explains how rock and roll art was revolutionised by the likes of US West Coast artists, such as Rick Griffin, and Stanley Mouse, Detroit artist Gary Grimshaw, and English based counterparts such as Nigel Weymouth and Michael English. They were truly innovative in the way that they experimented not only with the colour and images, but also with the actual printing processes, such as splitting the ink feeders and running them together on both silk screen and off set lithography to create 'a single impression to give the effect of multi-coloured rainbow ink'. In addition, the use of metallic and dayglo inks were other important innovations, and a number of these posters have been reproduced exactly down to the use of metallic inks to convey their original glory. Martin Sharp's 'Bob Dylan - Mr Tambourine Man' from OZ magazine, and Michael English and Nigel Weymouth's 'CIA UFO' being two very good cases in point.