How A Certain Romance Stands Out
Why do I think you should buy a copy of my manuscript, once published? What is it about A Certain Romance that stands out?
On my most recent book proposal, I was asked to set out ‘four or five key selling points for your book’. It took me a few minutes to write down three, even longer to work out the final two.
1. Documents The Rise And Fall Of The Last Great Regional British Music Scene: The New Yorkshire Wave
There are several books out there that cover regional British music scenes. There’s Cavern Club which covers the rise of The Beatles and Merseybeat. The Hacienda: How Not To Run A Club by Peter Hook looks at Madchester through the eyes of the co-founder of two of Manchester’s most prominent bands. Seattle’s music scene is covered by Everybody Loves Our Town: A History of Grunge by Mark Yam.
Several of these book look at the rise of a regional music scene through the prism of a band that breaks through. The Beatles, The Stone Roses, and Nirvana. Sure, there are some (terrible) autobiographies covering the rise of Arctic Monkeys but none that look at the wider scene in Sheffield that created them and the New Yorkshire scene that was created around them.
2. Covers Technological Advances That Directly Impacted The Music Industry
Arctic Monkeys were the prime beneficiaries of techological advances around the early 00s. Before their stratospheric rise, there was Napster and the start of digital file-sharing. This advanced to ripping demos onto CD-Rs to share amongst friends and other music fans. Then there were online message boards for music fans to discuss and hype up bands as well as build communities.
Then there are the more legal music applications, many of which we are still using today. Early social media largely started with Myspace with many users then migrating to Facebook. Digital music players like iTunes and the iPod where you can now legitimately pay a fee to own music tracks.
One of the fascinating aspects of the book is how all this technology occurred and how frightened the music industry was. It took them years to get a grasp of what it all meant, even longer to try to control it. Initially, they tried to stamp out file-sharing but, inevitably, they had to embrace it. Trying to sue music fans in the meantime was not an endearing look.
3. Exclusive Insights
These insights include those individuals in featured bands, but, more importantly, also includes those behind the scenes that help a music scene operate. Club night promoters, independent record label founders, local journalists, and record producers. As I have said before, I was the narrator so the detail and the insight comes from the individuals I interviewed.
Few have heard directly from these people. Now it is their time to talk.
4. Documents How A Guitar Band Could Have A Number One Single Without Major Label Promotion
This reason is rather more specific but it is worth mentioning. The impact that The Beatles, Oasis, and The Sex Pistols had was huge. However, none of them went to number one with their first single. Arctic Monkeys did. How that happened is well worth exploring at a time when pop music reigned supreme.
5. Shows How Music Tastes Change Over Time
To have the best impact, you need to break through the pack. If indie guitar music was all the rage in 2005, perhaps Arctic Monkeys would have been lost in the maelstrom. If pop music, electroclash, and dance music hadn’t been so prominent, perhaps guitar bands would not have seemed so groundbreaking when they broke through.
Music tastes change over time. Guitar bands will always exist yet they rise and fall in popularity due to the music landscape at the time. What is deemed popular today likely won’t be in ten years time. Christ, it makes me sound old when I hark back to the days when listening to The Strokes made me look cool because no-one else was.