How Soon is Now?

The Madmen and Mavericks Who Made Independent Music 1975–2005

Sunday Times Music Book of the Year 2012

Published 2012

‘King’s history of the British independent music business is beautifully researched, and unafraid to display a deep love of its subject on every page. Backroom labels such as Factory, 4AD and Rough Trade explode into global businesses as their signings – the Cocteau Twins, New Order and the Smiths – become troubled, troublesome and unwitting stars. Exhaustive and reflective, this is the definitive work on one of Britain’s great artistic booms.’ Sunday Times Music Book of the Year

‘If you look at all the people involved – Ivo, Tony Wilson, McGee, Geoff Travis, myself – nobody had a clue about running a record company, and that was the best thing about it.’ Daniel Miller, Mute Records

One of the most tangible aftershocks of punk was its prompt to individuals: do it yourself. A generation was inspired, and often with no planning or business sense, in bedrooms, record-shop back offices and sheds, labels such as Factory, Rough Trade, Mute, Beggars Banquet, 4AD, Creation, Warp and Domino began. From humble beginnings, some of the most influential artists were allowed to thrive: Orange Juice, New Order, Depeche Mode, Happy Mondays, The Smiths, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Aphex Twin, Teenage Fanclub, The Arctic Monkeys. How Soon Is Now? is a landmark survey of the artists, the labels, and the mavericks behind them who had the vision and bloody-mindedness to turn the music world on its head.

‘Illuminating interviews from many of the main players, from Travis to McGee to the Smiths’ Johnny Marr. [King’s] tone is balanced, his prose penetrating, his coverage comprehensive.’ The Times   

‘How did independent music, defined by an economic relation, become ‘indie’, defined by trouser width and relatively antiquated instrumentation? It’s this tension, and that between the dreamy, ideological or unhinged motivations of these reluctant entrepreneurs and the capitalism they had to coexist with (or ‘succeed’ in) that makes this both a timely and tragic book… The narrative of connections and networks is told with a sharp eye for historical detail, lurid anecdote and non-metropolitan geography.’ Wire

‘How Soon is Now? traces a confident line from indie’s first stirrings in the mid-‘70s though to Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’, the subculture’s last million-seller under the original analogue rules in 2005. Author Richard King is an insider; he’s worked at Domino Records for 15 years… this lends his fluent and intuitively organised chronicle a cool authority, and places us right there in the shopfloor.’ Word

‘The story of a generation of blokes with a stubborn kind of honesty and some great ideas… Throughout is a rather cheering distaste for business; as Beggars’ Martin puts it: “If you’re doing this and you haven’t got money problems, you’re doing something wrong.”’ Mojo

‘An exhaustive chronicle of the labels that drove independent music for 30 years, Richard King’s prodigiously researched book includes everything one could wish to know about the mayhem, rebellion and anti-corporate idealism of indie culture. While there are colourful anecdotes about artists of variable talent – the Smiths, New Order, Sonic Youth, the Jazz Defektors – it’s the eccentrics, misfits and sociopaths operating behind the scenes who take centre stage… It certainly shatters the ‘us versus them’ illusion of the indie scene as one big happy family, as grievances fester, drug-assisted mistakes pile up and disillusionment takes its toll… Both an inspiration and a cautionary tale.’ Observer

‘Richard King’s exhaustively researched labour of love, How Soon is Now? offers a history that runs parallel to the works of these totemic acts, ushering forward the dreamers and chancers who took advantage of the fissures opened up by punk to create a new paradigm for the production and distribution of music. Their story is long overdue… this is a funny, lively and inspiring history.’ Time Out

‘King successfully captures the chaos that underpinned the independent sector… How Soon is Now? is as much about the financial mis-management, rampant egos and petty rivalry that was the independent experiment as its many triumphs… Any young entrepreneur looking to get a foothold in the music business would be wise to consult this book before taking the plunge.’ Independent

‘King’s book has huge fun with the story of all this. He has a range of larger-than-life characters to present before us and he details their failings and foibles with relish.’ Herald

‘This remarkable and hugely enjoyable history of the British independent music scene over the past 30 years reveals a much more diverse, influential and successful picture… Richard King does an amazing job of portraying the ramshackle yet exhilarating vibe of the times. The label staff and bosses were just as into the excesses of rock ‘n’ roll as the bands, and the amount of drugs consumed within these pages is mind-boggling, something else which probably didn’t help those precarious balance sheets. King has extracted interviews from all the major players and orchestrated a shambolic and chaotic world into a coherent and compelling historical narrative. If only all music books were this good.’ Scotsman