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Martin James
Prof. Martin James is professor of music industries at Solent University, where he is Creative & Digital Industries Post-Graduate Coordinator. His areas of specialist interest include music journalism and the UK & US music press, music memoir, social media and identity, late twentieth-century alternative music, specifically punk, post-punk and electronic music. He co-authored Understanding the Music Industries (Sage, 2103) and has contributed articles to publications including Popular Music and Celebrity Studies. He has also contributed chapters to Oblique Music (Continuum 2016) and Working for the Clampdown: The Clash, the Dawn of Neoliberalism and the Political Promise of Punk (Manchester: Manchester University Press, in press). His doctoral thesis entitled ‘Versioning Histories and Genres’ was an investigation of his definitive work on drum & bass and French Touch. Prior to becoming a lecturer in 2004, Martin was an internationally published music critic who worked on the editorial teams of some of the UK’s leading music magazines, including Melody Maker and Vox. He also regularly contributed to numerous music and lifestyle magazines throughout the world, and UK daily broadsheet newspapers including The Guardian, The Independent and The Independent on Sunday. He has also written several critically acclaimed books about music, including French Connections: From Discotheque to Discovery (Sanctuary Publishing, 2003) and State of Bass: Jungle – The Story So Far (Boxtree, 1997). His books have been licensed to fourteen counties. The first band Martin James saw was Pink Floyd – he was bored. Soon after he saw the Sex Pistols – he was inspired to form a band, start writing for a fanzine and follow the Clash. He was 14.