- Hardcover: 404 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; illustrated edition edition (20 Oct 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747541906
- ISBN-13: 978-0747541905
- Product Dimensions: 25.4 x 22.6 x 2.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 687,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Ever since 1926, 52 weeks a year, during war and peace, and throughout the ages of Be-bop, folk-rock, punk, new romanticism, dance . . . Melody Maker has served as the forum for popular music. Nowadays, everyone knows how life-changing Charlie Parker, The Beatles and Bob Dylan were; but back then it was the job of Melody Maker's hacks to tell you--as it happened. And these contemporary reports from the front-line are what give Nick Johnstone's book its edge.
The writing was on the wall as far back as 1955, when Stanley Dance became the first journalist to mention rock'n'roll in Melody Maker. Initially the paper was dismissive of the new music, its jazz snobbery refusing to yield house-room to rock'n'roll. But by March 1963 The Beatles had achieved their first cover, and the paper was asking "Is Liverpool Britain's Nashville?"
Half the fun, of course, comes from seeing just how wrong they often got it at the time. Thriller, the best-selling album of all-time, was simply dismissed: "not a good LP"; while Fleetwood Mac's multi-million selling Rumours was written off as "full of stereotypes, easily assimilated formulae and bland techniques". So they got that right then!
Then in 1993, having struggled through the awful 80s (23 Skidoo, Dali's Car, Rip Rig & Panic), Melody Maker wrote enthusiastically about Oasis: "a proper group with guitars and choruses and mountains of moments that leave you wide-eyed and yelping". You can almost feel the relief. --Patrick Humphries
Product Description
With access to a vast archive of interviews down the decades, this text tackles the entire range of musical genres that has emerged this century. It offers a cultural and social portrait of a constantly evolving society, telling the history of music as it happened rather than as it is remembered.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Great book, got it for Xmas and spent most of the holidays reading through it. The book is divided into specific eras so you get the pre-war movement into jazz, through swing, hot-jazz, be-bop, re-bop before entering the more familiar late fifties and beyond. Each chapter is fairly comparmentalized so there's no problem with missing out an era (e.g. the "Between Wars" age of Jazz).
The book comes with loads of images from the various issues and for anyone particularly interested, the image detail is of sufficient quality to enable the text to be quite easilly read (though perhaps a magnifying glass would make it less of a strain on the eye). Thus, the first interview with Elvis Presley can be read as can the anti- racism article written by Frank Sinatra. When I find an old newspaper, one of the things I love to do is read the adverts and the early editions of the MM were full of them, so you can find 50 Guinee Saxaphone adverts and even a 1940's advert for Boosey & Hawkes.
What's fascinating is how hindsight changes our perception of the past, many artists of the day, whom we now regard as legends were constantly written-off as non-entities merely because the chief reviewer wasn't into the scene, Robert Johnson, Elvis Presley were both regarded as nothing special and the Melody Maker missed-out on the whole early Rock and Role era because the Jazz Cats who ruled the Maker at that time considered it beneath their dignity to review such simple music structures.
Similarly, (now) classic records were equally cast aside in favor of some other -now- long forgotten piece of music, whilst the Makers 1940-1950's stand against the evils of reefers seems quaint against its post 60's acceptance of the drug culture.Plus was there really a "home-taping is killing live music" campaign way back in the early 50's.
If the book has a fault, then I'd say it requires a certain knowledge on the part of the reader, I had no problem understanding the post 50's terms of reference, but a lot of the references pre 1955 I struggled with, I'm still not sure the difference between be-bop and re-bop, similarly a lot of the Jazz phrases meant nothing to me. Plus perhaps a few more images would have been preferable, perhaps when/if the Maker celebrates it's 100th birthday a coffee table book of every Melody Maker cover (later issues may need the 1st newspage) would be a great idea.
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
All too often books devoted to music, popular or otherwise, tend to concentrate on major artists and events using the over used and formulaic methods of describing artists achievements and events, neglecting the culture that spawned them.
This does not happen here. Instead we get to read again what the writers then thought to be significant. It is a refreshing change and it helps us to get a true perspective of the music scene at the time.
For the insight alone - it is well worth the asking price.
This does not happen here. Instead we get to read again what the writers then thought to be significant. It is a refreshing change and it helps us to get a true perspective of the music scene at the time.
For the insight alone - it is well worth the asking price.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
Melody Maker - my love in the 70's
8 Dec 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I lived for Melody Maker - getting the English editions 2 months later at Kogarah newsagent, looking at Heaven (imagine King Crimson in Concert).
I loved Roy Hollingsworth, Steve Lake, Chris what's his name, Alan Jones.
A paper with immense humour, insight, reporting on (well, what I thought was then) the most important period in modern music - I adored Prog - Van Der Graaf - all that stuff. Waiting for three months to get the latest imports from Tandy Records in the UK and getting all these wonderful sleeves - Roger Dean etc. Island, Charisma, Harvest. I thought they were the best days of my life. In retrospect, maybe the hollowest? Still, the schooners of beer were good and the THC mild.
So what's this book about? Not what I wanted, but that isn't to discredit it.
It starts in the early 20's the role of muso's in the war years, Elvis, a lot on the 60's and 70's and then sort of blurs out. It's a history of the paper (and the times) - not the times (and the paper). It's very difficult to criticise on it's aims and its research, it achieves it's goals. But if you are looking for THAT article on Blodwyn Pig, this isn't for you. I'd love to be abe able to get all MM's between 68 - 76 - no idea how. But this is a good start anyway! Better than that rotten NME (the enemy). It's scholarly in a sense, but so quick you miss it it. Again, it makes points about racism, feminism, gay rights - but so quick - blink and you miss it. Too much bland 80's stuff (BUT THAT'S ME!).
Greg
3.5 stars.
I loved Roy Hollingsworth, Steve Lake, Chris what's his name, Alan Jones.
A paper with immense humour, insight, reporting on (well, what I thought was then) the most important period in modern music - I adored Prog - Van Der Graaf - all that stuff. Waiting for three months to get the latest imports from Tandy Records in the UK and getting all these wonderful sleeves - Roger Dean etc. Island, Charisma, Harvest. I thought they were the best days of my life. In retrospect, maybe the hollowest? Still, the schooners of beer were good and the THC mild.
So what's this book about? Not what I wanted, but that isn't to discredit it.
It starts in the early 20's the role of muso's in the war years, Elvis, a lot on the 60's and 70's and then sort of blurs out. It's a history of the paper (and the times) - not the times (and the paper). It's very difficult to criticise on it's aims and its research, it achieves it's goals. But if you are looking for THAT article on Blodwyn Pig, this isn't for you. I'd love to be abe able to get all MM's between 68 - 76 - no idea how. But this is a good start anyway! Better than that rotten NME (the enemy). It's scholarly in a sense, but so quick you miss it it. Again, it makes points about racism, feminism, gay rights - but so quick - blink and you miss it. Too much bland 80's stuff (BUT THAT'S ME!).
Greg
3.5 stars.
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