[Noob paragraph woes...]

I'm trying to revamp my site with some decent coding. Here's a sample page:
[a href=\"http://www.behindthechurch.com/lyrics/\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.behindthechurch.com/lyrics/[/a]

What I want to know is, with CSS is it possible to remove the space above and below content in the <p></p>? Also, why is there space when I haven't specified a paragraph or line break?

Here's a primitive code example (bear in mind I haven't paid much attention to proper coding for a long, long time!)

[code]<IMG SRC="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/behindthechurch/albums/beautifulfreak_cover.gif" BORDER=1>
<H3><B>Beautiful Freak (1996)</B></H3></CENTER>
<H1><B>
<A HREF="">Novocaine For The Soul</A> -
<A HREF="">Susan's House</A> -
<A HREF="">Rags To Rags</A></B></H1>

<HR NOSHADE SIZE=1 WIDTH=97% /><BR>[/code]

And here's the sad little proto-coding I've been working with so far:

[code]body {background-image:url('images/background.jpg')}

p {line-height: 15px}

h1 {font-size: 8pt;font-family: arial;color: #000000;font-weight: normal}
h2 {font-size: 9pt;font-family: arial;color: #000000;font-weight: normal}
h3 {font-size: 11pt;font-family: arial;color: #000000;font-weight: normal}

a:link {color: #1A98D2}
a:visited {color: 1A98D2}
a:hover {color: 1A98D2}
a:active {color: 1A98D2}

td {padding: 10px}[/code]

I'm bumbling around right now, knocking things into place in any way that makes the site reflect what I have in mind. I'd like to do it up right, so any suggestions?

[Could someone double-check a couple of pages for me?]

Ah, you just blew my mind.

No, that actually makes perfect sense. I've avoided stylesheets for ages, and now I can't imagine why. I'm a glutton for busy work, I suppose.

Thanks! That really helped!

[Could someone double-check a couple of pages for me?]

I see. So what would "valid code" be, exactly? This is just a pasttime for me, so my level of code sophistication is perpetually amateur.

[Could someone double-check a couple of pages for me?]

(*Bump*)

[Could someone double-check a couple of pages for me?]

I lost use of my Dreamweaver software a while ago, so to maintain and revamp my site I've just been winging it. Not always the best idea.

I've run into some (probably elementary) problems with a couple of pages, and just can't figure out what the solution is. Could someone look at these and point out the obvious? :D

[a href=\"http://www.behindthechurch.com/\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.behindthechurch.com/[/a]
The index is taking forever to load. Or at least, it loads but then still shows itself as loading. Very frustrating.

[a href=\"http://www.behindthechurch.com/press/\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.behindthechurch.com/press/[/a]
[a href=\"http://www.behindthechurch.com/songspoll/blor_poll.php\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.behindthechurch.com/songspoll/blor_poll.php[/a]
Both of these show a big negative space before the contents of the center table begin.

I think that's it.

Thanks!

-SHJ