Sounds of Glory: The Punk and Ska Years

This book chronicles the most exciting generation of British music the world has ever seen. After 1976, the subversive firestorm of punk rock kicked open the door for hosts of other scenes. In rapid succession came Ska, New Mod, New Wave, anarcho-punk and Oi/street-punk. It was an explosion of madcap musical energy as incendiary as it was inspirational, created and performed by both geniuses and madmen. At the heart of this rock 'n' roll tsunami was SOUNDS magazine. And at the heart of SOUNDS was your narrator, Garry Bushell.

Like his idols, Garry lived every day as if it was his last. Which it nearly was. Going to prison with the Angelic Upstarts, tripping into paranoid West Berlin with the Exploited before The Wall came down, fighting a world champion boxer...all in a day's work for our Garry. These were truly days of glory. Bushell joined The Specials and The Selecter as they toured the US for the first time. He hung out with Debbie Harry, feuded with Crass, skanked away with Madness, championed Secret Affair and managed the Cockney Rejects. From John Cooper Clarke to Right to Work marches, from Squeeze in South London to seedy German brothels, this volume is a unique record of raw and exciting bands, giant characters and radical ideas - all told with a twinkle in the eyes and a smile on the lip.

Sounds Of Glory is a brilliant new memoir from one of Britain's most daring and controversial rock journalists. It's a must-read for anyone who loved Sounds and lived through the golden years of British rock and pop.

About the Author
Bushell, Garry: - "GARRY Bushell is best known for his hard-hitting, award-winning newspaper columns which have been published in the national press for 29 years. But before that he wrote for rock weekly Sounds where he covered and discovered hundreds of bands. A fireman's son from Woolwich, south east London, Garry did his journalist training under Paul Foot on the Socialist Worker before joining the rock press in 1978. He was the first to write about such legendary bands as the Specials, U2, Bad Manners, Secret Affair and Twisted Sister. He wrote Iron Maiden's authorised biography Running Free and co-wrote Ozzy Osbourne's first authorised biography, Diary Of A Madman. He managed the Cockney Rejects and The Blood. He fronted (and still fronts) his own band, and notched up a Number One single with the all-star charity record Let It Be - a project he conceived and organised. Garry's Bushell On The Box TV column has appeared in The Sun, The Daily Star and The People. His own TV show of the same name Box ran for two series on ITV, attracting more than one million viewers at midnight and attaining an audience share high of 68per cent. He has appeared on more than 2,000 other TV shows, including some of television's biggest prime time hits; and many radio shows. Garry is an outspoken broadcaster who has written novels, appeared in gangster movies and featured prominently in the acclaimed documentary films East End Babylon, Casuals and Rough Cut & Ready Dubbed. He has worked with and befriended legends of British comedy, including Benny Hill, Bob Monkhouse, Bradley Walsh, Joe Pasquale, Bobby Davro and Jim Davidson. Harry Hill has said his TV Burp was inspired by Garry's column; guests on his TV series included Lilly Savage, Vic & Bob, Craig Charles and Penn & Teller. He has campaigned consistently for TV talent shows (when executives insisted the format was dead) and for variety shows. Garry's column is currently published weekly in the Daily Star Sunday."