About The Author
Dylan Jones has been the editor of the UK edition of the world-famous men's fashion, culture and lifestyle magazine GQ since 1999.
His illustrious career in journalism includes being editor at i-D, contributing editor at The Face and associate editor of the Observer Magazine; he was also editor-at-large at The Sunday Times. He currently writes a column for Mail on Sunday.
He is currently Vice-President of Hay Festival. He was also appointed the Chair of the 2012 Menswear Committee by the British Fashion Council, and was the driving force behind Britain's first men's fashion week in June.
In 2005, he published iPod, Therefore I am: A Personal Journey Through Music. Written from the point of view of someone who has been a passionate music buyer since the age of eleven, it looks at how the arrival of the iPod in 2001 changed his own music-buying habits and the entire way the music industry operates. 2006 saw the release of Mr Jones' Rules for the Modern Man, which addressed the dilemmas of the 21st-century metrosexual male, covering everything from winning a payrise to how to behave at a lap-dancing club. Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones was based on a year-long series of interviews with the Tory leader and was shortlisted for the 2008 Channel 4 Political Book of the Year.
Earlier this year, he published The Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music, a hugely entertaining guide to the lives of just about everyone who has made an impact on the music scene, from Abba to Zappa.
His latest book is When Ziggy Played Guitar, which looks back at David Bowie's ground-breaking appearance on Top of the Pops in July 1972, when his electrifying performance of 'Starman', in all his alien, androgynous glory, mesmerised an entire generation.
Featuring contributions from the original Spiders from Mars, Trevor Bolder and Woody Woodmansey, and many others involved with Bowie and the music industry at that time, as well as some of the countless musicians whose destiny was sealed by witnessing Bowie that night, it is a warm, personal celebration of one of music's 'JFK' moments, after which rock music would never be the same again.
Here, Dylan shares exclusively with Foyles the ten music books that he rates most highly and thinks should be on any self-respecting music buff's shelves.
For more about David Bowie, you can read our exclusive interview with Nicholas Pegg, author of the Bowie fan's bible, The Complete David Bowie, and you can also read our web editor's blog on the best David Bowie books of the last few years (written before When Ziggy played Guitar was published).