‘Whatever’s happened in the world, music is there’
New book looks at world events soundtracked by epic records
Andy Bollen was eight years old when he was transported to another world thanks to an old suitcase full of vinyl and a record player.
“Growing up in Airdrie in the 1970s, I had an epiphany when my Aunt Ellen gave them to us. I went into this world in my sister’s room and never really came out again. It was the whole package – the music, the artwork, the colours, the numbers. I was just lost in it,” Andy said.
“You’re sitting in Airdrie in the rain and looking at labels like Warner Bros with the palm trees.”
Last week, the writer released his new book, Labelled With Love – A History Of The World In Your Record Collection.
It looks at record labels over the past 80 years, not only chronicling the bands and artists who were signed to the companies, but the world events that were soundtracked by the labels’ output. “They scan epic swathes of social history, through the world wars, civil rights activism, and so much more. Through it all, the music has always been there,” he said. The book has been a long time in the making for Andy, who has spent more than a decade bringing the labour of love to bookshelves. But the personal connection goes back even further, with the author peppering each chapter with his own musicrelated tales, from being in a band that supported Nirvana on tour to visiting legendary American labels like Sun during a solo road trip in his early 20s.
“Every chapter is like an essay or short story, with a lot about me in it as well. It seemed like the natural way to do it, to have a personal entry
point, because I didn’t want it to read like a Wikipedia entry,” he explained.
“I was 22 when I went to America to find myself, and there I was, on the Greyhound bus. i made it as far as at own called Bloomington, Indiana, in the Midwest, when I ran out of money and luck.
“I had caught the bus to London from the old station across the road from Broomfield and took a cheap flight over to New York.
“I often think it was quite brave of me to go to America on my own at that age, not knowing anyone.
“I came home a stone and a half lighter, because I spent all my money on records rather than food.
“I went to Memphis and visited Sun Records and Stax. I visited the hotel where Martin Luther King was killed, which was the same place all the guys in Stax used to stay when they were travelling through. I went to Elvis’ house.
“Later in my 20s, I helped pals out in an emergency and ended up drumming in a band that toured with Nirvana, so I know about the Sub Pop, Geffen and DGC labels. “When I was writing about Creation, I told the story of me standing beside (label founder) Alan Mcgee in King Tut’s when he signed Oasis. There were about 12 people in the crowd.
“I was there to see my pal’s band. I thought Oasis sounded like last year’s guitar bands, but A&R was never my strong point and Oasis changed the label’s fortunes.” Andy has written for comedy shows like Only An Excuse?, Chewin’ The Fat and Naked Video, and penned eight books, including a biography of football legend Johan Cruyff and the upcoming Classic Derbies And Epic Rivalries, which examines football’s biggest clashes. His best-known book is Nirvana: A Tour Diary in which he details what it was like being on the road with Kurt Cobain as the Seattle band became the biggest group in the world.
Yet he feels Labelled With Love might be the one closest to his heart.
“I know you shouldn’t have favourites,” Andy laughed. “But when I read it, I sometimes think, ‘Oh, this is good’ and that someone else has written it!”
Labelled With Love by Andy Bollen, out now from The History Press