What do you think?
Rate this book
Connection is a Song: Coming Up and Coming Out Through the Music of the '90s
Longlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize
'Unique, dreamlike and poetic. I loved it.' DEBSEY WYKES, SAINT ETIENNE AND DOLLY MIXTURE
It is 1995. In a loft bedroom in North Yorkshire, sixteen-year-old Anna sits on the carpet immersed in the pages of the NME, listening to cassette tapes that she keeps in a shoebox. She is dreaming of living inside the songs. The very same year, British music is about to be transformed and will leap from pop to rave to Britpop. This new universe will change Anna's life.
Connection is a Song is a journey through the sounds of the 1990s; the story of a life-defining love of music and the tracks that shaped this girl's journey through the decade. It travels from the impossibly mournful 'Nothing Compares 2 U' by Sinead O'Connor to the delirium of the KLF's '3 a.m. Eternal' via the cartoon swagger of EMF's 'Unbelievable', Madonna's terrifyingly sexy 'Vogue' and the guitar indie heart of the '90s where Elastica's 'Connection' beats Blur and Oasis in Anna's own Battle of Britpop.
This is a powerful, universal coming of age story - and also a coming out story - about growing up in an English provincial town, with its suspiciously sticky nightclub floors, the lingering smell of Impulse deodorant, kisses that taste of cider and songs that give Anna feelings that she has never felt before. It is the tale of an outsider who, through connections made at gigs, mysterious black feathers and conversations in smoke-filled cars, finds the people and the places that will take her to her life.
'Unique, dreamlike and poetic. I loved it.' DEBSEY WYKES, SAINT ETIENNE AND DOLLY MIXTURE
It is 1995. In a loft bedroom in North Yorkshire, sixteen-year-old Anna sits on the carpet immersed in the pages of the NME, listening to cassette tapes that she keeps in a shoebox. She is dreaming of living inside the songs. The very same year, British music is about to be transformed and will leap from pop to rave to Britpop. This new universe will change Anna's life.
Connection is a Song is a journey through the sounds of the 1990s; the story of a life-defining love of music and the tracks that shaped this girl's journey through the decade. It travels from the impossibly mournful 'Nothing Compares 2 U' by Sinead O'Connor to the delirium of the KLF's '3 a.m. Eternal' via the cartoon swagger of EMF's 'Unbelievable', Madonna's terrifyingly sexy 'Vogue' and the guitar indie heart of the '90s where Elastica's 'Connection' beats Blur and Oasis in Anna's own Battle of Britpop.
This is a powerful, universal coming of age story - and also a coming out story - about growing up in an English provincial town, with its suspiciously sticky nightclub floors, the lingering smell of Impulse deodorant, kisses that taste of cider and songs that give Anna feelings that she has never felt before. It is the tale of an outsider who, through connections made at gigs, mysterious black feathers and conversations in smoke-filled cars, finds the people and the places that will take her to her life.
320 pages, Paperback
Published May 8, 2025
4 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 26, 2025
Usually my non-fiction is pretty dry, yet I still love every single bit of it. This book though is different! It felt like I was reading (or in my case listening to) someone’s diary, as she is going through her self discovery through music. It felt very intimate, very personal and as a fellow (gay) music enthusiast I can highly recommend this book!
August 13, 2024
I enjoyed the musical journey back to my daughters’ teenage musical awakening. There was some excellent music in the 90’s.
June 12, 2024
this was lovely. loved the use of present tense, felt properly part of it all (which is what you want from music after all). girls at gigs/discovering music and discovering themselves as a result is very much on my vibe
December 14, 2024
Anna shares her very personal journey of growing up in the 90's in a small North Yorkshire town within a close knit family who regularly discuss politics.
Mournful ballads, 80s pop, indie, delirium, rave & hip hop are all peppering the musical scene and her two sisters are swaying her tastes. In her loft bedroom teenage Anna listens to her cassette's, the words reflect her feelings, the music videos she see's confuses her sexuality and she's still trying to decide if she stop playing football?.
This is a warm nostalgic evocative tale of youth, friendships, music, sexuality and connection.
Of coming up and coming out and how the power of music rewired this author and gave her a voice, identity and career.
I picked this book up and could not put it down. I was sat outside on a summers evening and it made me read far too late in the night and consume too much red wine by the fire pit as I savoured every word! ha!.
Thank you Anna for sharing your journey.
Mournful ballads, 80s pop, indie, delirium, rave & hip hop are all peppering the musical scene and her two sisters are swaying her tastes. In her loft bedroom teenage Anna listens to her cassette's, the words reflect her feelings, the music videos she see's confuses her sexuality and she's still trying to decide if she stop playing football?.
This is a warm nostalgic evocative tale of youth, friendships, music, sexuality and connection.
Of coming up and coming out and how the power of music rewired this author and gave her a voice, identity and career.
I picked this book up and could not put it down. I was sat outside on a summers evening and it made me read far too late in the night and consume too much red wine by the fire pit as I savoured every word! ha!.
Thank you Anna for sharing your journey.
July 27, 2024
le tigre mentioned!!! so true
this had every thing i loved in a book. music, 90s, coming of age, gay. wish the author went into more detail about the gay but it is a book about music so that is understandable. so glad she made a playlist with all the songs she talked about on spotify
this had every thing i loved in a book. music, 90s, coming of age, gay. wish the author went into more detail about the gay but it is a book about music so that is understandable. so glad she made a playlist with all the songs she talked about on spotify
August 1, 2024
I enjoyed this 90s memoir, like My So-Called Life but in a book and in Yorkshire.
Italia 90, Chesney Hawkes, Saint Etienne, Tony Blair, Princess Diana, the sixth-form common room... takes you right back.
The spotify playlist is a nice idea too.
Italia 90, Chesney Hawkes, Saint Etienne, Tony Blair, Princess Diana, the sixth-form common room... takes you right back.
The spotify playlist is a nice idea too.
September 4, 2025
Anna’s descriptions of the 90s and music and how they made her feel is beautiful and wonderful to read.
November 4, 2025
This wonderful book was at times a bit like reading a more eloquently expressed gender swapped/sexuality flipped version of my own early life, in the best possible way. Really loved it. I admire how Anna managed to look back without being overly nostalgic or sentimental. It felt really genuine and sincere, and her passion for the music was a joy to read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews