Hope I Get Old Before I Die - by David Hepworth (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

When Paul McCartney closed Live Aid in July of 1985, we thought he was rock's Grand Old Man. He was forty-three years old. As the forty years since have shown, he--and many others of his generation--were just getting started.

This was the time when live performance took over from records. The big names of the '60s and '70s exploited the Age of Spectacle that Live Aid had ushered in to enjoy the longest lap of honor in the history of humanity, continuing to go strong long after everyone else in the business had retired.

This is a story without precedent, a story in which Elton John plays a royal funeral, Mick Jagger gets a knighthood, Bob Dylan picks up a Nobel Prize, The Beatles become, if anything, bigger than The Beatles, and it's beginning to look as though all of the above will, thanks in a large part to technology, be playing in Las Vegas forever.

Review Quotes

"A revealing and richly detailed look at rock's ongoing evolution."
--Publishers Weekly

"Hepworth is a genuinely great writer, with a winning turn of phrase"
-Guardian

"Reads like a series of rich, fast-paced and immensely funny short stories"
-The Oldie

"Offers solid insights into the compulsions and drives that keep bands reforming"
-Sunday Times

"May be his best yet...recommended to anyone for whom pop music means anything at all"
-Daily Mail

"The book is destined to become the go-to text on a subject we never thought we'd have to survey"
-Literary Review

"Fascinating stuff with great anecdotes"
-Sun

"Another triumph... Part whizz-bang storytelling, part social history, part forensic examination of an understudied phenomenon, the book is destined to become the go-to text on a subject we never thought we'd have to survey"
-Literary Review

Praise for Hepworth's Previous Titles:

"A substantive look at Abbey Road beyond the famous zebra-stripe crossing album cover. Hepworth traces the studio's technological trajectory from 78 shellacs and vinyl LPs to audiotapes, CDs, and streaming. On the management side of the industry, the book has much to say about George Martin, the producer, instrumentalist, and mentor to the Fab Four."
-Library Journal

"A sprightly history of the legendary recording studio. As veteran British music writer Hepworth notes in this well-researched overview, The Beatles titled their 1969 album Abbey Road not to mythologize the place (or its now-famous nearby crosswalk) but to honor its role as their humble workplace. Smart music writing, historically savvy without lapsing into easy nostalgia."
-Kirkus Reviews

"The research in Uncommon People is fantastic and its fascinating details will entertain even those who think they've read it all before . . . Hepworth's knowledge and enthusiasm for music makes it a hugely enjoyable and informative reflection on the days when rock ruled the world . . . It feels like one of those evenings when you sit with your friends and talk about the music you love. Uncommon People leaves you with the same companionable glow."
-Express (UK)

"David Hepworth [is] one of the best music writers around . . . Thoughtful and stylishly told tales."
-David Lister, iNews

"[A] wonderful portrait of rock stardom . . . Hepworth's writing is sublime."
-Daily Mail

"Vivid, irreverent prose and analytic insight distinguish the book from the legion of Boomer nostalgia titles."
-Publishers Weekly

"Hepworth brings rare perspicacity into the business machinations of the era, whose movers and shakers were, as he points out, often from a previous, less starry-eyed generation...Never a Dull Moment lives up to its title."
-The Guardian

"[An] expansive overview of the high-water mark of rock's album-oriented maturity....[Hepworth is] sharp and zingy....his mix of garrulousness and dry wit makes Never a Dull Moment a zip to read."
-NPR

About the Author