Access All Areas: A Backstage Pass Through 50 Years of Music And Culture

Having worked first as a journalist and then as a publicist at Warner Brothers Records for nearly twenty years, Barbara Charone has witnessed, first-hand, the significant shifts in the cultural landscape. Access All Areas is presented as a personal, insightful, and often humorous memoir brimming with anecdotes from her time on the cultural frontline. From her early days crafting press releases on a typewriter fuelled by Tipp-Ex, to her role as a press officer for heavy metal bands taking the bus up to Donington Festival armed with coffee, croissants, and the considerably more popular sulphate, Charone's journey is vividly recounted.

The narrative extends to her taking on Madonna, then an unknown artist from Detroit, and boldly telling Smash Hits that they didn't have to run a piece if the single failed to chart. Becoming a true pioneer in music publicity, Charone continues to work with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Depeche Mode, Robert Plant, Foo Fighters, and Mark Ronson through her agency MBCPR.

Access All Areas tells the engaging story of how a music-loving, aspiring journalist from a Chicago suburb rose to become the defining music publicist of her generation. This memoir serves as a compelling time capsule of the last fifty years, all viewed through the vibrant and ever-evolving lens of music.