It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Black Vinyl White Powder

Black Vinyl White Powder

Summary

The most authoritative, intelligent, diligently researched and unpretentious analysis of the British pop scene yet written' Sunday Telegraph

Black Vinyl White Powder charts the amazing fifty year history of the British music business in unparalleled scale and detail. As a key player across the decades, Napier-Bell - who discovered Marc Bolan and managed amongst others The Yardbirds and Wham! - uses his wealth of contacts and extraordinary personal experiences to tell the story of an industry that is like no other. Where bad behaviour is not only tolerated but encouraged, where drugs are sometimes as important as talent, where artists are pushed to their physical and mental limits in the name of profit and ego.

'The Greatest Ever Book Written about English Pop-Breathtakingly Brilliant' Julie Burchill

'The cold print equivalent of a sparkling evening with a world-class raconteur.' Charles Shaar Murray, Independent

Bitchy, glib, fun and shrewd' Daily Telegraph

Reviews

  • 'The definitive history of British pop
    Observer Music Monthly

About the author

Simon Napier-Bell

Simon Napier-Bell has been a film composer, songwriter, record producer, and author, but he is perhaps best known for having managed such artists as The Yardbirds, Marc Bolan, T Rex, Japan and Wham! Under his management, Wham! became the first Western pop group to ever play in Communist China in the 80s.

He is the author of three other books about the music industry: You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, Black Vinyl White Powder, and I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch. He is a director of Papa Entertainments PLC and of Snap-B Music, and continues to consult, write and broadcast on the music industry.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more