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Mark Paytress

Mark Paytress is a journalist, author and broadcaster. A regular contributor to MOJO magazine, his work has also appeared in numerous publications including The Guardian, Radio Times, Q, Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy, Maxim, La Repubblica and Record Collector.

His books include Bolan: The Rise & Fall Of A 20th Century Superstar (Omnibus Press), Break It Up: Patti Smith’s Horses And The Remaking Of Rock’n’Roll (Piatkus), I Was There: The Gigs That Changed The World (Cassell), BowieStyle (Omnibus Press), The Rolling Stones Files (Quadrillion), The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars (Schirmer), Siouxsie & The Banshees: The Authorised Biography, Vicious: The Art Of Dying Young and critical guides to the work of The Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Nirvana and the Sex Pistols.

Mark has contributed to various television and radio programmes (Night Waves, Front Row), and in winter 2008/09, researched and presented two documentaries for BBC Radio 4, Here’s Kenny (about DJ Kenny Everett) and Stash: The Dandy Aesthete Of Swinging London.


“What I said was Britain was ready for another Hitler, which is quite a different thing to saying it needs another Hitler. I stand by that opinion - in fact I was ahead of my time in voicing it. There are in Britain right now parallels with the rise of the Nazi Party in pre-war Germany. A demoralised nation whose empire had disintegrated." Two years later, Margaret Thatcher was elected.- Quoting David Bowie from 1977”
Mark Paytress
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“Bowie is less about trappings and more about the traps that seek to limit human potential.”
Mark Paytress
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