Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City

Description

Paul Morley, acclaimed rock journalist and television arts pundit, has written the book he's always wanted to write - a complete history of pop music. With an incredibly imaginative twist. Inspired by the video for Kylie Minogue's hit single 'Can't Get You Out of My Head', Morley is driving with Kylie towards a virtual city built of sound and ideas in search of the answer to the question: has pop burnt itself out? Their ensuing journey bridges the various paradoxes of twentieth-century culture, as they meet a succession of celebrities and geniuses - including Madonna, Kraftwerk, Wittgenstein and the ghost of Elvis Presley - and explore the iconic and the obscure, the mechanical and the digital, the avant-garde, and pop itself. Paul Morley is a man obsessed, and he's about to share his obsession with us, the reader, in pursuit of 'the sexily philosophical things crawling through the moist, scratchy undergrowth of rock and roll'.

Paul Morley wrote for the NME from 1977 to 1983 when it was at its most successful and notorious. He wrote for the first few issues of The Face and was a regular contributor to Blitz. He formed ZTT and was instrumental behind the success of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. He also formed The Art of Noise. He has written for many publications. He was one of the first presenters of The Late Show. He now writes for Arena and Esquire and contributes to numerous TV and radio programmes, including the successful Top Ten series on Channel 4. His last book, Nothing, was published to great acclaim by Faber in 2000

'An exhilarating history of pop - a brilliant and joyous book' Guardian 'From Cage's 4'33' of silence to total noise, and everything in between - a passionate, irresistible encouragement to listen more, and to listen better' Sunday Times 'At his best he's the Brian Eno of the sentence, setting the whole page buzzing with oblique strategies: the missing link, maybe, between Kenneth Tynan and John Lydon' Time Out 'Briliant ... thought-provoking and intriguing ... anyone with even a pssing interest in perhaps the greatest modern art form should take a dip into these compulsive literary waters' Glasgow Herald