‘Just Backdated – Melody Maker: Seven Years in the Seventies’ Book Published
by Best Classic Bands Staff
A veteran journalist for the U.K.’s best-selling music weekly has written his memoir about the era that he covered. Just Backdated – Melody Maker: Seven Years in the Seventies, comes from Chris Charlesworth who, between 1970 and 1977, was at Melody Maker in an era when rock stars fell over themselves to appear in its pages. It arrived in the U.S. on August 30, 2024, via Spenwood Books, where it’s available here. It’ll be published on September 27 in the U.K., where it’s available for pre-order here.
Initially the paper’s News Editor, Charlesworth was for four years the publication’s U.S. editor, based in New York, a unique position in music journalism, and in that time regularly rubbed shoulders with rock’s most iconic heroes.
From the publisher’s announcement: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Elton John and dozens more found themselves face to face with Charlesworth. He went on tour in America with The Who, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and many others. He was at 27 concerts by the original Who, often backstage or onstage. Somewhere above Colorado he took the controls of Led Zeppelin’s private plane. He saw an unknown Elton John at a disastrous festival in 1970 and predicted he would become a world star. He ambushed Pink Floyd in Glasgow and chased Bob Dylan in New England.
“I never felt closer to The Who than I did in New York in June [1974],” Charlesworth writes. “I tried to maintain my neutrality with them but I admired them so much, both as a group and as individuals that becoming close to them was somehow important to me and, of course, it helped me get the hot Who scoops for Melody Maker.
“They were bound together musically but not socially. [And] they were not as rich as the world imagined them to be. To survive, they needed to work, performing live as often as possible, perfecting the show and pocketing the fees they could command. This had the additional benefit of making them the greatest live band in the world.”
Charlesworth watched Bruce Springsteen in Norfolk, Virginia, and acclaimed his flair 18 months before Born To Run was released. He was the first music writer to write about the nascent CBGBs scene in New York, introducing MM readers to Debbie Harry long before she became a household name. He identified Slade as future stars a year before they had their first hit single. His only regret was never seeing Elvis.
Charlesworth says: “Looking back now, from the perspective of the 21st century, what I did and who I met between 1970 and 1977 seems unreal, a fantasy. Unlike the tightly controlled situation we have today, it was access all areas for rock writers in those years. Perhaps John Lennon’s tragic murder was to blame for that tight control. John tops the list of those I hung out with, along with The Who, Led Zep, Bowie and many more, but my memoir does not name-drop for name-dropping’s sake, just tells it how it was when I was lucky enough to be slap band in the middle of it all.”
Author Chris Charlesworth (at R) with Faces’ Ian McLagan (L) at Kenney Jones (Photo: Richard Creamer; used with permission of publisher)
Just Backdated – Melody Maker: Seven Years in the Seventies , which takes its title from a lyric from The Who’s 1966 single, “Substitute,” is Illustrated with selected photographs by celebrated rock photographers Bob Gruen and Barrie Wentzell. Charlesworth later become the managing director of Omnibus Books, Britain’s biggest music book publisher, a role he held for over 30 years.
Related: Our feature on 1973—The Year in Music
1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationI remember that time period of Melody Maker well, particularly 1974-1977 when I began reading it regularly (though it was hard to find newsstand copies here in the US). At the time, the biggest star featured in the magazine was Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, virtually unknown here but huge in the UK. But it was MM that introduced me to Robert Wyatt, Henry Cow, Gong and Hatfield and the North, the leading names in the post-Canterbury avant-rock movement – all on Virgin Records, who had debuted with Tubular Bells the year before. All this was just before the Sex Pistols, the Clash and other “punk” bands became all the rage. While the state of rock at the time seemed to be at an all-time low, Melody Maker gave me hope for its future.
Oh, and amongst all the scorn on the part of most of the rock press for progressive rock, it was Chris Welch of MM who steadfastly supported it, singing the praises of Yes among others.