Sean Egan

In the press Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine and John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood have all regularly been astoundingly candid. This collection of interviews across the entirety of Fleetwood Mac's career features previously published articles, as well as interviews that have never previously appeared in print.

interviews and encounters

Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac

interviews and encounters with David Bowie

Bowie on Bowie

The mammoth book of Bob Dylan

The Clash thought they could change the world. They never did, but they created some of the greatest rock music of all time in the attempt. Clash interviews were mesmerizing. Infused with the messianic punk spirit, the Clash engaged with the press like no rock group before or since, treating interviews almost as addresses to the nation. Their pronouncements were welcomed but were hardly uncritically reported. The Clash's back pages are voluminous, crackle with controversy, and constitute a snapshot of a uniquely thoughtful and fractious period in modern history. Included in this compendium are the Clash's encounters with the most brilliant rock writers of their time, including Lester Bangs, Nick Kent, Mikal Gilmore, Chris Salewicz, Charles Shaar Murray, Mick Farren, and Lenny Kaye. Whether interviewed by punk fanzines like Sniffin' Glue and 48 Thrills, pious UK weeklies like New Musical Express, Melody Maker, Sounds, and Record Mirror, or US periodicals like Creem, Trouser Press, and Rolling Stone, the Clash consistently created copy that lived up to their sobriquet The Only Band That Matters.

Interviews and Encounters

The Clash on the Clash

Bob Dylan's impact on popular music has been incalculable. Having transformed staid folk music into a vehicle for coruscating social commentary, he then swept away the romantic platitudes of rock 'n' roll with his searing intellect. From the zeitgeist-encapsulating protest of 'Blowin' in the Wind' to the streetwise venom of 'Like a Rolling Stone', and from the stunning mid-sixties trilogy of albums - Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde - to Time Out of Mind, his stunning if world-weary comeback at the age of 56, Dylan's genius has endured, underpinned by the dazzling turn of phrase that has made him the pre-eminent poet of popular music. Because Dylan's achievements have no equal, his career is the most chronicled in rock history. Here, Sean Egan presents a selection of the best writing on Dylan, both praise and criticism. Interviews, essays, features and reviews from Dylan intimates and scholars such as John Bauldie, Michael Gray, Nat Hentoff and Jules Siegel are interspersed with new narrative and reviews of every single album to create a comprehensive picture of the artist whose chimes of freedom still resound.

The Mammoth Book of Bob Dylan

Songs, soul and confidence. The Verve were special from the start. A classic rock'n'roll tale of victory against all the odds.

Star Sail

The Verve

'The greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world!' This vainglorious introduction given to The Rolling Stones on stage by an excitable roadie was almost immediately accepted as a simple statement of fact. It was already evident that Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Co. were, as their first manager Andrew Loog Oldham had claimed, 'a way of life'. The Stones' defiance of convention made them the figureheads of a questioning new generation, and drove the Establishment to imprison them. This enduring rebel aura and the unmistakeable craft evident in classic records such as Satisfaction, Honky Tonk Women and Brown Sugar ensured subsequent generations of diehard fans, establishing the band as the biggest box office attraction the world has ever seen. The Mammoth Book of The Rolling Stones provides a comprehensive collection of reviews, analysis, interviews and exposés - both archive and contemporary, favourable and critical, concise and epic - of these extraordinary cultural icons as they pass the astonishing milestone of 50 years as rock's pre-eminent band.

An anthology of the best writing about the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world

The Mammoth Book of the Rolling Stones

Fleetwood Mac was a triumph from the beginning—their first album was the UK's bestselling album of 1968. After some low points—when founder Peter Green left, some fans felt that the band continuing was sacrilege—Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined, and the band's 1977 album Rumours became one of history's immortals, a true classic that remained in the charts for years and public affection forever. In the press, the ethereal Californian Stevie Nicks, the tormented rocker Lindsey Buckingham, the dignified English rose Christine McVie, the blunt-speaking John McVie, and the loquacious Mick Fleetwood have all regularly been astoundingly candid. This collection of interviews across the entirety of Fleetwood Mac's career features articles from such celebrated publications as Crawdaddy, New Musical Express, Circus, Creem, Mojo, Goldmine, Classic Rock, Blender, and Elle, as well as interviews that have never previously appeared in print. In it, readers will learn the Fleetwood Mac story from the band members' own mouths, and experience it contemporaneously rather than through hindsight.

For the Internet generation, a quick introduction to the great and inventive chameleon of rock, David Bowie. David Bowie needs no introduction. An immense star whose music and writing has transcended generations he remains one of the most articulate influencers of modern music. Over fifty years his singles and albums have slid up and down the bestseller charts, adapting to the changing times, exploring new musical themes, always pushing at boundaries in a desperate desire to seek out the new and the different. This fantastic new, unofficial biography covers his life, music, art and movies.

David Bowie

Planet of the Apes started life in 1963 as a quirky work by Pierre Boulle, the French literary novelist famous for The Bridge over the River Kwai. His concept of a world where humans are ruled over by apes proceeded to become one of the biggest multi-media sensations in history. The 1968 Charlton Heston motion-picture adaptation of Boulle's book was celebrated and successful but was just the beginning. By 1973, said picture had spawned four sequels. It then spun off a live-action TV series, which in turn spun off the animated TV show Return to the Planet of the Apes. With this, comic books, novelizations, and a tsunami of merchandising, the late '60s and first half of the '70s had a distinctly simian flavor. A new generation was introduced to the concept when, in 2001, Tim Burton's updating of the series appeared in cinemas. This itself was rebooted a decade later in the form of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and its two sequels. Yet despite all the fantasy (and money-chasing), the series has always been marked by thoughtfulness, exploring serious themes alien to most franchises. Planet of the Apes: The Complete History explores every aspect of this phenomenon—from books to films, comic books to television shows, and video games to merchandise—providing an overview that is truly definitive. With the help of new and exclusive interviews with Planet of the Apes producers, directors, writers, actors, and makeup artists, Sean Egan attempts to gain an understanding of how a media property changed the world.

The Complete History

Planet of the Apes

THE JAM WERE THE RUNTS WHO BECAME KINGS. Initially derided by New Wavers for being uncool suburbanites, Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler unexpectedly proceeded to fulfil every promise ever made by punk as they took social protest and cultural authenticity to the top of the charts. The three-piece from Woking, Surrey racked up 18 hits, among them the timeless likes of In the City, Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, Going Underground and Town Called Malice. Their classic albums included Setting Sons and Sound Affects. Yet their musical excellence was only the half of it: they prided themselves on remaining accessible to their fans, disdaining Americanisation and spurning commercial compromise. Although it was a blow to their army of followers, their split at the end of 1982 was hailed as the perfect illustration of their integrity: a bowing out at the top, regardless of financial temptation. Their story, though, was more complicated and sometimes less honourable than how it appeared from the outside, with the group's vaunted values contrasted by private recrimination and duplicity. Sean Egan has spoken to a raft of insiders to provide the definitive Jam biography. Via access to recording producers, music label staff and all three members of the Jam, he has uncovered the full truth about a remarkable band.

Love with a Passion Called Hate: The Inside Story of the Jam

CAN YOU DIG IT Walter Hill’s The Warriors was not just a motion picture—it was a social phenomenon on every level. The tale of a Coney Island street gang who, framed for murder, have to make the perilous journey back to home turf across the terrain of rival crews out for revenge, it caused a sensation when it hit the theaters in early 1979. Despite a low budget, an absence of marquee names, and minimal promotion, it proceeded to lead the box office, devoured by an urban youth that had never before been represented non-judgmentally on screen. Within weeks, though, the glory was tarnished when deaths at and around screenings created an unparalleled controversy about imitation of on-screen violence. The Warriors never recovered commercial momentum. However, it never lost its critical kudos, partly deriving from its plot’s unlikely origin—courtesy of the 1965 source novel by Sol Yurick—in Greek classic Anabasis. It now enjoys cult-classic status. “Can you dig it?”—the call to arms against the Man dramatically enunciated by rival gang leader Cyrus—is now one of cinema’s immortal catchphrases. Sean Egan has spoken in depth to the people who made The Warriors, including its director-screenwriter, producers, stunt coordinator, costume designer, soundtrack composer, and starring actors. He details how its shoot was engulfed in acrimony and strife, including a spiraling budget, the leading lady breaking her arm, and intimidation from loitering real-life gang members. Then there was the astonishing decision taken halfway through shooting to fire the leading man. He explains how the controversy surrounding the movie caused Paramount Pictures to take the devastating decision to pull it from theaters. He then explores the way public affection and critical goodwill ultimately saw The Warriors and its cast and crew rehabilitated and vindicated. Can You Dig It is the full story of the rollercoaster journey of a remarkable film.

Can You Dig It: The Phenomenon of The Warriors

The iconic life and career of the famed guitarist of the Rolling Stones is detailed in this compilation of interviews that spans the last 50 years. Featuring articles from GQ, Melody Maker, and Rolling Stone, as well as interviews that have never previously appeared in print, it charts Keith Richards’s journey from gauche, young pretender and swaggering epitome of the zeitgeist to beloved elder statesman of rock. Initially overshadowed by band mates Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, Richards gained popularity as half of the second-most important songwriting team of the 1960s, and in 1967 the drug bust at his house and his subsequent trial and imprisonment made him a household name. His interviews match his outlaw image: free of banality and euphemism, they revel in frank stories of drugs and debauchery. Yet they also reveal an unexpectedly warm, unpretentious, articulate, and honest man. This collection amply illustrates the magic and charm of Keith Richards.

Keith Richards on Keith Richards

This brilliant debut novel by respected music journalist Egan is the alternately exhilarating and harrowing story of guitarist Paul Hazelwood, from his childhood on a London estate where he nurtures his dreams of stardom to his agonizing realization that talent doesn't necessarily bring success.

Sick of Being Me

Queen was a band like no other, spanning the spectrum of musical styles and conquered them all. From the stadium anthem “We Will Rock You” to the Fifties retro of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and the slick synth-pop of “I Want to Break Free” to the unlikeliest chart topper ever, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, this collection brings together the best writing on the champions of rock.

The Mammoth Book of Freddie Mercury and Queen

There has never been a band quite like Queen, and it's hard to imagine that there will be again. While a number of groups may have had a go at rock, prog rock, opera, funk, pop, and twenties pastiche, few, if any, have done so on a single album. Unusually, not just one or two, but every member of the band was a great songwriter. And while bands like ELO may have made similar use of layered harmonies, Queen were emphatically the pioneers of this vocal style. From the stadium anthem 'We Will Rock You' to the Fifties retro of 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' and the slick synth-pop of 'I Want to Break Free' to the unlikeliest Number One ever, the category-defying 'Bohemian Rhapsody', with its unlikely blend of strutting rock and operatic intrigue, Queen was truly a band like no other. Egan, as he has done so successfully in Mammoth Books on The Beatles, Bob Dylan and, most recently, The Rolling Stones presents a bumper selection of writing, both old and new on Mercury, bassist John Deacon, guitarist Brian May, and drummer Roger Taylor: features, interviews, reviews, and opinion pieces to created a rounded portrait of one of history's most remarkable groups.

Mammoth Book of Freddie Mercury and Queen

A bumper anthology of interviews, accounts and recollections of the Beatles.

The Mammoth Book of the Beatles

William Goldman is one of the world’s most popular storytellers. Amongst his more than two-dozen motion picture screenplays are such iconic works as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Stepford Wives, All the President’s Men and A Bridge Too Far. His acclaimed novels include The Temple of Gold, Boys and Girls Together, The Princess Bride and Marathon Man. His non-fiction embraces The Season and Adventures in the Screen Trade, considered the definitive studies on Broadway and Hollywood respectively. Yet despite his success, Goldman has always been a tormented man, unable to enjoy either his art or the respect it has garnered him. Convinced he is “in on a pass,” he has rarely written without a profound sense of self-doubt. In William Goldman: The Reluctant Storyteller, Sean Egan analyzes both Goldman’s life and output, a task in which he has been assisted by Goldman himself via a series of interviews. The result is an enthralling book that gets to the core of a man who is both supreme talent and perplexing enigma.

William Goldman: The Reluctant Storyteller

Over 30 landmark interviews, accounts, and memoirs of The Beatles and their entourage, recording how they inadvertently became counter-culture's figureheads and changed society.

The iconic life and career of the famed guitarist of the Rolling Stones is detailed in this compilation of interviews that spans the last 50 years. Featuring articles from GQ, Melody Maker, and Rolling Stone, as well as interviews that have never previously appeared in print, it charts Keith Richards' journey from gauche, young pretender and swaggering epitome of the zeitgeist to beloved elder statesman of rock. Initially overshadowed by band mates Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, Richards gained popularity as half of the second-most important songwriting team of the 1960s, and in 1967 the drug bust at his house and his subsequent trial and imprisonment made him a household name.His interviews match his outlaw image: free of banality and euphemism, they revel in frank stories of drugs and debauchery. Yet they also reveal an unexpectedly warm, unpretentious, articulate, and honest man. This collection amply illustrates the magic and charm of Keith Richards.

Sean Egan

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