Walls Come Tumbling Down charts the pivotal period between 1976 and 1992 that saw politics and pop music come together for the first time in Britain’s musical history; musicians and their fans suddenly became instigators of social change, and ‘the political persuasion of musicians was as important as the songs they sang’. Through the voices of campaigners, musicians, artists and politicians, Daniel Rachel follows the rise and fall of three key movements of the time: Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone, and Red Wedge, revealing how they all shaped, and were shaped by, the music of a generation. Composed of interviews with over a hundred and fifty of the key players at the time, Walls Come Tumbling Down is a fascinating, polyphonic and authoritative account of those crucial sixteen years in Britain’s history.

The Guardian Review

Reviews
A triumphant oral history of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge . . . a tale of resistance: first, against a surge of racism and bigotry that an inspired group of activists and musicians played a key role in rolling back; and then against a government, as the same spirit of defiance quickly resurfaced in opposition to the social revolutions of Thatcherism . . . a vivid portrait. Guardian

Charts punk, 2 Tone and then Red Wedge’s subsequent battle for a multicultural Britain in a brilliant account of the period. Q Magazine

By the Eighties rock had grown a conscience, and Walls Come Tumbling Down, charts how, in the late Seventies and Eighties, musicians became engaged in struggled surrounding race, gender, sexuality and class. Choice

This incredible oral history tells the movement’s story plus the rise of 2 Tone and Red Wedge, through a phenomenal range of voices – Billy Bragg, Jerry Dammers, Rhoda Dakar, Pauline Black et all all provide great insight. Mojo

Format Paperback | 592 pages
Dimensions 20 x 13 x 5 cm | 1000 gramm
Publisher Picador
Language English
ISBN 9781447272694