The definitive biography of The Clash—now fully revised and expanded for the band’s 50th anniversary.First published to universal acclaim and widely regarded as the essential account of The Clash, Passion Is a Fashion returns in a major new edition to mark fifty years since the band detonated onto the London scene in 1976.Drawing on Pat Gilbert’s unrivalled access as a former MOJO editor, this book reveals the unto...

The Sweeney broke the mould for British cop shows. Until it was broadcast, they’ d been rather stolid, sometimes quaint, dramas like Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars and Softly, Softly about policemen – or even bobbies: not cops.They were about upholding the law: not breaking it: about smart blue uniforms, not kipper ties and long hair. They were about preventing or punishing violence – not about inflicting it with pleasure on villains.Then, in 1975, The Sweeney burst onto comme...

Follow every step of David Bowie’s career; from Ziggy Stardust to Tin Machine, from “Space Oddity” to Let’s Dance to Blackstar, in Bowie: The Illustrated Story.David Bowie released an incredible 27 studio albums, beginning with his eponymous 1967 debut and ending with Blackstar, released just two days before his untimely death in January 2016. Widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians and p...

BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK'A teeming chronicle of those scorching months. Superbly researched.' THE TIMES'Scorching, animated and essential reading. Superb.' THE MAIL ON SUNDAY'Grippingly captures the three months that shook Britain's cultural landscape' PAULINE BLACK'Scorching, seething and scintillating, Heatwave conjures a slow-burning collage of a cou...

Guy Pratt's life as bass player to the stars. The book behind the successful comedy show.Guy Pratt came of age just as playing bass became cool, with the likes of Paul Simonon and Bruce Foxton. Having dallied with Funkapolitan, Pratt suddenly found himself on Top of the Pops and supporting David Bowie with smooth Australian outfit Icehouse.At a ludicrously young age Guy Pratt became a sought after bass player to the stars, finding himself crawling from stud...

"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...

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...

With its own fashion, culture, and chaotic energy, punk rock boasted a do-it-yourself ethos that allowed anyone to take part. Vibrant and volatile, the punk scene left an extraordinary legacy of music and cultural change. John Robb talks to many of those who cultivated the movement, such as John Lydon, Lemmy, Siouxsie Sioux, Mick Jones, Chrissie Hynde, Malcolm McLaren, Henry Rollins, and Glen Matlock, weaving together their accounts to create a raw and unprecedented oral history of UK punk...

And then there was David Bowie, the uber-freak with the mismatched pupils, the low-tech space face from the planet Sparkle. This was Bowie's third appearance on TOTP but this was the one that properly resonated with its audience, the one that would go on to cause a seismic shift in the Zeitgeist. This is the performance that turned Bowie into a star, embedding his Ziggy Stardust persona into the nation's consciousness.With a tall, flame-orange cockade quiff (stolen from a ...

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...

These are the songs that we have listened to, laughed to, loved to and laboured to, as well as downed tools and danced to.Covering the last seven decades, Stuart Maconie looks at the songs that have sound tracked our changing times, and – just sometimes – changed the way we feel. Beginning with Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll Meet Again’, a song that reassured a nation parted from their loved ones by the turmoil of war, and culminating with the manic energy of ‘Bonkers’, Dizzee...

In 1970, Deep Purple burst on to the British rock scene with their hit "Black Night" and bestselling album "Deep Purple in Rock". This is the autobiography of their lead singer, Ian Gillan.Here he tells his life story, and that of the band he helped to make great. Stories of friction and violence, groupies and non-stop partying, drugs and alcohol, and how, finally, it all spiralled out of control to destroy the band.This book traces Gillan's career from his childhood in Houns...