MELODY MAKER: SEVEN YEARS IN THE SEVENTIES
Just Backdated – Melody Maker: Seven Years in the Seventies is a memoir by Chris Charlesworth who, between 1970 and 1976, was a staff writer and editor for Melody Maker, the UK’s best-selling music weekly in an era when rock stars fell over themselves to appear in its pages. Initially the paper’s News Editor, Chris was for four years MM’s US Editor, based in New York, a unique position in music journalism, and in that time regularly rubbed shoulders with rock’s most iconic heroes.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Elton John and dozens more found themselves face to face with Chris. He went on tour in America with The Who, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and many others. He was at 27 concerts by the original Who, often backstage or onstage. Somewhere above Colorado he took the controls of Led Zeppelin’s private plane. He saw an unknown Elton John at a disastrous festival in 1970 and predicated he would become a star. He ambushed Pink Floyd in Glasgow and chased Bob Dylan in New England. He watched Bruce Springsteen in Norfolk, Virginia, and acclaimed his flair 18 months before Born To Run was released. He was the first music writer to write about the nascent CBGBs scene in New York, introducing MM readers to Debbie Harry long before she became a household name. He identified Slade as future stars a year before they had their first hit single. His only regret was never seeing Elvis.
Just Backdated – Melody Maker: Seven Years in the Seventies tells all these stories and many more. If you ever wanted to know what it was really like working full-time for a big selling music paper, the topsy-turvy lifestyle that went with it, and – yes – a dollop of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, this is the book for you.
