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Never a Dull Moment: 1971: The Year That Rock Exploded Audiobook
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A rollicking look at 1971, rock’s golden year, the year that saw the release of the indelible recordings of Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, the Who, Rod Stewart, Carole King, the Rolling Stones, and others and produced more classics than any other year in rock history
The Sixties ended a year late. On New Year’s Eve 1970 Paul McCartney instructed his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London that effectively ended the Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era.
1971 started the following day and with it the rock era. The new releases of that hectic year―Don McLean’s “American Pie,” Sly Stone’s “Family Affair,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Joni Mitchell’s “Blue,” Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” the Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” and many others―are the standards of today.
Author David Hepworth was twenty-one in 1971 and has been writing and broadcasting about music ever since. In this entertaining and provocative book, he argues that 1971 saw an unrepeatable surge of musical creativity, technological innovation, naked ambition, and outrageous good fortune that combined to produce music that still crackles with relevance today.
There’s a story behind every note of that music. From the electric blue fur coat David Bowie wore when he first arrived in America in February to Bianca’s neckline when she married Mick Jagger in Saint-Tropez in May, from the death of Jim Morrison in Paris in July to the reemergence of Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden in August, from the soft launch of Carole King’s Tapestry in California in February to the sensational arrival of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” in London in November, Hepworth’s forensic sweep takes in all the people, places, and events that helped make 1971 rock’s unrepeatable year.
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"“Loaded with gossipy anecdotes, adroit criticism, and earnest affection for the musicians, record executives, and technicians who defined it.”"
— Kirkus Reviews
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“A revelatory account of the bombshell 365 days that gave birth to what the author dubs ‘the rock era.’“
— O, The Oprah Magazine -
“Cleverly crafted chapters form a glittery, boisterous month-by-month calendar…of an era that produced music we are still listening to.”
— Elle -
“With its apt title, Never a Dull Moment makes you want to be 25 in the 1970s again.”
— Associated Press -
“[An] expansive overview of the high-water mark of rock’s album-oriented maturity.”
— NPR -
“Wonderful storytelling.”
— Forbes -
“Laced with a wisdom gathered over many years as a journalist and industry insider.”
— New Statesman -
“[Fascinating cultural history…[with] vivid, irreverent prose and analytic insight.”
— Publishers Weekly
Awards
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An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick in History
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About David Hepworth
David Hepworth is a music journalist, writer, and publishing industry analyst. He is the author of several books, including Never a Dull Moment: 1971, the Year Rock Exploded, the basis for a 2021 Apple TV+ documentary series. He has won awards as editor and writer of the year from the Professional Publishers Association, as well as the Mark Boxer Award from the British Society of Magazine Editors. He is the radio columnist for the London Guardian and a media correspondent for the newspaper. He has launched several successful British magazines. He presented the definitive BBC rock music program Whistle Test and anchored the coverage of Live Aid in '85.