What do you think?
Rate this book
Document and Eyewitness
The official story of 25 years of the legendary Rough Trade Records.
Rough Trade is practically a byword for the history of independent music over the last thirty years. DOCUMENT AND EYEWITNESS: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF ROUGH TRADE tells the story from the inside of a phenomenally influential record label, through the voices of Geoff Travis, Jarvis Cocker, Robert Wyatt, Green Gartside and many many more.
From the early records of Cabaret Voltaire, Kleenex and the Swell Maps, through to groundbreaking releases by The Fall, The Smiths and Scritti Pollitti, on through the collapse of the independent collective and the rebirth of Rough Trade at the turn of the century, this is the definitive, essential account for any serious music fan.
Rough Trade is practically a byword for the history of independent music over the last thirty years. DOCUMENT AND EYEWITNESS: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF ROUGH TRADE tells the story from the inside of a phenomenally influential record label, through the voices of Geoff Travis, Jarvis Cocker, Robert Wyatt, Green Gartside and many many more.
From the early records of Cabaret Voltaire, Kleenex and the Swell Maps, through to groundbreaking releases by The Fall, The Smiths and Scritti Pollitti, on through the collapse of the independent collective and the rebirth of Rough Trade at the turn of the century, this is the definitive, essential account for any serious music fan.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
300 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 30, 2010
9 people are currently reading
150 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 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 18, 2011
This is strictly for the hard-core music nerds! If you wanted an exhaustive oral history of the record shop and record label Rough Trade, Document and Eyewitness will make all your dreams come true. This book seems to have found virtually everyone who has worked for the shop/label in some capacity since it began in the 1970s. After reading this, I feel like I worked at Rough Trade. It's probably too exhaustive to be honest. I didn't care for all the talk about distribution and financials, but guess that had to be in here due to the issues they had and their connection to other labels. Rough Trade is indeed very important for the English music industry and I liked reading about the bands, labels associated with music from them.
I've been a music fanatic since a very early age and I have fond memories of shopping at Rough Trade record shop in 1988 when I lived in London. It was a magical place and I felt I belonged amongst the stacks of music. I just hung out there listening to music, looking at records and remembering I was indeed living in London! For me, a 19 year old kid who grew up in small town Oklahoma, this was about as opposite an experience as I could fathom. So, being a music nerd and having a small connection with this place [or, loving some of the Rough Trade bands--The Smiths are one of my all-time favorite bands], this was pretty much a must read and when I saw it on a recent visit to London, immediately bought it.
I dream that I could read a similar oral history on my personal favorite record label of all time: Mute. There's some Mute/Daniel Miller stuff in Document and Eyewitness, but not enough to satisfy me.
I've been a music fanatic since a very early age and I have fond memories of shopping at Rough Trade record shop in 1988 when I lived in London. It was a magical place and I felt I belonged amongst the stacks of music. I just hung out there listening to music, looking at records and remembering I was indeed living in London! For me, a 19 year old kid who grew up in small town Oklahoma, this was about as opposite an experience as I could fathom. So, being a music nerd and having a small connection with this place [or, loving some of the Rough Trade bands--The Smiths are one of my all-time favorite bands], this was pretty much a must read and when I saw it on a recent visit to London, immediately bought it.
I dream that I could read a similar oral history on my personal favorite record label of all time: Mute. There's some Mute/Daniel Miller stuff in Document and Eyewitness, but not enough to satisfy me.
September 2, 2013
Most of the books you'll find on the music shelf concern themselves, understandably perhaps, with product, rather than process - with the song, or the album, or the oeuvre, rather than the record label, or the distribution, or the sales. There's a reluctance to discuss the nuts and bolts which amounts almost to a distaste: in that earnest muso phrase, it's all about the music.
The funny thing is, the people who started Rough Trade would surely have agreed with this proposition. In DOCUMENT AND EYEWITNESS, the story of the company's progress, from its organic beginnings through its steroidal growth and messy collapse to its current hip renaissance, is told comprehensively, wryly and engagingly through the reminiscences of major and minor players alike. The product (if we can call it that) certainly isn't neglected: musicians such as Green Gartside, Robert Wyatt, Johnny Marr and Bernard Butler talk at length about their contributions to the Rough Trade canon. What's also interesting is to hear the side of things less often acknowledged: the backroom staff, the grafters and enablers, the people whose contribution to the scene wasn't to pick up a guitar but to start up a record stall down the market or a small label in their backroom.
Through it all a fascinating picture emerges of the extraordinary cultural ferment in which Rough Trade, the shop, the label and its artistes all flourished, over a time frame that stretched from the (notional) death of hippy to the (notional) acme of yuppie. It's also instructive, in these days of omnipresent mobiles and WiFi, to read New Hormones founder Richard Boon's comment that he couldn't have set up his label if he hadn't known a man with a telephone. Those who weren't around at the time may not appreciate that the people engaged in making the music that subsequently shook up the nation were often the same people who couldn't afford the GPO line rental.
The funny thing is, the people who started Rough Trade would surely have agreed with this proposition. In DOCUMENT AND EYEWITNESS, the story of the company's progress, from its organic beginnings through its steroidal growth and messy collapse to its current hip renaissance, is told comprehensively, wryly and engagingly through the reminiscences of major and minor players alike. The product (if we can call it that) certainly isn't neglected: musicians such as Green Gartside, Robert Wyatt, Johnny Marr and Bernard Butler talk at length about their contributions to the Rough Trade canon. What's also interesting is to hear the side of things less often acknowledged: the backroom staff, the grafters and enablers, the people whose contribution to the scene wasn't to pick up a guitar but to start up a record stall down the market or a small label in their backroom.
Through it all a fascinating picture emerges of the extraordinary cultural ferment in which Rough Trade, the shop, the label and its artistes all flourished, over a time frame that stretched from the (notional) death of hippy to the (notional) acme of yuppie. It's also instructive, in these days of omnipresent mobiles and WiFi, to read New Hormones founder Richard Boon's comment that he couldn't have set up his label if he hadn't known a man with a telephone. Those who weren't around at the time may not appreciate that the people engaged in making the music that subsequently shook up the nation were often the same people who couldn't afford the GPO line rental.
May 3, 2013
As someone who is a major music nerd (and obsessed with the history of British indie music), this was an incredible look inside one of the most influential record labels of the 1980s. And it thankfully doesn't devote most of its space to the Smiths! (Love the Smiths, but I don't need to read another book about them, y'know.)
April 10, 2020
4.5 stars. A rich oral history of the UK indie record store/label/distribution company, home early on to Stiff Little Fingers, Scritti Politti, The Fall, Swell Maps, and The Smiths, and then later The Strokes and Arcade Fire, among many others.
Like the best oral histories, the book preserves the grain of individual voices and has space for conflicting perspectives. The RT story sums up of lot of the strengths and contradictions of post-punk: the independent aesthetics, the ideological ferment, and how DIY can potentially scale up to "indie monopoly". There's an interesting sense, too, that in RT's case, the company personnel were selected by founder Geoff Travis in a process similar to the way bands were signed. He "curated" the workforce. The book also illuminates the more general role of record labels as mediators in the music industry and gives a taste of the mysteries of A&R work.
The book concentrates quite heavily on RT's internal business dynamics. Where the book slightly falls back, in my opinion, is not really quite getting to the facts of what caused the 1991 collapse. There's a few important players who weren't interviewed, namely Will Keen and Richard Powell, who could probably have spilled the beans on the financial side. There's also some hints at a bigger and more complex picture that never quite comes into focus - for instance, Patsy Winkelman's comment that "In the 1980s, Rough Trade had to battle against... some very real attempts on the part of the majors to destroy it". Definitely more history to be written here.
Plus, such a detailed chronicle surely deserves an index.
Like the best oral histories, the book preserves the grain of individual voices and has space for conflicting perspectives. The RT story sums up of lot of the strengths and contradictions of post-punk: the independent aesthetics, the ideological ferment, and how DIY can potentially scale up to "indie monopoly". There's an interesting sense, too, that in RT's case, the company personnel were selected by founder Geoff Travis in a process similar to the way bands were signed. He "curated" the workforce. The book also illuminates the more general role of record labels as mediators in the music industry and gives a taste of the mysteries of A&R work.
The book concentrates quite heavily on RT's internal business dynamics. Where the book slightly falls back, in my opinion, is not really quite getting to the facts of what caused the 1991 collapse. There's a few important players who weren't interviewed, namely Will Keen and Richard Powell, who could probably have spilled the beans on the financial side. There's also some hints at a bigger and more complex picture that never quite comes into focus - for instance, Patsy Winkelman's comment that "In the 1980s, Rough Trade had to battle against... some very real attempts on the part of the majors to destroy it". Definitely more history to be written here.
Plus, such a detailed chronicle surely deserves an index.
July 2, 2023
a bit of a mixed bag here, I got this book after having it recommended, then didn't find it quite as interesting as I expected. A bit of a disappointment, being a history of Rough Trade, mainly the record company, from the mid 70s and the heady days of punk, to the 2010s and, after a rocky few years, a revitalised Rough Trade finding itself back in with a string of successful artists (but not really much since then...). There are some nuggets, the Smiths not being very nice (with Johnny Marr, in a more recent interview, conceding that they probably weren't, however Morrissey is nowhere to be seen...), but a lot of it is different Rough Trade personnel from the past running each other down (although Geoff Travis appears to be universally loved and actually a decent bloke), and a lot of it is that, when it could have been more about the artists and the scene themselves, clearly a lot of them have been interviewed, but don't seem to feature in the book.
December 28, 2020
Informative and interesting, especially if you're a fan of the label/store, but unfortunately a bit TOO long. Many stories abound here, some that probably could have been skipped or edited down severely. That said, though, it's a good example of taking the nonconformist path a little *too* seriously to the detriment of one's own successes; the first two thirds of the book are one continuous trainwreck of great bands and classic albums surrounded by absolutely terrible business decisions. (The last third brings us to the (then) present up to 2010 when all parties are older and a LOT wiser.
June 14, 2021
A great researched document on one if not the most important businesses around 'Punk' and Post Punk there was. My home from home every Saturday morning for 10 years. Cheers to Rough Trade.
September 24, 2022
Magazine article in book form
March 8, 2014
Rough Trade an independent, free spirited radical London record store that spawned it's own record label and in the process helped create an entire Indie music industry. The shop started at the same time as inner city riots and punk music exploded in the capital and survived selling reggae and US imports alongside DIY hits and fanzines.
It was run collectively amongst friends and became a magnet for upcoming bands. Before too long RT had a mulit-million turn-over and was launching the careers of massive artists such as The Smiths bringing it in direct competition with major labels by signing a string of glorious artists and albums consecutively scoring chart success. However, the creative freedom that attracted artists to Rough Trade was a product of it's humble ideological beginnings and was also responsible for the eventual downfall.
As the 'indie' music scene started to become mainstream the landscape had changed and the lack of any management structure or serious business sense also became apparent. Regardless RT ploughed on through the 80s with their game-changing philosophy and it was not until 91 that it finally collapsed... only to be reborn 10 years later and arguably be more successful than ever before!
Told though the words of those involved this book is a sympathetic and honest account of hard work and musical passions mixed with political ideology and artistry. TOP MARKS!
It was run collectively amongst friends and became a magnet for upcoming bands. Before too long RT had a mulit-million turn-over and was launching the careers of massive artists such as The Smiths bringing it in direct competition with major labels by signing a string of glorious artists and albums consecutively scoring chart success. However, the creative freedom that attracted artists to Rough Trade was a product of it's humble ideological beginnings and was also responsible for the eventual downfall.
As the 'indie' music scene started to become mainstream the landscape had changed and the lack of any management structure or serious business sense also became apparent. Regardless RT ploughed on through the 80s with their game-changing philosophy and it was not until 91 that it finally collapsed... only to be reborn 10 years later and arguably be more successful than ever before!
Told though the words of those involved this book is a sympathetic and honest account of hard work and musical passions mixed with political ideology and artistry. TOP MARKS!
October 9, 2012
This is not a book I can say I completely and fully finished, for it was so jaw-droppingly boring and poorly-written that I just couldn't eke out the final third. Far too much navel-gazing reverence for its subject material, which is an esoteric taste at best: a record label and distributor that happened to build a strong and vibrant network right as punk arrived in the UK. Its releases are great for fans of the genre, and they uncovered some of my all-time favorite bands, but Rough Trade's impact on the broader stream of music history is questionable.
The book could have salvaged an interesting narrative/oral history out of all this – I bought it because I was hoping they would – but it's truly a mess, capturing slivers of the eras in which the label/store/etc. was ascendent but never really culling it together outside of a collection of meandering anecdotes.
The book could have salvaged an interesting narrative/oral history out of all this – I bought it because I was hoping they would – but it's truly a mess, capturing slivers of the eras in which the label/store/etc. was ascendent but never really culling it together outside of a collection of meandering anecdotes.
May 6, 2015
Clearly you’d have to be more than interested in British indie-pop in the late 70s and 1980s to get much out of this. But the anecdotal rewards are deep if The History of Rough Trade would be your chosen specialised subject on the fading leather jacketed saddo’s version of Mastermind. Once you’re past the ponderous intro (and I’d rather have had an index than the footnotes), the stories and their characters take you right back to a time when you didn’t have to give a shit about anything besides drinking, music, and appearing to know what you were on about (I gave up on that one in the end).
August 22, 2012
The book starts out great and interviews all the key players. The middle part bogs down with discussions of Rough Trade's lack of organization and structure and begins to read a bit like a "What not to do" business course text. When The Smiths arrive it picks back up again. No discussion about Rough Trade USA, which I was looking forward to. Overall the book is worth reading if you are fan of the label, but I'd rather read about the bands than the business.
July 24, 2013
The history of the Rough Trade record label and shop told almost entirely through interview with employees and artists. It contains surprisingly little of the story of the labels' artists but is still a very interesting document of what alternative culture and the record industry were like in the UK's recent past.
December 26, 2013
super fun read for all who spent formative years in london, listening to rough trade bands, and those interested in how great labels happen (lots of fumbling by combined with love and blind faith).
bonus: lots of insights into the ambient-lefty political culture that seems far more hidden in london today.
bonus: lots of insights into the ambient-lefty political culture that seems far more hidden in london today.
June 13, 2016
Very good up to Rough Trade's collapse in the early '90s. A little on the patchy side after that. That said there are enough nuggets in this tome to surprise even the most well informed indie kid. Such as the story about how RT signed The Stone Roses, only to discover they hadn't.
January 2, 2013
Not too bad. The long passage about money and shares sort of spoil the book's mood though.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews