This is an engaging and fascinating memoir by Mark Ellen – music journalist, critic, radio and television presenter – whose life has been completely wrapped up in his love of music. He begins with his sisters love of The Beatles, and his early musical interest in bands such as The Kinks and Bob Dylan in the Sixties. His childhood love of music was misunderstood by his parents, who disapproved of Top of the Pops and these new long haired bands taking over the airwaves. However, as so often ha [...]

If Mark Ellen had teenage dreams of being a rock star, then at the same age, knowing even then that I was devoid of musical talent and nobody's idea of a 'front man' I instead fantasised that I might make a living from sharing my ill-informed opinions with the world. Ellen actually got to do it, and this is a book about what it was like.He spent his youth playing bass with Rectal Prolapse (not a name that suggests a glittering future awaits, although I suppose Selfish Cunt have a certain cult fo [...]

I bought this having heard the author interviewed on the Danny Baker show. I didn't really know who he was but thought it sounded like fun. It was only when I saw the picture on the front of the book in the Kindle store that I recognised Mark Ellen. My impression of him has always been of a enthusiastic, slightly naff, but engagingly so, puppyish figure. That very much accords with the picture he paints of himself in this book. And yet, if the picture is an accurate one, then puppyish enthusiasm [...]

As someone who loves music and magazines and who grew up reading, in order, Smash Hits, Q, NME, Select and The Word (the loss of which I'm still mourning) I am probably the ideal reader of this book. I've read many of Mark Ellen's articles over the years and was one of the billions who watched him present Live Aid back in 1985. And this memoir is as entertaining as I hoped. I got into music ten years after Ellen so I found the early seventies chapters a little slow (hence the loss of one star in [...]

Mark Ellen wanted to be in the music business. When being a rock star doesn't work out, he tries his hand at being a member of the music press. And so follows many years of success at magazines such as NME and Smash Hits and presenting radio and t.v. shows like The Old Grey Whistle Test. It really is a "Big Bad Love Affair With Music" as it is clear just how much he genuinely loves music and the work he does. He has a fantastic writing style, informative and witty. I'd never read anything by him [...]

As a subscriber to the late lamented Word magazine, and someone who has enjoyed every one of the Word magazine podcasts, I am familiar with both Mark Ellen and many of the anecdotes which appear in Rock Stars Stole My Life!: A Big Bad Love Affair With Music. This prior knowledge did not detract from my enjoyment one jot.Mark's musical consciousness started in the sixties and continues to the present day, and as such he has anecdotes galore from his long and illustrious career which saw him pass [...]

I should caveat that I am a music lover, have previously been a devotee of Smash Hits, Q, And The Word. I wore out my home recorded video of Live Aid and could probably recite all the words in interviews and links. That's how much Mark Ellen has been in my life. I enjoyed this, it seems like a fantasy life of hanging out with rock stars and musicians but it's not all glamour. I would lean a recommendation to the music devotee, but it shouldn't detract others from reading it. Mark Ellen has lived [...]

It's great fun, this. Mark Ellen is a thoroughly likeable narrator and it's a wholly enjoyable read. I can't help but feel that there's a lot more for him to tell but that he couldn't though and the book did seem like it needed a bit more meat in it. I read it quickly. I rarely read books quickly. Ellen's turn of phrase, infectious bonhomie and indefatigable joie de vivre made me wish this was a longer read. Maybe when a few more stars shuffle off their mortal coil, the rest of the anecdotes can [...]

Great music, great.

Enjoyable read. Mark Ellen has been an important figure in the world of music magazines and tv / radio broadcasting. I have had the pleasure of reading many of his magazines over the years: especially NME and Q magazine. His take on the Whistle Test interview with the legendary Jimmy Page and Roy Harper was amusing; there's nothing more irritating than somebody answering on somebody elses behalf. The Van Morrison and Chrissie Hynde anecdotes made me laugh. Mark Ellen comes across as a down to ea [...]

He has some good stories to tell about the pop/rock/music/publishing business. However, just as he is put off Roy Harper by meeting him in the flesh, so I am less enamoured by all the business hyperbole and ridiculousness of that world. Maybe that's why I am drawn to Folk scene.

Superb rock and pop history by a super fan who also worked and was editor for some of the most influential British music magazines. Very well written with a great insight into the workings of the UK music press.

Enjoyable easy read. I didn't realise Mark Ellen was involved with and started so many music publications but he comes across as still being an enthusiastic and normal person which is quite an achievement!

I was never one of the cool kids, walking to school with my LPs under my arm or quoting the NME. I'm not sure there were many cool kids at my Comprehensive in Rochdale. They probably existed at college but not in my sphere and John Peel was on too late. When Q came out, it was the very music magazine I had been looking for. Time passes, I still buy it every month, but then Mojo appears and it seems very much the magazine I have needed all my life. After a few years, it seems to repeat itself but [...]

I was a big fan of The Word magazine whose tragic demise left a huge gap in my monthly music press reading schedule, so knowing of Mark Ellen's involvement with the sadly missed venture I was intrigued to hear more from the trenches. The book does not disappoint especially the audio book version which is read by the man himself adding an extra level of personal detail to the volume, Ellen gives us a strong account from deep in the trenches of his self described life as a 'rock music tragic' deta [...]

This is a brilliant memoir written by music journalist, TV and radio presenter Mark Ellen whose work I've always been aware of through his contributions to various music magazines through the years and most recently vis the now defunct and brilliant Word.Mark starts off at the beginning telling how he came to love music, dreamed of being a rock musician and finally becoming the next best thing - a rock music journalist. The book is packed with funny anecdotes about various musicians he's met ove [...]

Technically a 9/10, because it's not going to knock Viv Albertine's Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys. off its perch as the best book I've read all year.Mark Ellen, of course, stole my life. Had I been a) slightly older, b) based somewhere near the south of England and c) a little more self-confident, I'd have lived the life he lived. Or so I like to think. Instead, I have to read about it, chuckling mightily as I go. Some of the tales are well worn, some brand new [...]

Mark's seen in many of the major talking points in British music journalism over the past thirty years (from the last great hurrah of the inkies to Smash Hits, Q, Mojo and The Word). He's also made the jump to TV and radio, sitting in for Peel, fronting the BBC's Live Aid coverage and hosting the Old Grey Whistle Test. Throughout, it's been his passion for bands and appreciation for the art of music making that's seen him through. That and a bit of 'right time, right place' luck, naturally. This [...]

At one point while I was reading this book, I wondered whether my interest in pop culture and good music perhaps wasn't as strong as I thought. Because I got a little bit bored But as the story went on, I realised that it was all down to when I was born. From the 80s onwards, I had actually heard of the musicians that Mark cited (well, most) and so my interest picked up. Of course I had heard of plenty that Mark cited before the 80s, I just wasn't there at the time to really understand what he w [...]

As a subscriber to the late lamented Word magazine, and someone who has enjoyed every one of the Word magazine podcasts, I am familiar with both Mark Ellen and many of the anecdotes which appear in Rock Stars Stole My Life!: A Big Bad Love Affair With Music. This prior knowledge did not detract from my enjoyment one jot.Mark's musical consciousness started in the sixties and continues to the present day, and as such he has anecdotes galore from his long and illustrious career which saw him pass [...]

Mark Ellen is responsible for two of my favourite magazines. He was at the helm of Smash Hits in its glorious heyday, when ver Hits ruled the waves, pop stars plummeted down the dumper and Paul McCartney's thumbs were aye aloft. And he launched Word magazine, a thoughtful look at music I loved and music I wanted to love. So I expected to adore this book - and I did enjoy it. But it doesn't give a deep sense of what he brought to his magazines, and there isn't much of a narrative. Ever the mag wr [...]

If you grew up reading, and loving, Smash Hits, Q, Select, Mojo or the dear departed 'The Word' (of which I still have every issue & listened to every podcast) then you really should read this book. The perma cheery Mark Ellen was editor of all of those magazines, as well as a one time stand in Radio DJ and presenter of The Whistle Test. This memoir is a funny trawl through his career and also doubles as a sort of history of the music business from the mid 60s through to now. Ellen is always [...]

A thoroughly enjoyable book, written with tongue-in-cheek humour, self-mockery and wit by popular music journalist, radio and tv presenter and one time musician Mark Ellen. I remember seeing him briefly on the Old Grey Whistle Test in the 80s, in black and white. for those who grew up with popular music (not necessarily "pop" music) this is a very pleasant trip down memory lane, but the book ends on a rather sad note, for Ellen describes the disappearance of the "old" music business, where artis [...]

I loved this memoir. Having been a reader of Smash Hits, Q, Select, Mojo and The Word, Mark Ellen's writing has already been part of my own personal love affair with music. Ellen's writing is welcoming and self-deprecating throughout making him sound like a thoroughly agreeable chap who you could spend many an hour in the company of. His tales of encounters with rock stars is never less than compelling, occasionally hilarious and, in the case of his Live Aid story, insightful and bang on the mon [...]

There aren't many men who can say they ran numerous British music magazines, were served champagne by Rhianna, hosted Live Aid, was ridiculed by a drunk Jimmy Page in a country field, hosted The Grey Whistle Test, interviewed a nude Lady Gaga and played bass in a cover band that feature Tony Blair on lead vocals. In fact, Mark Ellen is likely the only man who can claim these things. "Rock Stars Stole My Life!" is a light and breezy read, with plenty of entertaining and memorable antidotes of the [...]

I like Mark Ellen. He's cute, my age as it turns out, and he has an amusing and relaxed style in his journalism and his television appearances.This comes across in his memoir of his life and times in the music business. I found myself chortling at his memories of encounters with the music stars he met. Near the end he summarises what the life of a famous person is like; both making and ruining any party they attend.I loved his account of the terror and exhilaration of presenting Live Aid. I also [...]

If you're like me, as addicted to rock music as I am to reading, then Mark Ellen's book is an absolute must to read. His memoir of his time as a music journalist, TV presenter (Whistle Test) and music mag editor (Q, Mojo, The Word) covers the last forty years of great music, fascinating subjects and a wealth of anecdotes. If you're interested in the popular music of the last forty years, then buy this book, it's a great read.

Flashes of amusement but long passages of tedium for me personably. Like all music memoirs, the reader zones into the era they are most interested in and skims over the rest. To be honest I think this would have been a much better read if Mr Ellen hadn't tried to fit so much into one volume. The more detailed chapters, such as the one about the Rhianna tour, were fabulous. Not the side splitter it was billed as, but still a likeable read.

Wore me out just reading it! Mark's been behind the scenes at publications that have fuelled my love for music for the past thirty years, and every page of this book brims with his passion/obsession/amusement/frustration of the "industry".Sacred cows slaughtered.Idols mocked.Heroes unmasked.Herein lie some truths, some great anecdotes(Bono in Glasgow surely apocryphal?), and lots of warmth and energy.Long may he continue his love affair with music, words, and people.

Absolutely brilliant memoir from a man who clearly does what he loves and loves what he does. For anyone who loves music Mark Ellen is someone who experienced every perspective of the industry and has an amazing track record in popular culture media. An enthusiastic, witty and self deprecating guide through the ins and outs, motivations and above all, stories of so many pop legends (and a few one hit wonders). Now we just need a new magazine please Mark!