The Periodic Table of HEAVY ROCK

You can never take what you love too seriously ...

Ian Gittins is a music writer for the Guardian who has also written for Melody Maker, Q, Time Out, MTV, Daily Telegraph and New York Times and has penned biographies of Björk and Talking Heads. He is also the co-author with Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe of the New York Times bestseller The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star and the co-writer with David Essex of the Sunday Times number one bestseller Over The Moon.

'Jimi Hendrix was not so much an element in a Periodic Table of Heavy Rock as an entire elemental spectrum in a parallel universe.' 
 
Welcome to The Periodic Table of Heavy Rock! Instead of hydrogen to helium, here you'll find Smashing Pumpkins to Spinal Tap - 118 artists that have defined this music genre arranged following the logical ordering of The Periodic Table of Elements. 
 
Many of these elements are as unstable and reactive as their chemical counterparts. Shared style influences and band members are all mapped out here, along with the vast spectrum of sound this genre. Grunge rock through to hardcore, blues rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, arena rock, glam rock and glam metal, punk rock, blues metal, 80s new wave, comedy metal, thrash, death, intelligent AND nu-metal are all represented here. 
 
Includes: Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Queen, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Yes, Slipknot, Nirvana, ZZ Top, Sex Pistols, Meat Loaf, Queens of the Stone Age, the Doors, Pixies, Frank Zappa, Slade, Marilyn Manson, The Beatles and Spinal Tap and many, many more...

Ian Gittins

Lauren Laverne

80 Years of Castaways

Eight tracks. Endless stories. 
 
Allow yourself to be cast away in eight glorious decades of the most iconic show on radio. To mark this momentous occasion, The Definitive Desert Island Discs focuses on 80 of the most powerful and unforgettable interviews, revisiting every era of Desert Island Disc's storied history. 
 
Reflecting on how times have changed, the book will feature brand new material as castaways are interviewed about their experiences - did the conversation go how they expected? Would Sir Patrick Stewart still take his beloved billiards table (and a shed to keep it in, of course)? And does Hilary Devey stick by her endless supply of Cointreau? 
 
Get lost in lists of the weirdest and most wonderful luxury items, most popular tracks and books throughout the years, and more. Introduced by Lauren Laverne, The Definitive Desert Island Discs is a must-have gem, celebrating an incredible institution that has captured the hearts of a nation for 80 years.

Ian Gittins

Books by Ian Gittins

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