Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story

Balls, Richard

ISBN 10: 0957570066 / ISBN 13: 9780957570061

Published by Soundcheck Books LLP, 2015

About this Item

Book is in very good condition with colour photographs. Seller Inventory # 000484

Bibliographic Details

Title: Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story

Publisher: Soundcheck Books LLP

Publication Date: 2015

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis:

To celebrate 40 years of Stiff Records, we have given this book a new cover. It also contains a new foreword by Jona Lewie

Told here for the first time, the complete story of the legendary Stiff Records. Started in 1976, by maverick music entrepreneurs Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson, Stiff changed the landscape of a moribund record industry. Both men were involved in the pub rock scene and their genius was to take un-hip pub rockers, such as Ian Dury and Elvis Costello, and turn them into cool new wavers. It didn't stop there either, with Stiff releasing the first ever punk single (The Damned's 'New Rose'), in October 1976.

It all began in a small west London shop before going global during an eleven-year rollercoaster ride of rock n roll excess, fights, package tours and smash hit records. Stiff were amazing marketeers, with their fund of slogans, badges, use of coloured vinyl and different packaging for the same records, appealing to the completest market. Riviera left Stiff in 1977, taking Costello with him, but Robinson soldiered on, signing Madness and the Pogues, amongst others. The label went bust in the mid-1980s, but was resurrected in 2006 by Trevor Horn's ZTT operation and is still going to this day; witness their recent success with Sam And The Womp.

Richard Balls has interviewed over 50 people who were there both record company staff and artists. Rat Scabies, Lene Lovich, Jona Lewie, Shane MacGowan, Wreckless Eric and more, all share their memories in this celebration of all things Stiff. Richard wrote the bestselling biography Sex & Drugs & Rock N Roll: The Life Of Ian Dury for Omnibus in 2001, so has a passion for this era, which he transfers to the reader. Read this fascinating book and remember when rock was fun.

About the Author:

Richard Balls was a news journalist for 20 years and now works in communications. At 14 years old, he went to his first gig - Madness supported by The Belle Stars - an event that sparked a lifelong love of Stiff Records. His acclaimed first book, Sex & Drugs & Rock N Roll: The Life Of Ian Dury, was published in 2000 by Omnibus Press. He spent three years researching and writing Be Stiff, interviewing more than 50 people along the way. Richard lives in Norwich with his wife Anne, daughters Katherine and Jessie, two cats and a dog.