For years, when people would ask me was there a book I really wanted to write, I would make some vague noise about my ‘slim volume of difficult modern verse’ or such, but really one non-fiction project simmered somewhere in the back of my consciousness: a readable one-volume history of British pop that would eschew the usual worthiness; that would be as much about  the Bay City Rollers, Larry Parnes, Kylie, the Bee Gees and heavy metal as it would be about the sanctioned corpus of rock that gets handed down through those earnest retrospectives in the rock mags.

 

It would be little to do with Nick Drake and more to do with Nic Rhodes. It would celebrate in all its wild plurality the silly, beautiful, rich story of pop and the British people.

 

 

I didn't expect to get the chance to write that book though for many years to come. There were other books that would come first, like a sequel to Pies And Prejudice. But then Bob Shennan, the fine and noble controller of Radio 2 and 6 Music, asked me to write and present a landmark documentary series on the history of pop. Instantly and cheekily, I asked him could I focus and sharpen that idea into something closer to my heart; a history of post war Britain told through pop singles; pop singles in all their dizzy, daft, dazzling glory, and how the British pop charts reflected the times they existed in. Instantly I knew that this would be a very different pop history than the ones I'd read before, one about the times, their politics, their flavour and their people, rather than makes of guitar or recording dates. And I knew that there should be an accompanying book, THAT book I had always wanted to write: an authored narrative where I could stretch out and give my thought and theories about what pop means and why it means so much to us in this country.

 

After a long winter of late nights and burning the midnight oil, that book came out this week. It's my first hardback, you could stun an ox with it and I am very, very chuffed and proud. I hope you enjoy it. 

 

The People’s Songs: The Story of Modern Britain in 50 Records by Stuart Maconie  is published by Ebury Press - find more information on the Random House site.

 

Each show is also available to buy a week after its first broadcast on Radio 2. If an episode is available, you'll see a link labelled 'Buy Online' on its page. Click through to download an MP3 from the providers listed. Alternatively, you'll find a link to a list of all episodes which are available to buy on The People's Songs homepage.

 

You can transfer MP3 files to most mobile or portable devices and listen on the move, wherever and whenever suits you.

 

Please note - the MP3 downloads will not include all of the music that you hear in the full programme, because of rights restrictions. Some songs will be shortened or removed.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch at thepeoplessongs@bbc.co.uk