Morrish quotes Motown boss Berry Gordy's market research: "Would you buy this record for a dollar or would you buy a sandwich?" he'd ask company minions. Many preferred food, concludes our scribe, revealing that it took 68 attempts to get "Love Child" released. (P28)

Onward to an even stranger story of personal tastes as little Andy Taylor, in post-party wide-eyed state, answers the best-gig-you've-seen-lately question. "I went to see Yes in Madison Square Gardens... I was absolutely blown away." (P48)

And blow me if Andrew Bodnar, expounding on The Place Of The Bass Amp In Modern Culture, doesn't give away the Real Motive: "Throbbing energy and mass-communication with people's sweating bodies. Own up. It's damn good fun!" (P60)

It must be fun being an Artists & Repertoire operative in a multi-national record company, too. Expands your musical horizons. As Colin Barlow at CBS reveals. "I like everything really – U2, Simple Minds, Echo & The Bunnymen... I've got wide tastes." Well catholic. (P24)

Simpletons aside, it's simplicity that fun-loving Julian Cope identifies as the key element in his present songwriting activity. "I really want to keep simple," he put it, simply, "I love simple songs. C to F, that's what I use most of all nowadays. Most of my songs are in C because of the keyboard." (P38)

And lastly our pal Legg finds an important bit on page four of a Carlsbro instruction book. "I know people who could burn a house down before getting to page three," muses the electro-acoustic whizz, "and then they'd only be looking for a nude." (P7)