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Men of a Certain Age

My Encounters with Rock Royalty: 'Unmissable', Guardian
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( 55 ratings, 11 reviews)
Brief Description
From Jeff Beck to Ray Davies, Jon Bon Jovi to Kevin Ayers, Kate Mossman has long fostered an interest in male musicians of a certain age. Why is it that when I meet them, I feel something ignite inside me? What is this strange connection -... Read More
Format: Hardback
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An exploration of the allure of the ageing male rockstar by one of the UK's greatest music writers.

An exploration of the allure of the ageing male rockstar by one of the UK's greatest music writers.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

From Jeff Beck to Ray Davies, Jon Bon Jovi to Kevin Ayers, Kate Mossman has long fostered an interest in male musicians of a certain age.

Why is it that when I meet them, I feel something ignite inside me? What is this strange connection - to feel so excited, yet so at ease? And how is it that in the presence of a wrinkly rock star twice my age, I sometimes feel like I'm meeting... me?

Featuring nineteen long-form profiles lovingly constructed for The Word magazine and the New Statesman, Men of a Certain Age chronicles the lives of some of the biggest rock stars of our time, including Brian May, Gene Simmons, Terence Trent D'Arby, Johnny Rotten and Nick Cave.

The book is a meditation on the powerful archetype of the ageing rock star, but it is also a personal story - of music and obsession, and of the deep unconscious projections at play in our relationships with the famous people who most capture our hearts. As Kate travels 5,000 miles to try and find Glen Campbell, and to the depths of the Cornish countryside for a rendezvous with Roger Taylor, will she finally unravel the roots of her obsession with the elder statesmen of rock?

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781788705646

Publisher: Bonnier Books Ltd

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 03 April 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Nine Eight Books

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 32.0mm

Width: 165.0mm

Height: 245.0mm

Weight: 554g

Pages: 352

About the Author

Kate Mossman is a writer, presenter and broadcaster who has been writing extensively about music and musicians since she started her career working with Mark Ellen and David Hepworth at Word magazine in 2008.

She is the writer and presenter of BBC4 documentaries Girl in A Band (2016), When Pop Ruled My Life (2015) and The Women Who Wrote Rock for Radio 4.

She currently writes for Guardian, Observer and is arts editor for the New Statesman. She lives in London.

Men of a Certain Age is Kate's long-anticipated debut book.

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