What is Counterculture? - It's an alternative lifestyle... - The ideas that spark a revolution... - A movement that changes the world... This new collection of essays celebrates the incredible originality of British post-war culture. British art, film, theatre, dance, literature and music have attracted international recognition, from the Angry Young Men to the Sex Pistols to Grayson Perry. Now gaming, the internet and social media enable creative communities to flourish and either fight f...

Casting his eye widely across the globe, Tim Burrows examines the facts, myths and characters behind such legendary venues as the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, the Astoria in London and the Cloudlands Ballroom in Brisbane. Interviewing the musicians and promoters who were there at the beginning and those still involved today, he paints striking pictures of a variety of popular musical movements including jazz, rock n' roll, reggae, punk and rave. He shows how venues have evolved over the yea...

"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...

Rory Gallagher is a hero and icon of rock music. He inspired guitar players from The Edge to Johnny Marr, Slash to Gary Moore, Johnny Fean to Philip Donnelly, Declan Sinnott to Brian May. He toured incessantly and sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Acknowledged as one of the world's leading guitarists, he collaborated with his boyhood hero Muddy Waters, and played with Jerry Lee Lewis, Albert King and Lonnie Donegan. In this compelling biography, contemporaries, fellow musicians, film ...

Cliff Richard has been a muscial icon for 5 decades, and this eBook has been released to help celebrate his 70th birthday last October. 250 million record sales later - Cliff still continues to delight his fans with new music and spectacular live performances. The book is written by ex DJ and Cliff's goof friend Mike Read.

Rock Diary: Led Zeppelin is a uniquely chronological, day-by-day, month-by-month and year-by-year history documenting the complete history of one of the most popular and influential rock groups of all time. This definitive factual story is the ultimate biographical timeline of the legendary quartet of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham - from their earliest days rising the ashes of the Yardbirds in 1968, to their thrilling reunion in London in 2007 and beyond. Every ...

Rock Diary: Pink Floyd is a uniquely chronological, day-by-day, month-by-month and year-by-year history documenting the complete history of one of the most popular and influential rock groups of all time. This definitive factual story is the ultimate biographical timeline of the legendary band from its earliest Syd Barrett days in the psychedelic underground scene, through its heady heights when steered by Roger Waters to its latter-day triumphs fronted by David Gilmour. Every triumph, tra...

George Michael is an enigma. While he is one of the most open and vocal pop superstars on the planet, he also fiercely protective of his privacy. From the formation of Wham! In 1981 he immediately found fame and fortune beyond his wildest dreams. His music formed the soundtrack to the 1980s and he achieved all of this despite growing up in a dysfunctional family where his father openly proclaimed that George had no talent.Wham! split in 1986 but Michael went on to greater things as...

When Muddy Waters came to London at the start of the ?60s, a kid from Boston called Joe Boyd was his tour manager; when Dylan went electric at the Newport Festival, Joe Boyd was plugging in his guitar; when the summer of love got going, Joe Boyd was running the coolest club in London, the UFO; when a bunch of club regulars called Pink Floyd recorded their first single, Joe Boyd was the producer; when a young songwriter named Nick Drake wanted to give his demo tape to someone, he chose Joe ...

Autobiography by the singer and creative force of 70s rock group The Stranglers.This edition does not include illustrations.This is the first autobiography by any leading figure from the punk era and the first to be written by the author, drawing from his own unique and unforgettable experiences. Hugh was lead singer, guitarist and main songwriter with The Stranglers, and now brings his unique style, humour and insight to describe the story of his life.The book begi...

The book that fans of the Skids and Big Country had been waiting for, this is a critical perspective not only of Stuart Adamson's music and its wider cultural influences, but also the excesses of fame and how the music business really works.It tells the story of how a teenager raised in a small Fife village released his first single at 19, wrote three Top 40 albums in the next three years, was written off as a has-been at 23, but then went on to form a new band, sell millions of re...

Welcome to the real seventies, where the hair is shaved, the music is funky and the football is violent. Chris Brown was right there in the thick of the action. With his regulation haircut, clip on braces, shrunk Levis and bovver boots, he had the look every self-respecting bovver boy could not be seen without. This is the most amazing story of the most maligned decade in British history. It tells of adrenaline-packed Saturday outings, Tonik suits, aggro on the terraces, funk on the dancef...