David Hepworth Books

Characterized by its humor and vibrant storytelling, this collection features a series of engaging short stories that are both fast-paced and rich in detail. Each tale offers a unique glimpse into various situations, blending wit with relatable themes, making for an entertaining and enjoyable read. The narrative style captures the essence of life’s quirks, ensuring readers are both amused and captivated throughout.

The perfect gift for any music lover . . . 'Hepworth has more insider knowledge and knows more rock anecdotes than any man alive' The Herald 'Unmissable for music enthusiasts' Woman & Home The Rock and Roll A Level is here to rescue the pop quiz from the grip of bores who know the chart position of everything and the value of nothing. It's for the people who like pop music because it tells them so much about real life, the people who learned about America from the songs of Chuck Berry, about Europe from the albums of David Bowie and about all manner of things from the songs of Steely Dan. It's the first quiz book where the answers are as interesting as the questions. It's the first quiz book where general knowledge matters as much as an adolescence spent reading the NME or Smash Hits. It's a proper education.

With a foreword by Paul McCartney'It's semi-devotional -- a really special place' Florence Welch'There are certain things that are mythical. Abbey Road is mythical' Nile RodgersMany people will recognise the famous zebra crossing. Some visitors may have graffitied their name on its hallowed outer walls. Others might even have managed to penetrate the iron gates. But what draws in these thousands of fans here, year after year? What is it that really happens behind the doors of the most celebrated recording studio in the world?It may have begun life as an affluent suburban house, but it soon became a creative hub renowned around the world as a place where great music, ground-breaking sounds and unforgettable tunes were forged - nothing less than a witness to, and a key participant in, the history of popular music itself.What has been going on there for over ninety years has called for skills that are musical, creative, technical, mechanical, interpersonal, logistical, managerial, chemical and, romantics might be tempted add, close to magic.This is for the people who believe in the magic.

With a foreword by Paul McCartney'It's semi-devotional -- a really special place' Florence Welch'There are certain things that are mythical. Abbey Road is mythical' Nile RodgersMany people will recognise the famous zebra crossing. Some visitors may have graffitied their name on its hallowed outer walls. Others might even have managed to penetrate the iron gates. But what draws in these thousands of fans here, year after year? What is it that really happens behind the doors of the most celebrated recording studio in the world?It may have begun life as an affluent suburban house, but it soon became a creative hub renowned around the world as a place where great music, ground-breaking sounds and unforgettable tunes were forged - nothing less than a witness to, and a key participant in, the history of popular music itself.What has been going on there for over ninety years has called for skills that are musical, creative, technical, mechanical, interpersonal, logistical, managerial, chemical and, romantics might be tempted add, close to magic.This is for the people who believe in the magic.

The era of the LP began in 1967, with 'Sgt Pepper'; The Beatles didn't just collect together a bunch of songs, they Made An Album. Henceforth, everybody else wanted to Make An Album.The end came only fifteen years later, coinciding with the release of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. By then the Walkman had taken music out of the home and into the streets and the record business had begun trying to reverse-engineer the creative process in order to make big money. Nobody would play music or listen to it in quite the same way ever again. It was a short but transformative time. Musicians became 'artists' and we, the people, patrons of the arts. The LP itself had been a mark of sophistication, a measure of wealth, an instrument of education, a poster saying things you dare not say yourself, a means of attracting the opposite sex, and, for many, the single most desirable object in their lives. This is the story of that time; it takes us from recording studios where musicians were doing things that had never been done before to the sparsely furnished apartments where their efforts would be received like visitations from a higher power. This is the story of how LPs saved our lives.

'Hepworth's ability to mock subjects he has a clear affection for and cast well-worn anecdotes in a fresh light makes his history of rock'n'roll's special relationship a zippy delight' The Times The Beatles landing in New York in February 1964 was the opening shot in a cultural revolution nobody predicted. Suddenly the youth of the richest, most powerful nation on earth was trying to emulate the music, manners and the modes of a rainy island that had recently fallen on hard times. The resulting fusion of American can-do and British fuck-you didn't just lead to rock and roll's most resonant music. It ushered in a golden era when a generation of kids born in ration card Britain, who had grown up with their nose pressed against the window of America's plenty, were invited to wallow in their big neighbour's largesse. It deals with a time when everything that was being done - from the Beatles playing Shea Stadium to the Rolling Stones at Altamont, from the Who performing their rock opera at the Metropolitan Opera House to David Bowie touching down in the USA for the first time with a couple of gowns in his luggage - was being done for the very first time. Rock and roll would never be quite so exciting again.

As heard on BBC 6 Music with Shaun Keveny, BBC Radio 5 Live and Talk Radio with Eamonn HolmesThe age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations.What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of…

The Sixties ended a year late - on New Year's Eve 1970, when Paul McCartney initiated proceedings to wind up The Beatles. Music would never be the same again. The next day would see the dawning of a new era. 1971 saw the release of more monumental albums than any year before or since and the establishment of a pantheon of stars to dominate the next forty years - Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Rod Stewart, the solo Beatles and more. January that year fired the gun on an unrepeatable surge of creativity, technological innovation, blissful ignorance, naked ambition and outrageous good fortune. By December rock had exploded into the mainstream. How did it happen? This book tells you how.

The perfect Christmas gift for any music lover . . . 'Hepworth has more insider knowledge and knows more rock anecdotes than any man alive' The Herald 'Unmissable for music enthusiasts' Woman & Home The Rock and Roll A Level is here to rescue the pop quiz from the grip of bores who know the chart position of everything and the value of nothing. It's for the people who like pop music because it tells them so much about real life, the people who learned about America from the songs of Chuck Berry, about Europe from the albums of David Bowie and about all manner of things from the songs of Steely Dan. It's the first quiz book where the answers are as interesting as the questions. It's the first quiz book where general knowledge matters as much as an adolescence spent reading the NME or Smash Hits. It's a proper education.