Sound Advice : Timeless life lessons from 80s pop

Author: Green, Alan

c 1970 to c 1980

Published on 1 September 2025 by Salt Publishing in the United Kingdom.

Paperback / softback | 320 pages, Not illustrated
197 x 130 x 25 | 282g

Have you ever wanted a compelling reason to listen to more music? Sound Advice invites readers on a voyage of self-discovery that uniquely combines the immersive joy of listening to pop music with the desire to implement simple, practical yet inspiring lifestyle changes designed to help restore balance and build healthy habits into busy lives.

Drawing on top 10 UK chart hits from the 1980s – pop music’s ‘Golden Age’ – the book explores and analyses relatable themes that resonate with everyday life: education, friendships, dreaming, youthfulness, truthfulness, love and relationships (marriage and divorce), health and fitness, loneliness, mistakes, worry, self-reliance, passion, fortitude, work, ageing and more. Each piece of lyrical advice is tested for soundness through the lenses of history, science, literature, philosophy and psychology.

Discover some unlikely connections, such as those between ABBA and Einstein, Iron Maiden and Shakespeare, and Bob Marley and Darwin. Using these songs as catalysts, prompts or aides-mémoire, Sound Advice offers some profound insights into life that will encourage readers to incorporate beneficial behaviours into their daily routines.