I read this book because I got it for my girlfriend for a present a while ago and I ended up paying way more than I would normally pay for a book because it was out of print and it was the only copy I could find at the time.
So before reading this I knew near enough nothing about Steve Lamacq and barely listen to the radio, even though I love music. The only thing I knew about him was that he liked trying to give new bands a break (The only reason I know this is one of my friends bands were played on his show).
After reading this I would say I know a bit more about Steve (which not all of in my eyes is a good thing) but more importantly I learnt a lot more about music scenes from the 90’s, especially the Brit-Pop scene which is the part I found more interesting.
I’d say that because of this I would be much more inclined to read Biographies of people I haven’t really considered reading about before and surely that’s a good thing, right?
I've never really been what you might call a fan of Steve Lemacq. So how I ended up with this book on my 'to read' shelf is beyond me. But there it was one morning when I needed something fresh to read during my lunch break. Fist off this is way out of date, it ends somewhere around 1999, mobile phones, the internet and the resurgence of vinyl were all yet to really kick in. John Peel was still alive and things were very different.
That said there is very little to write home about in these pages. It's an easy enough read, but you'll find no real gossip about anything beyond Lamacq drinking one cider too many. He actually comes across as a bit of a teenager, or should I say middle-aged man who claims he's still like he was when he was in his teens. Despite constantly banging on about how much he loves Hip-Hop and Dance music, the majority of this book is given over to pub chat about Steve's favourite Indie bands.
Worth a read, especially if you want to know what it was like working at the NME during the early '90s or Radio 1 during the Brit-Pop boom of the mid '90s. Just don't expect any mention of Massive Attack, Warp records, Aphex Twin, Broadcast, Portishead, Goldie, Stereolab or any of the great bands that were around back then.
Still if you were a fan of Three Colours Red then you're in for a treat.