British Rock

Sid Vicious: One Junkie, One Knife, and No Fuckin’ Future is a raw, unapologetic look into the short, explosive life—and death—of punk rock’s most infamous icon. Told in a brutally honest, darkly sardonic voice, this book mixes biography with postmortem narration to deliver an unfiltered account of Sid Vicious, bassist for the Sex Pistols, and the chaos he embodied. From the gritty streets of 1970s London to the bloodstained floors of the Chelsea Hotel, this is more than a music biography—it’s a ghost’s confessional. Readers are taken inside the rise and collapse of the Sex ...

Phil Spector, born in the Bronx in 1940, grew up an outsider despised by his peers. But he formed a band, and had a number-one hit with "To Know Him Is to Love Him". He quickly became the top producer of early rock and roll and the originator of such girl groups as the Ronettes. Hit followed hit, and for all of them he used a new recording style called the "wall of sound". But the reign of the boy-man who owned pop music was doomed, and Spector spiraled into paranoid isolation and peculiar behavior.

Take a trip back in time to experience the 'BRITISH MUSIC INVASION' of the 1960s! In the bustling streets of Lansbury, England, a musical revolution is about to take place. Nineteen-year-old Johnny Bentley, a poet with a heart full of melodies, dreams of assembling the ultimate blues-rock band. With his childhood friend Mabel King, whose voice echoes with the soulful legacy of her Granny Gertie, and his cousin Olivia Rilley, whose violin wails like a fiddle possessed, Johnny sees the ingredients for greatness. United under the banner of 'THE BENT KINGS', this blues-rock band embarks on a ...

Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers is the first book to celebrate the classic-era Motörhead lineup of Lemmy Kilmister, "Fast" Eddie Clarke, and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor. Through interviews with all of the principal troublemakers, Martin Popoff celebrates the formation of the band and the records that made them legends.

A meaningless tryst with a younger man. A one night stand on the anniversary of a tragedy. That’s all he was supposed to be. I needed him to make me forget. He asked me to give him everything. I’m 38. He’s 26. That’s the least of our problems. The ruthless personal assistant of a top team on the grid, I’m as Type-A as they come. I make the world go ‘round for my athletes. Then I blow off steam dancing my ass off at London punk shows. There was no problem a fierce attitude and big, black boots couldn’t solve, until I met Brodie. Icelandic driver, Brodie Lusk, skated through ...

David Coverdale is one of rock’s most enduring and enigmatic frontmen. From his humble beginnings in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire, to commanding arenas across the world, his voice became both weapon and invitation: a velvet roar capable of seduction and authority. This definitive biography traces his complete life story, following his rise from teenage bands in working men’s clubs to the whirlwind audition that placed him in Deep Purple in 1973, a position that changed the course of his life forever. Coverdale’s tenure with Deep Purple produced landmark albums such as Burn and...

Swervedriver: Sonic Drift is the definitive chronicle of one of Britain’s most innovative yet misunderstood bands. Emerging from Oxford’s late-1980s underground, Swervedriver fused the ferocity of punk, the atmospherics of shoegaze, and the restless propulsion of American alternative rock. This book traces their journey in full—from the raw chaos of Shake Appeal through their discovery by Creation Records, to the creation of Raise and the acclaimed Mezcal Head, their tours across Britain and the United States, their quiet 1999 breakup, and their remarkable 2008 reunion. Drawing on ...

The 1960s: The Decade Music Changed and Influenced the Decades That FollowedIt was a time when music felt bigger than ever, changing the way people saw the world and themselves. Artists began experimenting with new sounds, blending different styles. From rock to country, folk to pop, and jazz to Motown, the music of the 1960s captured the energy of a generation that wanted to break free from old traditions and create something new. This was the decade when The Beatles took the world by storm, Bob Dylan made us think with his lyrics, and artists like Aretha Franklin and Sam Cooke used their ...

Eric Burdon’s roar changed the sound of rock. From the pubs of Newcastle to the psychedelic stages of California, from the British Invasion to his reinvention with War, Burdon’s voice has remained one of the most powerful and uncompromising in music history. Eric Burdon: The Animals’ Roaring Voice is the definitive, documentary-grade biography that follows his life year by year, placing every high and low within the cultural and musical revolutions that surrounded him. Born in 1941 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Burdon grew up amid postwar rubble and working-class resilience. His teenage ...

Steve Marriott was born in bomb-scarred East London in 1947 and grew up surrounded by resilience, humor, and song. From his earliest years in Manor Park, he absorbed the voices of pub singalongs and American records smuggled into dockside neighborhoods. That foundation propelled him first onto the West End stage in Oliver! and then into the teenage band circuit, where his raspy, soul-drenched voice stunned audiences unprepared for such volcanic intensity from such a small figure. By 1965 he co-founded the Small Faces, a band whose sharp suits and sharper sound came to define the Mod ...

Ian Hunter has lived one of the most improbable journeys in rock history. Born in 1939 in Shropshire, he grew up in postwar austerity before chasing the promise of London’s club scene. For years he labored in obscurity, working odd jobs by day and grinding through smoky stages by night. Everything changed when producer Guy Stevens placed him at the front of a new band—Mott the Hoople. What followed was a career that survived near-collapse, glittering heights, and reinvention across five decades. This definitive biography traces Hunter’s full arc in vivid, documentary detail. It ...

David Gedge is one of British indie rock’s most enduring figures, the architect of The Wedding Present’s furious guitar storms and the voice behind songs that turned heartbreak into anthems. This definitive biography traces his journey from working-class Leeds in the 1960s through decades of relentless reinvention, from the band’s cult debut George Best to international tours, audacious singles projects, and his later work with Cinerama. Drawing on fanzines, interviews, studio notes, and cultural archives, it captures Gedge’s uncompromising ethos: music built on candor, persistence,...

Divorced rock singer Channing Anderson is looking for a tutor for his 5-year old triplets Dominick, Destin and Drake. They boys are a handful, and it doesn’t help matters that Channing is a soft touch. He never had time for them when he was on the road and left most of their rearing to Addie, their mother. Well, Addie left him for another man, gave him custody of the boys and went on about her life. Channing’s sister Virginia thinks Channing is in way over his head. Along comes an English born valet to put some order into the boys’ lives and a second chance for love and family in ...

For the first time, you can have three Chloe Plume bad boys in one scorching collection! 1. Douche Yeah, I'm a real a**hole, a grade-A DOUCHE, but I always get what I want. Or I did, until SHE came back into town. Zayde Knight is bad news. He's a typical pop star: arrogant, rich, and a complete douche. He's also my stepbrother. So why can't I get him out of my mind? Zayde Knight doesn't do commitments. He's got enough trouble as it is. He’s stuck back in his stepfather's home for the summer trying to rehabilitate his image so he can go back to being the world's currently most adored pop ...

In the shifting cultural landscape of the late 1980s, a new kind of band emerged from London’s underground that would challenge every convention of pop music. Dots and Loops: The Legacy of Stereolab’s Cerebral Pop is the first full-scale cultural and musical history of Stereolab, tracing their story from squats and bedroom recordings to international acclaim as pioneers of retro-futurist experimentation. Stereolab were never content with easy categories. Combining the hypnotic repetition of Krautrock with the melodic charm of French chanson, the motorik drive of Can with bubblegum pop ...

Mark Knopfler’s journey from Glasgow’s soot-stained streets to the global stages of Dire Straits is one of modern music’s most compelling stories. Mark Knopfler — Brothers in Arms traces that journey with the authority of a cultural historian and the intimacy of someone standing in the rehearsal room. Born in 1949, Knopfler carried the sounds of skiffle, border radio, and Newcastle folk clubs into a style that rejected distortion in favor of clarity, touch, and narrative depth. This definitive biography unfolds like a double album. High-energy chapters capture the formation of Dire ...

Idlewild were once described as “the sound of a flight of stairs falling down.” Out of the cramped flats and pubs of mid-1990s Edinburgh, the band forged a reputation for chaos, intensity, and uncompromising energy. Little Discourage: The Story of Idlewild traces their journey across three decades, capturing how a group of students evolved into one of Scotland’s most respected rock bands. This is not a simple rise-and-fall narrative. It is the chronicle of a band that refused to remain one thing. From the raw eruption of their 1997 debut single “Queen of the Troubled Teens” to the...

Delicious Noise is the definitive, documentary-grade biography of Catherine Wheel, one of the most inventive and misunderstood bands to emerge from Britain’s 1990s alternative rock landscape. Drawing on the immersive style of Robert Hilburn, the cultural layering of Dan Charnas, and the unflinching honesty of Charles R. Cross, this book tells the complete story of how a group from the seaside town of Great Yarmouth fused shoegaze atmospherics with hard rock force to create a body of work that remains singular in the history of modern music. From the formative rehearsals in Norfolk garages...

FIVE STARS “A fun read. Took me back to Beatlemania & the story was really clever.” - reader Sharon How did you first discover the Beatles? For British teenager Helen Spencer it was in 1962, right before the Beatles exploded across Britain, America, and the rest of the world. A local band on the verge of stardom... Helen didn’t realize she’d rise from obscure Liverpool fan club employee to acceptance into The Beatles’ inner circle, propelling her through a fun-filled, world-changing decade, figuring out one big mystery at a time. This is how it all began...with Helen rising from ...

From church choirs in Bushey to the yachts of Rio and the global spectacle of Live Aid, Simon Le Bon has defined what it means to be a frontman in the modern pop era. Simon Le Bon — Hungry Like the Frontman traces the extraordinary journey of Duran Duran’s iconic singer, mapping his evolution across five decades of music, fashion, and reinvention. This definitive biography places Le Bon inside the wider cultural machinery that made him: Birmingham’s Rum Runner club, the rise of MTV, the economics of record labels, and the technological revolutions of the streaming age. Each chapter ...