Max Decharne Popular Books

Max Decharne Biography & Facts

Max Décharné is an English rock musician and singer, and the author of ten books, mostly non-fiction, and numerous short stories. Music and writing Max Décharné has written about music regularly for Mojo magazine since 1998, prior to which he wrote extensively about film for Neon. In addition, his work has also appeared in The Spectator, the Sunday Times Colour Magazine, the Observer, the Guardian and the TLS, among others. He has interviewed a wide variety of cultural figures, including Mary Quant, Nick Cave, Christopher Lee, Wanda Jackson, Mick Farren, Colin Wilson, The Trashmen, Ingrid Pitt, Dion DiMucci, John Peel, Cynthia Plastercaster, Sonny Burgess, Wreckless Eric and Dick Dale. Décharné has also produced sleeve notes for numerous record reissues of box sets, albums and singles by artists such as Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Little Richard and Sparkle Moore, and also the acclaimed 6-CD Nikki Sudden box set The Boy From Nowhere Who Fell Out Of The Sky. In 1985 he started writing short stories and in 1986, inspired by the postpunk DIY ethic, co-founded the Malice Aforethought Press with Frank Key. Over the next few years they published a large number of short-run pamphlets. Titles by Décharné included "The Importance of Being Harnessed" and "The Night They Invented Shampoo". Most of these texts were later collected in paperback. He also appeared as a guest on Frank Key's weekly Resonance FM Radio show "Hooting Yard on the Air" in which the former publishing partners discussed their love of unusual literature. In his musical career, Décharné has released eleven albums and something in the region of twenty singles since 1989. He played drums with his friend Nikki Sudden before joining Gallon Drunk in 1991, with whom he toured the world. Since 1994, he has been the singer and principal songwriter with The Flaming Stars. In a long and varied career in the music business, he has also recorded nine John Peel Sessions and played shows all across the US, Canada, virtually every country in Europe and also in Japan. One of his songs made the 1995 John Peel Festive Fifty (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by The Flaming Stars), then two more of his songs were in the 1996 John Peel Festive Fifty (Ten Feet Tall and The Face On The Bar Room Floor, both by The Flaming Stars). Décharné is probably one of the only people currently writing about music to have played on BBCTV's Later... with Jools Holland show, on the main stage at the Reading Festival, at Madison Square Garden and at the Hollywood Bowl. Bibliography Books Teddy Boys: Post-War Britain and the First Youth Revolution (hardback), Profile Books, January 2024 (ISBN 978 1 8466 8978 9) King's Road: The Rise And Fall of the Hippest Street in the World (second, extended edition), Omnibus Press, 2023 (ISBN 978 1 9131 7260 2); (Special edition ISBN 978 1 9158 4102 5) Vulgar Tongues: An Alternative History of English Slang, Serpent's Tail, 2016 (ISBN 978 1 84668 561 3) Capital Crimes: Seven Centuries of London Life and Murder, Random House Books, 2012 (Arrow Books 2013) (ISBN 978 0 099539 025) Rocket In My Pocket, Serpent's Tail, 2010 (ISBN 978 1 84668 721 1) NB Ace Records (United Kingdom) issued a compilation CD with sleeve notes by Max to tie in with this book. King's Road: The Rise And Fall of the Hippest Street in the World, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005 (ISBN 0 297 84769 4) Hardboiled Hollywood – The Origins of the Great Crime Films, No Exit Press, 2003 (ISBN 1 84243 070 X) Straight From the Fridge, Dad: A Dictionary of Hipster Slang, No Exit Press, 2000 (2nd edition in 2004, 3rd edition in 2009) (ISBN 978-1-84243-288-4) I Was A Teenage Warehouse & Other Stories, Thirst Editions, 1997 (ISBN 0 9531238 0 4) The Prisoner Of Brenda & Other Stories, Malice Aforethought Press, 1991 (ISBN 1 871197 92 9) Beat Your Relatives To A Bloody Pulp & Other Stories, Malice Aforethought Press, 1989 (ISBN 1 871197 93 7) Selected Reviews of his Books Teddy Boys - Profile Books, January 2024 "Teddy Boys is excellent on the social conditions within which the style evolved… Décharné’s book is a loving reclamation of an important youth type – now seen as reactionaries, but who were groundbreakers, in their early phase at least. Most of all, in focusing on the late Forties and early Fifties, Teddy Boys illuminates a fascinating and still under-explored period in British youth culture and social history." - Jon Savage, New Statesman "Expert research, insider knowledge and love for the subject all make for a thumping good read" - Claudia Elliott, Classic Rock magazine (9 stars of a possible 10) King's Road - Omnibus Press, 2023 "A gloriously forensic expansion… happily the vanishing art of investigative writing survives in this magnificent tribute now destined to sit with the UK’s great socio-cultural chronicles 4****" - Kris Needs, Record Collector Vulgar Tongues – An Alternative History Of English Slang, Serpent's Tail, 2016 "Max Décharné's engaging book Vulgar Tongues is a spectacular feat, collating information from a mind-boggling range of sources - from jazz lyrics to dime novels, from 18th century brothel directories to 1960s criminal autobiographies." - Lynne Truss, New Statesman A Rocket In My Pocket – Serpent's Tail, 2010 "The definitive book on rockabilly.. tells you all you need to know." - Andrew Weatherall, BBC 6 Music King's Road – The Rise And Fall Of The Hippest Street In The World, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005 "As a trawl through the glitz and glamour of the King’s Road, this is hard to beat. Décharné’s research, which takes in everything from political weeklies to underground pop magazines, is impressive and unimpeachable, and he whisks the reader along in brisk and witty prose." - Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times Hardboiled Hollywood – No Exit Press, 2003 "Full of "unauthorised cash withdrawals" and people dying of "lead poisoning", this tome thankfully eschews the pompous subtext and strained metaphors of most film books, leaving what any good detective wants: just the facts, ma'am." - Phelim O’Neill, The Guardian Straight From The Fridge, Dad – No Exit Press, 2000 "If you are the kind of hep cat who harbours a burning urge to gas the slobs, then the righteous Max is the man. He shoots the works to fascinating and often hilarious effect." - Esquire Malice Aforethought Press Booklets The Petrified Florist, pamphlet, Malice Aforethought Press, 14 February 1991 (ISBN 1 871197 76 7) The Little Sheep of Horrors, pamphlet, Malice Aforethought Press, 30 September 1990 (ISBN 1 871197 49 X) Slogans for the Unhinged, limited edition pamphlet of 50 copies, Malice Aforethought Press, 29 September 1990 (ISBN 1 871197 97 X) UFOs - Who Gives a Flying One?, limited edition pamphlet of 50 copies, Malice Aforethought Press, 3 August 1990 (ISBN 1 871197 01 5) Epigrams, limited edition pamphlet of 50 copies, Malice Aforethought Press, 3 August 1990 (ISBN 1 871197 03 1) The Sheep of Things to Come, limite.... Discover the Max Decharne popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Max Decharne books.