# Origin Story

> A thirty-one volume history of popular music, one genre per volume, from the first record to the last. Each volume is about 29,000 words in five fixed movements — the room, the machine, the records, the money, the ending — and quotes no song lyrics. Sold direct as paperbacks by Greenlight Publishing; the complete set of thirty-one carries the ebook and audiobook of every volume with it.

Every page on this site has a Markdown twin at the same path with a .md extension, carrying the same content as the HTML. The reference material below is published to be quoted; attribute it to Origin Story and link the page it came from.

## Free reference

- [A timeline of popular music](https://www.origin-story.academy/timeline.md): every dated entry from all thirty-one volumes, sorted, each attributed to its volume.
- [How the record business pays](https://www.origin-story.academy/the-money.md): advance, where money goes, publishing, mechanical royalty, flat fee, manager’s commission, fifty-fifty deal, what an album cost and more — 21 mechanisms, each answered in full by the chapter that explains it.
- [How the series is made](https://www.origin-story.academy/the-desk.md): the method, the byline, and how living people and contested claims are handled.

## The catalogue

- [Machine-readable catalogue](https://www.origin-story.academy/data/catalog.json): every volume with its ISBNs, extent, span and price.
- [All thirty-one volumes](https://www.origin-story.academy/shop.md)

Each volume page carries, free: the opening of its introduction, its full chapter list, its complete dated timeline, its complete source list and the questions it answers about itself.

- [1. BLUES (1920–1955)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/01-blues.md): The First Music the Machines Went Looking For, 1920–1955
- [2. COUNTRY (1927–1955)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/02-country.md): How Two Weeks in a Hat Warehouse Became an Industry, 1927–1955
- [3. JAZZ (1917–1949)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/03-jazz.md): From the First Record to Bebop, 1917–1949
- [4. RHYTHM & BLUES (1945–1955)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/04-rhythm-and-blues.md): Jump Blues, the Jukebox and the Rise of the Independent Label, 1945–1955
- [5. ROCK 'N' ROLL (1954–1959)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/05-rock-n-roll.md): Five Years That Taught the Record Business Who the Customer Was, 1954-1959
- [6. DOO-WOP (1948–1962)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/06-doo-wop.md): How the Cheapest Music Ever Made Paid Everybody but the Singers, 1948–1962
- [7. SOUL (1959–1972)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/07-soul.md): The Assembly Line That Sang, and Who Owned What It Made, 1959–1972
- [8. THE BRITISH INVASION (1962–1967)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/08-british-invasion.md): How American Records Crossed the Atlantic Twice, 1962–1967
- [9. FOLK REVIVAL (1958–1975)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/09-folk-revival.md): How a Songbook Nobody Owned Invented the Singer-Songwriter, 1958–1975
- [10. PSYCHEDELIA (1965–1970)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/10-psychedelia.md): How the Studio Became the Instrument, 1965–1970
- [11. REGGAE (1962–1978)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/11-reggae.md): Ska to Roots, and the Sound System That Invented the Remix, 1962–1978
- [12. HEAVY METAL (1968–1983)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/12-heavy-metal.md): How Loud Became a Business, 1968–1983
- [13. PROGRESSIVE ROCK (1969–1977)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/13-progressive-rock.md): The Years the Record Business Said Yes, 1969–1977
- [14. GLAM (1971–1975)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/14-glam.md): Four Years When Pop Was Made to Be Watched, 1971–1975
- [15. FUNK (1967–1979)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/15-funk.md): How the Rhythm Section Became the Author, 1967–1979
- [16. DISCO (1973–1980)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/16-disco.md): How the Club Replaced the Radio, 1973–1980
- [17. PUNK (1974–1980)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/17-punk.md): Eighteen Months That Rewired the Record Business, 1974–1980
- [18. POST-PUNK & NEW WAVE (1978–1984)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/18-post-punk.md): The Permission Kept, the Sound Thrown Away, 1978–1984
- [19. HIP-HOP (1973–1988)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/19-hip-hop.md): From a Bronx Rec Room to the Billboard 200, 1973–1988
- [20. SYNTH-POP (1979–1989)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/20-synth-pop.md): Two Machines and the Decade Pop Became Television, 1979–1989
- [21. HOUSE & TECHNO (1984–1992)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/21-house-and-techno.md): Chicago, Detroit, and the Machines That Replaced the Band, 1984–1992
- [22. RAVE & JUNGLE (1988–1997)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/22-rave.md): Breakbeats, Pirate Signals and the Fastest Music Britain Ever Made, 1988–1997
- [23. GANGSTA RAP (1988–1997)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/23-gangsta-rap.md): The Sticker, the Scanner, and the Business of Reality, 1988–1997
- [24. NEW JACK SWING (1987–1999)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/24-new-jack-swing.md): How the Drum Machine Learned to Swing, and Who Got Paid When It Did, 1987–1999
- [25. GRUNGE & ALTERNATIVE (1988–1996)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/25-grunge.md): The Gold Rush That Bought the Underground, 1988–1996
- [26. BRITPOP (1993–1997)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/26-britpop.md): The Chart War, the Weekly Press, and the Invention of a Golden Age, 1993–1997
- [27. TEEN POP (1996–2003)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/27-teen-pop.md): The Writing Camp, the Boy Band and the Last Great Singles Boom, 1996–2003
- [28. EMO & NU-METAL (1997–2007)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/28-emo-nu-metal.md): The Mall, the Message Board, and the End of the Record Store, 1997–2007
- [29. INDIE & THE BLOG YEARS (2001–2011)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/29-indie-blog-years.md): The Records Were Free, the Attention Was Not, 2001–2011
- [30. TRAP (1995–2020)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/30-trap.md): The 808, the Mixtape and the Stream, 1995–2020
- [31. GLOBAL POP (1990s–2020s)](https://www.origin-story.academy/volumes/31-global-pop.md): Reggaeton, K-Pop, Afrobeats, and the Machine That Carried Them, 1992–2024

## Buying

- [Printing, postage and prices](https://www.origin-story.academy/delivery.md)
- [Returns and privacy](https://www.origin-story.academy/policies.md)