Magazine

Overview

A detailed and contextual look at the postpunk music and arts scene in Manchester in the late 1970s, this biography explores the movement through one of its most riveting contributors—Magazine, the band fronted by ex-Buzzcock's member Howard Devoto. Featuring interviews and photographs that provide factual information about Magazine’s members, lyrics, artwork, and chronology, the guide also examines both their influences and imitators and discusses the band's impact on such artists as Franz Ferdinand, Morrissey, Radiohead, and U2. With unrivaled access, this is a unique look into the prevailing climate of the decentralization of the music industry, the growth of independent labels, and the DIY attitude born from a previous era.

Reviews

"Chase has a done a fine job here in not only securing interviews with the members, but also in setting out their story in a clear and concise manner." — The Crack Magazine

"I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the minutiae of perhaps the only band to mix big funky baselines with navel-gazing misery and get away with it." —theartsdesk

"There were few more respected groups than Magazine . . . provocative image-mongering, a sophisticated sense of what the future might look like, a thrilling metallic power . . . formidable. After songs like these, there really wasn't anything left to prove." —The Guardian

"Howard Devoto . . . the man who introduced a new literacy not just into punk but into rock as a whole. Remarkable lyrics, traditional, but poisonous to the usual pop-line clichés." —Paul Morley, NME.com

"Magazine's influence is all over today's music." —Paul Draper, musican, Mansun

"Refreshingly unfussy for music writing, and [the author] wisely steps back to allow those who were there to tell their own stories." —Daniel Gray, The Skinny

Author Biography

Helen Chase is a teacher, a music writer, and the author of Franz: An A–Z of Franz Ferdinand.