‘Document and Eyewitness is an essential purchase for anyone who was involved in or influence by the punk maelstrom of 1976, a riveting evocation of a period in musical history that becomes more important the further we get away from it. . . Taylor’s book is a joy’ Dylan Jones, Independent

Rough Trade is practically a byword for the history of independent music over the last fifty years. Document And Eyewitness: An Intimate History of Rough Trade tells the story from the inside of a phenomenally influential record label, through the voices of Geoff Travis, Jarvis Cocker, Robert Wyatt, Green Gartside and many more.

From the early records of Cabaret Voltaire, Kleenex and the Swell Maps, through to groundbreaking releases by The Fall, The Smiths and Scritti Pollitti, on through the collapse of the independent collective and the rebirth of Rough Trade at the turn of the century, this is the definitive, essential account for any serious music fan. This 2026 edition features brand new material by the author and a foreword from Smiths frontman, Morrissey.

Neil Taylor is a former publisher who worked for Secker & Warburg, Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Sinclair-Stevenson, amongst others. In the 1980s he worked for the NME, where he compiled the legendary C86 mix tape.