I Swear I Was There Sex Pistols Manchester And The Gig That Changed The World

'A f**king great book' PETER HOOK, JOY DIVISION 'A fascinating insight into a gig that really did change the world' ROCKSOUND On 4 June 1976, four young men took to the tiny stage of the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. The noise they made changed everything... The NME named it as the most important gig of all time. When the Sex Pistols played Manchester in '76 they set off a series of musical detonations that are still being felt today. Despite thousands claiming they were in attendance, only a handful of people were actually there – but those that were went on to form bands including The Smiths, Buzzcocks, Joy Division, New Order and The Fall. They kick-started the Manchester music scene, created Factory Records and laid the foundations for the world-famous Haçienda nightclub. Forty years on, music journalist David Nolan tells the true story of that legendary gig, plus the Pistols' follow up performance and the band's first ever TV appearance at Manchester's Granada TV a few weeks later. The question has truly become one of rock 'n' roll's greatest mysteries: Who really saw the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976? So how does David Nolan finally solve it? By trying to track down the whole audience! In an updated edition comprised of scores of exclusive, extensive interviews with key players and audience members, and featuring previously unpublished photos, I Swear I Was There is the true story of the electrifying gig that changed the music scene forever. 'The gig that truly heralded the punk revolution. Who was there? David Nolan should know, he wrote a bloody book about it! Here he separates fact from fiction' NME 'Excellent, in-depth study...Hilarious eyewitness testimonies' UNCUT 'One of the greatest rock stories ever told' GQ

On June 4, 1976, four young men took the stage of the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester and, in front of a handful of people, played one of the most important live sets of all time. Alongside Woodstock and Live Aid, the Sex Pistols' performance has been named by critics as one of the most pivotal performances in music history...not necessarily because of the quality of the music - but because of the effect the music had on the audience. The crowd were mesmerized by the power and possibilities of punk - and it inspired them to create their own music that would shape the sound of rock music for decades to come. Members of Joy Division and New Order, the Smiths, the Fall and Buzzcocks were there that night as well as Tony Wilson, a key player in the story of Factory records, the Hacienda, Madchester and beyond. This was truly a gig that changed the world. The truth behind that gig - plus the Pistols' repeat performance six weeks later and their first ever TV appearance - has been shrouded in mystery for thirty years. Until now, everyone's been happy to print the legend. For the first time, here's the truth. Featuring previously unpublished photos, interviews with key players and audience members, "I Swear I Was There" brings pop culture to life thirty years after the Summer of Punk.

Tony Wilson was the co-founder of Factory Records and The Hacienda, he kick-started the careers of Joy Division, Happy Mondays, and New Order, he put the Sex Pistols on television for the first time and was the inspiration behind the film 24 Hour Party People. From his unique childhood growing up with a gay father and a domineering mother to his tragically early death in 2007 after battling the NHS for a drug that could prolong his life, David Nolan investigates the lives and times of the man they called "Mr. Manchester." Drawing on nearly 50 interviews with musicians, DJs, writers, actors, family, and friends--including Wilson's partner of 17 years Yvette Livesey, You're Entitled To An Opinion . . . paints a picture of a unique, driven, and chaotic man whose inspiration and influence is still being felt today across the worlds of music and television.

Here is the story of how the Sex Pistols shocked and shamed EMI--the UK's most revered and profitable record company--and ended up £40,000 the richer thanks to manager Malcolm McLaren's cunning business strategy. A must read for any punk or Sex Pistols music fan, written by a true insider, Brian Southall, the former EMI PR executive who was there during the whole affair.

*** 'Lots of great stories... A fascinating insight.' -JOHN MAHER, Buzzcocks 'Perfectly executed, highly detailed, incredibly interesting.' -HENRY ROLLINS, Black Flag 'Pete and Buzzcocks were there right from the beginning.' -BERNARD SUMNER, Joy Division, New Order When Pete Shelley, lead singer of legendary punk band Buzzcocks, passed away in 2018 we lost the chance to hear one of music's brightest stars tell his story. Or so it seemed. Now, recordings have surfaced of a series of remarkable interviews in which Pete tells the story of his life, his band and his place at the beating heart of the punk explosion in fascinating detail. Recorded over a series of late-night calls with a close friend, the tapes hear Pete talk song-by-song through Buzzcocks releases to reveal the personal memories behind the music and the inspiration for masterpieces such as 'Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)' and 'What Do I Get?'. Published for the first time and with the blessing of Pete's estate, Ever Fallen In Love: The Lost Buzzcocks Tapes is a tribute to a founding member of punk and a chance to hear one of music's true visionaries tell his own story at last. 'A true gentleman and a great artist and songwriter.' -PETER HOOK, Joy Division, New Order 'Shot through with self-doubt and mild regret, Pete Shelley's lovesick pop classics have a bittersweet charm that will forever speak to the young romantic' -JOHN COOPER CLARKE 'Buzzcocks were the blue touchpaper for my love of music. Pure pop met punk and the result was perfection.' -TIM BURGESS, The Charlatans

Imagine you've made it. You and your friends have hit the big time in music and you're going to be a star. But then, quite suddenly, it's over. Your best friends don't want you anymore, and you're on the outside. Perhaps they're tired of your bad habits, they think you're not good enough, or they sense you just don't want it as much as they do. Whatever the cause, you're a reject. So, what do you do next? Featuring a player rejected by both Nirvana and Soundgarden who became a decorated special forces soldier, Britpoppers who spiralled into addiction before becoming novelists and missionaries, the terrifying story of Guns N' Roses' first drummer, super-rejecting band leaders, self-destroying rappers, troubled hard rock bassists and girl-band burnouts, The Rejects takes an intimate, thoughtful look at people who've been kicked out of bands, what they experienced and what came afterwards. Coming from a writer with twenty years' music industry experience, The Rejects is a sympathetic study of some of music's most fascinating characters, and what happens when the dream comes crashing to an end. The result is a compelling alternative history of popular music.

The story of the birth of Punk, with a capital P, in the only country where it was a mainstream movement: the UK, told entirely by eye-witnesses whose words, then and now, have been held up to the light of hindsight.

The song remains the most basic unit of modern pop music. Shaped into being by historical forces—cultural, aesthetic, and technical—the song provides both performer and audience with a world marked off by a short, discrete, and temporally demarcated experience. One-Track Mind: Capitalism, Technology, and the Art of the Pop Song brings together 16 writers to weigh in on 16 iconic tracks from the history of modern popular music. Arranged chronologically in order of release of the tracks, and spanning nearly five decades, these essays zigzag across the cultural landscape to present one possible history of pop music. There are detours through psychedelic rock, Afro-pop, Latin pop, glam rock, heavy metal, punk, postpunk, adult contemporary rock, techno, hip-hop, and electro-pop here. More than just deep histories of individual songs, these essays all expand far beyond the track itself to offer exciting and often counterintuitive histories of transformative moments in popular culture. Collectively, they show the undiminished power of the individual pop song, both as distillations of important flashpoints and, in their afterlives, as ghostly echoes that persist undiminished but transform for succeeding generations. Capitalism and its principal good, capital, help us frame these stories, a fact that should surprise no one given the inextricable relationship between art and capitalism established in the twentieth century. At the root, readers will find here a history of pop with unexpected plot twists, colorful protagonists, and fitting denouements.