Popular music Books

Book SynopsisThe lead guitarist of Grammy Award–winning mega-band KoRn tells the incredible story of his life after leaving the hardcore music scene and of God leading him back to the band---now in paperback.

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Book SynopsisArchival material from the 1990s underground movement that served as a “gateway drug to feminist history” for so many. (—Kathleen Hanna, Bikini Kill)Before the rise of the Internet or desktop publishing, the zine and music culture of the Riot Grrrl movement empowered young women across the country to speak out against sexism and oppression, creating a powerful new force of liberation and unity within and outside of the women''s movement.While feminist bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile fought for their place in a male-dominated punk scene, their members and fans developed an extensive DIY network of activism and support. The Riot Grrrl Collection reproduces a sampling of the original zines, posters, and printed matter for the first time since their initial distribution in the 1980s and ''90s, and includes an original essay by Johanna Fateman and an introduction by Lisa Darms.“The materials in this book are more important than ever. Riot grrrl shows us that feminism isn''t synonymous with consumer empowerment. Passed person to person, riot grrrl culture advances a true revolution in which ‘girl’ qualities like candor and empathy are no longer trivialized and can re-make the world." ―Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick

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Book SynopsisIn 1978, Siouxsie and the Banshees declared We don't see ourselves in the same context as other rock''n''roll bands.' A decade later, and in the stark aftermath of a devastating storm, the band retreated to a 17th-century mansion house in the deracinated Sussex countryside to write their ninth studio album, Peepshow. Here, the band absorbed the bygone, rural atmosphere and its inspirational mise en scène, thus framing the record cinematically, as Siouxsie Sioux recalled, It was as if we were doing the whole thing on the set of The Wicker Man'.Samantha Bennett looks at how Siouxsie and the Banshees' Peepshow is better understood in the context of film and film music (as opposed to popular music studies or, indeed, the works of other rock''n''roll bands). Drawing upon more than one hundred films and film scores, this book focuses on Peepshow's deeply embedded historical and aesthetic (para)cinematic influences: How is each track a reflectiTrade ReviewHer argument is strong and well researched. With so much forethought and evidence provided it’s easy to agree with Bennett before you finish the book. * Chicago Music *The book is both well-conceived and excellently written ... Peepshow makes a valuable contribution to punk and post-punk academic discourse. It takes the reader beyond the framing of Siouxsie Sioux as merely an objectified punk icon in seriously considering the Banshees as a fully functioning band with a musical output that clearly warrants further academic study. For that achievement alone Bennett deserves accolade but her use of a cross-disciplinary approach to frame her argument is one those engaged in academic study should recognize and embrace. * Punk & Post-Punk *Table of ContentsTrack Listing mise en scéne Early Cinema Noir Musical Vaudeville Western Fantasy Horror Epic Acknowledgments Films Cited Notes

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Vogue has always been on the cutting edge of popular culture, and Vogue x Music shows us why. Whether they’re contemporary stars or classic idols, whether they made digital albums or vinyl records, the world’s most popular musicians have always graced the pages of Vogue. In this book you’ll find unforgettable portraits of Madonna beside David Bowie, Kendrick Lamar, and Patti Smith; St. Vincent alongside Debbie Harry, and much more. Spanning the magazine’s 126 years, this breathtaking book is filled with the work of acclaimed photographers like Richard Avedon and Annie Leibovitz as well as daring, music-inspired fashion portfolios from Irving Penn and Steven Klein. Excerpts from essential interviews with rock stars, blues singers, rappers, and others are included on nearly every page, capturing exactly what makes each musician so indelible. Vogue x Music is a testament to star power, and proves that some looks are as timeless as your favorite albums.

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Book SynopsisIf ever there were Satanic Majesties of rock their name was Led Zeppelin. The band that out-sold the Rolling Stones and made Robert Johnson's deals with the devil look like a playground game of conkers were as high, inflated and glorified as their namesake. In Stephen Davis's scorching account of their phenomenally successful career, no aspect - however disquieting - is ignored. The narcotic, alcoholic and psychotic wreckage they wreaked, the disturbing influence of the notorious mage Aleister Crowley on lead guitarist Jimmy Page and the death of John Bonham are all recorded. Above all, the exultant, blazing charge of their music and its effects on Led Zeppelin and their fans is scrutinized. Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis is a fierce and fearless story about a band that remain a legend of musical, sexual and mystical power. It is the last word in rock 'n' roll savagery.Trade ReviewThe biggest surprise success of the year . . . the Led Zep tale, drenched in sex, drugs and psychic abuse, demonstrated the validity of all the old adages about talent, power and corruption. Stephen Davis's grimy homage to imperial excess and demonic influence had fans slavering for more. * Rolling Stone *

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Book SynopsisEveryone wanted Madonna's 1992 album Erotica to be a scandal. In the midst of a culture war, conservatives wanted it to be proof of the decline of family values. The target of conservative loathing, gay men reeling from the AIDS epidemic wanted it to be a celebration of a sexual culture that had rapidly slipped away. And Madonna herself wanted to sell scandal, which is why she released Erotica in the same season as her erotic thriller Body of Evidence and her pornographic coffee-table book simply titled Sex. But Erotica is more sentimental than pornographic. This ambivalence over sex is what makes the album crucial both for understanding its time and for navigating culture a generation later. As queer politics were transitioning from sexual liberation to civil rights like same-sex marriage, Madonna tried to do both. Her songs proved formative for works of queer theory, which emerged in the academy at the same time as the album. And Erotica wasaTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Sex/Erotica 2. Subculture/Pop Culture 3. Madonna/Whore

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking social history of the drum kit, Matt Brennan's Kick It makes a compelling case for the instrument as one of most important and transformative musical inventions of the modern era.Trade ReviewAn excellent introduction to the past and present of the drumset * Alan van Keeken, Die Musikforschung *The most comprehensive book on the topic. Compulsory reading for the inquisitive drummer. * Bill Bruford *An incisive argument for the drum kit's recognition as a revolutionary musical invention. * Financial Times, Best Music Books of 2020 *A wonderful book. The act of striking something is innate in all of us, whether drumming our fingers on a table or negotiating a full blown drum kit. Kick It is a fascinating read which has ignited many more layers of appreciation and knowledge towards my understanding of the emergence of the drum kit and its players. * Dame Evelyn Glennie *Brennan pulls off something remarkable: he makes a deeply investigated and well-sourced history of musicians and drum manufacturers a page-turner. Don't be afraid of the Oxford University Press imprint - the book is short on jargon and blather. Like the geniuses who manage to make limb independence look easy, Kick It consolidates the myriad threads that contributed to the creation of the modern drumkit and makes it swing. * Modern Drummer *If you're really interested in drumming this is the one book that you need... It really is an amazing work, focusing in detail, not on the wider range of percussion since the dawn of time, but on the actual role of the drum kit and the players both professional and amateur who have brought the instrument from a shadowy platform at the back of the stage to front centre. Not only is it a scholarly work intensively researched, but in the great tradition of the characters in the book, it retains that sense of humour that, in my experience, makes drummers the very best company! * Nick Mason, drummer for Pink Floyd *Essential reading for every drummer, and every other musician who fancies himself one ... well-researched, entertainingly written, and greatly enjoyable. * JazzTimes *An absolutely brilliant book. Kick It is not only a welcome addition to the existing references on our instrument but is so incredibly well researched, thought out and balanced - it brings an entirely new and fresh perspective to the story of the drum kit. It will undoubtedly be an indispensable asset for anyone interested in this fascinating story, and for any curious drummer who wants to know where our instrument and our kind are headed - by knowing where we've been. * Glenn Kotche, drummer for Wilco *The author's affection for the drums, the people who play them and who produce them, infuses an abundance of ideas and makes a virtual avalanche of details easier to process ... Brennan captures the essence of significant styles of jazz, pop and rock without playing favorites or bogging down the narrative ... [and his] desire to leave no stone unturned makes for an exhilarating journey. * All About Jazz *An inspiring reminder of how the drums (and drummers) have helped shape creative culture over the last hundred or so years. * Mark Guiliana, bandleader and drummer (David Bowie, Brad Mehldau) *A delight ... Brennan illuminates the undeniable: to talk about the history of contemporary music is to talk about the history of the drum kit. * The Wire *This is a fascinating and insightful book, reflecting upon how society, culture and ideologies play out in popular music and the rhythms that we take for granted. * Karlyn King, University of Birmingham, Popular Music History *Brennan's well-researched narrative gives drumming and drummers the respectful attention they deserve. * Fiona McQuarrie *An utterly fascinating book. Brennan illuminates how drums and drumming have evolved in response to a wide range of societal influences, including trade, migration, and artistic innovation ... and his writing is crisp and engaging. Fear not, non-drummers; you definitely don't have to be a drummer to enjoy Kick It. Anyone who loves music will come away from the book with an enhanced appreciation for how drums and drummers contribute to shaping our favourite songs. Four stars. * Shindig! *A compelling exploration of the place of the drums in popular music. Four stars. * Record Collector *Kick It is an amazing piece of drumming literature that helps us all understand the origins of our amazing instrument! * Bart van der Zee, host of Drum History Podcast *A remarkable book. Every drummer with a sense of self will enjoy the cultural context this book provides, and every drummer with a collection of books should add this invaluable reference tool. * Rob Cook, author of The Ludwig Book and The Slingerland Book and founder of the Chicago Drum Show *With a winning mix of erudition and enthusiasm Brennan argues convincingly that drummers are the dynamic core of music history. And in offering an exemplary case study of the drum kit, Brennan shows that musical instrument research should be the dynamic core of music scholarship. Kick It is an enthralling read. * Simon Frith, Emeritus Professor of Music, University of Edinburgh *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Hanging around with musicians Chapter 1: Clever drummers, primitivism, entrepreneurialism, and the invention of the trap drummer's outfit · The transatlantic slave trade · The snare drum, bass drum, and cymbals come together · The birth of highbrow and lowbrow music · Being a drummer in nineteenth century America · Tinkerers, inventors, and entrepreneurs · The trap drummer's outfit Chapter 2: Noisy drummers, ragtime, jazz, and the avant-garde · Ragged time · "Instruments of a lower order" · Trap drummers, sound effects, and moving pictures · Noisy women, immigrant cultures, and Tin Pan Alley · The birth of jazz · Quiet in the studio! · Drums and noise conquer the classical world Chapter 3: Studious drummers, selling drum outfits, standardization, and stardom · Fakers versus readers · Selling the drum kit · The drum outfit travels the world · Cymbal making and the invention of the hi-hat · Swing bands and star drummers · Slingerland and the standardization of the drum outfit Chapter 4: Creative drummers, artistry, virtuosity, and playing time · Prodigies and showmen · Bebop and the melody of the drum kit · Drummers and drum makers in dialogue · The rise of the backbeat · The drum kit in Britain and the birth of beat groups · The recruitment of Ringo · Theorizing creativity on the drum kit Chapter 5: Working drummers, musical labour, role playing, and authorship · The job of a session drummer · The job of a rock star drummer · The globalization of drum kit production · Credit where credit is due · Song authorship and getting paid Chapter 6: Indispensable drummers, drum machines, and record production · The drum kit on record · The multi-track recording studio · Diasporic drumming practices and dance records · Rise of the machines · From the margins to the centre of the mix · Drummers as producers · Augmenting the drum kit and drumming without drummers Conclusion: The tyranny of the snare drum Endnotes References Index

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Book SynopsisThey were such devout futurists that they even came from a New Town. Emerging from the unlikely locale of Basildon at the dawn of the Eighties, the unassuming Depeche Mode became pioneers of British electro-pop. Surviving the abrupt early departure of band founder and chief songwriter Vince Clarke, they quickly gathered a fervent cult following before powering into the mainstream. Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andrew Fletcher and Alan Wilder took their dark, venal songs of sex, religion, obsession and death to the world’s arenas and stadiums. Over four decades, Depeche Mode have seduced millions from Moscow to Montevideo. Yet it has never been an easy ride. Along the way there have been crippling bouts of self-doubt, depression, intra-band fighting, alcohol abuse… and the catastrophic heroin addiction that almost killed the charismatic yet vulnerable Gahan. From the band’s earliest stirrings in Essex to the eve of their 40th anniversary, Faith and Devotion is a tale of triumph from adversity: the extraordinary history of a unique global synth-rock phenomenon. It’s the story of Depeche Mode.Trade ReviewThe most enjoyable Depeche Mode biography yet... the visual side of the book is simply wonderful and a perfect complement to the story being told. * depeche-mode.com *A loving celebration of their legacy. * Genre is Dead *

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER''THE ROCK ''N'' ROLL AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR'' MAIL ON SUNDAY''Essential for fans and great reading for anyone else'' Classic RockBreak-ups, make-ups, groupies, band politics, court battles, the tragic death of Rick Parfitt . . . This is Francis Rossi as you have never seen him before.Status Quo have sold over 100 million records worldwide, including 65 hit singles and 32 hit albums. The legendary band''s career has mirrored the evolution of rock music. From the struggles of the flower-power ''60s, the highs of the denim-clad ''70s, the coke- and tequila-induced blur of the ''80s, to fighting for musical integrity in the ''90s and ''00s and a fresh lease of life from new band members in recent years, Rossi has been there for the entirety of Quo''s turbulent history.In I Talk Too Much, Rossi will reveal the truth behind one of the biggest rock bands of all time, as wTrade ReviewThe rock 'n' roll autobiography of the year * Mail on Sunday *Written with Rossi's unique flair for bracing candour . . . this honesty serves the book brilliantly, as the stories of Quo, of fame, of disaster and of Rossi and Parfitt are laid out in frank, stark detail . . . An honest book, essential for fans and great reading for anyone else * Classic Rock *Status Quo have been rockin' all over the world for 50 years and Rossi's autobiography packs in the tales of excess * Daily Mirror *Entertaining * Daily Express *Highly readable * Daily Mail *

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Book Synopsis Hundreds of books have been written about The Beatles. Over the last half century, their story has been mythologized and de-mythologized and presented by biographers and journalists as history. Yet many of these works do not strictly qualify as history and the story of how the Beatles'' mythology continues to be told has been largely ignored. This book examines the band''s historiography, exploring the four major narratives that have developed over time: The semi-whitewashed Fab Four account, the acrimonious breakup-era Lennon Remembers version, the biased Shout! narrative in the wake of John Lennon''s murder, and the current Mark Lewisohn orthodoxy. Drawing on the most influential primary and secondary sources, Beatles history is analyzed using historical methods.Trade Review"Weber’s book should be a set text for a course in popular music studies, lucidly demonstrating an approach transferable to the reception history of any number of artist studies." - Dai Griffiths, Popular Music

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Book SynopsisIIf Genesis, according to British comedian and fan Al Murray 'were the progressive rock band who progressed', then Peter Gabriel as a solo artist would be the member that progressed the most. Who would have thought that listening to early Genesis would eventually take the listener to Senegal, Armenia, South Africa and beyond, via the artistic endeavours of their former vocalist? This is a journey through Peter Gabriel's solo albums, his live recordings and soundtrack compositions. During his forty-year plus solo career, Gabriel has become a worldwide pop star via his early, self-titled albums and his seminal 1986 record So. He has had hit singles throughout his career, including the bucolic 'Solsbury Hill' in 1977 and the poignant 'Don't Give Up'. He also helped pioneer video creativity with the song 'Sledgehammer'. In doing so, he has reached beyond his progressive rock origins to achieve a level of popularity and respect that other musicians from that genre could only dream about. You may have heard many of these songs before, but there's always something new to be found by digging in the dirt. This is the perfect guide to his music for new listeners and long-term fans alike. What on earth is going on? In the words of the Burgermiester: 'I...will...find...out.'

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Book SynopsisExplores how a tiny acoustic record has puttered and purred its way into the millennium. This book contains interviews of producer Joe Boyd, string arranger Robert Kirby, and the marketing team behind the VW commercial.Trade ReviewThe latest addition to the evergrowing 33 1/3 series (now up to volume 51) is an in-depth look at Nick Drake's final album "Pink Moon". Tackling a 28 minute album of sparse folk by an artist whose life went largely undocumented (there are no known video clips or interviews with Drake) is a daunting task, but Petrusich handles the job nicely by telling the story through interviews with the people who knew Drake and worked with him musically, as well as testimonials from current artists who have felt his influence. She also does a great service to the readers by not painting Drake as some romantically doomed poetic soul, like so many other writers have done in the past. In fact, she does an excellent job of dispelling many Drake myths (ex: he didn't anonymously leave the tapes for Pink Moon at Island's reception desk without saying a word), and even points out flaws in the album (many of the vocals are garbled). The most interesting part of the book is the final third which focuses on Pink Moon's 21st Century revival thanks to a 2000 Volkswagon commercial featuring the title track. While many make the argument that using a song to push a product cheapens the artistry of the song, "Pink Moon" was used to such great effect that it has simultaneously become synonymous with Volkswagon. More importantly, thanks to commercial exposure, annual sales of the album jumped from 6,000 to 74,000 in the year that it hit the airwaves - exposing Drake's work to a new generation. Perhaps the best praise I can give the book is that after I finished reading it I put it down and listened to Pink Moon. * Losing Today.com *One of my favourites in Continuum's 33 1/3 series of books on seminal albums. * Largehearted Boy, August 2008 *Is an ambitious project...Petrusich is up to the task, and her travels weave an essential sense of place into her exploration of the evolution of Americana music. -- Julian Koster * Largehearted Boy, August 2008 *[A] fascinating read and a worthy inclusion in the pantheon of great books about great records. -- Matthew van DeWitt * Skyscraper magazine *

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Book SynopsisGuy Pratt''s life as bass player to the stars. The book behind the successful comedy show.Guy Pratt came of age just as playing bass became cool, with the likes of Paul Simonon and Bruce Foxton. Having dallied with Funkapolitan, Pratt suddenly found himself on Top of the Pops and supporting David Bowie with smooth Australian outfit Icehouse. At a ludicrously young age Guy Pratt became a sought after bass player to the stars, finding himself crawling from studio to bar, from hotel to stadium portacabin with Robert Palmer, Womack & Womack, Bernard Edwards, Bryan Ferry and David Crosby, etc. The eighties were in their prime, and with a number of Crolla-suited appearances in windswept videos behind him, he was invited to join Pink Floyd for a series of stadium of extravaganzas to make Bono & co look fairly modest. Pratt has recorded with Madonna, and spent time in the studio with Michael Jackson. He was in The Smiths for a week, has travelled through customs in a wheelchair after a flight with Jimmy Page, and has lived to tell all. MY BASS AND OTHER ANIMALS emerges from the successful stand-up tour of the same name. It charts his journey from a Mod band in Southend to playing with Roxy Music at Live 8.Trade Reviewan involving and frequently hilarious account * South Wales Argus *

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Book SynopsisDevoted to the history of this jazz movement, the study combines a narrative of the evolution of hard bop - from its beginnings as an amalgam of bebop and rhythm and blues to its experimental breakthroughs in the 1960s - with close analyses of the musicians' styles and recordings.Trade Review'very good overview of the genesis and development of that music which flourished from 1955 to 1965' Peter Hepple, Stage & Television Today

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Book SynopsisSimon Goddard grew up in Wales and Scotland before studying art in the North of England. He later moved to London to work as a music journalist and is now recognised as one of the most unique voices in pop writing. In addition to Simply Thrilled, he has written acclaimed books about The Smiths and Morrissey (Songs That Saved Your Life, Mozipedia), Bowie (Ziggyology) and the Stones (Rollaresque). Mozipedia was voted Mojo magazine readers' Book Of The Year and has since been published in three continents.Trade ReviewSimply Thrilled is a brilliant caper, just like the Postcard label itself * MOJO *At some point, someone was going to write a book about the history of Postcard Records and barely a chapter into Simply Thrilled, you realise it would have been a tragedy if anyone other than Simon Goddard had taken on the job... It’s a testament to Goddard’s masterful storytelling that – once you’ve hooted at the last preposterous tale in Simply Thrilled – the myth looms larger than ever, the music a little more breathlessly brilliant than ever before. -- Pete Paphides * Caught by the River *Wonderful, super and boss! -- Edwyn Collins

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Book SynopsisFrom the record-breaking success of 1991's Black Album' to the band's reinvention with the Load/Reload albums; from bassist Jason Newsted's shock departure to the group's subsequent meltdown as laid bare in the documentary Some Kind of Monster; from the Lulu album with Lou Reed to their hugely expensive feature film Through the Never, the second half of the Metallica story has been as eventful and controversial as it has triumphant.

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Book SynopsisFrom Cradle to Stage shares stories and exclusive photos featuring mothers of rock icons, the icons themselves, and their Behind the Music-style relationshipsWhile the Grohl family had always been musical-the family sang together on long car trips, harmonizing to Motown and David Bowie, Virginia Grohl never expected her son to become a musician, let alone a rock star. But when she saw him perform in front of thousands of screaming fans for the first time, she knew that stardom was meant to be for her son. And as Virginia watched her son''s star rise, she often wondered about the other mothers who raised children who became rock stars. Were they as surprised as she was about their children''s fame? Did they worry about their children''s livelihood and well-being in an industry fraught with drugs and other dangers? Did they encourage their children''s passions despite the odds against success, or attempt to dissuade them from their grandiose dreams? Do they reminTrade ReviewInsightful * Daily Telegraph Music Books of the Year *

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Book SynopsisIn 1978, San Francisco, a city that has seen more than its share of trauma, plunged from a summer of political tension into an autumn cascade of malevolence that so eluded human comprehension it seemed almost demonic. The battles over property taxes and a ballot initiative calling for a ban on homosexuals teaching in public schools gave way to the madness of the Jonestown massacre and the murders of Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk at the hands of their former colleague, Dan White. In the year that followed this season of insanity, it made sense that a band called Dead Kennedys played Mabuhay Gardens in North Beach, referring to Governor Jerry Brown as a "zen fascist," calling for landlords to be lynched and yuppie gentrifiers to be sent to Cambodia to work for "a bowl of rice a day," critiquing government welfare and defense policies, and, at a time when each week seemed to bring news of a new serial killer or child abduction, commenting on dead and dying children. But it made sense only (or primarily) to those who were there, to those who experienced the heyday of "the Mab." Most histories of the 1970s and 1980s ignore youth politics and subcultures. Drawing on Bay Area zines as well as new interviews with the band and many key figures from the early San Francisco punk scene, Michael Stewart Foley corrects that failing by treating Dead Kennedys' first record, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, as a critical historical document, one that not only qualified as political expression but, whether experienced on vinyl or from the stage of "the Mab," stimulated emotions and ideals that were, if you can believe it, utopian.Trade ReviewAuthor Michael Stewart Foley explores the band’s genesis from two equally critical points of view in his eponymous book in the 33 1/3 series, the political and social factors alive in California at the time as well as the stew of underground creativity that fed punk’s fetid blossom … Foley’s book does the album a good turn, his eye for the social inspirations behind Biafra and others, as well as the creative are essential to its understanding. * Bearded Magazine *Michael Stewart Foley's Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is a must read not only for punks young and old, but for anyone who has ever felt even the slightest revolutionary pang in their soul … Through interviews with Jello Biafra, East Bay Ray, and Klaus Fluoride (as well as many other important figures close to, or in the scene at the time) and a mountain of research, Foley puts together a book that is academic, personal, informative, and most importantly, convincing. For those already familiar with Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, this book further solidifies its greatness among records in any genre. For those new to the album, this book provides an extensive and comprehensive look into a body of work whose release exploded on the scene because of the pressures caused by the era, events, and people that all came together to create it. -- Matt Caltabiano * Under the Rader *Wish all books dealing with ‘Punk Rock’ were as well researched as this one! -- V. Vale, Editor * Search and Destroy *In his book on Dead Kennedys' 1980 debut, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, historian Michael Stewart Foley traces the origins of the radicalized California punk band's political views by chronicling all the turmoil in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, as the hippie ideal curdled into the Me Generation … what truly separated the Kennedys from their peers—and what transformed their angst into something powerful and useful—was the humor with which they tackled current events, as singer Jello Biafra in particular understood that a wicked sense of irony was the only weapon against a world that had grown so insane. -- Stephen M. Deusner * Pitchfork *Michael Stewart Foley's new book on Dead Kennedys' debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, rests a jarring assertion: ‘By ... the summer of 1978, San Francisco had established itself as home to the most political punk scene in the country.’ His evidence — a litany of benefit efforts, topical songs, and punks' steady solidarity with other marginalized groups — is solid, so why does the statement leap off of the page? Perhaps because of how infrequently it's made … the sort of retrospective historical works that would involve a claim such as Foley's are few and far between, all of which underscores the need for this book. * East Bay Express *With Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, historian Michael Stewart Foley offers up a portrait of San Francisco in the late 1970s, detailing the hectic and violent events that influenced the band to create such a classic record ... Anyone interested in the band, counter culture, or American history would be advised to pick this book up. It's not just a simple play by play of the album's production (which, honestly, would have been fine), but a detailed account of a specific time in history. With this informative (if short) book, Michael Stewart Foley details a band who didn't want to 'make it' in the usual sense. They just wanted to make a loud enough noise that people turned around and paid attention to what was going on around them. * Punk News *Well worth your time. Get the book, put the album on loud, and rejoice. * Thumped *A very readable little nugget that DK fans, especially those who understood there was far more to the band than simple 'shock and roll', will thoroughly enjoy ... [An] enjoyable thought provoking read. * Total Music Magazine Online *There have been a handful of punk albums covered in the series … and they tend to be stand-outs. That remains true with this release, which may now be my favorite in the entire series … [Foley’s] tone is pitch-perfect, reflecting both his academic training and his punk rock roots, producing the equivalent of a scholarly spit-ball that complements the pissy intelligence of the DKs’ masterpiece. His writing is effortless, even when he is flexing his intellectual muscles … As I read Foley’s book, I found myself constantly re-listening to the album with fresh ears, my appreciation and admiration of it growing every time. -- Kevin Dunn * RazorCake *An accomplished historian with an appreciation for the punk ethic, Foley sketches the social and political conditions of the late 1970s and the band's take-no-prisoners response to them. He's also alert to San Francisco's distinctive punk scene and its unapologetically political stance. His essay is a welcome complement to the extensive literature on the city's utopian mood and music of the 1960s. … Very worthwhile. -- Peter Richardson, San Francisco State University * Peter Richardson *Give it some time and Michael Stewart Foley’s book on Dead Kennedys’ Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables will probably rank among the best of the 33 1/3 series. It’s a fine portrait of politics that gave birth to the Bay Area punk scene, all the while tracing a counterculture throughline from the Yippies of the 60s to the punks of at the beginning of the ’80s. Dead Kennedys sneered in the face of both Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown, and also at the birth of New Wave, which presented new sonic possibilities but also a crass mellowing out into palatable pop chart fodder once it was co-opted by the mainstream. -- Hubert Vigilla * Ruby Hornet *Foley comes at this well known [sic] album from something other than the standard 'review' perspective positing the theory that it was in fact the late 70's American dream gone sour and subsequent counter culture politics that created bands like the Dead Kennedy's in the first place … is in fact a very readable little nugget that DK fans, especially those who understood there was far more to the band than simple 'shock and roll', will thoroughly enjoy. Beyond that it should also appeal to pretty much anyone who has a passing interest in the US post punk/hardcore scene. * Total Music Magaz *Michael Stewart Foley’s Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables casts Dead Kennedys as a product of the darkness and seemingly hopelessness of the late 1970s. Foley shows their forming and the release of their debut album to represent a catalyst for the frustration of a generation that was given the promise of prosperity in the 1960s and then proceeded to watch that promise be dismantled by the Vietnam War, Watergate and the rise of gentrification in San Francisco during the post-Summer of Love era … In doing so, Foley also casts a favorable light on the political stance of punk and suggests that their dire situation as a marginalized community organizing against an oppressive system was not only necessary but almost natural … This book is essential to your understanding of punk as a threat and why this iconic album represents that. -- Nick Kuzmack * SLUG *…an incisive blend of urban history, socio-political witnessing, and pop culture insight. Peeling back the band’s mythos, [Foley] deftly sorts through family backgrounds, the countercultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and the nuanced and fecund microcosm of San Francisco during punk’s genesis, all at a breathless pace. The book is compact, yet exploratory, dense as well as poetic … Foley balances the eyes-wide-open vibe of a fan’s journal with his strenuous academic precision, so readers feel immersed in, but not overwhelmed by, the incendiary band’s tale. -- David Ensminger * Houston Press *Full of compelling portraits of key players, trenchant musicological and visual cultural analysis, and rich journalistic-cum-historical depictions of the state of California and San Francisco politics at the end of the 1970s, Foley’s book is a success that will appeal both to scholars and to fans. In unveiling a portrait of the Dead Kennedys and punk as creators of ‘a soundtrack of collective resistance’ (p. 9), Foley not only rescues San Francisco punk from the condescension of posterity, but provides a model of how to write historically about youth subcultures and popular music. -- Timothy Scott Brown, Northeastern University, USA * The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1 – I Don’t Need This Fucking World Chapter 2 – Mellow Out or You Will Pay Chapter 3 – The Sun Beams Down on a Brand New Day Chapter 4 – It’s Time to Taste What You Most Fear Chapter 5 – There’s No Way Like the American Way Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA fascinating investigation into what defines 'heavy' in music and how heaviness transfuses culture.Trade ReviewFascinating . . . powerful -- Elif Shafak * The Spectator *A weighty discussion of metal, for both passionate fans and neophytes . . . Yet what elevates Heavy from being a simple love letter to metal is the way in which Franklin situates heaviness within the "iron-rich bloodline running through the bedrock of culture" . . . a book that pulls off the trick of offering something to both passionate fans and neophytes -- Keith Kahn-Harris * Guardian *Heavy opens an ornate portal into a murky subculture, illuminating the marginalia as well as the big beasts -- Victoria Segal * Sunday Times *A wildly entertaining journey into the heart of musical darkness -- Liam Cagney * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisA thrilling and tumultuous, behind-the-scenes account of house music in NYC.The Beat, the Scene, the Sound follows DJ Disciple and his behind-the-scenes account of how DJs, promoters, fans, and others transformed house music from a DIY project into an international sensation—dive into the glitzy clubs, underground parties, and the diverse communities who made up the scene amidst the tumult of 1980s/90s-era NYC—between the fall of disco and the rise of EDM. The book unearths many untold stories of the era. When house first rose to prominence in the 1980s, it brought people together—Palladium, Paradise Garage, Tunnel, Zanzibar, Studio 54, and other clubs were going strong. But as DJ Disciple established himself in the scene, he witnessed it shatter. During the crack-cocaine epidemic, he literally dodged bullets bringing his records to and from clubs at night. HIV/AIDS and homophobia threw up fear-based partitions. Then, mayors worked to close the clubs. House music was pushed underground and then abroad to the UK and Europe. Disciple and many other DJs sought to regain a footing in the United States, but that only became possible with the rise of commercialized EDM. With dozens of interviews and historic photographs, The Beat, the Scene, the Sound shows what is possible when you bring people together and what can unravel when you split them apart.

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Book SynopsisBruce Springsteen: A musician. A family man. A religious man. An activist. A boss. THE BOSS. From podcasts with former President Barak Obama to record smashing sales deals, Bruce Springsteen is just as much as The Boss now as he was decades ago. This photo-biography recounts the fascinating life of a boy from Freehold, New Jersey who goes on to become a rock ‘n’ roll ledgend – turning out over ten number 1 hits and over 120 million CDs sold, the highest in rock history. Follow him through five chronological chapters that highlight his greatest milestones and shares lesser-known struggles – as he introduces the world heartland rock songs about working class America, losses success in the 1990s, and returns with a vengeance to ring in the new millennia while lending his support to a dividing political landscape in new age America.Table of ContentsFOREWORD page 6 INTRODUCTION page 8 1949–1973 GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK page 16 1974–1984 BORN TO RUN page 46 1984–1991 BORN IN THE U.S.A. AND GLOBAL SUCCESS page 90 1992–2012 FROM CRISIS TO REBIRTH page 124 2012–2023 BIG DREAMS, BIG HOPES page 164

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Book SynopsisRiff explores the turbulent life of the Caribbean musician and poet Shake Keane (1927-97). A wanderer, he absorbed many of the themes of the 20th century - colonialism, migration and masculinity. Each of them found expression in his work. Born in St Vincent, he migrated to London in the early 1950s where he became an important figure in the free form jazz scene. A return to his birthplace was blighted by politics, and his last decades were spent in New York City and Norway where he experienced a degree of emotional peace despite financial difficulties. This biography reveals the many features of the life of this trend-setting but troubled Caribbean icon.

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Book SynopsisWomen have been at the dawn of the blues since Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey were singing about hard knocks and tough love in smoky bars. This book gives an overview of the early days of the blues and its development from the Mississippi Delta to the home of electric blues, Chicago, to becoming the vibrant global musical movement it is today. In addition, there are exclusive interviews with dozens of the women leading the Blues today. With an introduction by acclaimed music writer Zoe Howe, this book explores the pioneers who created the blues from the 1920s onwards, as well as providing exclusive interviews with around 30 extraordinary women who take the blues to new heights today.Trade Review"Jennifer Noble is an insightful blues enthusiast whose wealth of knowledge of blues music is second to none. Through this rare book about women in blues, the reader encounters many of the talented ladies Jennifer has met on her photographic journey - from Irma Thomas to Ivy Ford - illuminated with wonderfully informative dialogue from the artists themselves to complement her photos. This is not just another coffee table book: it is a must read for all blues aficionados!" -Blues Matters Magazine; "Jennifer Noble's photographs make you fall in love with these Blues Women. She captures the essence of their soul. I have fallen in love with them as well and was so inspired that I started Women of the Blues Foundation. Thank you, Jennifer Noble for bringing me into a world of extraordinary women." -Lynn Orman Weiss, Founder Women of the Blues Foundation and Women of the Blues Records; "Jennifer Noble has been photographing blues in Chicago for more than 30 years so she knows a thing or two about the scene. In 50 Women in the Blues, she highlights-you guessed it-50 women of the blues-from the legendary trailblazers like Memphis Minnie, Big Mama Thorton, Sippie Wallace and Bessie Smith to present day blues queens such as Shemekia Copeland, Joanna Connor, Thornetta Davis, Mary Lane, Sister Cookie and many, many more. Even I, who likes to think I know everything there is to know about the women who sing the blues, met a few women I didn't know in this delightful book." -Chicago Blues News; "50 Women in the Blues is a worthy addition to the crop of blues music titles vying for attention out there. Indeed, its format and integrity make it an essential introduction and potential reference work for blues fans everywhere. More than a typical coffee-table book, this is a dip-in whenever you fancy book that holds the power to interest, grip, entertain and inform, and that can't be bad!" - Iain Patience, Elmore Magazine; "...the book is produced in hardback, and as the notes say 'The book gives an overview of the early days of the blues and its development from the Mississippi delta to Chicago to the global music it is today'. So for all of us who love the blues this book is a must have. One of the best produced books on the blues you'll ever find." - Peta Clack, Blues in Britain magazine; "Given the times we live in, it's a little surprising there haven't been more books focusing on blueswomen. Whether this book of photographs and (relatively brief) essays and interviews, featuring the work of photographer Jennifer Noble, with assistance from British author and freelance writer Zoe Howe, represents part of a larger movement to correct that oversight remains to be seen, but it's a tantalizing prospect. Noble's photographs are straightforward and unpretentious, she's not a high art photographer but a portraitist, interested in capturing the spirit of the moment and in these cases the spirit and brio of her subjects - appropriately the dominant mood is joyful: this music is a celebration - of life, of womanly power, of perseverance and survival. In recent years, authors such as Angela Y. Davis (Blues Legacies and Black Feminism)... have produced important works that have focused on the social significance of women's voices and performance styles in the blues, and although it does not aspire to the scope of such works, this collection of photographs should nonetheless be recognized as another, in what one hopes is an ongoing initiative, scholarly and otherwise, to recognize, study and celebrate this vital facet of living blues history. After all, in a very real sense, the history of the blues is women's history as well - or as Zoe Howe reminds us in her introduction: "Years of oppression couldn't stop them. Violence couldn't cow them. Religion didn't suppress them and social conditioning couldn't inhibit them... a woman is the blues and the blues is a woman." - David Whiteis, Living Blues Magazine.

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Book SynopsisArgues that on "Twenty Jazz Funk Greats", Throbbing Gristle modelled a critically promiscuous way of relating to or inhabiting musical genre, where punk rock was passionate and direct, TG were arch and mysterious. This title explores the album's multiple agendas: a series of close readings of each song, with key concepts, strategies and contexts.Trade ReviewDaniel brings erudition and clarity to the 33 1/3 series with writing that's both meticulous and giddy...Daniel achieves a fantastic hat trick-- a love letter to an unacceptable band about their least-loved album in a book series that, until recently, was reserved only for acceptable albums. Let the wrecking of civilization begin. -- Brian Joseph David * Eye Weekly *Drew Daniel employs a very rich lexicon, but chooses his words judiciously. More importantly, he admits right up front to being a huge TG fan boy, and that enthusiasm translates - even when he veers towards head-scratching territory - particularly in some of his interview passages with the band members (all of whom participated in the creation of his book). And by focusing squarely on the group's music, not their sensationalistic trappings, in a song-by-song analysis, he opens up the listening experience, both to neophytes and diehards. I might never have imagined such a thing was possible, but Daniel's musings on 20 Jazz Funk Greats have made me a committed Throbbing Gristle fan. And that kind of connective tissue I can heartily endorse. * Weird at my School Blog, KXEP *Always perverse, Throbbing Gristle was perhaps never more so than on their 1979 release, 20 Jazz Funk Greats. From the cover art, which at first glance appears to your standard "band outdoors" snap, (but is actually the group assembled at Britain's Beachy Head, a suicide hotspot) to the almost "normal" synth pop found within, TG deliberately alters reality until it nearly comes back around- nearly. Drew Daniel, one half of the electronic group Matmos, draws on new interviews with the group to craft a look at one of music's most extreme, intense and provocative artists, who delighted here in subtle rearrangements of benign elements into darker statements, such as captured field recordings of young children, mashed against a simple drum machine to create "Persuasion". Daniel ably illustrates the sheer brilliance of the record, in which TG turned down the volume but upped the intensity of their message. At nearly 200 pages this is one of the longer "33 1/3" releases, but is such a captivating look at the legendary group of pop culture provocateurs that you won't put it down. * The Big Takeover *This is a fascinating and thought-thorough accompaniment to the album, augmented by interviews with all the group members, which uncovers a trove of pertinent unfamiliarities in songs which feel like longstanding parts of the mental furniture after nearly 30 years. -- David Stubbs * The Wire, UK *I fell into this book like Alice down an unfathomable dark rabbit-hole. It reads like a riveting detective novel, so concisely has Daniel (AKA one half of Matmos) woven personal history (both TGs and his own), (un)reliable narration (thanks to the members of TG themselves, contradictory bastards the lot of them), close dissection (a forensic/anatomical tank being particularly appropriate with TG) and overarching pop-cultural critique...this tiny volume on only one album in the massive TG oeuvre situates the group so powerfully in the appropriate historical, personal, and musical contexts that I never wanted the book to end. It's a vivid, revealing, and very personal work that is beautifully written from start to finish, and my favorite of the 33 1/3s so far. * Warped Reality Magazine *Daniel is more than fully qualified to author this personal, historical and cultural deconstruction of TG's third album. -- George Taylor * Plan B, 2008 *Daniels is a lucid and engaging writer who captures the struggle of a band that felt increasingly trapped by its own accomplishments and confined by the conventions of a genre that it hadn't really wanted to create. * Signal to Noise *An excellent reason for picking up or dusting off the album. -- Scott McKeating, 2008Daniel has delved into the album and dissects it here, sony-by-song, with acute insight, and with some thought in providing the context and meaning of each track. Daniel had access to all four band members for the book, garnering valuable information in his conversations with each, also drawing upon the band's historical record as documented in print. * Blurt Magazine *Daniel writes evocatively of his own experience with 20 Jazz Funk Greats, which he discovered as an adolescent looking for more extreme forms of music, but the best passages in the book are his Q&A’s with the band members, who remain as confrontational and confounding as ever. -- Stephen M. Deusner * Pitchfork *

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Book SynopsisAs lead singer and extraordinary frontman of SLADE, Noddy Holder was one of the most successful musicians of the ''70s and ''80s. The epitome of the Glam Rock look and lifestyle, they released anthem after anthem as they mixed pure pop madness with football chant choruses. Seemingly on a mission to corrupt the spelling of a generation, the hits are songs we still hold dear today: MAMA WEER ALL CRAZEE NOW, LOOK WOT YOU DUN, CUM ON FEEL THE NOIZE. . . In a short few years they had 12 top five hits, 6 of them making #1 spot. Their albums also topped the charts and their huge Christmas anthem MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY has entered the top twenty over 7 times. In the ''80s Slade made a brilliant revival with even more hits, especially RUN RUN AWAY and the classic MY OH MY. Today Noddy is as loved by the British public as he has ever been and in this hilarious autobiography he will tell us his complete life story, from growing up in the Midlands, to performing in the working men''s clubs. The

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Book SynopsisJimmy McDonough is a journalist who has contributed to such publications as Variety, Film Comment, Mojo, Spin and Juggs. But he is perhaps best know for his intense, definitive Village Voice profiles of such artists as Jimmy Scott, Neil Young and Hubert Selby, Jr. He is also the author of The Ghastly One: The Sex-Gore Netherworld of Filmmaker Andy Milligan. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.Trade ReviewThe raw materials of the story are sensational: burning ambition, clashing egos, onstage epileptic seizures, deranged groupies, great albums, the birth and death of Sixties idealism, and, most of all, extremes of substance abuse * Scotland on Sunday *Succeeds in stripping a star of his iconography - McDonough's book excels at anecdotes of music excess from a bygone era * Observer *It's hard to imagine anyone trying to better this book - It has an abundance of what Young values above all else - passion * Evening Standard *I've been reading this biography of Neil Young called Shakey and it's changed my life, man -- Liam Gallagher * NME *

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Book SynopsisIn 1963, in a south London hotel, Andrew Loog Oldham discovered an unknown rhythm and blues band called the Rolling Stones and became their manager and producer; by 1967 they had achieved worldwide celebrity, been arrested in a notorious drugs raid and split with the manager that made them. 2Stoned is the remarkable record of these years, when Oldham''s radical strategies transformed them into the Greatest Rock ''n'' Roll Band That Ever Drew Breath. In his first book, Stoned, Oldham recorded his early years and the meeting with the Stones that changed all their fates; 2Stoned is the story of what followed.Trade ReviewWhat a ride and what a read * Sunday Times *Fantastic... The definitive book about music, money, rock 'n' roll. Brutally honest, consistently stylish and eminently readable... There is no better history of the period more thrillingly told * Time Out *2Stoned is the volume everyone has been awaiting, and it doesn't disappoint * The Times *Oldham is a prose stylist of no little talent * Q Magazine *

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Book SynopsisJools Holland has had a fascinating life. From playing on bomb sites as a boy in the East End, to skiving off school and then selling millions of records with Squeeze, the first twenty years of his life were eventful, chaotic and colourful. Then came The Tube with Paula Yates, the seminal live music programme that propelled him to fame. Over the following three decades, Jools succeeded in placing himself at the epicentre of a global community comprising just about anybody who is anybody in music. Through Later with Jools Holland, the longest-running music programme on television, he has given British TV debuts to countless now world famous bands. Packed with hilarious anecdotes written in Holland's own inimitable style and laced with quirky insights and deliciously acute detail, this autobiography by one of Britain's most gifted and debonaire musicians is not just for music fans, but for anyone who is looking for something several cuts above the conventional showbiz memoir.<

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Book SynopsisWhen we talk about a jazz standard we usually mean one of the many songs that jazz musicians repeatedly play as part of their core repertoire. But unlike musical works in the tradition of so-called classical music, standards--whether plucked from the Great American Songbook or from recordings by other jazz musicians--are always being transformed in performance. They are rearranged and improvised upon, given new chords and altered melodies. These transformations might be small and seemingly unimportant, or they might be radical revisions. Which raises the question: across all of these various performances, what gives a standard its identity? In Hearing Double author Brian Kane answers that question by offering a new theory of musical works that can account for the unique challenges presented by standards. Building from the bottom up--from the actual practices of jazz musicians toward their philosophical implications--he gives a comprehensive theory of how a standard can undergo radical musical transformations yet remain identifiable. Through an analysis of the historical and cultural conditions under which standards came to prominence he shows how popular music from the 1930s to the 1960s was circulated and distributed and provides new insight into why the era of the standard emerged when it did. In addition, Kane addresses the aesthetic significance of standards and describes a special mode of listening that standards require. According to Kane, we effectively hear double--hearing an ideal song in our minds at the same time as we hear the live performance with our ears. Filled with case studies and music analysis, Hearing Double will draw the reader''s attention to unheard aspects of jazz performance as well as unrecognized philosophical, social, and cultural dimensions of the jazz repertoire.

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