ART

In 1995, one year before Tupac Shakur was shot dead in Las Vegas, he was jailed for two months inside New York City's notorious Rikers Island. While there, he received a letter from a stranger - Angela Ardis, acting on a casual bet with her friends. She included her photo and phone number... and soon found herself answering a call from Tupac himself. Remarkably, their near-daily contact grew into a complex kinship of souls that neither could define - and touched both in unexpected ways. Alive in letters and original poems - some available nowhere else - Tupac's ever-relevant heart beats within these pages.

Usually when the alternative rock revolution' of the early 1990s is discussed, Nirvana's Nevermind is credited as the recording that led the charge. Yet there were several earlier albums that helped pave the way, including the Pixies' Doolittle, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Mother's Milk, Jane's Addiction's Nothing's Shocking and especially Primus' 1991 album Sailing the Seas of Cheese. This fascinating and beautifully curated oral history tells the tale of this truly one-of-a-kind band that merged funk, punk, rock and experimental music, with Les Claypool's distinctive humour.'

Punk has been romanticised and embalmed by the media. A youth revolt that became a worldwide fashion statement, punk s idols were the Sex Pistols and Johnny Rotten was its sneering antichrist. Rotten is a history of punk: angry, witty, poignant and crackling with energy. Malcolm McLaren, Sid Vicious, the 1970s, the Pistols story are all here, in one of the best books ever written about youth culture, by one of its most notorious figures.

Richly illustrated with over 100 photographs.
For almost fifty years, Leonard Cohen's mournful ballads of desire, heartbreak and lost faith have captivated audiences the world over. Continuing to make music until weeks before his death in November 2016, the award-winning Canadian songwriter, novelist and poet is revered as a cultural icon and master of his craft.

The Ramones gave birth to punk rock. Their progeny fertilised every significant punk band, from the Sex Pistols to Nirvana and Green Day. Ramones: The Complete Twisted History tells their story at the breakneck pace of their own blitzkrieg bop . From their early career to Joey Ramone s untimely death in 2001, it tells the tale of life taken to extremes, too soon, plus the story of their music.

Features exclusive stories and encounters with some of the biggest names in rock and metal, including Guns N Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss, Metallica, Motêrhead, Queen, Sepultura, Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Pearl Jam, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Fleetwood Mac & Iron Maiden. As one-time editor of Metal Hammer, rock scribe Kirk Blows became drawn into a world of exaggerated egos and hedonistic excess. Here, he presents a unique collection of adventures, anecdotes and close encounters with the world s most notorious rock stars, noisily exploring the stairways to heaven and highways to hell.