BREAK IT UP :PATTI SMITH'S HORSES - 0749951079 HARDBACK

Break It Up

Patti Smith's Horses and the remaking of Rock 'n' Roll ~ Mark Paytress

Before The Sex Pistols, before The Clash, before The Ramones, there was Patti Smith. The poet laureate of punk, she burst onto a vacuous music scene in the mid-1970s with a raw and revolutionary sound – steeped as much in French symbolist poetry as it was in 60s garage rock – and an indelible, gender-bending stage persona. With the release of her debut album, Horses, rock music would simply never be the same. The list of people involved in Smith’s debut is impressive – guitarist/rock critic Lenny Kaye, producer John Cale, Arista president Clive Davis and artist Robert Mapplethorpe, among others – but at the centre is Smith herself: brazenly intellectual, uncompromising in her artistry, she quickly redefined the boundaries of what was acceptable in popular music. Drawing on sources in music, literature and art, Mark Paytress puts the Horses story in its full context: from her early days in New Jersey to her rapid rise on New York’s performance art scene and the key role she played in the emerging art-punk movement at club CBGBs. He also demonstrates the influence Smith and her music continue to exert today in the work of luminaries such as Morrissey, REM’s Michael Stipe, and PJ Harvey, not to mention the current crop of art-rockers led by Franz Ferdinand. Essential reading for serious music fans, Break It Up tells the unforgettable story of a landmark album, the new rock aesthetic that it brought about, and how Patti Smith became the most influential female rock ‘n’ roller of all time.

About The Author:

Mark Paytress is a renowned music journalist and author of several books, including I Was There: Gigs That Changed the World, Vicious: The Art of Dying Young and the definitive biography of Marc Bolan, Bolan: The Rise and Fall of a Twentieth Century Superstar. His work has appeared in MOJO, Q, and The Guardianr, among other national publications. He lives in London

Unread Paperback Published By Piatkus

ISBN ~ 0749951079