The legendary Belfast music hero Terri Hooley is the subject of a biography written by the equally legendary writer Stuart Bailie.
Terri Hooley: Seventy-Five Revolution tells the story of the Belfast godfather of punk and owner of Good Vibrations shop, who is also the subject of the drama biopic Good Vibrations. Terri is about to celebrate his 75th birthday.
The book is out in December, as published by Dig With It, and the last copies are now on Bandcamp.
The book was part-funded by a Kickstarter campaign.
“I partied a lot, and I drank a lot and I did drugs, and I had a good time. And I never killed anybody.”
Terri Hooley is celebrated for releasing ‘Teenage Kicks’, the classic Undertones debut, in 1978. He achieved a great deal with Good Vibrations, his shop and record label that blossomed in Belfast during the conflict. Terri’s character was informed by the rebellious spirit of the 60s and he has sustained that attitude across the decades.
The film Good Vibrations was released in 2012, featuring Richard Dormer and Jodie Whittaker. This led to a stage musical, Good Vibrations, which opened in 2018 at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. In 2023, a production of Good Vibrations was restaged at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, before moving to the Irish Center, New York.
Terri Hooley about to celebrate his 75th birthday. He’s the record shop champion and the guy that gave critical help to the Undertones, RUDI, the Outcasts and many others. He’s the subject of Good Vibrations, a popular film and a stage musical. To mark his milestone birthday, Terri talks about radical times, conflict, lucky escapes, messy behaviour and the alternative soul of Belfast.
75 Revolutions is a 144 page book with over 100 photos, many of them unseen or rare. Book dimensions are 261 mm square. Featuring fresh, revelatory interviews with Terri and his friends, and a foreword from the Hooleygan himself.
Stuart Bailie is a Belfast-based writer, a former Assistant Editor of NME and a long-time Terri associate. He has authored a series of books, including Trouble Songs: Music and Conflict in Northern Ireland (2018) and 75 Van Songs (2020). He has been a music industry professional since 1985, writing for NME, Mojo, Uncut, Q, Vox, The Irish Times, Hot Press and Classic Rock. He edits Dig With It (digwithit.com), a magazine about arts and counterculture in the North.
Stuart has reached into his archive of interviews and Hooley adventures to find reason in a turbulent life. No other story spins out like 75 Revolutions.
