That's Entertainment: My Life in The Jam


Rick Buckler - 2015
    Rick tells The Jam story from growing up in Woking and meeting fellow members Paul Weller and Bruce Foxton at school, through their formation in 1972 and tells of the band's early years before signing to Polydor records. He provides a year by year account of The Jam's progress whilst describing what it was like being a part of the music industry during the 70's and 80's and some of the characters who he met along the way including the Ramones, John Enwhistle, Sid Vicious, Blondie, Boy George and Paul McCartney. Rick shares his own experiences and thoughts about what it was like to be in one of the UK's most successful bands who spent a great deal of time recording, performing and touring. Following The Jam's split in 1982, Rick gives a candid account of how he coped and his subsequent relationship with Paul and Bruce. All three members of The Jam stayed within the music industry and Rick takes the reader through his years in Time UK and various other bands up until forming From the Jam. A must read for any Jam fan.

The Rolling Stones Discover America


Michael Lydon - 2013
    His long, intimate piece on the tour, The Rolling Stones Discover America, captures the highs and lows of the grueling tour and has become a classic of rock ‘n’ roll journalism—one that the Maysles brothers studied to guide the editing of their film, Gimme Shelter.

How to Play Keyboard: A Complete Guide for Absolute Beginners


Ben Parker - 2013
    This great beginner's guide also provides an easy introduction to reading and playing music - so whether you have no previous musical experience OR are simply new to the keyboard, this clear and concise guide will have you playing tunes on your new keyboard in no time ! For kids under the age of 10, you may prefer Ben's My First Keyboard book instead - created especially for the youngest beginner. Search under Ben Parker. * Easy to follow instructions and illustrations * Simple exercises to follow and practice * Learn at your own pace * Fun and easy songs, exercises and tunes to play * Simply follow the lessons in the book and you will be playing Keyboard in no time ! Ben Parker's best-selling range of beginner's music tuition books for adults and children include the 'How To Play'...and also the 'My First' series of books covering: Keyboard, Piano, Guitar, Ukulele, Banjo, Harmonica and Recorder.

McBusted: The Story of the World's Biggest Super Band


Jennifer Parker - 2014
    McBusted takes an exclusive look at the birth of Busted and McFly, two ground-breaking pop-rock bands who journeyed through sell-out arena tours with number-one hits, and the unique friendships that the boys shared from the very beginning. Packed with behind-the-scenes gossip, it follows the boys through the years, revealing the truth behind Busted's shock break-up and McFly's hiatus, the secrets of their private lives, and the roller-coaster ride that fame took them on - both the good times and the bad. In September 2013, McFly staged their tenth-anniversary show at the Royal Albert Hall and James and Matt were invited along as special guests to perform a medley of hits with the band. The reaction to the six-piece supergroup was stratospheric and the boys decided to take the new superband on tour - and lo, McBUSTED was born. McBusted walks side by side with Tom, James, Danny, Dougie, Matt and Harry as they build the band and provides a backstage pass into the tour, the fans and what the future might hold.

John Coltrane


Bill Cole - 1976
    By experimenting with new concepts of time, integrating Eastern philosophies into Western music, and exploring multiphonics and other new sounds on his saxophone, he opened avenues of expression that influenced musicians and composers from jazz to rock to avant-garde.Bill Cole focuses on two aspects of John Coltrane in this provocative study: Coltrane the musician and Coltrane the religious person. Deeply interrelated, both aspects are bound up with Coltrane's identification as an African- American. Coltrane accepted the traditional African belief in the magical powers of sound and connected his music to its African roots via a devout religiosity. Cole shows how Coltrane's influences extended from tribal tone languages to speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. -- he even adapted King's rhythmic inflections into a saxophone solo.Bill Cole offers a lengthy musical analysis of Coltrane's career; it also includes a detailed discography with recording data and personnel and over two dozen photographs. Cole draws on quotes from Coltrane himself, transcriptions of his improvisations, analyses of his music, research into West African religion, and his own personal reminiscences of the man, to offer a stimulating perspective on Coltrane's music, life, and thought.

I Killed Pink Floyd's Pig: Inside Stories of Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll


Beau Phillips - 2014
    Never-been-told stories of sex, drugs and rock & roll. Plus exclusive photos! It's your all-access pass...a behind-the-scenes VIP tour of when rock was great. The author takes you backstage and inside bands' dressing rooms, hotel suites and private planes of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney and dozens more.

Layne Staley: Angry Chair: A Look Inside the Heart & Soul of an Incredible Musician--


Adriana Rubio - 2003
    It dispels the myths about Layne's childhood, his early days in music, and the final, very private years of his life. It contains dozens of never-before-seen drawings, writings and photographs...that all shaped the ALICE IN CHAINS' songwriter/singer who sold millions of CDs...helping revolutionize modern rock.

Rainbow: The Stormy Life of Judy Garland


Christopher Finch - 1975
    The biographer pays special attention to Judy Garland's evolution as an artist as well as the ties between her emotional make-up and her performance.

Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal


Jeff Wagner - 2010
    Beginning with the hugely influential mid-1970s efforts of Rush and King Crimson, Wagner unfurls a huge tapestry of sounds and styles, including Queensryche, Fates Warning, and Dream Theater; extreme prog pioneers Voivod and Celtic Frost; Norway’s post-black metal avant garde acts Ulver and Arcturus; and the 1990s global movement that spawned Ayreon, Pain of Salvation, and others.Fighting a tide of tradition and conservatism, progressive metal has proven to be one of the most viable, malleable forms in all of modern music; here its preeminent scholar tells the tale.

One Night Bands


Pamela Des Barres - 2012
    My 4th book, "Let's Spend the NIght Together," was over long (imagine that!) and this scintillating chapter had to be excised. But here it is in all it's naughty, bawdy glory: the untold tales of groupies and their one night romps with rock gods.

The Essential Interviews


Bob Dylan - 2006
    Among the highlights are the seminal Rolling Stone interviews -- anthologized here for the first time -- by Jann Wenner, Jonathan Cott, Kurt Loder, and Mikal Gilmore, as well as Nat Hentoff's legendary 1966 Playboy interview. Surprises include Studs Terkel's radio interview in 1963 on WFMT in Chicago, the interview Dylan gave to screenwriter Jay Cocks when he was a student at Kenyon College in 1964, a 1965 interview with director Nora Ephron, and an interview Sam Shepard turned into a one-act play for Esquire in 1987. Dylan expert Jonathan Cott writes an introduction to this must-have collection of the artist in his own words.

The Unkindest Cut: How a Hatchet-Man Critic Made His Own $7000 Movie and Put It All On His Credit Card


Joe Queenan - 1996
    Following in the maverick mold of Quentin Tarentino, Spike Lee, and Richard Rodriguez, Joe Queenan becomes an auteur and, in the process, funnier than ever, as he tries to master the art of writing, directing, scoring, casting, and marketing a movie--all by himself.