In this remarkable tale of creativity and chaos doityourself innovation and extraordinary attempts at world domination Needles and Plastic tells the inside story of one of New Zealand and the worlds amp8211 great independent music labels. Hundreds of full color ampamp black and white photos illustrate the storyamp10amp10amp10amp10amp10Founded in 1981 by Roger Shepherd in Christchurch New Zealand Flying Nun Records unleashed an extraordinary wave of music that had an impact around the world.Needles and Plastic is the first comprehensive history of the early years of the label and its bands covering the critical period from 1981amp82111988 when many of the most influential and critically acclaimed artists emerged on Flying Nun bands like amp8211 from The Clean The Chills The Verlaines Straitjacket Fits and Bailter Space. The influence of the obscure label became apparent in the 1990s when bigtime indie acts like Pavement Cat Power or Yo La Tengo started covering Flying Nun bands. amp10amp10amp10amp10amp10In entries on over 140 records from The Cleanamp8217s amp8216Tally Hoamp8217 7amp34 in 1981 to The Verlaines BirdDog LP in 1988 Matthew Goody tells the story through the records themselves. His book draws on years of indepth research to reveal the stories of the bands the recordings the songs and the audience with a host of significant characters contributing along the way amp8211 Shepherd Chris Knox Doug Hood Hamish Kilgour and many more.amp10amp10In this remarkable tale of creativity and chaos doityourself innovation and extraordinary attempts at world domination Needles and Plastic tells the inside story of one the worldamp8217s great independent music labels.