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Five of the best music books of 2024

From stories of queer artists reshaping the pop landscape to an insider’s view of Tupac and Biggie, the highlights of a tuneful year

Lighter in tone (the author’s witty, raised-eyebrow style marks him out as a teenage Smash Hits devotee) and narrower in scope than The Secret Public, Wade’s book nevertheless in effect picks up the story where Savage leaves off, identifying a year in which the British charts were unexpectedly flooded with gay artists – from Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Bronski Beat, Dead Or Alive and George Michael to a resurgent Elton John and Queen – even as the Aids crisis gathered pace. As he follows Lawrence to tiny gigs and on aimless perambulations about the London suburbs, listening to him retell his story, outline his plans for the future and endlessly bemoan his lot, Hodgkinson makes it clear he thinks he’s in the company of an ignored genius, but also shows his subject to be infuriating, solipsistic and self-sabotaging. Thompson’s first-hand description of the infamous 1995 Source awards, at which the east coast/west coast rivalry that would ultimately claim the lives of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls erupted – he found himself between the warring factions, shrinking into his seat as things turned ugly – is gripping, discomfiting and darkly comic.

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