Stuart Bailie is an NME veteran, a music journalist and author from Belfast. He has rolled with Tom Waits and Shane MacGowan. He has encountered Nina Simone, Björk, Sinéad O’Connor and Dave Grohl. This is his collection of stories and original articles – 40 years of insights and shenanigans, a record of fast times in popular culture.
He charts the rise of Radiohead and messy times with Oasis. There is road fever with Primal Scream and U2. The Manic Street Preachers suffer pain and achieve transcendence. Stuart documents a passing era of access and friction, critique and acclaim. The Song is Nearly Over is a requiem and an action replay.
“Bailie writes with tremendous skill and authority” – The Quietus
‘You need a f**king slapping’ – Paul Weller
Stuart was generous enough to contribute to this very blog previously with his Clothes We Were Wearing section – absolutely worth a look / read!
Here he is, in New York with the Pogues, 1987.
‘I’m in Times Square, outside the Bond Building where the Clash had played their 17 gigs in 1981. Rocking the MA-1 jacket and paperboy cap. Levis with the red selvedge stitching – as recommended by Robert Elms in the Face. Around this time I got some suede ‘Bullit’ shoes from John Simons in Covent Garden, but I was never mistaken for Steve McQueen.’
I’ve just started to read ‘The Song Is Nearly Over’, and it’s wonderful – even the introduction is fabulous. The Oasis vs Blur story ended for Stuart in Belfast, 2002 – here’s a snippet – buy the book to get the full account!
‘I was being booed by 9,000 Oasis fans and bullied by the Gallagher brothers. ‘Take your camera,’ said Noel, ‘and fuck off.’ So I took my camera. And I fucked off.’
Buy the brilliant, ‘The Song Is Nearly Over’ via Stuart’s Bandcamp page.
Indie Through The Looking Glass 