Lately I've been rereading#

Sat 24 May 2003 02:39:02 PM UTC

Lately I've been rereading

• The Manual (How to have a Number One - the Easy Way). Summary: doesn't sound that easy, or, to be honest, a whole lot of fun. Good reading, though

  Firstly, it has to have a dance groove that will run all the way through the record and that the current 7" buying generation will find irresistible. Secondly, it must be no longer than three minutes and thirty seconds (just under 3'20 is preferable). If they are any longer Radio One daytime DJs will start fading early or talking over the end, when the chorus is finally being hammered home - the most important part of any record. Thirdly, it must consist of an intro, a verse, a chorus, second verse, a second chorus, a breakdown section, back into a double length chorus and outro. Fourthly, lyrics. You will need some, but not many.

  (The 'next'/'previous' links on that document are broken, yes. You have to edit the URL in the title bar to read beyond the first chapter)

• Black Vinyl, White Powder, although by dipping into it rather than reading through in sequence: some really interesting subject matter, which is lucky because most of the writing itself falls absolutely flat - with few exceptions

  Cliff's backing group, the Shadows, also became famous. Their speciality was to perform while walking with strange criss-cross steps as if they were trying to untangle their feet from a mike cable. Their influence was enormous. Within a year, every 16-year-old in Britain was capable of untangling his feet from a mike cable while playing the guitar and looking straight in front of him