Paper Cuts
How I Destroyed the British Music Press and Other Misadventures
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Narrated by:
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Ted Kessler
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By:
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Ted Kessler
About this listen
Paper Cuts is the inside story of the slow death of the British music press. But it's also a love letter to it, the tale of how music magazines saved one man's life. Ted Kessler left home and school around his seventeenth birthday, determined 'to be someone who listened to music professionally'. Paper Cuts tells how Kessler found redemption through music and writing and takes us on a journey alongside the stars he interviewed and the work-place dramas he navigated as a senior staffer at NME through the boom-time '90s and on to the monthly Q in 2004, where he worked for sixteen years before it folded with him at its helm as editor in 2020.
We travel in time alongside musical heroes Paul Weller, Kevin Rowland, Mark E Smith, and to Cuba twice, first with Shaun Ryder and Bez, then with Manic Street Preachers. We spend long, mad nights out with Oasis and The Strokes, quality time with Jeff Buckley and Florence Welch, and watch Radiohead deliver cold revenge upon Kessler in public. A story about love and death, about what it's like when a music writer shacks up with a conflict of interest, and what happens when your younger brother starts appearing on the cover of the magazines you work for, this is the memoir of "a delinquent doofus" whose life was both rescued and defined by music magazines.
©2022 Ted Kessler (P)2022 White RabbitCritic reviews
"A great writer." (Paul Weller)
"A music journalist of integrity." (Billy Childish)
"There's only one Ted Kessler!" (Liam Gallagher)
What listeners say about Paper Cuts
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- Anonymous User
- 05-07-23
A rip-roarer
Beautifully written, beautifully narrated. A descriptively brilliant and laugh-out-loud funny account of not just the demise of the music press but many other aspects of journalism too. This book should be considered as much a rip-roaring memoir as a warning shot across the bows of vast media companies navigating a digital world.
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- Jonathan H
- 02-11-23
Thoroughly enjoyable listen.
I think I’ve found my favourite type of audio book. A fun filled autobiographical piece such as this. An insightful journey into young Ted, and the trials & tribulations of the forever punishing music industry. Bravo sir.
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- @fflic
- 18-08-22
The story of the music industry and music journalism over the last 30 years
A compelling, poignant and often hilarious tale. The stories of The Fall, Mondays, Manics and Radiohead are incredible
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- Evs_Dubai
- 25-01-23
Wonderful
A wonderful story, brilliantly read by Ted in his soft tones. Anyone with an interest in music or the music press will love this.
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- gareth maloney
- 04-01-24
A trip down memory lane
Great story with real emotion & conviction in the writing
If you’re of a certain mindset & age this is too good.
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- Amazon Customer
- 26-09-22
So good to reconnect with a voice from my youth.
Not only a brilliant description of the British music press of the 80s to present day, but a heartfelt evocation of what it meant to be a kid for whom music and clothes meant everything.
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- Anguish
- 17-08-22
What a fantastic story
So hard to put down rather stop listening what incredible journey the author has been on it’s almost as like you were there alongside him listening to the tales from beginning to end. My favourite audiobook in a very long time
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- Lord Emsworth
- 21-01-23
Adventures in music
Ted’s autobiography with a particular focus on the demise of the written music press in the early 21st century. Really enjoyable and illuminating for a music obsessive
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- Amazon Customer
- 17-09-22
A great look at life behind the music industry
Ted’s detailed and candid look at life behind the scenes in the music industry is an enthralling tale of struggle, determination and sheer passion for music. A great listen!
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- Jay Love
- 26-05-23
Brilliant
Ted’s stories and delivery are amazing. I read all of the magazines he wrote for in the 90s and 2000s so couldn’t get enough. There are words he sometimes stumbles over. I loved that these weren’t re-recorded. It gave it a real human touch and I felt like we were in the same room with him telling stories rather than reading an expensively produced work. Hope this doesn’t come across as a back handed compliment. I loved it. Will probably start it again soon.
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