So Sick Edits

Tim Burgess to Publish Book Based on Twitter Listening Parties

Last year, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Tim Burgess of the Charlatans created a Twitter Listening Party series with his fellow musicians and friends, inviting people from around the world to enjoy real-time album playbacks and live-tweeting on the social network together.

What started out as a fun way to pass the time during quarantine quickly turned into a full-fledged phenomenon, with participating bands and acts including Paul McCartney, Oasis, Kylie Minogue, Franz Ferdinand, Michael Kiwanuka, and many more.

Now, Burgess has announced plans to publish The Listening Party, a book that reflects on the best moments from 100 of the Twitter Listening Parties chosen by Burgess, out September 2021 via DK/Penguin Random House.

British journalist Pete Paphides, who wrote the foreword to the book, said in a statement: “Throughout 2020 and into 2021, these get-togethers began to feel like an important part of our pop-cultural life. With no gigs to attend; no pubs in which to gather; schedules obliterated, the Listening Parties extended an invitation to anyone with an internet connection.”

The listening parties quickly became a way both for fans to share their best memories of each album and for bands to post behind-the-scenes photographs, anecdotes, and other extras from the time of each album’s recording. Some of those recollections will be republished in The Listening Party alongside Burgess’ own writing.

DK, the book’s publisher, will be making a donation to Music Venue Trust, and royalties from book sales will go to the charity to support its Save Our Venues campaign to save grassroots music venues under threat of closure from the pandemic.