It was written by Brett Milano, a Boston-based music critic and columnist.

The book is billed as the "first comprehensive history of Boston rock and roll," beginning in the 1950s, and includes interviews with numerous Boston-based musicians and bands, including Aerosmith, Mission of Burma, the Cars, the Pixies, and J.

[2] The book's cover art is a photograph of the author, Brett Milano, introducing Boston musician Willie Alexander.

Milano has also written for publications such as Billboard, Pulse, and the College Media Journal.

[3] Milano's approach to the problem of structuring the book to reflect the typical chaos of a local music scene was "to at least give a mention to every great band I could ... without making it just a laundry-list of bands," in an effort to "catch the spirit of the time and places, and tell some of the more important band histories, and have it flow as a story.