Don't Stop the Music

A Year of Pop History, One Day at a Time

Justin Lewis

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Hardback

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English

ELLIOT & CLARK PUBLISHING
29 November 2023

Music; Rock & Pop music; Gift books

JANUARY 1 1958 Johnny Cash plays the first of many concerts at San Quentin State Prison, California. It had become traditional for the prison to stage a New Year’s Day musician’s union extravaganza for the 4,000 inmates, and it just so happened that Cash was touring the west coast of the US when he and his band were asked at short notice to appear on a bill also featuring dancers and a 17-piece jazz ensemble. He accepted, although his bass guitarist Marshall Grant is forbidden from bringing in a toy pistol (a standard prop in their stage act).

In the captive audience is 20-year-old Merle Haggard, serving a 15-year sentence for petty crimes. ‘He had the right attitude,’ Haggard later recalled. ‘He chewed gum, looked arrogant and flipped the bird to the guards.’

With entries for every day of the year, ranging from mini-essays to pithy and engaging sentences, Don’t Stop the Music is a novel musical companion – a way of charting your year through the notable and trivial events in the lives and careers of pop stars and recording artists.

Whether it be the day your favourite album was released; the time your least favourite rocker went to see your favourite disco diva in concert; when that K-Pop star released their first single; or Serge Gainsbourg last outraged a TV audience, there are surprising or informative events from the history of popular music for every single day of the year. And Justin Lewis can put them all at your fingertips.

By: Justin Lewis
Imprint: ELLIOT & CLARK PUBLISHING
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Not for Online
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781783967162
ISBN 10: 1783967161
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 29 November 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Justin Lewis has an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music and a deep understanding of what makes it such a passion for so many people, as well as a lively and sharp sense for what can sometimes make it eccentric and absurd. He has been an editor, writer and contributor to various print and online music publications for more than 30 years, including the Guinness Book of Hit Singles and The Rough Guide to Rock. He lives in Swansea, in Wales.

Reviews for Don't Stop the Music: A Year of Pop History, One Day at a Time

‘A brilliant musical almanac, compiled by an engaging writer whose musical knowledge is not just detailed but wide-ranging and generous.’ Jonathan Coe ‘A wonderful ride through our pop universe amongst thousands of bright stars, gnarled debris and twinkling nuggets of music and events made distant over time. Lewis has made all of it up-close and vivid through this indispensable companion for anyone who loves music and popular culture. Whatever the age of the reader, it’s brimming with new discoveries and triggering classics: memories and signposts make this an intoxicating music journey!’ Peter Curran ‘This is an astonishing book, a calendar of pop, an almanac of songs, a day by day in the life of music. A book of events that’s an event in itself.’ David Quantick