Try free for 30 days
-
Uncommon People
- The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars 1955-1994
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $26.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
A Fabulous Creation
- How the LP Saved Our Lives
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The era of the LP began in 1967, with Sgt Pepper; The Beatles didn’t just collect together a bunch of songs, they Made an Album. Henceforth, everybody else wanted to Make an Album. The end came only 15 years later, coinciding with the release of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. By then the Walkman had taken music out of the home and into the streets, and the record business had begun trying to reverse engineer the creative process in order to make big money. Nobody would play music or listen to it in quite the same way ever again.
-
-
A Fabulous Author
- By DJHDD on 31-05-2021
-
Dancing with Myself
- By: Billy Idol
- Narrated by: Billy Idol
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An early architect of punk rock's sound, style, and fury, whose lip-curling sneer and fist-pumping persona vaulted him into pop's mainstream as one of MTV's first megastars, Billy Idol remains, to this day, a true rock 'n' roll icon. Now, in his long-awaited autobiography, Dancing with Myself, Idol delivers an electric, searingly honest account of his journey to fame - from his early days as front man of the pioneering UK punk band Generation X to the decadent life atop the dance-rock kingdom he ruled.
-
-
What a journey
- By Finbar on 23-02-2021
-
Nothing Is Real
- The Beatles Were Underrated and Other Sweeping Statements About Pop
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pop music’s a simple pleasure. Is it catchy? Can you dance to it? Do you fancy the singer? What’s fascinating about pop is our relationship with it. This relationship gets more complicated the longer it goes on. It’s been going on now for 50 years. David Hepworth is interested in the human side of pop. He’s interested in how people make the stuff and, more importantly, what it means to us. In this wide-ranging collection of essays, he shows how it is possible to take music seriously and, at the same time, not drain the life out of it.
-
-
Is Hepworth, Is Good!!
- By Lindsay Buttery on 22-09-2021
-
Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There
- How a Few Skinny Brits with Bad Teeth Rocked America
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Beatles landing in New York in February 1964 was the opening shot in a cultural revolution nobody predicted. Suddenly the youth of the richest, most powerful nation on earth was trying to emulate the music, manners and the modes of a rainy island that had recently fallen on hard times.
-
The McCartney Legacy
- Volume 1: 1969 – 73
- By: Allan Kozinn, Adrian Sinclair
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 29 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this first of a groundbreaking multivolume set, THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1: 1969-73 captures the life of Paul McCartney in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Beatles, a period in which McCartney recreated himself as both a man and a musician. Informed by hundreds of interviews, extensive ground up research, and thousands of never-before-seen documents THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1 is an in depth, revealing exploration of McCartney’s creative and personal lives beyond the Beatles.
-
-
The answers
- By Kindle Customer on 06-07-2023
-
Led Zeppelin
- The Biography
- By: Bob Spitz
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 21 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the definitive New York Times best-selling history of the Beatles comes the authoritative account of the group many call the greatest rock band of all time, arguably the most successful, and certainly one of the most notorious.
-
-
Excellent, exhaustive and revealing.
- By Colin Boreland on 30-04-2023
-
A Fabulous Creation
- How the LP Saved Our Lives
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The era of the LP began in 1967, with Sgt Pepper; The Beatles didn’t just collect together a bunch of songs, they Made an Album. Henceforth, everybody else wanted to Make an Album. The end came only 15 years later, coinciding with the release of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. By then the Walkman had taken music out of the home and into the streets, and the record business had begun trying to reverse engineer the creative process in order to make big money. Nobody would play music or listen to it in quite the same way ever again.
-
-
A Fabulous Author
- By DJHDD on 31-05-2021
-
Dancing with Myself
- By: Billy Idol
- Narrated by: Billy Idol
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An early architect of punk rock's sound, style, and fury, whose lip-curling sneer and fist-pumping persona vaulted him into pop's mainstream as one of MTV's first megastars, Billy Idol remains, to this day, a true rock 'n' roll icon. Now, in his long-awaited autobiography, Dancing with Myself, Idol delivers an electric, searingly honest account of his journey to fame - from his early days as front man of the pioneering UK punk band Generation X to the decadent life atop the dance-rock kingdom he ruled.
-
-
What a journey
- By Finbar on 23-02-2021
-
Nothing Is Real
- The Beatles Were Underrated and Other Sweeping Statements About Pop
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pop music’s a simple pleasure. Is it catchy? Can you dance to it? Do you fancy the singer? What’s fascinating about pop is our relationship with it. This relationship gets more complicated the longer it goes on. It’s been going on now for 50 years. David Hepworth is interested in the human side of pop. He’s interested in how people make the stuff and, more importantly, what it means to us. In this wide-ranging collection of essays, he shows how it is possible to take music seriously and, at the same time, not drain the life out of it.
-
-
Is Hepworth, Is Good!!
- By Lindsay Buttery on 22-09-2021
-
Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There
- How a Few Skinny Brits with Bad Teeth Rocked America
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Beatles landing in New York in February 1964 was the opening shot in a cultural revolution nobody predicted. Suddenly the youth of the richest, most powerful nation on earth was trying to emulate the music, manners and the modes of a rainy island that had recently fallen on hard times.
-
The McCartney Legacy
- Volume 1: 1969 – 73
- By: Allan Kozinn, Adrian Sinclair
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 29 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this first of a groundbreaking multivolume set, THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1: 1969-73 captures the life of Paul McCartney in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Beatles, a period in which McCartney recreated himself as both a man and a musician. Informed by hundreds of interviews, extensive ground up research, and thousands of never-before-seen documents THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1 is an in depth, revealing exploration of McCartney’s creative and personal lives beyond the Beatles.
-
-
The answers
- By Kindle Customer on 06-07-2023
-
Led Zeppelin
- The Biography
- By: Bob Spitz
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 21 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the definitive New York Times best-selling history of the Beatles comes the authoritative account of the group many call the greatest rock band of all time, arguably the most successful, and certainly one of the most notorious.
-
-
Excellent, exhaustive and revealing.
- By Colin Boreland on 30-04-2023
-
Can't Buy Me Love
- By: Jonathan Gould
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 29 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly 20 years in the making, Can't Buy Me Love is a masterful work of group biography, cultural history, and musical criticism. That the Beatles were an unprecedented phenomenon is a given. Here Jonathan Gould seeks to explain why, placing the Fab Four in the broad and tumultuous panorama of their time and place, rooting their story in the social context that girded both their rise and their demise.
-
-
My only regret is reaching the end!
- By Anonymous User on 18-11-2021
-
Come as You Are
- The Story of Nirvana
- By: Michael Azerrad
- Narrated by: Kurt Loder, Michael Azerrad
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nirvana came out of nowhere in 1991 to sell nearly five million copies of their landmark album Nevermind, whose thunderous sound and indelible melodies embodied all the confusion, frustration, and passion of the emerging Generation X.
-
-
Great insight into a great band
- By Anonymous User on 14-07-2023
-
Fortunate Son
- My Life, My Music
- By: John Fogerty
- Narrated by: John Fogerty
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Creedence Clearwater Revival is one of the most important and beloved bands in the history of rock, and John Fogerty wrote, sang, and produced their instantly recognizable classics: "Proud Mary", "Bad Moon Rising", "Born on the Bayou", and more. Now he reveals how he brought CCR to number one in the world, eclipsing even the Beatles in 1969. By the next year, though, Creedence was falling apart; their amazing, enduring success exploded and faded in just a few short years.
-
-
Bitter Son
- By michael j willis on 21-07-2023
-
Paul McCartney in His Own Words
- By: Sir Paul McCartney
- Narrated by: Paul McCartney
- Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In interviews ranging from 1968 to 2009, Paul McCartney talks about touring the UK with Wings (which was then a new band), a mid-'70s offer to re-form the Beatles, the early days of the Beatles and their final break-up. He also discusses his solo albums, receiving the freedom of the City of Liverpool, Christmas with his family, his love of music and his career since the break-up of the Beatles up to 2009.
-
Born to Run
- By: Bruce Springsteen
- Narrated by: Bruce Springsteen
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl's halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That's how this extraordinary autobiography began. Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to this audio the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs.
-
-
Not just for fans
- By Lori on 20-03-2017
-
High Voltage
- The Life of Angus Young - AC/DC's Last Man Standing
- By: Jeff Apter
- Narrated by: John Derum
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first biography to focus exclusively on Angus Young - from his remarkable rise from working-class Glasgow and Sydney to the biggest stages in the world. Angus Young, the cofounder and the last remaining original member of AC/DC, has for more than 40 years been the face, the sound and sometimes the exposed backside of the trailblazing rock band.
-
-
For Those About To Listen…..
- By Paul on 06-12-2022
Publisher's Summary
The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations.
What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had.
What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.
In Uncommon People, David Hepworth zeroes in on defining moments and turning points in the lives of 40 rock stars from 1955 to 1995, taking us on a journey to burst 100 myths and create 100 more. As this tribe of uniquely motivated nobodies went about turning themselves into the ultimate somebodies, they also shaped us, our real lives and our fantasies. Uncommon People isn't just their story. It's ours as well.
More from the same
What listeners say about Uncommon People
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 25-02-2024
fascinating walk through rock music's eras
delivered with wit abd knowledge, this was a wonderfully informative wander through rock from the fifties to the early nineties in short chapters.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 27-02-2022
A perspective to cherish
This is an awesome book, with a great theme, interesting glimpses into rock n roll legend and some of the best characters of all time. It’s thought provoking for the aspiring creative, and sheds light on the trials and tribulations of stage performers. The messages transfer into everyone’s lives in some way or another, even if you’re not famous nor devoted to the rock n roll dream.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David
- 06-06-2019
Elegy for an era
Excellent and insightful. Good narration by author. A reminder of how we grew up , or not, on music.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jim Parker
- 12-01-2018
Endearingly Cynical Boomer Take on Rock Era
Anyone who grew up with rock music (particularly those of born between about 1950 and 1965) will adore this funny, acerbic, yet affectionate telling of the era of the rock star, starting from Little Richard in the mid-50s to Kurt Cobain in the early ‘90s. The writer, veteran UK rock journalist David Hepworth, is perfectly placed to tell the story, having had a Zelig-like presence at so many of the key moments described within. Each chapter covers a year at a time from 1955-1995, each focusing on one star at a pivotal point in their careers - whether on the up or on the long slide down. In each vignette, Hepworth takes one point in time to extrapolate out to the bigger themes of the book - the obsessive, highly insecure, hugely ambitious nature of the ‘rock star’ and the unbearable expectations we placed on them. There are some monsters in this book (the Led Zeppelin machine), some pathetically sad and lonely people (Cobain) and some outright psychopaths (Keith Moon). But as Hepworth says, that was how it had to be. That was why they were there and we are here. If you were only to read one book about the now long gone ‘rock era’, make it this one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Linda Humphreys
- 08-01-2021
great trip through contemporary music
a must read/listen for those who lived through any of this period
and 20 somethings music lovers
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!