Oceans apart, down low, far from the world's music-making epicentres and dangling on the edge of the world is a country - Australia - that throws up music unlike anyplace else...Nor has there been a book like this before. This book explores the culture and the story of rock (and pop) in Australia via 34 essays that get to the heart of the matter - the sounds, the bands, fans, fun and other stuff that happened. Writers include many of Australia's finest authors and musicians, among them M.J. Hyland, Fiona McGregor, Clinton Walker, Jeff Jenkins, Toby Creswell, Stephen Cummings, Neil Murray, Malcolm Knox, Sophia Brous, Mick Harvey, and the late David McComb. For anyone who has soothed a smashed heart to the sound of "Wide Open Road", or played pass-the-parcel to "Can't Get You Out of My Head", here is a treasure trove of scoops - from sex lessons by Bon Scott and conversations with Chrissy Amphlett, to the whirlwind years of Ian 'Molly' Meldrum, Normie Rowe's ten months in London, and How Nick Cave Got Us Through Our Soviet Adolescence, this accessible, unillustrated and brilliantly written catalogue of musical moments presents a raw glimpse into our Rock and Pop history and culture. Who Was Keith Richards's Melbourne wife? What happened to Donnie Sutherland? Was Michael Hutchence happy? Christian Ryan's collection of the finest in music writing reveals all.