I Shoot Rock Stars

'A true original, a genuine maverick'
ROBERT SMITH (The Cure) 'An ode to creativity and thinking outside the box, as well as to rock and roll in its purest form: messy, unpredictable and wholly irresistible'
TELEGRAPH 'An intriguing insight into an industry during a time of big ideas and even bigger budgets, perfectly capturing the riotous energy of a uniquely creative moment in music history'
ROLLING STONE 'A dirty little page-turner from England's greatest music video director'
MATT JOHNSON (The The)
'Tim is a strange person'
IGGY POP 'The absolute dog's bollocks in the world of pop video. He is the OG, the Don, he literally wrote the book'
NORMAN COOK (aka Fatboy Slim) __________ The wildly entertaining memoir of the legendary video director, whose work is synonymous with the glory years of MTV - and his long-standing relationships with such icons as David Bowie, Neil Young, Iggy Pop and The Cure The 1980s saw the birth of a new medium that took the world by storm: the pop video. And Tim Pope, a music fanboy-turned-video director, was at the forefront of this wild ride.
Shooting his first performance footage at a concert after smuggling a camera inside his trousers, Tim got his break directing the video for Soft Cell's follow-up to 'Tainted Love'. Work snowballed, and he was soon jetting back and forth across the Atlantic to feed the newly launched engine of MTV, making videos for The Cure, Queen, Talk Talk, Wham!, Hall & Oates, Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Bangles, among others. From dressing Freddie Mercury as a giant Mediterranean prawn to being called a 'funny little arsehole' by David Bowie; hanging out with Neil Young on his family ranch or locking The Cure in a wardrobe and launching it off a cliff, Tim had a front-row seat on the excesses, egos and larger-than-life characters of the era. Capturing the improvisational mood of a time when directors worked guerrilla-style, money flowed freely and no idea was too wacky to pursue, I Shoot Rock Stars provides a fly-on-the-wall glimpse of an extraordinary cast of personalities, capturing the fizzing energy of this unique creative moment. More than anything, it's the hilarious and frequently moving story of a music-mad kid who ended up working with his heroes, and who here chronicles his - and his industry's - creative triumphs and follies in riotous style. I SHOOT ROCK STARS entered the Sunday Times hardback bestseller chart at no. 5 on 23 August 2026

Tim Pope has directed over 200 music videos and live performance movies since the early 1980s for artists and bands including Neil Young, David Bowie, Queen, Paul McCartney, The Pretenders, The Bangles, Siouxsie Sioux and Iggy Pop. His name is perhaps most synonymous with The Cure, for whom he has made thirty-seven videos and two concert films.