ROCK STARS STOLE MY LIFE!: A BIG BAD LOVE AFFAIR WITH MUSIC PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Mark Ellen | 352 pages | 26 Mar 2015 | Hodder & Stoughton General Division | 9781444775518 | English | London, United Kingdom Rock Stars Stole My Life!: A Big Bad Love Affair with Music PDF Book Rupert Everett. This book is a joy. When being a rock star doesn't work out, he tries his hand at being a member of the music press. A final sign of the overall warmness of the book. The description of how his parents, who had survived World War 2 and now couldn't understand their children's love of the "loutish" Kinks let alone the "weird looking" Frank Zappa, reminded me a little of reading my Dad's memoir about growing up in the s. Some of the tales are well worn, some brand new to me at least, but all of them are told with Ellen's trademark easy charm. Starting with a near life threatening encounter with Elvis Costello for Record Mirror, he moves on to NME in the Tony Parsons, Julie Birchall era where his uncynical enthusiasm seems somewhat at odds with the prevailing mood, although he does find a kindred eclectic spirit in the afore mentioned Baker. I wore out my home recorded video of Live Aid and could probably recite all the words in interviews and links. If you have any issues or concerns, please contact our customer service team within 60 days of purchase and they will be more than happy to help. It was only when I saw the picture on the front of the book in the Kindle store that I recognised Mark Ellen. Nov 17, Mark Glover rated it really liked it. Mark Ellen recounts his time in the music press and his love affair with pop music. Although meeting some of his heroes led to disappointment another highlight was a hilarious, for all the wrong reasons, interview with Roy Harper and Jimmy Page , this is not, in any way, an unkind or vicious attack on those the author is writing about. But it doesn't give a deep sense of what he brought to his magazines, and there isn't much of a narrative. I saw him down Turnham Green Terrace once, just thought I would say that. The first chapters deal with his early love of rock, which is fine but is covered far better in Giles Smith's seminal Lost in Music. Mark Ellen wanted to be in the music business. Nov 17, Mark Glover rated it really liked it. I can't help but feel that there's a lot more for him to tell but that he couldn't though and the book did seem like it needed a bit more meat in it. View offers. Handling time. Welcome back. After Oxford, enthusiasm, coupled with real determination, lead to Ellen's association with most of the major British music publications of the last two decades of the 20th century. Pleased he didn't give undeserved 5 star reviews! You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Captain Tom Moore. This Mark's seen in many of the major talking points in British music journalism over the past thirty years from the last great hurrah of the inkies to Smash Hits, Q, Mojo and The Word. Learn More - opens in a new window or tab Any international shipping and import charges are paid in part to Pitney Bowes Inc. It's not that I want a serious heavy read, but letting us into the making of decisions like moving from one job to another, leaving the security of a major publisher, closing a magazine, would have made us more involved and concerned. Your review has been submitted successfully. Of course the book is a little darker, with real life and not least the demise of The Word, as it became, itself. About Mark Ellen. Readers also enjoyed. Having spent late teenage years travelling to festivals, and living in a half hearted commune in France, Ellen went up to Oxford, where amongst other things he was a member of a band called Ugly Rumours. Gary Ashwell. Rock Stars Stole My Life!: A Big Bad Love Affair with Music Writer A very witty, entertaining, funny and also poignant memoir of a life spent absorbed in music. After all, the children of the rave generation of the late s will many of themselves be teenagers now and it's hard to see how they are going to shock their parents. At one point while I was reading this book, I wondered whether my interest in pop culture and good music perhaps wasn't as strong as I thought. Learn More - opens in a new window or tab Any international shipping and import charges are paid in part to Pitney Bowes Inc. Want an ad-free experience? I got into music ten years after Ellen so I found the early seventies chapters a little slow hence the loss of one star in As someone who loves music and magazines and who grew up reading, in order, Smash Hits, Q, NME, Select and The Word the loss of which I'm still mourning I am probably the ideal reader of this book. Escape the Present with These 24 Historical Romances. Stock photo. Already registered? In the parlance of Smash Hits, this book is swingorilliantly brrrrrilliant. Lists with This Book. Mark Ellen comes across as a down to earth and honorable man. Community Reviews. October 8, 0. Current Affairs Books. Email to friends Share on Facebook - opens in a new window or tab Share on Twitter - opens in a new window or tab Share on Pinterest - opens in a new window or tab Add to Watchlist. Time passes, I still buy it every month, but then Mojo appears and it seems very much the magazine I have needed all my life. Mark has a great, gawky love of pop music and culture. As each came out, I didn't realise that all were partially due to the smiley one from Whistle Test. He goes on to describe the places he worked, but his account is samey- each office is a smoky, noisy den of drunken music fans, ever-alert for a jolly jape. Comments Share your thoughts and debate the big issues. Much of it ugly. Lists with This Book. In fact, I thing I enjoyed the personal life snippets more than the work life snippets! Rock Stars Stole My Life!: A Big Bad Love Affair with Music Reviews Nov 27, Rhys rated it it was amazing. All rights reserved. Van Morrison is, shock, hoprror, a curmudgeonly old git. As each came out, I didn't realise that all were partially due to the smiley one from Whistle Test. No trivia or quizzes yet. His story starts with a pretty conventional middle class childhood in Hampshire from which the rock music scene was an escape from what he saw as stultifying boredom. He loved that sense of theatre and artifice. Just maybe not enough and nothing that has stayed with me. Maybe when a few more stars shuffle off their mortal coil, the rest of the anecdotes can It's great fun, this. Live Aid is perhaps illustrative of the whole. Log in. It flags up surprising heroes and barbecues the dull and self-deluded. Aug 01, Ruth rated it really liked it Shelves: music. I would lean a recommendation to the music devotee, but it shouldn't detract others from reading it. Shirley Ballas. This funny and touching personal memoir maps out his eventful journey in rock and roll. Just maybe not enough and nothing that has stayed with me. Sign up Already have an account? Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Ever the mag wr Mark Ellen is responsible for two of my favourite magazines. Alan Davies. It's hard not to giggle at his description of Dutch rockers Golden Earring as a "monstrous collection of twerps". It was only when I saw the picture on the front of the book in the Kindle store that I recognised Mark Ellen. This book is a joy. Mark starts off at the beginning telling how he came to love music, dreamed of being a rock musician and finally becoming the next best thing - a rock music journalist. What a great writer you are. Ellen may have been working in music since the Seventies, but there's still an unrestrained joy in what he does. In the mid 80s Ellen married Clare. Later he spends time with a naked Lady Gaga, laments the MBA in rock-star ego-management that is required to organise the Q Awards — and there's a fine tale of travelling with Rod Stewart, with a hatchet job in mind, only to come away charmed. It puts a chaotic world to rights and pours petrol on the embers of a glorious industry now in spiralling decline. Music from the 60s and 70s will always be something my parents were into. Your local Waterstones may have stock of this item. More filters. This item does not ship to Germany. Page and Harper found fame in their teens and appeared stuck in a permanent adolescence in their early 40s. Please enter your name here. In fact, I thing I enjoyed the personal life snippets more than the work life snippets! In a sodden tent at a '70s festival, the teenage Mark Ellen had a dream. As a lover of music, let me thank Mark Ellen for his contribution to the music business.