Pop Britannia

[sermad]

Anyone seen this? I watched all 3 episodes last night and it was fun little retread into the murky world of pop.

I love all the tales of crooked managers and corrput labels - fascinating stuff that I'd like to read more about - Anyone have any book recommendations?

[SirSlim]

Anyone seen this? I watched all 3 episodes last night and it was fun little retread into the murky world of pop.

I love all the tales of crooked managers and corrput labels - fascinating stuff that I'd like to read more about - Anyone have any book recommendations?

Only seen episode 1 so far.

Book recommendation?

stoned - andrew loog oldham

[pitch]

I love all the tales of crooked managers and corrput labels - fascinating stuff that I'd like to read more about - Anyone have any book recommendations?

Seem to remember Simon Napier-Bell's 'Black Vinyl White powder' was pretty good.... 50 years of pop through the eyes of the man who discovered Marc Bolan and managed the Yardbirds and, er, Wham!

[Slim Jim]

Chris Welch's biography of Peter Grant has some dirt on management shenanigans going back to his days as a bouncer in the 1950s, tour managing Jerry Lee Lewis/Little Richard, hooking up with Mickie Most etc. Indeed the Led Zep bit is the least interesting part as it makes them sound like a right bunch of spoilt pricks!!

[eagerbeaver]

I second the "Stoned" recommendation - once you get used to ALO's rather esoteric prose style. There are two volumes, the second one deals with ALO's post-Stones time in the 70s and is less interesting (to me anyway) but both can be picked up dirt cheap on Amazon so worth having the two.

I haven't read SNB's book in depth (glanced thru it at airport) but the cover does quote Julie Burchill recommending it as "Brilliant" which to me is rather like the kiss of death to start with. SNB put a similar tome out in the early 80s, "You Dont Have To Say You Love Me" which I did read at the time and suspected was, erm, somewhat embellished . If not at least partially made up. Or maybe his memory is just a little vague

[Little Jimmy Oddman]

Another vote for Stoned, once you get past his own sense of hype. The other one I really enjoyed and have mentioned elsewhere is Revolt Into Style by George Melly, particularly about those early years of British pop music.

I really didn't like Simon Napier-Bell's book. It only seemed to tell you what you knew already, very much repeating the typical myths rather than anything else.

[Ian Townsend]

I really didn't like Simon Napier-Bell's book. It only seemed to tell you what you knew already, very much repeating the typical myths rather than anything else.

I really liked the pace and breathless style of Napier-Bell's book and thought it was a top 'gossip' read.

It had a 'camp'-ness of delivery about it which reflected his main theme of how the 'gay managers / pretty boy pop stars' pairing remained a constant through countless stylistic changes.

Like sitting in a pub and listening to a 'fabulous' raconteur reeling off the murky insider tales.

From the aspect of Pop Britannia that Sermad liked... I definitely think 'Black Vinyl White Powder' fits the bill.

[Little Jimmy Oddman]

I really liked the pace and breathless style of Napier-Bell's book and thought it was a top 'gossip' read.

Admittedly, I couldn't finish it so that may be what it becomes but the part that I read didn't really tell me anything that I hadn't heard before.

[eagerbeaver]

as a follow-up to the above... Simon Napier-Bell had a lengthy piece in the Grauniad recently, mostly about corruption in the music biz (imagine that!) and the ineptness of the major labels :

http://music.guardian.co.uk/omm/stor...241770,00.html

[pitch]

I really didn't like Simon Napier-Bell's book. It only seemed to tell you what you knew already, very much repeating the typical myths rather than anything else.

This does of course depend on you knowing it all already - I didn't......

[jakartajive]

This does of course depend on you knowing it all already - I didn't......

It was by The Animals, Steve, and it was called 'Inside Looking Out'.

[pitch]

Back to Pop Britannia - just watched it through a haze of flu - and it struck me as a difficult initial proposition - when does 'pop' become rock, indie, dance etc? I think they did pretty well to map out one particular strand - but I was surprised there was no mention of:

The Manchester Scene - especially Stone Roses, New Order and Happy Mondays - I thought this would come after Neil Tennant said that Pet Shop Boys were the transition when pop moved from electro-based New Romantics to heavily dance-influenced..... but this linked to Stock Aitken and Waterman instead!

They missed out / ignored the recent trend of beautiful-miserable pop-rock bands - Travis, Coldplay, Keane, Blunt etc. I appreciate the fact they wiped from the history of pop, but perhaps misleading.

Also no mention of any black artists - are there none within the world of pop (rather than just soul and hip-hop)? Perhaps Soul 2 Soul? And Trip Hop (Massive Attack, Portishead etc) - where does that fit into the British music family tree? Isn't it pop as much as Hip-Hop? Also, to link into the urban (narrative-based) pop scene - they could / should have mentioned The Streets.

Anyway - must have been hell to edit down!

[Little Jimmy Oddman]

This does of course depend on you knowing it all already - I didn't......

I can't exactly remember what he talks about to be honest but I do remember there was little "original" in there in terms of interviews or anything first-hand. As I said, I didn't read it all so I may be missing out on revelations!

[Tricky Tree]

Anyone seen this? I watched all 3 episodes last night and it was fun little retread into the murky world of pop.

I love all the tales of crooked managers and corrput labels - fascinating stuff that I'd like to read more about - Anyone have any book recommendations?

Johnny Rogan's 'Starmakers & Svengalis: The History of British Pop Management ' from 1988 is essential. Includes profiles of more recent figures such as Rob Gretton and Stevo, but the focus is on the '60s - both the well known (Larry Parnes, Don Arden, Larry Page, Brian Epstein etc.) and the slightly more obscure, but no less fascinating (Ken Pitt, Reg Calvert, Peter Walsh).