'The greatest book ever written on British independent music' Guardian'One of the best British music books of the last ten years' MojoFounded by Alan McGee in 1983, Creation Records achieved notoriety as the home of Primal Scream, the Jesus and Mary Chain and other anti-Establishment acts. During the Britpop boom of the mid-90s, the astonishing success of Oasis brought Creation fame on the world stage. In 1999, however, McGee announced his s...

Goodnight and Good Riddance: How Thirty-Five Years of John Peel Helped to Shape Modern Britain is a social history, a diary of a nation's changing culture, and an in-depth appraisal of one of our greatest broadcasters, a man who can legitimately be called the most influential figure in post-war British popular music.Without the support of John Peel, it's unlikely that innumerable artists - from David Bowie to Dizzee Rascal, Jethro Tull to Joy Division - would have received...

How we relate, how we know what we think we know, how past mingles with present, how a bike stays upright, how the butt can bear that puny perch — a lot more than pedals and wheels goes around in Cycling in Plato's Cave. Just like a bike, the poems are simple but have deftly moving parts that roll us along, offer fresh perspectives, and let us feel the air. And just like on a sunny Sunday in June, or is it September, or maybe it's cloudy and broody outside, it's all about the ride.

A feminist musician icon, Viv Albertine reveals the rocking, uncompromising story of her life on the front lines at the birth of the British punk movement and beyond in this exciting, humorous, and inspiring memoir.Selected by the New York Times as one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 YearsViv Albertine is a pioneer. As lead guitarist and songwriter for the seminal band The Slits, she influenced a future generation of artists in...

More than six million copies sold worldwide!A larger-than-life old man with a fondness for vodka goes on an unexpected adventure in this whimsical internationally bestselling novel—perfect for fans of Forrest Gump and A Man Called Ove**.**After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he'...

**#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century**At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, sh...

The definitive Paul McCartney biography, written with his approval by bestselling biographer Philip Norman.Since the age of twenty-one, Paul McCartney has lived one of the ultimate rock-n-roll lives played out on the most public of stages. Now, Paul's story is told by rock music's foremost biographer, with McCartney's consent and access to family members and close friends who have never spoken on the record before.Paul McCartney reveals the complex...

I was only sixteen when I bought an electric guitar and joined a band. A year later, I formed an all-girl band called the Marine Girls and played gigs, and signed to an indie label, and started releasing records.Then, for eighteen years, between 1982 and 2000, I was one half of the group Everything But the Girl. In that time, we released nine albums and sold nine million records. We went on countless tours, had hit singles and flop singles, were reviewed and interviewed to within a...

This is a comprehensive in-depth exploration of the career and work of one of the worlds greatest hard rock bands.With the likes of Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan and David Coverdale passing through their ranks, Deep Purple was always destined to produce extraordinary music - what was less predictable was in the incredible story of the bands formation, rise to fame and struggle to cope with the immense pressures of international superstardom. Jerry Blooms sparkling narrative tells the story,...

"A wise, breezy, supersmart memoir" from the legendary guitarist and cofounder of the seminal British band The Smiths ( The Guardian).Johnny Marr was born in 1960s Manchester to Irish emigrant parents and knew from an early age that he would be a musician. Forming his first band at thirteen, Marr spent his teenage years in public housing, playing guitar, devouring pop culture, and inventing his own musical style.It wasn't until the e...

An intimate, magisterial biography of David Bowie, drawn from over 180 interviews with friends, rivals, lovers, and collaborators—“the ultimate oral history of the artist’s life and musical journey” (Billboard)“There have been many books about David Bowie, both before and after his death, but GQ editor Dylan Jones’s is among the best, as well as the most revelatory.”—The GuardianTracing David Bowie’s life from the...

Includes full set lists not included in the physical edition.In this final installment of his internationally bestselling three-part memoir—including The Hacienda and Unknown Pleasures—British rocker Peter Hook focuses on the 1980s New Wave and Dance Punk scene and the rise of one of the most influential bands of the Second British Invasion: New Order.Resurrected from the ashes of Joy Division after the suicide of its le...