Paul Gorman

Nick Logan

The Story Of The Face: In conversation with Magculture’s Jeremy Leslie + the legend Nick Logan at Central Saint Martins on November 16

To mark the publication of my new book about The Face,  I will be in conversation at London’s Central Saint Martins on November 16 with Magculture’s Jeremy Leslie and the magazine’s founder/editor/publisher Nick Logan.

//Logan in Soho last week. In this area he ran The Face as a one-man band from offices in Carnaby Street (1980-81) and Broadwick Street (1981-82)//

This event represents a chance not just to hear from Leslie, whose shop is the country’s leading independent magazine hub, but also a rare opportunity to witness Logan – in my book (literally) the most important figure in post war British magazine publishing – talk about the magazine that changed culture.

Tickets are £10; all proceeds go to the Alzheimers Society.

Details and tickets from Magculture here.

The Story Of The Face: The Magazine That Changed Culture is published on the same day, November 16. You may order copies here.

Revenge of the suburbs: David Bowie fans shine in doc about the 1983 Milton Keynes Bowl gigs

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//Members of the audience from Edinburgh who preferred Australian support act Icehouse to Bowie//

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Fittingly Britain’s most surprising rock star has found his way to Britain’s newest and most surprising city, where high tech meets ecologic, where concrete meets conservation, where the silicon chip meets the fibreglass rod…

Steve Taylor, South Of Watford, Summer 1983, London Weekend Television

While putting the finishing touches to my forthcoming book about The Face magazine, I followed a line of research which lead me to an excellent documentary about the late David Bowie which I hadn’t seen since it was screened in 1983.

Shown as part of London’s regional broadcaster LWT’s South Of Watford strand, the film focused on Bowie’s immersion in the mainstream with the Let’s Dance LP and companion Serious Moonlight tour (sponsored by Levi’s in a groundbreaking marketing deal, this inaugurated the era of corporate and branded live music events).

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The doc’s point of entry was Bowie’s weekend of sold-out gigs that summer at Milton Keynes Bowl, the open-air arena in Britain’s newest city north of London in the Buckinghamshire countryside.

Continue reading Revenge of the suburbs: David Bowie fans shine in doc about the 1983 Milton Keynes Bowl gigs

Sheila Rock: Early fashion styling captured the development of British menswear in the 70s

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//Phil Lynott, styling Sheila Rock, photography Mick Rock, Club International, October 1973//
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//The Gentlemen At Number Ten, styling Sheila Rock, photography David Parkinson, Club International, December 1973//

To celebrate the opening next week of a new exhibition of work by photographer Sheila Rock, here is a selection of her early fashion styling.

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Talking about Legacy: The story of The Face at ModMag 2016

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Apologies for not posting for a while; I am currently focusing energies on my book Legacy: The story of The Face, which is published by Thames & Hudson in autumn 2017.

Launched in 1980 by print publishing pioneer Nick Logan – the editor of the NME during its ’70s glory years, the man who also founded Smash Hits, Arena, Arena Homme Plus, Frank and Deluxe – The Face magazine brought the news on the dizzying developments of popular culture for two decades.

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Memories of Mick Farren: An entertaining afternoon in West Hollywood and a champagne-drenched night in Islington

//’Mick Passes Shirley, 1955′  Illustration for a feature about growing up in the 50s by Mick Farren, Club International 1975 by Hollyhead/NTA from an idea of George Hardie’s//

Growing up in London in the 60s and 70s with an interest in the counterculture, music and street politics meant that the shaggy-headed figure of Mick Farren loomed large on the landscape.
Continue reading Memories of Mick Farren: An entertaining afternoon in West Hollywood and a champagne-drenched night in Islington

Blokes Of Britain: Chris Salewicz

//Author image for US edition of Bob Marley: The Untold Story, 2009. Photo: Grzegorz Lepiarz.//

NAME: Chris Salewicz

RESIDES: London

OCCUPATION: Writer

Chris Salewicz is a neighbour and friend. My admiration for his work harks back more than three decades, when his words shone from the pages of the NME.

As detailed by In Their Own Write, this was no mean feat since Salewicz was part of the formidable team whose members included (deep breath): Max Bell, Angie Errigo, Pete Erskine, Mick Farren, Chrissie Hynde, Nick Kent, Nick Logan, Ian MacDonald, Kate Phillips, Charles Shaar Murray, Neil Spencer, Tony Tyler…

Now Salewicz deals in big subjects as an author, broadcaster and film-maker: his Strummer and Marley books capture the definitive portraits of these imposing figures, while involvement in such ventures as the documentary Beats Of Freedom denotes a mature reflection on his Polish roots.

In addition, Salewicz’s role as an aide-de-camp in Mick Jones’ ongoing Rock & Roll Public Library project betrays the highly attuned visual sensibilities conveyed in these, his answers to the Blokes Of Britain Questionnaire:

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Blessed & Blasted: The 1980 Face Show. 01.1981


As explored in In Their Own Write, the most important creative in the development of British print media in the latter half of the 20th Century was Nick Logan. Arguably his greatest contribution was via the launch of The Face in 1980.

This year-end review – “123 things to remember 1980 by” – was featured in issue 9, published 30 years ago.

Adopting the technique applied at Harpers & Queen by the magazine’s poster boy Peter York – who appears in this issue in three separate articles due to the recent publication of his tone-setting Style Wars – The 1980 Face Show inaugurated the lifestyle list-culture which dominates global media to this day.

It’s as fascinating for who it promulgated – who can remember the name of Bad Manners’ lead singer now? – as for that which it found hard to define.

Continue reading Blessed & Blasted: The 1980 Face Show. 01.1981