Often appearing as a mere onlooker who didn't really want to be there, Charlie Watts - 'the silent Stone' - embraced fame reluctantly. Yet, ironically, if any one of the Stones could have made it big without the rest, it surely would have been Watts, who showed as much early promise as an artist as he did a jazz drummer.Understated and seemingly underwhelmed, Watts provided a stark contrast to the brash Keith Richards and the bohemian Brian Jones, and was, in some ways, an unlikely...

A decade of ground breaking cultural and social change, the 60s is famously recalled with the oft quoted statement "If You Remember the '60s, You Really Weren't There" First published in 2006 and edited by Michael Heatley, this nostalgic look at the best music, movies, TV programmes and events of the swinging 60s is now available as an ebook. Illustrated with fantastic colour and black & white photos, including posters and other archive material, this is a great purchase for both collector...

My hair is a statement and always will be, even when I no longer have any.The social revolution of the Swinging Sixties led to a renaissance of unchecked hair growth, and long hair, especially on men, was worn as a political or countercultural symbol of protest and as an expression of masculinity.No-one who was affected by one of a turbulent decade's loudest controversies - or anyone who ever wondered what all the fuss was about - will fail to be i...

For many years, John Lennon has been seen as the crazed and eccentric Beatle who provided some of the most memorable melodies the music world has ever known. After remaking pop in his own image with The Beatles, the erstwhile would-be artist and Liverpudlian reprobate went on to carve out a significant solo career, with the enigmatic Yoko Ono at his side. Following his murder in 1980, his work and life took on mythic status, his role as mentor to a musical generation assured.Alan C...

The social revolution of the Swinging Sixties led to a renaissance of unchecked hair growth, and long hair, especially on men, was worn as a political or countercultural symbol of protest and as an expression of masculinity. No-one who was affected by one of a turbulent decade's loudest controversies - or anyone who ever wondered what all the fuss was about - will fail to be interested in this personal account of when the 'us and them' divide between youth and elders was most profound.

Brian Jones, the legend and icon, is familiar to generations of rock fans, but the reality of his life has always remaned mysterious. Granted godlike status alongside giants like Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin, Jones was more than the Stones' ill-fated pretty boy.Set against the dramatic backdrop of the swingin' sixties, Alan Clayson's biography reveals an extremely talented musician and a surprisingly driven man whose creative energies propelled him to fame even as t...

In 2012 the Rolling Stones celebrate their 50th anniversary. Their story – the band's meteoric rise to fame, the Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones and Altamont scandals, the groundbreaking hits – is the stuff of twentieth century legend, and core to popular culture.But it is Norman's skills as a researcher and biographer which bring a whole new dimension to such a story. Written with the personal knowledge, trust and co-operation of the participants, this fully updated version is ind...

“Sting’s gift for prose and reverence for language, nearly the equal of his musical gifts, shine on every page. Even when Broken Music addresses the quixotic life of an aspiring rock & roller, it reads like literature from a more rarified time when adults didn’t condescend to the vulgarities of pop culture.” —Rolling StoneHaving been a songwriter most of my life, condensing my ideas and emotions into short rhyming couplets and setting them to musi...

**A ROCK AND ROLL MEMOIR FROM GLYN JOHNS, THE LEGENDARY PRODUCER FEATURED IN THE NEW DOCUMENTARY SERIES The Beatles: Get Back“Few figures in rock history have a more impressive résumé than Glyn Johns...[Sound Man] is full of amazing anecdotes from his fifty-year career.”—Rolling Stone“A fantastic romp through the pages of rock and roll history.”—Sir Paul McCartney, the Beatles**In 2012, legendary producer and sound engineer Glyn Johns was ...

Robert Plant is one of the few genuine living rock legends.Frontman of Led Zeppelin, musical innovator and seller of millions of records, Plant has had a profound influence on music for over four decades. But the full account of his life has barely been told … until now.Robert Plant: A Life is the first complete and comprehensive telling of Plant’s story. From his earliest performances in folk clubs in the early 1960s, to the world’s biggest stages as Led Zeppelin’s self-st...

Keith Moon was more than just rock's greatest drummer, he was also its greatest character and wildest party animal. Fuelled by vast quantities of drink, drugs, insecurities and confusion, Moon destroyed everything with gleeful abandon: drum kits, houses, cars, hotels, relationships and, finally, himself.In Dear Boy, Tony Fletcher has captured lightning in a bottle – the essence of a totally incorrigible yet uniquely generous boy who never grew up, and who changed t...

The definitive biography of The Beatles, hailed as "irresistible" by the New York Times, "riveting" by the Boston Globe, and "masterful" by Time.As soon as The Beatles became famous, the spin machine began to construct a myth -- one that has continued to this day. But the truth is much more interesting, much more exciting, and much more moving -- the highs and the lows, the love and the rivalry, the awe and the jealousy, the drugs, the te...