By the end of 1968 The Beatles were far too busy squabbling with each other, while The Stones had simply stopped making music; English Rock was coming to an end. All the Mad Men tells the story of six stars that travelled to edge of sanity in the years following the summer of love: Pete Townshend, Ray Davies, Peter Green, Syd Barrett, Nick Drake, and David Bowie. The book charts how they made some of the most seminal rock music ever recorded: Pink Moon; Ziggy Stardust; Quadrophenia; Dark Side of the Moon; Muswell Hillbillies - and how some of them could not make it back from the brink. The extraordinary story of how English Rock went mad and found itself
All the Mad Men
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Book Description
After the Summer of Love - how English Rock lost itself, went mad, and produced some of the finest music.
About the Author
Clinton Heylin is one of the leading rock journalists in the world. He is the author of the definitive biography of Bob Dylan as well as the two volume history of his songs Revolution in the Air and Still on the Road. He has also written on all aspects of the history of rock from The Beatles to the Velvet Underground.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I thought this book would be a little light relief - a fun but not particularly stimulating break from endless academic reading. In actuality, its a bit of both. Its a lot of fun - the interviews with key players in the 1970s music scene and the stories of madness, mania, drugs and, of course, rock and roll are all great fun. At the same time though, the author gives us a pretty expansive discussion of what madness is, how it interacts with creativity and how destructive as well as liberating it can be. I enjoyed this book even more for this more sensitive and intellectual approach and I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in music and how it interacts with us socially and politically.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Runmentionable
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Heylin's big idea - that, under the influence of the counter-culture's relationship with "anti-psychiatry", British rock from 1967-75 was preoccupied with mental illness, and frequently created by those who suffered from it - is one of those ideas that, in hindsight, seems so bleedin' obvious you wonder why no-one picked up on it earlier.
His analysis of the roots of the phenomemenon, and the work which came out of it, is commendably thorough, thoughtful and reads very smoothly. He's particularly good on some of the less well-known works, such as "Jackson Frank", the more obscure corners of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac albums, and the depressing tale of Vincent Crane. You could, if you wish, probably pick a few additional artists he could have covered, but there are no serious gaps.
Overall it's an interesting and engaging read, though it has a couple of flaws. Heylin's tone gets rather churlish at times - he's really got the knives out for David Bowie and the Nick Drake estate - and while his points may be valid he does himself no favours by writing about them in a style reminiscent of the people who used to write to the papers in green ink and make their obsessive points in CAPITAL LETTERS. More importantly, the book just seems to come to an end: there are interesting appendices, but the overall narrative arc ends abruptly, without any attempt to pull it all together, in chapter seven. There are a couple of hints that the punk and post-punk eras kept on this exploration of inner space, but more is needed, and in particular the roles of transitional figures like Peter Hammill and Richard Strange could have been used to show how this admittedly peculiar torch was passed on.
All said, though, a highly readable, stimulating and original book on a mysteriously overlooked aspect of music history.
His analysis of the roots of the phenomemenon, and the work which came out of it, is commendably thorough, thoughtful and reads very smoothly. He's particularly good on some of the less well-known works, such as "Jackson Frank", the more obscure corners of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac albums, and the depressing tale of Vincent Crane. You could, if you wish, probably pick a few additional artists he could have covered, but there are no serious gaps.
Overall it's an interesting and engaging read, though it has a couple of flaws. Heylin's tone gets rather churlish at times - he's really got the knives out for David Bowie and the Nick Drake estate - and while his points may be valid he does himself no favours by writing about them in a style reminiscent of the people who used to write to the papers in green ink and make their obsessive points in CAPITAL LETTERS. More importantly, the book just seems to come to an end: there are interesting appendices, but the overall narrative arc ends abruptly, without any attempt to pull it all together, in chapter seven. There are a couple of hints that the punk and post-punk eras kept on this exploration of inner space, but more is needed, and in particular the roles of transitional figures like Peter Hammill and Richard Strange could have been used to show how this admittedly peculiar torch was passed on.
All said, though, a highly readable, stimulating and original book on a mysteriously overlooked aspect of music history.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Satyadaka
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
`All The Madmen' by Clinton Heylin
I enjoyed this book very much. It is well-researched and full of interesting information. The central idea is that madness is a key theme of British Rock in the 60s and 70s, and was frequently the context from which it emerged. Syd Barrett and Nick Drake are two obvious candidates for consideration but I didn't realise the extent to which David Bowie, Pete Townsend, and Ray Davis and their work can also be usefully explored in this light. Heylin is concerned to emphasise that madness is a strong aspect of the British cultural tradition and an appendix sketches out this wider theme. However, he also stresses the exacerbating influences of LSD and the theories of R.D.Laing, during the period particular to this book. Loads of anecdotes. The only thing that jarred a bit was the author's occasional slip into very long sentences with many clauses and parentheses. Overall, a stimulating and entertaining read with much to reflect on afterwards.
I enjoyed this book very much. It is well-researched and full of interesting information. The central idea is that madness is a key theme of British Rock in the 60s and 70s, and was frequently the context from which it emerged. Syd Barrett and Nick Drake are two obvious candidates for consideration but I didn't realise the extent to which David Bowie, Pete Townsend, and Ray Davis and their work can also be usefully explored in this light. Heylin is concerned to emphasise that madness is a strong aspect of the British cultural tradition and an appendix sketches out this wider theme. However, he also stresses the exacerbating influences of LSD and the theories of R.D.Laing, during the period particular to this book. Loads of anecdotes. The only thing that jarred a bit was the author's occasional slip into very long sentences with many clauses and parentheses. Overall, a stimulating and entertaining read with much to reflect on afterwards.
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