Too Late To Stop Now: More Rock ’n’ Roll War Stories

In 1974, award-winning British music journalist Jones applied for a music press job at Melody Maker (MM), telling the magazine that it “needs a bullet up the arse. I’m the gun, pull the trigger.” He was hired and became editor in 1984. In 1997, he launched Uncut magazine and used his column “Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before” to tell stories from his time as a rock reporter. In 2017, his first book, Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down, collected 80 of those stories, and 50 more are collected here. And such stories! In his time at MM, Jones interviewed key figures, such as Elton John, Elvis Costello, Sting, Bryan Ferry, Nick Lowe, and Elmore Leonard. The best chapters, required reading really, are those discussing the Velvet Underground and the Clash. Jones has a remarkable memory, all the more so since he seems to have spent at least as much time drinking and drugging as his subjects. In hotels, on the road, backstage, and on the bus, Jones documented the moments that count.