The future of modern music began in Dusseldorf in 1970, when an avant-garde German band, the Organisation re-invented themselves as Kraftwerk and set in motion a train of events which introduced a whole new language into popular culture. By pre-dating electro, house, ambient and techno by more than two decades, they are quite simply the most influentual band of the late 20th century. Having studied composi-tional theory at the Dusseldorf Conservatory, they have more in common with Stockhau...

When the first edition of this book was published in 2004 it caused enormous controversy with author Joel McIver's account of Metallica's rise and fall exposing the multiple myths that had surrounded the band for years. For the first time a book dared to tell the unvarnished truth about their early life on the San Francisco circuit their heyday as the world's most uncompromising metal band and the notorious controversies which plagued their later years. Napster Playboy Rehab St...

David Buckley's unique approach to unravelling the Bowie enigma, via interviews with many of the singer's closest associates, biography and academic analysis, makes this unrivalled biography a classic for Bowie fans old and new. This revised edition of Strange Fascination comes at a time when Bowie is, once again, on a creative roll, and captures exclusive details about the tours, the making of the albums, the arguments, the split-ups, the music and , most importantly, the man himself. Als...

With two of the most successful albums in rock history, the members of Pink Floyd are among a select few rock musicians to have left an indelible mark on the cultural life of their times.Their flamboyant emergence in the mid 1960s put them at the fulcrum of British youth's social and artistic experimentation. In early days, songs like "See Emily Play", written by their initial singer Syd Barrett, helped revolutionize the content of pop music. Later, the group's instrumentals extende...

'Absolutely hilarious' - Neil Gaiman'One of the funniest musical commentators that you will ever read . . . loud and thoroughly engrossing' - Alan Moore'A man on a righteous mission to persuade people to "lay down your souls to the gods rock and roll".' - The Sunday Times'As funny and preposterous as this mighty music deserve' - John HiggsThe history of heavy metal brings br...

The Man Who Sold the World is a critical study of David Bowie's most inventive and influential decade, from his first hit, "Space Oddity," in 1969, to the release of the LP Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) in 1980. Viewing the artist through the lens of his music and his many guises, the acclaimed journalist Peter Doggett offers a detailed analysis—musical, lyrical, conceptual, social—of every song Bowie wrote and recorded during that period, as well as a brilliant explo...

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 ...

An electrifying new biography about the four Essex lads who became award-winning stadium superstars and champions of synth pop!Jonathan Miller's groundbreaking book features in-depth interviews with founder member Vince Clarke and producers Gareth Jones and Mark Bell, and contains never-before seen interviews with the band members themselves.With additional input from Gary Human, Howard Jones and Thomas Dolby this is a unique portrait of a band that almost ...

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...

Created in the late 1960s, fashionable in the early 1970s and hated in the 1980s Progressive Rock has a colourful and eventful story. Many of the genres main protagonists, including Genesis, Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, remain as popular as ever, while lesser-known names like Camel, Caravan, Renaissance, Van der Graaf Generator and Gentle Giant retain cult status.Prog expert Stephen Lambe guides the reader through the early years as the music developed out of the B...

The more I thought about it, the more I realised my career has been unusual. How did I manage to do everything wrong but still end up on the front cover of magazines, headlining world tours and achieving Top 5 albums? How did I attract such obsessive and fanatical fans, many of whom take everything I do or say very personally, which is simultaneously flattering but can also be tremendously frustrating? Even this I somehow cultivated without somehow meaning to. My accidental career.

A landmark history of post-punk and the basis of the documentary film directed by Nikolaos KatranisRenowned music journalist Simon Reynolds celebrates the futurist sound and spirit of such bands as Joy Division, Gang of Four, Talking Heads, and Devo, which resulted in endless innovations in music, lyrics, performance, and style. Reynolds explores these influences which continued into the early eighties with the video-savvy synth-pop of groups such as Human League, ...