How Soon is Now?

Richard King

A landmark survey of independent music; the record labels and the inspirational, eccentric and visionary figures who created them.

4 in stock

£16.99
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780571340217
Date Published
02.11.2017
Delivery
All orders are sent via Royal Mail and are tracked: choose from standard or premium delivery.
Summary

‘If you look at all the people involved – Ivo, Tony Wilson, McGee, Geoff Travis, myself – nobody had a clue about running a record company, and that was the best thing about it.’ Daniel Miller, Mute Records

One of the most tangible aftershocks of punk was its prompt to individuals: do it yourself. A generation was inspired, and often with no planning or business sense, in bedrooms, record-shop back offices and sheds, labels such as Factory, Rough Trade, Mute, Beggars Banquet, 4AD, Creation, Warp and Domino began. From humble beginnings, some of the most influential artists were allowed to thrive: Orange Juice, New Order, Depeche Mode, Happy Mondays, The Smiths, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Aphex Twin, Teenage Fanclub, The Arctic Monkeys. How Soon Is Now? is a landmark survey of the artists, the labels, and the mavericks behind them who had the vision and bloody-mindedness to turn the music world on its head.

Critic Reviews

Exhaustive and reflective, this is the definitive work on one of Britain’s great artistic booms.

Sunday Times 'Music Book of the Year'
Critic Reviews

Richard King’s prodigiously researched book includes everything one could wish to know about the mayhem, rebellion and anti-corporate idealism of indie culture.

Observer
Critic Reviews

Illuminating interviews from many of the main players, from Travis to McGee to the Smiths’ Johnny Marr. [King’s] tone is balanced, his prose penetrating, his coverage comprehensive.

The Times
Critic Reviews

Remarkable and hugely enjoyable. . . Richard King does an amazing job of portraying the ramshackle yet exhilarating vibe of the times . . . If only all music books were this good.

Scotsman
RichardKing

RICHARD KING is the author of Original Rockers (shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and a Rough Trade, The Times and Uncut Book of the Year), How Soon Is Now? (the Sunday Times Music Book of the Year), The Lark Ascending (a Rough Trade, Mojo and Evening Standard Book of the Year, shortlisted for the Penderyn Prize) and the forthcoming…

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