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The weirdness of the pre-Beatles pop world

As his mental health declined, the record producer Joe Meek grew increasingly fascinated by the other-worldly, communing in graveyards with Buddy Holly and the Pharaoh Ramses the Great

1 March 2025

9:00 AM

1 March 2025

9:00 AM

Love and Fury: The Life, Death and Legend of Joe Meek Darryl W. Bullock

Omnibus Press, pp.384, 25

Quizzed about pop by the teen music magazine Smash Hits in 1987, the year of her third consecutive electoral victory, Margaret Thatcher singled out ‘Telstar’, a chart-topper from a quarter of a century earlier, for special praise. She pronounced it ‘a lovely song… I absolutely loved that. The Tornados, yes.

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