Popular music Books

Book SynopsisBen Fong-Torres was torn between an alluring American lifestyle - including Elvis and rock 'n' roll - and the traditional cultural heritage his proud immigrant parents struggled to instill in their five children. This title tells of growing up with a double identity - Chinese and American.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow can we account for the persistent appeal of glossy commercial pop music? Why do certain performers have such emotional power, even though their music is considered vulgar or second rate? This title gives an account of a group of American popular music performers.Trade Review"An engaging exploration of dedicated music fan bases that emerged in the 1970s... Highly recommended." -- M. Goldsmith CHOICETable of ContentsAcknowledgments 1 Introduction 2 Black Masculinity and the Sound of Wealth: Barry White in the Early '70s 3 Transport and Interiority in Soft Soul 4 The Audience and Barry Manilow 5 The Voice of Karen Carpenter 6 Cher's "Dark Ladies"--Showbiz Liberation 7 Crossing Over With Dolly Parton Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAt the close of the Second World War, waves of African American musicians migrated to Paris, eager to thrive in its reinvigorated jazz scene. Jazz Diasporas challenges the notion that Paris was a color-blind paradise for African Americans.Trade Review"A fascinating look into an important chapter in cultural history." Kirkus Reviews "Un libro apasionante, bien documentado y basico para entender la migracion de musicos afroamericanos de jazz a Europa." ("A fascinating book, well documented and fundamental to understand the migration of African American jazz musicians to Europe.") Tango ReporterTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Migrating Jazz People and Identities 1. Performing Jazz Diaspora With Sidney Bechet 2. Jazz At Home In France: French Jazz Musicians on the Warpath To “Authentic” Jazz 3. Inez Cavanaugh: Creating And Complicating Jazz Community 4. Boris Vian And James Baldwin In Paris: Are We A Blues People, Too? 5. Kenny Clarke’s Journey Between “Black” And “Universal” Music Coda: Beyond Color-Blind Narratives: Reading Behind The Scenes Of Paris Blues Notes Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Maxine Gordon astutely frames the fiery daring of Dexter Gordon’s generation of bebop innovators in the context of rising black consciousness and creative agency in midcentury America…“Sophisticated Giant” is a work of considerable sophistication, the first-person testimony of its subject employed with affectionate discipline, smartly contextualized and augmented by material from interviews Maxine Gordon conducted with the tenor saxophone masters Sonny Rollins and Jimmy Heath, the record producers Bruce Lundvall and Michael Cucsuna, and others." -- David Hajdu, * The New York Times *“Dexter Gordon’s deep tone, relaxed delivery—even the frequent witty musical quotations—seemed like extensions of his gravely playful speaking voice. That voice carries over on the page too. You can hear it when you read his written testimony and extracts from letters included in Maxine Gordon’s illuminating biography.” -- Kevin Whitehead, * NPR's Fresh Air *“‘Affectionate, enjoyable and informative, painting a portrait of a handsome, elegant, easygoing person and artist who refused to agonize about his past.” * Wall Street Journal *“A particularly intimate look at . . . career highs in this wonderful biography of the iconic jazzman. . . . Most striking for this reader was how, through her intimate, first-hand knowledge of her husband’s life, Maxine was able to convey how the art of jazz was far more than a career path for Dexter and his colleagues. “ * The Austin Chronicle *"Gordon’s life has previously been chronicled, but not with so much of his own achingly personal, brutally honest voice. Sophisticated Giant is not a critical analysis of his music; instead, Maxine has interwoven Dexter’s own letters and poetry with a broad spectrum of anecdotal accounts, plus her own meticulous scholarship and adoring reflections, to craft a vivid life story. . . . This is a must-read for jazz fans." * Jazz Times *“A work that’s both scrupulously researched history and intimate memoir.” * MOJO *“An intimate, keenly-rendered new biography that will interest jazz enthusiasts and anyone with an interest in American popular culture. . . . It’s a warm, subjective story that trains an astute lens on the social and political circumstances that helped shape a career; and for that, it stand outs as a landmark contribution to the literature of the jazz.” * Seattle Times *"Throughout the book, Maxine provides rich descriptions of people, places, and events, often quoting from Dexter. Through her meticulous research, new information about him emerges. . . While meticulous about details, the author is also a good storyteller, so, aside from its scholarly discipline, the book is intriguing and leads the reader forward like an absorbing detective novel." * All About Jazz *"Blending forensic research with scholarly insight, Sophisticated Giant’s compelling story unfurls like one of Gordon’s sinuous sax solos. Essential reading for jazz fans." * Record Collector *“Dexter Gordon left us almost three decades ago, but his presence in 2018 has virtually brought him back to center stage." * All About Jazz *“When I say that this is essential reading for anyone interested in modern jazz from the late thirties on, you'd better believe it!. . . . Tell your own true love that, this year, you don't want any more partridges in a pear tree, lords a-leaping or even five golden rings. No, what you want for Christmas this year is (apart from him/her) a Sophisticated Giant.” * bebop spoken here *“Easy-to-read, well-written, superbly documented, much-anticipated. . . . One unique thing about the book is that it makes you feel like you are there with her listening to her talk, about her time in the jazz world with some of the best musicians on earth. But just when you get used to her writing like an excited jazz fan, she easily switches to a keen researcher and a solid scholar.” * Jazz Corner *"Exceptional. . . . Maxine Gordon believes that 'the story of Dexter's life is nothing less than a cultural history of creative Black Americans in the interwar and postwar years.' In Sophisticated Giant, she's written a book that reflects this important truth." * New York City Jazz Record *“Sophisticated Giant paints a convincing picture of an extremely charming, intelligent, resilient, and talented man." * Arts Fuse *“[Gordon] displays firsthand knowledge of the political economy of jazz playing and the discrimination and grievances musicians endured...her honesty and passion bleed into her prose to create a lively and valuable look at the jazz giant and his world. Verdict: For jazz lovers first but enjoyable for general readers, too.” * Library Journal *“This is a story that had to be told.” * KUVO/KVJZ *“An informative, well-paced, suite like literary work that chronicles the saxophonist’s family, influences, inspirations, zeniths, and nadirs, and documents his legacy as one of the most influential saxophonists in jazz history.” -- Eugene Holley Jr., * Publishers Weekly *“Maxine’s book shows us not only the world Dexter Gordon lived and breathed, but many other musicians we know, don’t know and should know. We see the reality of the Jazz world, the unthinkable hardships and struggles brought together through the common love of music. The book is incredible. Maxine Gordon is incredible. Her passion to share, explore and discuss the reality of the Jazz world is a true inspiration." * Jazz in Europe *“There’s a major new biography out of saxophonist Dexter Gordon, and it’s worth checking out.” * Stereogum *“Offers a rare vantage point into the life of one of jazz’s most cherished figures.” * Jazziz *“Maxine Gordon's recently released book ‘Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Times of Dexter Gordon’ is no ordinary jazz biography. It is a book that transports you into the reality of a Jazz musicians’ life, the highs and lows, the hardships and the inexplicable power of Jazz – beautifully written by an author whose passion for ensuring Dexter’s story is told honestly, is inspiring. Dexter Gordon was indeed a ‘Sophisticated Giant’ but when you read the book, you can’t help but feel there are actually two sophisticated giants here.” * The Jazz Room @ Style Quarterly Magazine *Table of Contents1. The Saga of Society Red 2. An Uncommon Family 3. Education of an Eastside Altar Boy 4. Leaving Home 5. Pops 6. Blowin’ the Blues Away 7. Business Lessons 8. Mischievous Lady 9. Central Avenue Bop 10. Trapped 11. Resurgence 12. New Life 13. Very Saxily Yours 14. Trouble in Paris 15. The Khalif of Valby 16. Homecoming 17. Bebop at Work 18. Round Midnight

Read more less

Book SynopsisSuitable for students and scholars of American music, gender and sexuality, class, and pop culture, this book looks at how class and gender identity play out in one of America's most culturally and politically charged forms of popular music.Trade Review"This is one of the most intellectually stimulating books I have read in a long time." -- Benita Wolters-Fredlund Notes Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music is an intellectual tour de force that offers a nuanced exploration of the ways that white middle-class attitudes toward country music and white working-class modes of discourse have led to the marginalization of the white working class in political and cultural discourse. -- Travis Stimeling Journal of the Society for American Music "Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music" is a far-ranging, multi-layered analysis, full of provocative insights, packaged in crisp, engaging prose" -- John Hayes Agricultural History "Hubbs uses country music to uncover longstanding alliances between white working class and queer subcultures. Such alliances have been obscured by stereotypes of low-status whites, or "rednecks," as uniformly bigoted and homophobic, and of "middle America" as homogenous and provincial. Hubbs trenchantly critiques middle-class disavowals of working class culture (exemplified by the phrase "I'll listen to anything but country"), and meticulously analyzes songs by the Foo Fighters, Gretchen Wilson, David Allen Coe, and others. Hubbs writes that "To hear country on its own terms, we must seek out the particular values and devalued culture of the working class." IASPM-US (2015 Woody Guthrie Award, Honorable Mention)Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments INTRO PART I. Rednecks and Country Music 1. Anything but Country 2. Sounding the Working-Class Subject PART II. Rednecks, Country Music, and the Queer 3. Gender Deviance and Class Rebellion in "Redneck Woman" 4. "Fuck Aneta Briant" and the Queer Politics of Being Political OUTRO Notes References Subject Index Song Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisSeeks at once to describe and explain the emergence of export-oriented South Korean popular music and to make sense of larger South Korean economic and cultural transformations. This book delves into the broader background of South Korea in this wonderfully informed history and analysis of a pop culture phenomenon sweeping the globe.Trade Review"This book investigates one of the most compelling issues in current transnational cultural flow and production driven by domestic factors. It provides insights into global pop culture by offering rich empirical detail and useful historical milieus surrounding the emergence of K-pop. It is presented as a convincing contribution to a growing body of literature on popular music, the Korean cultural industries, and cultural politics. It is highly recommended for a wide range of readers who are interested in K-pop, the Korean Wave, and popular culture." * Pacific Affairs *"K-Pop: Popular Music, Cultural Amnesia, and Economic Innovation in South Korea succeed[s] in its aim of providing an overview of the historical evolution of South Korean popular music, and in doing so, addressing to varying degrees the three questions with which it began. Combining a solid command of empirical facts with dexterous explorations of genres, contexts, and concepts, this is an engaging, stylish work that will be useful for both academic researchers and general readers alike." * Journal of Asian Studies *Table of ContentsPrelude 1. How Did We Get Here? Interlude 2. Seoul Calling Postlude Coda Notes Glossary of Korean Terms Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTraces the changing sounds of race across some of the best-known rap songs of the past thirty-five years, combining song-level analysis with historical contextualization to show how these representations of identity depend on specific artistic decisions, such as those related to how producers make beats.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Sounding Race in Rap Songs PART I. STYLISTIC CHANGE AND RACIAL FORMATION IN RAP'S FIRST DECADE 1. "Rapper's Delight": From Genre-less to New Genre 2. "Rebel Without a Pause": Public Enemy Revolutionizes the Break PART II. REARTICULATING RACE IN THE NEOLIBERAL NINETIES 3. "Let Me Ride": Gangsta Rap's Drive into the Popular Mainstream 4. "My Name Is": Signifying Whiteness, Rearticulating Race Conclusion: Sounding Race in the Twenty-First Century Notes Discography Filmography Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1980, the celebrated new wave band Blondie headed to Los Angeles to record a new album, and along with it, the cover The Tide Is High originally written by Jamaican legend John Holt. With percussion by Peruvian drummer and veteran L.A. session musician Alex Acuna and horns and violins that were pure L.A. mariachi by way of Mexico, The Tide Is High demonstrates just one example of the ways in which the music of Los Angeles and Latin America have been intertwined since the birth of the city in the 18th century. The Tide Was Always High gathers together essays, interviews, and analysis from leading academics, artists, journalists, and iconic Latin American musicians to explore the vibrant connections between Los Angeles and Latin America. Published in conjunction with the Getty's Pacific Standard Time LA/LA, the book shows how Latin American musicians and music have helped shape the city's culture, from Hollywood film sets to recording studios, from vaudeville theaters to Sunset Strip nightclubs, and from Carmen Miranda to Perez Prado and Juan Garcia Esquivel.Trade ReviewBest Latino/Latin American History Books of 2017 * Remezcla *Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Introduction: The Tide Was Always High Josh Kun 1. Mexican Musical Theater and Movie Palaces in Downtown Los Angeles before 1950 John Koegel 2. Rumba Emissaries Alexandra T. Vazquez 3. Doing the Samba on Sunset Boulevard: Carmen Miranda and the Hollywoodization of Latin American Music Walter Aaron Clark 4. Walt Disney’s Saludos Amigos: Hollywood and the Propaganda of Authenticity Carol A. Hess 5. A Century of Latin Music at the Hollywood Bowl Agustin Gurza 6. Voice of the Xtabay and Bullock’s Wilshire: Hearing Yma Sumac from Southern California Carolina A. Miranda 7. Musical Anthropology: A Conversation with Elisabeth Waldo Gabriel Reyes-Whittaker 8. Esquivel! Hans Ulrich Obrist 9. Listening across Boundaries: Soundings from the Paramount Ballroom and Boyle Heights David F. Garcia 10. Studio Stories: Interviews with Session Musicians Betto Arcos and Josh Kun 11. From Bahianas to the King of Pop . . . : A Speculative History of Brazilian Music into Los Angeles Brian Cross 12. Heroes and Saints Luis Alfaro 13. Staging the Dance of Coalition with Versa-Style and CONTRA-TIEMPO Cindy García 14. Booming Bandas of Los Ángeles: Gender and the Transnational Zapotec Philharmonic Brass Bands Xóchitl C. Chávez 15. Caminos y Canciones en Los Angeles, CA Martha Gonzalez List of Contributors Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAt publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. In the 1990s, Los Angeles was home to numerous radical social and environmental eruptions. In the face of several major earthquakes and floods, riots and economic insecurity, police brutality and mass incarceration, some young black Angelenos turned to holy hip hop-a movement merging Christianity and hip hop culture-to save themselves and the city. Converting street corners to airborne churches and gangsta rap beats into anthems of praise, holy hip hoppers used gospel rap to navigate complicated social and spiritual realities and to transform the Southland's fractured terrains into musical Zions. Armed with beats, rhymes, and bibles, they journeyed through black Lutheran congregations, prison ministries, African churches, reggae dancehalls, hip hop clubs, Nation of Islam meetings, and Black Lives Matter marches. Zanfagna's fascinating ethnography provides a contemporary and unique view of black LA, offering a much-needed perspective on how music and religion intertwine in people's everyday experiences.Trade Review“While most scholarship on hip hop is focused on lyrical analysis, Zanfagna takes the sanctifying process of lyrical conversion in holy hip hop and situates it within the religious, cultural, and physical landscapes of LA. …Holy Hip Hop in the City of Angels is a thorough and engaging account of race, religion, and personal striving for musical authenticity and spiritual movement within and across spaces that historically have denied and constrained both.” * Reading Religion *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Earthquake Music and the Politics of Conversion 1. “Now I Bang for Christ”: Rites/Rights of Passage 2. Hip Hop Church L.A.: Shifting Grounds in Inglewood 3. Beyond Babylon: Geographies of Conversion 4. The Evangelical Hustle: Selling Music, Saving Souls 5. Roads to Zion: Hip Hop’s Search for the City Yet to Come Epilogue: Aftershocks Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Musical Links Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"...a fresh and intriguing, heartfelt and insightful cruise through the main thoroughfares, side streets, and alleyways of Chicano rock ’n’ roll, performance art, and Los Angeles cultures, past, present, and beyond, seamlessly written by this first-time author." * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi Introduction: The Fire and Flames of Funkahuatl, by Josh Kun and George Lipsitz 1 Prologue 16 La Veinte: A Santa Monica Barrio 17 Rubén Ladrón de Guevara Sr., 1914–2006 21 Superman in Ese Eme 26 Music and Movie Moments 32 Miss Las Vegas 36 La Gatita 38 Las Vegas and the Breakup of Our Family 43 Sue Dean 49 Miss Hollywood 52Shindig! with Tina Turner and Bo Diddley 56 The Sunset Strip Riots and My Second Marriage 62 The Southern Belle 64 LACC and the New Revelations Gospel Choir 68 Miss Santa Barbara and the Summer of 1971 75 Frank Zappa and Ruben and the Jets, 1972–1974 80 Miss Pamela and the GTOs 85 Miss Claremont 87 Miss Chino 89 The Mutiny 91 The Movie Star and Miss Blue Eyes 94 Opening for Zappa at San Francisco’s Winterland 97Con Safos: The Album 99 Pilgrimage to Mexico 105 La Gypsy 114 From “The Star Spangled Banner” to Punk 116 The Whisky and a New Band: Con Safos 120 Miss Aztlán 124Gotcha! 126 Zyanya Records 128 Cristina, Día de Los Muertos, and Chicano Heaven 130Born in East L.A.: The Movie 138Caliente y Picante 147 Performance Art 152 To France with Aztlán, Babylon, Rhythm & Blues 154 Validation Crisis 170 Jammin’ with John Valadez 174 Arts 4 City Youth and Trying Again 180 UCLA 182 Journey to New Aztlán 187 The Enchantress 196América Tropical 200 Miss Mongolia 203 Teaching Poetry 207 Inner City Lessons 212 Teaching at UCLA 217 The Neo-Chicano Tantrik Funk Monk 220 Lust to Art: Mexamérica and Performing at the Getty 223The Eastside Revue: 1932–2002, A Musical Homage to Boyle Heights 228L.A. Times Profile of Boyle Heights 231 Funkahuatl’s Absurd Chronicles 234 The Iraq War 236 Cross-cultural Friendships and Protests 238 Manzanar Pilgrimage 246Yellow Pearl Remix 253 Saving the Toypurina Monument 257Rock ’n’ Rights for the Mentally Disabled 260 Resistance and Respect: Los Angeles Muralism and Graff Art 262 Miss Bogotá and the X Festival Ibéroamericano del Teatro 264Word Up! A Word, Performance, and Theater Summit 267 Meeting My Brothers from the Westbank First Nation, British Columbia 270 Epiphany at Joshua Tree 274 Miss Altar in the Sky 276 Rubén Guevara & The Eastside Luvers 289The Tao of Funkahuatl 292 Release of the Tao of Funkahuatl CD in L.A. and Japan 294MEX/LA 296 Rockin’ the House of Dues and Grand Performances 299 Fifty Years in Show Biz 303 Miss Beijing 306 Miss Monterey Park 309 End of the Ten-Year Sex Drought 313 Seventy and Still Running 315 Platonic Homegirls 317 Joseph Trotter 318 A Boyle Heights Cultural Treasure 320 Boyle Heights Por Vida 322¡Angelin@s Presente! 325 Sara Casillas-Gutiérrez Guevara, 1923–2015 327 Staged Confessions 329 The Fall 332 Take Me Higher, Mi Reina 334

Read more less

Book SynopsisHearing Luxe Pop explores a deluxe-production aesthetic thathas long thrived in American popular music, in which popular-music idioms are merged with lush string orchestrations and big-band instrumentation. John Howland presents an alternative music history that centers on shifts in timbre and sound through innovative uses of orchestration and arranging, traveling from symphonic jazz to the Great American Songbook, the teenage symphonies of Motown to the countrypolitan sound of Nashville, the sunshine pop of the Beach Boys to the blending of soul and funk into 1970s disco, and Jay-Z's hip-hop-orchestra events to indie rock bands performing with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. This book attunes readers to hear the discourses gathered around the music and its associated images as it examines pop's relations to aspirational consumer culture, theatricality, sophistication, cosmopolitanism, and glamorous lifestyles.Trade Review"Love this book for its championing of style, its critical edge, its humorous voice, its generosity, extravagance, and immersiveness." * Twentieth-Century Music *"Hearing Luxe Pop [is] underpinned by relevant notated examples and rich descriptions of the music, situated within discourses around sophistication, cosmopolitanism and glamourous lifestyles, which together make this book a dearly needed contribution to the field of popular music studies." * Swedish Journal of Music Research *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: From Paul Whiteman, to Barry White, Man 1 • Hearing Luxe Pop: Jay-Z, Isaac Hayes, and the Six Degrees of Symphonic Soul 2 • The (Symphonic) Jazz Age, Musical Vaudeville, and "Glorified" Entertainments 3 • Jazz with Strings: Between Jazz and the Great American Songbook 4 • Defining Populuxe: Capitol Records and the Swinging Early Hi-Fi Era 5 • Phil Spector, Early 1960s "Teenage Symphonies," and the Fabulous Lower Middlebrow 6 • Mining AM (White) Gold: The 1960s MOR-Pop Foundations of 1970s Soft Rock 7 • Isaac Hayes and Hot Buttered (Orchestral) Soul, from Psychedelic to Progressive 8 • From Sophistisoul to Disco: Barry White and the Fall of Luxe Pop Afterword Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Love this book for its championing of style, its critical edge, its humorous voice, its generosity, extravagance, and immersiveness." * Twentieth-Century Music *"Hearing Luxe Pop [is] underpinned by relevant notated examples and rich descriptions of the music, situated within discourses around sophistication, cosmopolitanism and glamourous lifestyles, which together make this book a dearly needed contribution to the field of popular music studies." * Swedish Journal of Music Research *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: From Paul Whiteman, to Barry White, Man 1 • Hearing Luxe Pop: Jay-Z, Isaac Hayes, and the Six Degrees of Symphonic Soul 2 • The (Symphonic) Jazz Age, Musical Vaudeville, and "Glorified" Entertainments 3 • Jazz with Strings: Between Jazz and the Great American Songbook 4 • Defining Populuxe: Capitol Records and the Swinging Early Hi-Fi Era 5 • Phil Spector, Early 1960s "Teenage Symphonies," and the Fabulous Lower Middlebrow 6 • Mining AM (White) Gold: The 1960s MOR-Pop Foundations of 1970s Soft Rock 7 • Isaac Hayes and Hot Buttered (Orchestral) Soul, from Psychedelic to Progressive 8 • From Sophistisoul to Disco: Barry White and the Fall of Luxe Pop Afterword Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“A highly engaging, thoroughly researched book.” * All About Jazz *“’Why Jazz Happened' Makes Its Points Like a Snazzy Lawyer in the Courtroom: Zip, Zam, Zot. . . . Students and fans of jazz will come away enlightened about a huge part of the jazz story that has been mostly untold, before this otherwise intelligent and well-reported book was published.” -- Will Layman * Popmatters.com *“A needed historical overview. . . . Myers presents his argument of ‘why jazz happened’ in a concise, powerfully convincing style. . . . Highly recommended.” -- G. A. Akkerman, University of South Carolina Upstate * Choice *“Myers has managed to come up with a fresh take on the [history of jazz's evolution].” -- Willard Manus * LivelyArts.com *"Excellent new jazz history. . . . A refreshingly concrete volume on a genre that stubbornly, sometimes proudly, refuses to be defined." * The New York City Jazz Record *"Why Jazz Happened contains a treasure trove of insider information . . . a valuable addition to readings in jazz history." -- Mark C. Gridley * Notes *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Record Giants Blink 2. DJs, Promoters, and Bebop 3. G.I. Bill and Cool 4. Speed War, Tape, and Solos 5. Suburbia and West Coast Jazz 6. BMI, R&B, and Hard Bop 7. Bias, Africa, and Spiritual Jazz 8. Invasion and Jazz-Pop 9. Alienation and the Avant-Garde 1. Lights, Volume, and Fusion 11. Jazz Hangs On Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn his exciting new book, based on a decade of ethnographic fieldwork, Maurice Magaña considers how urban and migrant youth in Oaxaca embrace subcultures from hip-hop to punk and adopt creative organizing practices to create meaningful channels of participation in local social and political life. In the process, young people remake urban space and construct new identities in ways that directly challenge elite visions of their city and essentialist notions of what it means to be indigenous in the contemporary era. Cartographies of Youth Resistance is essential reading for students and scholars interested in youth politics and culture in Mexico, social movements, urban studies, and migration.Trade Review"The book is an ethnographic treasure-trove. Rich in information, it sheds light on the complexity of local politics and social movements. More than anything else, it is the depth of Magaña’s analysis, capturing the youth’s interconnected understanding of race, politics, and subcultures, that makes this book a must-read for researchers of social movements in the Americas, and beyond." * Anthropology Book Forum *"In short, Cartographies of Youth Resistance provides a compelling take on the role of Indigenous young people in the spatial construction of social movements. The insights developed in the book are not only useful for understanding social movements in Mexico; they can also be adapted for thinking about youth activism in many contexts throughout Latin America and elsewhere." * Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology *“The book’s wealth of ethnographic data on a too-little studied corner of the world opens the door for others to join and extend the valuable dialogues that Magaña and his collaborators in Oaxaca established.” * Anthropological Forum *"Magaña’s greatest contribution is his ethnographic work about punk culture in Oaxaca. . . . The punk scene is often regarded as the rebel kid of white privilege. Magaña shows us another point of view regarding the deep complexities of this group. . . . This book serves to benefit anyone studying globalization, transculturation, multiculturalism, hybrid cultures, and interculturalism in Latin America." * Mobilizations *"Within the context of the enduring afterlife of the renowned 2006 Oaxaca teacher's strike, Magaña (Univ. of Arizona) presents an extraordinarily well-informed ethnographic account . . .Magaña portrays and corroborates Oaxacan youth as "agents of change" and "dreamers of liberatory and dignified futures," offering a counter-reality to the prevalent negative stereotypes of the Mexican underclass. This is an excellent book for both its methodology and content." * CHOICE *“No doubt that Cartographies of Youth Resistance: Hip Hop, Punk, and Urban Autonomy in Mexico is a book that expands our understanding of 2006 Oaxaca and especially of the contemporary social movements there that continue to be led by the youth, echoing the struggles of the 2006 Generation. The book also provides a great contribution to the area of hip hop and punk studies within Latin America, and can be placed as an excellent addition to current scholarship in anthropology of the arts and youth studies.” * Latin American Literary Review *"The book’s wealth of ethnographic data on a too-little studied corner of the world opens the door for others to join and extend the valuable dialogues that Magaña and his collaborators in Oaxaca established." * Anthropological Forum *"Cartographies of Youth Resistance would appeal to readers involved or interested in social movements, as well as young people because of its study of political protests and revolution, and the important role that urban youth had in changing the social climate in Oaxaca city." * Space and Culture *"Magaña’s book is an accessible read for both undergraduate and graduate students. Like the historical agents in his book, students and scholars of radical politics will undoubtedly build on the ideas and analyses contained in Cartographies of Youth Resistance." * New Mexico Historical Review *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments List of Acronyms and Organizations Introduction • Rethinking Social Movement Temporality and Spatiality through Counterspace and Urban Youth Culture 1 • Building Youth Counterspaces, Horizontal Political Cultures, and Emergent Identities in the Oaxacan Social Movement of 2006 2 • Urban Autonomy, Indigenous Anarchisms, and Other Political Genealogies for the 2006 Generation 3 • Urban Youth Collectives as Laboratories for Constructing and Spatializing Horizontal Politics in Post-2006 Oaxaca 4 • Networking Counterspaces, Constellations of Resistance, and the Politics of Rebel Aesthetics 5 • Rebel Aesthetics: Giving Form to the 2006 Generation’s Liberationist Imagination through Street Art, Punk, and Hip-Hop Conclusion • Shifting Cartographies of (Youth) Resistance Notes Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn his exciting new book, based on a decade of ethnographic fieldwork, Maurice Magaña considers how urban and migrant youth in Oaxaca embrace subcultures from hip-hop to punk and adopt creative organizing practices to create meaningful channels of participation in local social and political life. In the process, young people remake urban space and construct new identities in ways that directly challenge elite visions of their city and essentialist notions of what it means to be indigenous in the contemporary era. Cartographies of Youth Resistance is essential reading for students and scholars interested in youth politics and culture in Mexico, social movements, urban studies, and migration.Trade Review"The book is an ethnographic treasure-trove. Rich in information, it sheds light on the complexity of local politics and social movements. More than anything else, it is the depth of Magaña’s analysis, capturing the youth’s interconnected understanding of race, politics, and subcultures, that makes this book a must-read for researchers of social movements in the Americas, and beyond." * Anthropology Book Forum *"In short, Cartographies of Youth Resistance provides a compelling take on the role of Indigenous young people in the spatial construction of social movements. The insights developed in the book are not only useful for understanding social movements in Mexico; they can also be adapted for thinking about youth activism in many contexts throughout Latin America and elsewhere." * Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology *“The book’s wealth of ethnographic data on a too-little studied corner of the world opens the door for others to join and extend the valuable dialogues that Magaña and his collaborators in Oaxaca established.” * Anthropological Forum *"Magaña’s greatest contribution is his ethnographic work about punk culture in Oaxaca. . . . The punk scene is often regarded as the rebel kid of white privilege. Magaña shows us another point of view regarding the deep complexities of this group. . . . This book serves to benefit anyone studying globalization, transculturation, multiculturalism, hybrid cultures, and interculturalism in Latin America." * Mobilizations *"Within the context of the enduring afterlife of the renowned 2006 Oaxaca teacher's strike, Magaña (Univ. of Arizona) presents an extraordinarily well-informed ethnographic account . . .Magaña portrays and corroborates Oaxacan youth as "agents of change" and "dreamers of liberatory and dignified futures," offering a counter-reality to the prevalent negative stereotypes of the Mexican underclass. This is an excellent book for both its methodology and content." * CHOICE *“No doubt that Cartographies of Youth Resistance: Hip Hop, Punk, and Urban Autonomy in Mexico is a book that expands our understanding of 2006 Oaxaca and especially of the contemporary social movements there that continue to be led by the youth, echoing the struggles of the 2006 Generation. The book also provides a great contribution to the area of hip hop and punk studies within Latin America, and can be placed as an excellent addition to current scholarship in anthropology of the arts and youth studies.” * Latin American Literary Review *"The book’s wealth of ethnographic data on a too-little studied corner of the world opens the door for others to join and extend the valuable dialogues that Magaña and his collaborators in Oaxaca established." * Anthropological Forum *"Cartographies of Youth Resistance would appeal to readers involved or interested in social movements, as well as young people because of its study of political protests and revolution, and the important role that urban youth had in changing the social climate in Oaxaca city." * Space and Culture *"Magaña’s book is an accessible read for both undergraduate and graduate students. Like the historical agents in his book, students and scholars of radical politics will undoubtedly build on the ideas and analyses contained in Cartographies of Youth Resistance." * New Mexico Historical Review *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments List of Acronyms and Organizations Introduction • Rethinking Social Movement Temporality and Spatiality through Counterspace and Urban Youth Culture 1 • Building Youth Counterspaces, Horizontal Political Cultures, and Emergent Identities in the Oaxacan Social Movement of 2006 2 • Urban Autonomy, Indigenous Anarchisms, and Other Political Genealogies for the 2006 Generation 3 • Urban Youth Collectives as Laboratories for Constructing and Spatializing Horizontal Politics in Post-2006 Oaxaca 4 • Networking Counterspaces, Constellations of Resistance, and the Politics of Rebel Aesthetics 5 • Rebel Aesthetics: Giving Form to the 2006 Generation’s Liberationist Imagination through Street Art, Punk, and Hip-Hop Conclusion • Shifting Cartographies of (Youth) Resistance Notes Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn his iconic musical travelogue Heavy Metal Islam, Mark LeVine first brought the views and experiences of a still-young generation to the world. In We'll Play till We Die, he joins with this generation's leading voices to write a definitive history of the era, closing with a cowritten epilogue that explores the meanings and futures of youth music from North Africa to Southeast Asia. We'll Play till We Die dives into the revolutionary music cultures of the Middle East and larger Muslim world before, during, and beyond the waves of resistance that shook the region from Morocco to Pakistan. This sequel to Mark LeVine's celebrated Heavy Metal Islam shows how some of the world's most extreme music not only helped inspire and define region-wide protests, but also exemplifies the beauty and diversity of youth cultures throughout the Muslim world. Two years after Heavy Metal Islamwas published in 2008, uprisings and revolutions spread like wildfire. The young people organizing and proteTrade Review"Seen from one angle, Mark LeVine is a respected professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of California, Irvine, not far from Los Angeles. . . . But LeVine is also a rock guitarist gifted enough to perform in the shadow of Mick Jagger or Doctor John. . . . In fact, LeVine combines his academic methods and his passion for music in his solid investigations of the alternative scene in the Middle East . . . His last book, We'll Play Till We Die, deals with material gathered during, as the book's subtitle puts it, his Journeys across a Decade of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World." * Le Monde * "The fresh and original perspective LeVine shows in Heavy Metal Islam and We’ll Play Till We Die opens our eyes to the power of music to create an audience, engage it and encourage it to act." * Oriente Moderno *Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations Author’s Note: Revolutionary Auras and Phantasms Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration Introduction From Uprisings to Plagues 1 • Morocco Finding Harmonies in a Land of Dissidence 2 • Yalla, “Let’s Play!” Egypt from the Pharaoh to the General 3 • Palestine/Israel Uprisings in Music 4 • Lebanon Remixed but Never Remastered 5 • Iran Living in the Upside Down and Inside Out 6 • Pakistan Shredding the Funk from the Valleys to the Sea By Way of an Epilogue The Joys of Resistance References by Chapter List of Contributors Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn occasion to appreciate Dexter's resounding musical genius as well as his wish for major social transformation.Angela Y. Davis, political activist, scholar, author, and speakerSophisticated Giant presents the life and legacy of tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon (19231990), one of the major innovators of modern jazz. In a context of biography, history, and memoir, Maxine Gordon has completed the book that her late husband began, weaving his solo turns with her voice and a chorus of voices from past and present. Reading like a jazz composition, the blend of research, anecdote, and a selection of Dexter's personal letters reflects his colorful life and legendary times. It is clear why the celebrated trumpet genius Dizzy Gillespie said to Dexter, Man, you ought to leave your karma to science. Dexter Gordon the icon is the Dexter beloved and celebrated on albums, on film, and in jazz lore--even in a street named for him in Copenhagen. But this image of the cool jazzman fails to come to terTrade Review"Maxine Gordon astutely frames the fiery daring of Dexter Gordon’s generation of bebop innovators in the context of rising black consciousness and creative agency in midcentury America…“Sophisticated Giant” is a work of considerable sophistication, the first-person testimony of its subject employed with affectionate discipline, smartly contextualized and augmented by material from interviews Maxine Gordon conducted with the tenor saxophone masters Sonny Rollins and Jimmy Heath, the record producers Bruce Lundvall and Michael Cucsuna, and others." -- David Hajdu, * The New York Times *“Dexter Gordon’s deep tone, relaxed delivery—even the frequent witty musical quotations—seemed like extensions of his gravely playful speaking voice. That voice carries over on the page too. You can hear it when you read his written testimony and extracts from letters included in Maxine Gordon’s illuminating biography.” -- Kevin Whitehead, * NPR's Fresh Air *“‘Affectionate, enjoyable and informative, painting a portrait of a handsome, elegant, easygoing person and artist who refused to agonize about his past.” * Wall Street Journal *“A particularly intimate look at . . . career highs in this wonderful biography of the iconic jazzman. . . . Most striking for this reader was how, through her intimate, first-hand knowledge of her husband’s life, Maxine was able to convey how the art of jazz was far more than a career path for Dexter and his colleagues. “ * The Austin Chronicle *“[Gordon] displays firsthand knowledge of the political economy of jazz playing and the discrimination and grievances musicians endured...her honesty and passion bleed into her prose to create a lively and valuable look at the jazz giant and his world. Verdict: For jazz lovers first but enjoyable for general readers, too.” * Library Journal *"Throughout the book, Maxine provides rich descriptions of people, places, and events, often quoting from Dexter. Through her meticulous research, new information about him emerges. . . While meticulous about details, the author is also a good storyteller, so, aside from its scholarly discipline, the book is intriguing and leads the reader forward like an absorbing detective novel." * All About Jazz *“Maxine’s book shows us not only the world Dexter Gordon lived and breathed, but many other musicians we know, don’t know and should know. We see the reality of the Jazz world, the unthinkable hardships and struggles brought together through the common love of music. The book is incredible. Maxine Gordon is incredible. Her passion to share, explore and discuss the reality of the Jazz world is a true inspiration." * Jazz in Europe *“An informative, well-paced, suite like literary work that chronicles the saxophonist’s family, influences, inspirations, zeniths, and nadirs, and documents his legacy as one of the most influential saxophonists in jazz history.” -- Eugene Holley Jr., * Publishers Weekly *"Gordon’s life has previously been chronicled, but not with so much of his own achingly personal, brutally honest voice. Sophisticated Giant is not a critical analysis of his music; instead, Maxine has interwoven Dexter’s own letters and poetry with a broad spectrum of anecdotal accounts, plus her own meticulous scholarship and adoring reflections, to craft a vivid life story. . . . This is a must-read for jazz fans." * Jazz Times *"Blending forensic research with scholarly insight, Sophisticated Giant’s compelling story unfurls like one of Gordon’s sinuous sax solos. Essential reading for jazz fans." * Record Collector *“Dexter Gordon left us almost three decades ago, but his presence in 2018 has virtually brought him back to center stage." * All About Jazz *“There’s a major new biography out of saxophonist Dexter Gordon, and it’s worth checking out.” * Stereogum *“When I say that this is essential reading for anyone interested in modern jazz from the late thirties on, you'd better believe it!. . . . Tell your own true love that, this year, you don't want any more partridges in a pear tree, lords a-leaping or even five golden rings. No, what you want for Christmas this year is (apart from him/her) a Sophisticated Giant.” * bebop spoken here *“Offers a rare vantage point into the life of one of jazz’s most cherished figures.” * Jazziz *“Easy-to-read, well-written, superbly documented, much-anticipated. . . . One unique thing about the book is that it makes you feel like you are there with her listening to her talk, about her time in the jazz world with some of the best musicians on earth. But just when you get used to her writing like an excited jazz fan, she easily switches to a keen researcher and a solid scholar.” * Jazz Corner *“Maxine Gordon's recently released book ‘Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Times of Dexter Gordon’ is no ordinary jazz biography. It is a book that transports you into the reality of a Jazz musicians’ life, the highs and lows, the hardships and the inexplicable power of Jazz – beautifully written by an author whose passion for ensuring Dexter’s story is told honestly, is inspiring. Dexter Gordon was indeed a ‘Sophisticated Giant’ but when you read the book, you can’t help but feel there are actually two sophisticated giants here.” * The Jazz Room @ Style Quarterly Magazine *"Exceptional. . . . Maxine Gordon believes that 'the story of Dexter's life is nothing less than a cultural history of creative Black Americans in the interwar and postwar years.' In Sophisticated Giant, she's written a book that reflects this important truth." * New York City Jazz Record *“Sophisticated Giant paints a convincing picture of an extremely charming, intelligent, resilient, and talented man." * Arts Fuse *“This is a story that had to be told.” * KUVO/KVJZ *“An intimate, keenly-rendered new biography that will interest jazz enthusiasts and anyone with an interest in American popular culture. . . . It’s a warm, subjective story that trains an astute lens on the social and political circumstances that helped shape a career; and for that, it stand outs as a landmark contribution to the literature of the jazz.” * Seattle Times *“A work that’s both scrupulously researched history and intimate memoir.” * MOJO *Table of Contents1. The Saga of Society Red 1 2. An Uncommon Family 13 3. Education of an Eastside Altar Boy 26 4. Leaving Home 35 5. Pops 44 6. Blowin’ the Blues Away 51 7. Business Lessons 62 8. Mischievous Lady 77 9. Central Avenue Bop 87 10. Trapped 99 11. Resurgence 113 12. New Life 120 13. Very Saxily Yours 134 14. Trouble in Paris 144 15. The Khalif of Valby 155 16. Homecoming 167 17. Bebop at Work 179 18. Round Midnight 191

Read more less

Book SynopsisGeorge Lewis, one of the great traditional jazz clarinetists, was born in 1900 at about the same time that jazz itself first appeared in New Orleans. And by the time he died, on the last day of 1968, New Orleans jazz had pretty much run its course, too. By then a jazz museum stood on Bourbon Street, and a cultural center was under construction where Globe Hall had Stood. Lewis's life thus paralleled that of New Orleans jazz, and in his later years hew as the best known standard bearer of his city's music. He came to the attention of the jazz world at the time of the so-called New Orleans Revival of the 1940's, when veteran trumpeter Bunk Johnson was recorded by a number of jazz enthusiasts, notably William Russell. In this new biography, Tom Bethell challenges a favorite myth of the history of jazz: that the music became moribund in New Orleans after the legal red light district, Storyville, was closed in 1917, resulting in most jazz musicians going up the river. In fact, Bethell shows

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsContents Preface to the 2022 Edition Introduction: Rock and Resistance in the Muslim World 1 • Morocco: When the Music Is Banned, the Real Satanism Will Begin 2 • Egypt: Bloggers, Brothers, and the General’s Son 3 • Israel/Palestine: Hard Music in an Orphaned Land 4 • Lebanon: Music and the Power of Blood 5 • Iran: “Like a Flower Growing in the Middle of the Desert” 6 • Pakistan: Shotguns and Munaqqababes along the Arabian Sea Epilogue: Which Way to the Future? Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsContents Preface to the 2022 Edition Introduction: Rock and Resistance in the Muslim World 1 • Morocco: When the Music Is Banned, the Real Satanism Will Begin 2 • Egypt: Bloggers, Brothers, and the General’s Son 3 • Israel/Palestine: Hard Music in an Orphaned Land 4 • Lebanon: Music and the Power of Blood 5 • Iran: “Like a Flower Growing in the Middle of the Desert” 6 • Pakistan: Shotguns and Munaqqababes along the Arabian Sea Epilogue: Which Way to the Future? Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisArguably the most gifted artist of her generation, Amy Winehouse died tragically young, aged just 27. Packed with exclusive material, such as extracts from Amy's teenage diaries, photos and notes, this book offers a new and intimate perspective on the life and death of the phenomenon that is Amy Winehouse.Trade ReviewAn authentic, poignant and gut-wrenchingly sad tale... An insightful, honest and often uplifting account of a life cut tragically short -- Isabelle Broom * Heat *Deeply personal... Insightful, offering rare glimpses behind the maelstrom of Amy's public life -- Charlotte Oliver * Jewish Chronicle *Poignant * The Independent *

Read more less

Book SynopsisDisco emerged from the fall-out of the Black Power Movement and an almost exclusively gay scene in a blaze of poppers, strobe lights, tight trousers, hysterical diva vocals and synthesized beats in the late sixties. As a genre, disco radically re-defined the sensibility of the seventies to the extent where reactionary rockers felt the need to launch a paranoid ''Disco Sucks'' campaign at the end of the decade. Featuring artists such as Chic, Sylvester, Donna Summer and Frank Grasso, Turn the Beat Around illustrates why and how disco changed the face of popular culture forever.Trade Review"'A complete triumph. He expertly excavates the history of one of the central genres of modern popular music.' John McTernan, Scotland on Sunday"

Read more less

Book SynopsisSardonic, bitter, threatening, compassionate, gleeful, and most of all loud, ''Like a Rolling Stone'' is much more than a song. Six minutes and six seconds in length, it was released by Dylan despite the received wisdom of the day as to what constituted a single. Originally published on the 40th anniversary of its release and recording, Greil Marcus'' extraordinary book reconstructs the context in which the song first appeared, in terms of Dylan''s own career (his controversial transformation from folk singer into rock n roll singer) and the world at large (Vietnam, the Watts Riots, the burgeoning counter-culture of the time). This is itself the stage for Marcus'' recreation of the song on the page - its emergence from fragments, its words, its sound, its discovery of itself. An analysis and critique of an artist at the height of his creative powers, it affords a unique insight into the mistakes, inspirations and bloody mindedness that come together only in the very highTrade Review"'Greil Marcus is simply peerless, not only as a rock writer but as a cultural historian.' Nick Hornby 'Part rhapsody, part social history and part biography, always entirely passionate.' Guardian"

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom Morrissey and Nick Cave to The Streets and Kanye West, this is the book that explores the links between hip-hop and rock. Reynolds has focused on two strands: white alternative rock and black street music. He''s identified the strange dance of white bohemian rock and black culture, how they come together at various points and then go their own way. Through interviews he has carried out as a top music journalist for the last twenty years Reynolds is here able to tell a story of musical rivalry which no-one has told before.The approach is similar to Rip It Up and Start Again: a cultural history told through the music we love and the stars and movements that have shaped the world we live in.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTotally Wired features 32 interviews with the post-punk era''s most innovative musicians and colourful personalities. From Ari Up, Jah Wobble, David Byrne, Edwyn Collins, it also includes conversations with the most influential of label bosses, managers, record producers, DJs and journalists - such as John Peel and Paul Morley. Crackling with argument and anecdote, these conversations bring a rich human dimension post-punk''s exceptional characters, from their earliest days to their glorious and sometimes disastrous musical adventures. Along with interviews, we get ''overviews'': further reflections by Simon Reynolds on key icons and crucial scenes, including John Lydon and Public Image Ltd, Ian Curtis and Joy Division, and the lineage of glam grotesquerie running from Siouxsie & The Banshees to the New Romantics to Leigh Bowery.

Read more less

Book Synopsis''It is the most singular of sounds, yet among the most ubiquitous. It is the sound of isolation that has sold itself to millions.''Miles Davis''s Kind of Blue is the best selling piece of music in the history of jazz, and for many listeners among the most haunting in all of twentieth-century music. It is also, notoriously, the only jazz album many people own. Recorded in 1959 (in nine miraculous hours), there has been nothing like it since. Its atmosphere - slow, dark, meditative, luminous - became all-pervasive for a generation, and has remained the epitome of melancholy coolness ever since.Richard Williams has written a history of the album which for once does not rip it out of its wider cultural context. He evokes the essence of the music - identifying the qualities that make it so uniquely appealing - while making effortless connections to painting, literature, philosophy and poetry. This makes for an elegant, graceful and beautifully-written narrative.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn virtually all areas of Dylan's life - his immigrant antecedents, his business dealings, his various addictions and his romantic attachments - Heylin is able to provide a fascinating picture of a man who changed the whole course of popular music in the sixties and, over thirty years later, won three Grammys.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe first of two titles by the Manic Street Preachers'' bassist and lyricist, Nicky Wire. For more than twenty years and from Blackwood, Wales to Tokyo, Japan, Nicky Wire has kept a personal visual history of the band in their various stages from Generation Terrorists through Holy Bible and right up to last year''s remarkable album, Postcards from a Young Man. Edited down from over 1,000 of Wire''s personal polaroids and with accompanying text by the man himself, Death of The Polaroid promises to be a rich, visual biography of one of the most loved and iconoclastic British bands of the past two decades.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Guardian, Mojo and Rough Trade Book of the YearFifty years on from the psychedelic summer of love, acclaimed music writer Rob Chapman explores what was really going on during those heady times. In America he traces the multi-media history of the Light shows, Happenings, Be-Ins and Acid tests, and illustrates the thriving avant-garde scene that existed long before the Grateful Dead and the Fillmore Auditorium came into being.In the UK, he shows an entirely different history, never before explored in such breath-taking detail, where the sublime and the silly co-existed side by side in a peculiarly British take on flower power that drew inspiration as readily from fairy tales, fairgrounds and music halls, as it did from LSD. With a fascinating new perspective on the role of the Beatles, Psychedelia and Other Colours documents a cultural phenomenon, in psychedelia's seminal text.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMetallica have sold in excess of 100 million albums and won seven Grammys. Their journey from scuzzy Los Angeles garages to the stages of the world''s biggest stadia has been an epic and often traumatic one, and one of the few truly great rock ''n'' roll sagas.No music writers have been afforded greater access to Metallica over the years than Paul Brannigan and Ian Winwood, two former editors of Kerrang. Having conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with the band, they have between them gained an unparalleled knowledge of the group''s history and an insiders'' view of how their story has developed: they have ridden in the band''s limos, flown on their private jet, joined them in the studio, been invited to the quartet''s ''HQ'' outside San Francisco and shared beers and stories with them in venues across the globe. There are countless memorable stories about the band never before seen in print, tales of bed-hopping and drug-taking and car-crashes and fist-fights an

Read more less

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.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAll Gates Open is a music book like no other. Its subject is Can, arguably the most important experimental group of the twentieth century. Formed in Cologne in 1968, Can drew their influences from the avant-garde - founding members Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay both studied under Stockhausen - and jazz traditions to create a heavily rhythmic, minimal music that redefined what it meant to be a popular band. The book comprises two elements of equal weight: a biography of the group by Rob Young and a Symposium curated by Irmin Schmidt. The latter explores, in Irmin's own voice and that of his collaborators and admirers, the tentacular influence Can have had upon not just popular music, but also the visual arts, poetry and film. Can have been a direct source of inspiration for numerous genres, notably ambient, post-punk and electronica. Their music was created entirely on its own terms, and All Gates Open defines both their story and their continuing legacy with parallel originality

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Times, Rough Trade and Uncut Book of the Year, shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2015.Original Rockers is a clear-eyed yet romantic account of the several years that Richard King spent working behind the counter at Bristol''s Revolver Records -- a business run from the heart rather than the head. King brings that lost environment back to life -- the sounds, the smells and the people -- along with a vivid sense of how it feels to discover taste-shaping records and the artists who created them for the first time. Original Rockers evokes a golden moment in British cultural history, and celebrates the magical abandon that music offers us.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe only in-depth biographical account of the legendary lead singer of Joy Division, written by his widow. Includes a foreword by Jon Savage and an introduction by Joy Division drummer, Steven Morris. Revered by his peers and idolized by his fans, Ian Curtis left behind a legacy rich in artistic genius. Mesmerizing on stage but introverted and prone to desperate mood swings in his private life, Curtis died by his own hand on 18 May 1980.Touching from a Distance documents how, with a wife, child and impending international fame, Curtis was seduced by the glory of an early grave. Regarded as the essential book on the essential icon of the post-punk era, Touching from a Distance includes a full set of Curtis''s lyrics and a discography and gig list.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Rough Trade Book of the YearAfter the success of his memoir, Telling Stories, Tim set himself a quest. He got in touch with people he admires, and asked them to suggest an album for him to track down on his travels, giving an insight into what makes them tick, while also giving Tim a chance to see how record shops around the world were faring in the digital age. Sending out texts, phone calls, emails and handwritten notes to the likes of Iggy Pop, Johnny Marr, David Lynch and Cosey Fanni Tutti, here is the tender, funny and surprising story of what came back.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the late eighties and early nineties, Moby, then an underground DJ and musician, was scraping out a living in New York City. In a scene popular chiefly among working-class African-Americans and Latinos, Moby - a poor, skinny, white Christian, vegan and teetotaller - looked like he would never make it. By the late nineties, contemplating the end of his music career, he released what he assumed would be his swansong, Play, which went on to become a multi-million-selling album, opening up an astonishing new phase in his life. Porcelain is an unfailingly honest, funny and brilliantly written memoir about making it, losing it, loving it, hating it and everything in between.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE PENDERYN MUSIC BOOK PRIZE 2017The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise is the extraordinary story, in her own words, of Brix Smith Start. Best known for her work in The Fall at the time when they were perhaps the most powerful and influential anti-authoritarian postpunk band in the world -- This Nation''s Saving Grace, The Wonderful and Frightening World Of ... -- Brix spent ten years in the band before a violent disintegration led to her exit and the end of her marriage with Mark E Smith. But Brix''s story is much more than rock ''n'' roll highs and lows in one of the most radically dysfunctional bands around. Growing up in the Hollywood Hills in the ''60s in a dilapidated pink mansion her life has taken her from luxury to destitution, from the cover of the NME to waitressing in California, via the industrial wasteland of Manchester in the 1980s. What emerges is a story of constant reinvention, jubilant highs and depressive ebbs; a

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat was I fighting for? Even now I'm not sure. Something so old and so deep, it has no words, no shape, no logic.Viv Albertine has always been obsessed with the truth: the truth about family, power, and her identity as a rebel and outsider. But at what cost? In this brutally honest memoir she relentlessly exposes human dysfunctionality: the impossibility of intimacy, and the damage wrought upon us by secrets and revelations, siblings and parents. Written with Albertine's unique vulnerability and intelligence, To Throw Away Unopened is a startling self-portrait and a testament to rebuilding oneself and facing the world again.

Read more less

Book SynopsisGoodnight and Good Riddance: How Thirty-Five Years of John Peel Helped to Shape Modern Britain is a social history, a diary of a nation''s changing culture, and an in-depth appraisal of one of our greatest broadcasters, a man who can legitimately be called the most influential figure in post-war British popular music.Without the support of John Peel, it''s unlikely that innumerable artists - from David Bowie to Dizzee Rascal, Jethro Tull to Joy Division - would have received national radio exposure. But Peel''s influence goes much deeper than this. Whether he was championing punk, reggae, jungle or grime, he had a unique relationship with his audience that was part taste-maker, part trusted friend.The book focuses on some 300 shows between 1967 and 2004, giving a thorough overview of Peel''s broadcasting career and placing it in its cultural and social contexts. Peel comes alive for the reader, as do the key developments that kept him at the cutting edge - the

Read more less