This is a book with quite a bit of history. In the early eighties I had this great idea on how to make a little more money to support my family by doing something I would love to do. I had a largish collection of vinyl albums so I thought I’d run an adult education class on Rock Music. Rock had been a big part of my life. I’d lived through, seen a lot of the acts and met a few.
The course took off and was the only one at college to increase in numbers as it went on.
For two hours each week I’d take my records in play some great stuff and tell everyone all about it. I produced handouts and we traced the whole gamut of Rock Music from its roots to the present day. It took two years to complete!
Of course, it wasn’t, despite its popularity, successful as a money maker. I discovered numerous gaps in my collection that required filling. My collection actually tripled in size! So it actually cost me money!
However, emboldened by my experience, and possessing a wealth of materials, I ran that course twice more.
Then I had the idea of knocking my notes into shape to produce the definitive book on Rock Music. It came out as 1500 pages and 4 volumes.
I immediately managed to get a literary agent interested and then a publisher. He told me that he’d publish it if I could reduce its size. Four big volumes was not a commercial prospect. I asked him what size he was thinking and he told me 200 pages. I explained that was really a different book. He shrugged.
I spent the summer rewriting the book and managed to get it down to 250 pages. He agreed to do it.
I went down to Plymouth to seal the deal and sorted artwork.
The cheque was in the post. We bought the kids Christmas presents with it. But the cheque never arrived. The story of my life!
I threw the book in my bottom drawer in a fit of pique and put it down to experience.
In hindsight I should have gone back to my Literary Agent and hawked it round again. I was too dispirited.
This is essentially that book.
Everything you ever wanted to know about Rock Music!
If you would like to purchase this book in either digital or paperback it is available on Amazon.
In the UK:
In the USA :
Opher Goodwin