Description
Book SynopsisA raucous yet reflective look back at the evolution of the music press and the passionate rock and pop journalists who defined the music of the 20th century. Totally Wired is the definitive story of the music press on both sides of the Atlantic, tracing its rise and fall from humble beginnings nearly 100 years ago. Along the way, this potent creative breeding ground for scores of writers, publishers, photographers, designers and music-makers tested the very limits of journalistic endeavour and influenced the wider worlds of film, media and pop. Focusing on developments from the 1950s to the 2000s, a period that witnessed rock 'n' roll, mod, the Summer of Love, glam, punk, pop, reggae, dance music, R&B and hip-hop, Paul Gorman chronicles the stories of individual magazines from their Tin Pan Alley beginnings and the countercultural foundation of Rolling Stone and the underground press. He explores the 1970s heyday of NME, Melody Maker and Sounds plus such punk-rock publications
Trade Review'Paul Gorman has given us the book that the music press deserves: fun, factual, glamorous, gritty, packed with mad anecdotes as well as cold-eyed truth. Essential' - Miranda Sawyer
'The music press as we knew it barely exists any more, which makes 'Totally Wired' the perfect eulogy - a broad, deep, fascinating exploration of its 100-year lifespan' - Alexis Petridis
' I learned so much from this riveting sweep through the birth and evolution of the music press. The characters in it are almost as fascinating as the stars and scenes they wrote about' - Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages
'An illuminating treatise … Gorman expertly combines first-hand interviews with his own insight from inside the trenches to paint a vivid portrait … essential reading' - Electronic Sounds
'Nobody is better qualified to write the history of the music press … there’s no doubt that he does a fine job of telling the whole story, from the launch of the Melody Maker as a monthly for dance band musicians in 1926 through to the closure of all the big titles in the 21st century' - David Hepworth, The New Statesman
