Reach for the Stars: 1996–2006: Fame, Fallout and Pop’s Final Party: A Times Summer Read 2023

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The young hero of Serge Bloch’s delightful Butterflies in My Stomach is back, along with his loyal dog Roger. That changed as it went on – Idon’t think Girls Aloud were quite as willing to play that particular game, or to take everything that came at them.

In short: Great read for anyone interested in the late 90s/ early 2000s pop industry in the UK - whether this is because you're a fan of the music or want to find out more about how the industry worked. I also edit BEAT magazine ( yes, we once had Beyoncé on the cover), and was contributing editor at The Guardian Guide for over three years. I’m sure I gave that story about Five having a fight to them because it mentioned SM:TV and CD:UK, so I’d done my job.The way that the book is written is so sharp and insightful, it was such an easy read that I literally couldn't put it down. It seemed to me that Cragg knew how he wanted to start and end the book however I would've preferred this to be a more concise tome rather than one that employed the more is more approach. It was a more innocent time, before the dawn of the internet - radio, Top of the Pops and magazines like Smash Hits were the main ways teenagers learned about their favourite bands. The author speaks to everyone imaginable in British pop in the noughties and let's them tell their own side of events we all think we know. Kidadl is independent and to make our service free to you the reader we are supported by advertising.

We were in a tiny rented office in west London, we had two teenagers working for us and that was it. When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either. The book is arguably the first comprehensive story of recent British pop music at such acrucial point: aspecific, largely pre-Internet, definitely pre-Instagram period that saw the invention of the TV talent show hit factory and pumped out some of the nation’s most-loved (and hated) acts and tracks. Nowadays, stars like Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa expected to have opinions on war and mental health and LGBTQ rights, instead of declaring their favourite colour. Radio 1 were promoting [the award] and saying you can vote for your favourite via phone voting and via the very new form of internet voting.I’m even pretty sure I watched her win live on TV (she got confetti in her mouth but carried on like a pro).