Touch Me I'm Sick

I grew up loving this music but unfortunately I was born a little late so didn't get to experience it first hand. I've seen many pictures read many books about the grunge scene in Seattle but this book really shows what it would have been like to be there. The photographer captured this epic time in music beautifully.

This book is a great presentation of Peterson's work in the grunge community! It includes some of my favorite shots :)

If you are expecting a " coffee table" book with brilliant, posed portraits in Kodachrome, you will be disappointed. Charles Peterson's black and white photography here is honest, raw and real. It is anything but pretty. It will give you a glimpse into the chapter of live rock music that many missed due to fear. Fear caused by the stories of mosh pits filled with frenzied and bloodied fans and performers diving from the stage where those fans caught them and sometimes they didn't. For the many that weren't afraid, this book will serve as a reminder of just how lucky you are to have experienced it all. In that case, this book is something you must have, to pull off the bookshelf once in a while and look at as if it's your personal photo album.

"Touch Me I'm Sick" not only has an incredible visual impact - it tells the important story of a monumental movement in the history of rock music through the eyes of Charles Peterson as a participant in the Seattle music scene and as an artist. In the early days before the world caught on to "grunge", he not only found himself at the core of this groundbreaking new change in rock n' roll, but in a position to communicate it visually for everyone outside of his home city. In the years since the grunge revolution there has not been an unequivocal youth culture movement on this scale and Peterson not only helped to define it, but captured it forever on film. Part of the whole hysterical attraction and one of the aspects that drew an entire generation to Seattle beyond the music is that Peterson's photographs did not just articulate the sound, but expressed the feeling of raw excitement of being at a rock n' roll show in a club. Peterson compelled - and still compels -the viewer to share his experience of the music rather than simply look at a photograph of a musician on stage. I think it is interesting as a reader/viewer of "Touch Me" that it also tells the story of Peterson's photography over 17 years as a kind of visual notebook during this period in his life. Simply put, there is no pretension or unnecessary commentary here, Charles and his work are the real deal.

I think of Charles Peterson as the best war photographer who never had a war to go to. Instead, he settled for documenting the chaos and insanity of the Seattle music scene as it progressed from a drunken neighborhood loser's club to the worldwide rock phenomenon of the early 90's, and back again. Charles was on the front line with his camera loaded for the whole thing. All of Charles' trademarks are in this book ... flying hair, blurred limbs, and gallons of sweat and beer. There's also a level of insight in this collection of photos that's only possible when the era is viewed from a safe distance. These photos are indifferent to the shifting priorities of Hollywood. Everyone included in this book is there because they're interesting ... and it shows that some dude who just got off a late shift at Kinko's can be just as fascinating as the biggest stars in the world. In fact, in this book, they're often the same person snapped by Charles a year apart.

This book is so much more than a photographic history of "grunge." It transcends rock photography. The book doesn't document pose -- it documents release. It's a book about youth, about passion, and about rebellion. Remember them? Probably not. There's more genuine passion on each page of this book than I've seen in the last five years of live shows and clubs. Now that we're in the dog days of another dark presidency, maybe the kids will get pissed off again, and start making a racket. Pill-popping techno is fun and all, but it just doesn't have the intensity that this book documents. There are photos of some of the luminaries of the period, sure, but to me the unending fascination is with the audiences. Whether it's a large, seething, sweating mass or the huddled few at a loft show, there's kinetic energy jumping off the page. You can feel it. There's a timelessness that adds a sense of possibility, that brings a smile as you turn the pages. Buy the book, write a song, play a show. Beats the hell out of sitting around and reminiscing.

Charles Peterson's latest offering of photos is nothing short of brilliance. His is the sort of brilliance that comes from living in and loving the world that he is capturing on film. Charles is a master at capturing a moment in time, a moment so fleeting that even if you were standing next to him you might miss it yourself... But Charles captures the moment with such precision that from simply viewing the photos you can feel the power of the music, smell the cigarette smoke in the air, hear the roar of the crowd, and expreience the crush of the most pit 10, 15, even 20 years later. Punk, Rock, Metal... If you are a fan of music this book is not to be missed.

I bought a used copy of this for a good price. It continues from Charles Peterson's 1st book Screaming Life. Nothing in it blew me away but I like it.

Charles Peterson documentó la historia musical de Seattle. Imprescindible libro con fotografías ya míticas de Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, etc. Muy recomendado.

Dieser Fotoband ist großartig und mittlerweile eine echte Rarität! Eine tolle Qualität der Bilder sowie ein guter Zustand, dafür, dass man dieses Buch kaum noch oder nur zu horrenden Preisen kaufen kann! Zwar dauerte der Versand sehr lang, aber das Warten war es wert.

Ce livre est magnifique. Le papier est de très bonne qualité, le livre très bien fait, les photos sont belles, bien sur. Etant dans l'édition, je peux vous dire que pour son prix cet ouvrage est très bon marché, malgré des coûts de fabrication probablement importants pour l'éditeur. C'est ici un bel ouvrage qui permet de mieux cerner la scène punk rock de Seattle, à travers la lentille érodée de Charles Peterson, qui nous livre là encore, après Seattle grunge il y a quelques années, un beau livre de qualité. A conseiller absolument.

I thought about getting this book for a long time and when I did I wasn't disappointed. A really good collection of pictures that really set the scene of the grunge era. My friend looked through it and said she hated it but she doesn't understand grunge at all so am not surprised. This is more for the hardcore fans that just the inquisitive. Got to admit though the picture of the author at the back - which I presume is his 'moody' look - just makes him look like a brat. But there we go.

il libro raccoglie gli albori del grunge, le foto sono quelle che i fan del genere hanno ben impresse nella memoria, le copertine della Sub Pop, i primi articoli sulle riviste specializzate in rock e quant'altro. l'edizione è superba, copertina rigida, mini interviste, e bellissimi bianchi e neri su carta pesante. É un libro fotografico, se non siete appassionati non vale la pena perché la parte scritta è minima. Per gli amanti della fotografia invece dovrebbe essere un must.