Mark Ellen

I now know why I was never moved to be a music journalist, despite being able to write a bit (at least when I was younger) and loving music. You can't just love music - you have to be obsessed with it. Mark Ellen is a writer I remember from Smash Hits in the early 1980s first of all - he turned that into an amusing read and as I grew older I moved on to Q, which he had also moved on to. I've always enjoyed his style of writing, although as I fell out of love with music in the 90s (few bands show more I was interested in), so I lost touch with what he went on to do: Select and Mojo (which I bought the odd issue of), and then Word (which totally passed me by, to my now regret!).

Ellen takes us through his music obsession and how it impacted on his life - from his early innocent visiting of festivals to Uni, to squats and getting a freelance writing gig with NME. Along the way we meet some of the people he worked with and some of the musicians he encountered. Its not a book stuffed with "then I met...and they were AWFUL" stories but there are a few. The story of meeting an early musical obsession Roy Harper, with Jimmy Page in the Lake District for Whistle Test had me in stitches and had me reaching for youtube to find the final edited clip they rescued from the experience (its up there too). Similarly his final encounter in the book, a week spent on a jet with Rihanna is an eye opener and he uses it to show how things have changed in the music business over his time linked with it.

Very enjoyable book - Ellen's writing style is engaging, witty and very entertaining. Perhaps the only fault I can find is the encounters were so entertainingly told, I would gladly have taken a few more in there. show less

Warm and amusing book.

A must read for anybody who grew-up in the 70's, loving rock music and the Whistle Test.