Product Description

Cider with Roadies is the story of a boy's obsessive relationship with pop. A life lived through music from Stuart's audience with the Beatles (aged 3); his confessions as a pubescent prog rocker; a youthful gymnastic dalliance with northern soul; the radical effects of punk on his politics, homework and trouser dimensions; playing in crap bands and failing to impress girls; writing for the NME by accident; living the sex, drugs (chiefly lager in a plastic glass) and rock and roll lifestyle; discovering the tawdry truth behind the glamour and knowing when to ditch it all for what really matters. From his four minutes in a leisure centre with MC Hammer to four days in a small van with Napalm Death it's a life-affirming journey through the land where ordinary life and pop come together to make music.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5834 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Peter Kay
`Stuart Maconie is the best thing to come out of Wigan since the A58 to Bolton’

The Times
"From council estate to Radio 2, Stuart Maconie has lived the perfect pop fan's life...effortlessly articulate"

The Guardian
"Maconie makes a jovial, self-deprecating narrator. Sharp and funny"

Customer Reviews

Wittly and articullate
I inherited this book from a mate while we were on a motorbike tour. He'd got half way through and chucked it over to me saying it was the biggest load of rubbish he's ever read - he'd not even got half way through it!

Maybe it's just as well that, "One man's meat is another mans' poison" because I thoroughly enjoyed reading of Maconies journey, as he takes us from his first Beatles influence to his life as a Top DJ: via INXS, The Smiths, work as Teacher at Skelmersdale college and journalist for NME.

Witty and articulate, Maconie's tale of his life as a "Muso" unfolds with great ease and at times I actually laughed out loud at some of his tales - 4 days with a "Napalm Death" in the tour van in France is priceless. Being a Scouser who loves music and lives in Wigan maybe I can identify with this book more than most but whatever, it's a nice easy read that flows very well.

There are a couple of inaccuracies in here. Stuart, if you can get from Edge Hill College in Ormskirk to Liverpool on a bus in twenty minutes I salute you, because you'll be the first person ever to achieved such a feat! Also if you drove through Limoges to get to Le mans in France let me tell you, you went one hell of a long way round.

Some of the tales in the book are obvioulsy "flowered up" for the sake of effect but then again aren't most autobiographies? A great little book, highly recommmended if you need a bit of light reading and a good laugh.

Well worth a read
If like me you enjoyed reading Stuart Maconies recent 'Pies & Prejudice' you could do worse than give `Cider with Roadies' a try.
In this earlier book he describes his life as a music lover using the same brand of wit and good humour that shone through in Pies and also in his many appearances on TV and radio.
The book is basically in two sections. The first describes how he first became aware of music when he was a child - playing the odd assortment of records owned by his parents - through to when he started going to gigs and also playing in a band. This to me is the stronger section because a lot of what he writes about strikes a chord with me, as it will to most readers in their forties. The second section concerns his stint as a writer for the NME and to me the book flags slightly here because at times it becomes too much of a list of performers he has interviewed and places he has visited.
All in all this is a book that is well worth tracking down.

Pointed Nostalgia
I really enjoyed this book, although I am pretty close to the target demographic (forty-something, male, brought up outside London).

This is not so much a biography, more a story of one man's relationship with popular music; following him through his school days to becoming a music journalist with the NME. Maconie has an attractive, light prose style, full of wit and packed with comic references and asides. He has created a book packed with nostalgia but lacking in sentimentality; a wonderful combination.

The first section of the book details the start of Maconie's relationship with music: going to see the Beatles age 3, discovering Sounds, his love for prog rock and northern soul (well, he is from Wigan), discovering punk and playing in an unsuccessful band, etc. It is packed with references that will resonate with anybody who grew up in the seventies and loved pop music. He is particularly good (and amusing) about the tribalism of following bands (Slade vs. T-Rex), using prog rock (ELP) as an aid to seduction (not a good or successful idea) and the punk revolution.

The second section of the book describes how he became a music journalist and charts his time at the NME. It is less nostalgic and there is considerably more name dropping and more anecdotes about pop music and music journalism. It could easily have been annoying but Maconie's love of the subject (verging on hero worship at times) together his wit and charm ensures that it is always interesting and amusing (often downright hilarious). He is particularly good on the strange world on music journalism (making up stories, travelling with bands, dealing with very strange readers' letters).

Recommended, particularly if you fit the target demographic.