David William Laing (9 January 1947 – 7 January 2019) was an English writer, editor, and broadcaster, specialising in the history and development of pop and

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

. He was a research fellow at the universities of

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Biography

Laing was born in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, and attended

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The s ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, where he joined his first band. He began studies at

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The colle ...

, but left in 1967 without graduating and moved to London. He started writing music articles and his first book, ''The Sound of Our Time'' (1970), while working in clerical jobs. He then took a degree in English and sociology at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

, where he met fellow writer Phil Hardy. Laing also worked with

Val Wilmer Valerie Sybil Wilmer (born 7 December 1941) is a British photographer and writer specialising in jazz, gospel, blues, and British African-Caribbean music and culture. Her notable books include ''Jazz People'' (1970) and ''As Serious As Your Life ...

on an unpublished history of

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

communities. In 1971 he published one of the first extended analyses of a pop musician's recordings, ''Buddy Holly''. At the suggestion of writer Charlie Gillett, Laing became editor of the monthly British music magazine '' Let It Rock'', from October 1972 to October 1973. His other books include ''The Electric Muse: the story of Folk into Rock'' (with Karl Dallas, Robin Denselow and Robert Shelton, 1975), and ''One Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock'' (1985). In the mid-1970s Laing was co-editor of one of the first reference books on rock music, ''The Encyclopedia of Rock''. In 1978 he published ''The Marxist Theory of Art'', written after moving to

Hebden Bridge Hebden Bridge is a market town in the Calderdale district of West Yorkshire, England. It is in the Upper Calder Valley, west of Halifax and 14 miles (21 km) north-east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the Hebden W ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. Laing co-authored, with Phil Hardy, ''The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music'' (1995), and co-wrote, with Sarah Davis, ''The Guerrilla Guide to the Music Business'' (2001). Laing was an editor of the ''Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World''. He also wrote widely in music magazines and newspapers, including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. As of 2016, he was the managing editor of the journal ''Popular Music History'' and co-editor of the ''Icons of Pop Music'' book series. Laing died of cancer on 7 January 2019, at the age of 71.

References

1947 births 2019 deaths Alumni of the University of Sussex English male journalists English music historians English writers about music People educated at King's College School, London People from Royal Tunbridge Wells Writers from Kent Place of birth missing {{England-writer-stub