The Rise and Fall of the Secret Recording Industry

In the summer of 1969, Great White Wonder, a collection of unreleased Bob Dylan recordings appeared in Los Angeles. It was the first rock bootleg and it spawned an entire industry dedicated to making unofficial recordings available to true fans. Bringing the story bang up to date, Bootleg! tells the whole fascinating saga, from its underground infancy through the CD ‘protection gap’ era, when its legal status threatened the major labels’ monopoly to the recent explosion of trading via Napster and Gnutella on MP-3 files. Clinton Heylin provides a highly readable account of all the legal accounts, the busts, the defeats and victories in court and of the personalities – many interviewed for the first time for this book. Bootleg! is also a celebration of the music the bootleggers have put out. The stories behind the treasured bootlegs, the legendary labels like Swingin’ Pig, Trade Mark of Quality, Vigotone and their trademark covers.