The inside story of New Zealand's iconic independent record label by the man who made it happen.I wanted to be more than just an observer. I wanted to be a part of what was going on. I had told someone and the word was out, and now I had to actually do this thing. Start a record label.I must have been drunk.Roger Shepherd was working in a Christchurch record shop when he realised the local bands he loved needed someone to make their records. Flying...

Jimmy Edwards stars as the irascible Headmaster in this vintage BBC Radio comedy series set in a boys’ public schoolStarting life on BBC TV, Whack-O! transferred to radio in 1961 and ran for three series on the Light Programme until 1963. Not all of the radio episodes survive, but many from Series 1 and the entirety of Series 2 were recovered by a BBC archivist from a listener’s tapes in 2012, and have since been broadcast on Radio 4 Extra.Collecte...

*The Sunday Times Bestseller*The brand new memoir from James Acaster: cult comedian, bestselling author of Classic Scrapes, undercover cop, receiver of cabbages.PERFECT SOUND WHATEVER is a love letter to the healing power of music, and how one man's obsessive quest saw him defeat the bullshit of one year with the beauty of another. Because that one man is James Acaster, it also includes tales of befouling himself in a Los Angeles s...

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...

**A SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN & TELEGRAPH MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022****INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE MONTH****GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE DAY****FINANCIAL TIMES 'BEST SUMMER BOOKS 2022' PICK**'Incredibly moving.' - Guardian'Entertaining.' - Telegraph'Most books about pop stars focus on the way we turn average human beings into dem...

'Douglas's story is a rock history time capsule and a journey of self-discovery all at once.' ROLLING STONEWhat goes on tour stays on tour -- unless you're the the first woman roadie in the worldAt just fifteen, Tana Douglas ran away to the circus that was rock 'n' roll in the 1970s, taking a job with a young and upcoming band called AC/DC. While still a teenager she headed to the UK and later the US to work for a who's who of bands and art...

A rambling trip through a colourful and melodic St. John's childhood combined with a how-not-to-do-it-yourself guide to the music business and a thoughtful and sometimes poignant look at the way a legendary Canadian band creates music all of these threads and many others are pulled together by writer and musician Bob Hallett. Writing Out the Notes began as a series of essays Hallett wrote to explain his love of music but it turned into a humorous biography and a kind of extended solo on mu...

From the bestselling author of The Psychopath Test comes a characteristically humorous story of a musician on the margins. In Frank: The True Story that Inspired the Movie, Jon Ronson reflects on his days playing keyboard for the Frank Sidebottom Oh Blimey Big Band. Frank Sidebottom, best known for performing with a big fake head with a cartoon face painted on it, was a cult favorite in the United Kingdom and is the subject of the new movie Frank, co-written by R...

The Lives Less Ordinary series brings you the most exciting, adventurous and entertaining true-life writing that is out there, for men who are time-poor but want the best. Lives Less Ordinary drops you into extreme first-hand accounts of human experience, whether that's the adrenaline-pumping heights of professional sport, the brutality of the modern battlefield, the casual violence of the criminal world, the mind-blowing frontiers of science, or the excesses of rock 'n' ...

The definitive account of AC/DC's rise to fame, when the ribald lyrics and charismatic stage presence of singer Bon Scott, along with the guitar work of Angus and Malcolm Young, defined a new, highly influential brand of rock and roll. Drawing on many interviews and featuring a gallery of rare photos, Clinton Walker traces the band's career through the life of their original front man, from small-time gigs to international success, up to Scott's shocking death in 1980. AC/DC's undiminished...

A Rolling Stone Best Music Book of 2021“Thompson is a master showman . . . [Beeswing is] everything you’d hope a Richard Thompson autobiography would be . . . It’s both major and minor, dirge and ditty, light on its feet but packing a punch.”—The Wall Street JournalNow Featuring an Interview with Elvis CostelloIn this moving, immersive, and long-awaited memoir, beloved international music legend Ric...

Among the noise and clamour of the Britpop era, Blur co-founder Graham Coxon managed to carve out a niche to become one of the most innovative and respected guitarists of his generation - but it wasn't always easy.Graham grew up as an Army kid, moving frequently in his early years from West Germany to Derbyshire and Winchester before settling in Colchester, Essex. A shy child, he had a thing for eating soil and drawing intense visions; his anxiety was tempered by painting and a gro...