About the author
I was born in 1949 so I have lived through the whole Rock era.
I started collecting records when I was only ten years old and going to concerts when I was fourteen years old – The Birds (British with Ron Wood) and Them (with Van Morrison) were my first two gigs.
I have since amassed thousands of albums and, as my wife points out repeatedly, have a real obsession.
I have been fortunate enough to see most of the best:
Acoustic blues – Son House, Skip James, Bukka White, Big Joe Williams, Dave Honeyboy Edwards
Electric Blues – Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Lazy Lester, T-Model Ford
Rock ‘n’ Roll – Jerry Lee, Bo, Chuck, Little Richard
Beat – Birds, Nashville Teens, Downliners sect, Stones, Them
British Underground – Hendrix, Floyd, Sabbath, Taste, Cream, Led Zep, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Free, Arthur Brown, Chicken Shack
US Acid – Beefheart, Country Joe, Love, Doors, Mothers
Singer/Songwriters – Roy Harper, Nick Harper, Dylan, Cohen, Joni, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, Duster Bennett, Ian Dury, Davey Graham, Tim Rose
Punk – Stiff Little Fingers, Buzzcocks, Tom Robinson………..
To name but a few – I could go on and on and on. It’s the ones you didn’t see that rankle.
I taught a course on Rock Music at school. I ran the first adult education History of Rock Music course in the country.
I wrote the entire History of Rock Music up to 1982 in 4 volumes totalling 1500 pages.
This book is the abbreviated version. An edition with charts showing the evolution and relationships of genres and artists will be forthcoming.
If you want to check out my books on Rock Music you can purchase them here:
My memoir of my exploits with live music:
My overview of Rock Music up until the 1980s:
My tributes (and pen pictures) of some of the geniuses I have encountered:
Or my views on what are the best Rock Albums of all time: