Johnny Rogan - Morrissey Marr: The Severed Alliance

Timeless Flight: The Definitive Biography Of The Byrds

Neil Young: Here We Are In The Years

Roxy Music: Style With Substance

Van Morrison: A Portrait Of The Artist

The Kinks: The Sound And The Fury

Wham! (Confidential) The Death Of A Supergroup

Starmakers & Svengalis: The History Of British Pop Management

The Football Managers

The Guinness Encyclopaedia Of Popular Music (co-ed.)

Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance

The Smiths: The Visual Documentary

The Complete Guide To The Music Of The Smiths & Morrissey/Marr

The Complete Guide To The Music Of Neil Young

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: The Visual Documentary

The Complete Guide To The Music Of John Lennon

The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited The Sequel

The Complete Guide To The Music Of The Kinks

Neil Young: Zero To Sixty: A Critical Biography

Van Morrison: No Surrender

Morrissey: The Albums

Lennon: The Albums

Byrds: Requiem For The Timeless, Volume 1

Anthology Contributions

The Bowie Companion

The Encyclopedia Of Popular Music

The Mojo Collection

Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography

Oxford Originals: An Anthology Of Writing From Lady Margaret Hall, 18792001

Copyright 2012 Johnny Rogan
This edition 2012 Omnibus Press
(A Division of Music Sales Limited, 14-15 Berners Street, London W1T 3LJ)

EISBN: 978-0-85712-782-2

The Author hereby asserts his / her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with Sections 77 to 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages.

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of the photographs in this book, but one or two were unreachable. We would be grateful if the photographers concerned would contact us.

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.

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what the critics said

A painstaking account highly sympathetic. Observer

A hugely readable and fascinating book. Flawlessly informed expertly laid out. Whatever there is, Rogans got it nailed. A superb achievement. *****Q

An essential purchase a painstaking and thorough investigation.

Irish Times

Number 1 Rock Book Of The Year: This biography demanded to be written. An irresistible and illuminating account of the most influential British band of the 80s, and a byword for diligent reporting and informed criticism. Vox

The most controversial book of the year tells as much about the Smiths as anyone can reasonably want to know Rogan has more than done his homework and treads a fine line between academic rigour and a breathless fandom. A major achievement. NME

Exhaustively researched and containing interesting and sensible readings of the songs. Sunday Times

A wonderful love story Rogan turns over lots of stones, digs deep, reads Morrisseys juvenilia and dares to question the mans motives, sources and opinions. A bloody marvellous book. Melody Maker

Mr Rogan is blessed with a brilliant mind. The research is exhaustive to the point of obsession. Quite superb. Manchester Evening News

The Severed Alliance has become an integral part of Morrisseys psychic self-torment, and thus an event of epic import. Billboard

Hugely entertaining It is a tribute to the enduring brilliance of their music that their story still holds fascination. It is also a tribute to Johnny Rogan, a writer of real integrity. Rogan records the end of the band sympathetically but without missing one spasm of hubris. A page-turner of the first degree Sunday Telegraph

Rogan is a rock biographers biographer. This guy is literally a method writer. Whats On In London

A typically thorough and ridiculously entertaining tome of the every-home-should-have-one variety. Rogan truly excels. Select

The Best Rock Biography Of 1992 Morrissey will be shaken and disturbed by Johnny Rogans brilliant account Rogans analysis has the suspense and character development of a classy detective yarn Excellently written with a novelists grasp of pace, The Severed Alliance is one of the classic rock books. Record Collector

Personally, I hope Johnny Rogan ends his days very soon in an M3 pile-up. Morrissey

There is a greater sense of veracity in this book than youll read in a thousand music press interviews Every descriptive sentence seems curiously relevant Morrisseys absurd and unwise anti-Rogan outburst is no more than a finger prod against the authors mighty wall of undeniable fact. City Life.

One of the best books about music ever written. Q*****

Though Morrissey has expressed the wish that Rogan dies Johnny Rogan can feel proud of himself. He has written what is certain to be the definitive book of The Smiths and though he is capable of flexing his critical muscles, a clear-eyed love for his subject suffuses every line.

Sunday Telegraph

JOHNNY ROGAN became a full-time author immediately after leaving university, following extensive postgraduate research on Spensers The Faerie Qveene. His back catalogue includes biographies/musical studies of Van Morrison, Neil Young, The Kinks, Roxy Music, John Lennon and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. He has worked extensively on The Byrds for most of his lifetime and was an active participant and writer in Sonys reissue series of the groups classic albums. The best-selling Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance (over 20 years in print, uninterrupted) was highly praised both in the broadsheets and rock press and received various music biography of the year awards. The much-respected, groundbreaking Starmakers & Svengalis: The History Of British Pop Management was adapted for a six-week BBC series. Van Morrison: No Surrender (Secker & Warburg) was included in The Sunday Times Top 10 books of the year. More recently, Rogan has been working on a multi-volume set on The Byrds. The 1,200-page Requiem For The Timeless, Volume 1 was issued at the end of 2011 to critical acclaim.

Obsessive in his devotion to particular projects, Rogan spends years writing and researching material. Since 1992, much has changed but, to this day, Rogan has never owned a credit card, operated a mobile phone, sent a text, downloaded a song, driven any licensed vehicle, owned a fridge freezer or dish washer, or taken out any health insurance. He still prefers to work through the night and one of his favourite pastimes is scouring supermarkets for reduced out of date food.