Book picks similar to
Fortune's Fool: Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Warner Music, and an Industry in Crisis by Fred Goodman
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business
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New Brunswick, New Jersey, Goodbye: Bands, Dirty Basements, and the Search for Self
Ronen Kauffman - 2007
More than just an engaging personal account, it's a story about personal growth, coming of age, and the real power of punk and hardcore. Gain an insider's look at a truly influential underground movement.
Paramore
Ben Welch - 2009
Combining muscular guitars and driving rhythms with an irresistible pop sensibility, their blistering live show and endlessly dynamic front woman Hayley Williams has taken them from club shows in their hometown to sell-out arena dates across the world - and earned them a fiercely dedicated fan-base along the way. But with their success has come the pressure of growing up under the media's scrutiny. Small-town kids from Tennessee thrust into international stardom, they have had to negotiate their adolescence alongside the demands of a gruelling tour schedule and numerous line-up changes. This test of character brought them to the brink of collapse. And yet, from this adversity Paramore returned with their most confident, accomplished and deeply personal album to date - Brand New Eyes. This unauthorised book is the first to tell their story and details the early years forming the band, their explosive debut record, the strident, platinum-selling follow-up Riot! and their status in late 2009 as the 'next major rock act' in the world.
Dave Matthews Band: Music for the People
Nevin Martell - 1999
Traces the evolution of the Dave Matthews Band, and describes their experiences on the road.
Star Man: The Right Hand Man of Rock 'n' Roll
Michael Francis - 2003
Paul hired Michael as his security guard, beginning a thirty-year music business career in which he worked with such legendary names as Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, The Osmonds, Sheena Easton, Frank Sinatra, Bon Jovi, Cher, and Kiss. As tour manager, Michael was responsible for every aspect of their safety and their comfort, from making sure they were not mobbed on stage to making sure they got paid. To some of them he became close. He was best man at Jon Bon Jovi's wedding, and provided personal security for Cher at her Malibu home. He shared their wildest excesses, their highs and their lows; he saw their fears, and all too often, their loneliness and paranoia. Sometimes hilarious, frequently shocking, always perceptive, Star Man is the outrageous, uncompromising, and brutally honest story of one man's life with the biggest stars of rock.
Genesis: Chapter & Verse
Philip DoddSteve Hackett - 2007
The story of their band spans thirty years and thirty albums, and through all the changes in the band's line-up and musical direction, the spirit of Genesis has remained constant and undimmed."Genesis: Chapter & Verse" is the ultimate addition to any fan's collection, setting the record straight as the band's members tell their story their way. Remarkably, the band survived the high-profile departure of not one lead vocalist, but two (Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins), two influential guitarists (Anthony Phillips and Steve Hackett), and its best-known drummer (Phil Collins). Genesis simply got stronger and bigger - matching the huge solo success of Gabriel, Collins, and Mike + The Mechanics.A collaboration between all the members of Genesis, past and present, "Genesis: Chapter and Verse" is the band's definitive autobiography: an intimate, no-holds-barred, no-stone-unturned history that allows character and personality to come to the forefront. Covering the band's story as well as the writing and performance of significant songs from each period, this treasure trove of text and photographs provides long-awaited insight into the way this exceptional group of songwriters worked together, allowing the band to dispatch more than a few sacred cows along the way. It is a book like none other, and an exclusive look into the life and times of one of rock's most influential and lasting groups.
It's Always Summer Somewhere: A Matter of Life and Cricket
Felix White - 2021
His passion for the game is at the fore on the BBC 's number one cricket podcast and 5Live show, Tailenders, which he co-presents with Greg James and Jimmy Anderson. It's Always Summer Somewhere is his funny, heartbreaking and endlessly engaging love letter to the game.Felix takes us through his life growing up in South West London and describes how his story is forever punctuated and given meaning by cricket. Through his own exploits as a slow left arm spinner of 'lovely loopy stuff', to the tragic illness of his mother, life with The Maccabees and his cricket redemption, Felix touches on both the comedic and the tragic in equal measure. Throughout, there's the ever-present roller coaster of following the England cricket team. The exploits of Tufnell (another bowler of 'lovely loopy stuff'), Atherton, Hussain et al, are given extra import through the eyes of a cricket-obsessed youth. Felix meets them at each signposted moment to find out what was really behind those moments that gave cricket fans everywhere sporting memories that would last forever, sending the book into an exploration of grief, transgenerational displacement and how the people we've known and things we've loved culminate and take expression in our lives. It's Always Summer Somewhere is an incredibly honest detail of a life lived with cricket. It offers a sense of genuine empathy and understanding not just with cricket fans, but sports and music fans across the world, in articulating our reasons for pouring so much meaning into something that we simply cannot control.Culminating in the heart-stopping World Cup Final in 2019, the book finally answers that question fans have so often asked...what is it about this game?
Spin: 20 Years of Alternative Music: Original Writing on Rock, Hip-Hop, Techno, and Beyond
Will Hermes - 2005
Through the introduction of MTV and the alternative rock revolution, it's been many things. Rude. Brilliant. Soulful. Snotty. Angry. Delirious. In the past two decades, genres have spawned like mad, from goth, indie rock, and gangsta rap to emo and the garage rock revival. This twentieth-anniversary tribute celebrates the passion and fury of the music, with original essays, quotes, and photographs by contributors who are as hopelessly obsessed with it as you are. SPIN: 20 Years of Alternative Music features: Alan Light on Beastie Boys, Ann Powers on U2, Charles Aaron on R.E.M., Dave Eggers on The Smiths + Morrissey, Marc Spitz on Goth, Simon Reynolds on Depeche Mode + Synth-pop, Dave Itzkoff on ’80s Teen Movies, Chuck Klosterman on Weezer, Will Hermes on Radiohead, Neil Strauss on Nine Inch Nails + Industrial, Sacha Jenkins on Public Enemy, Andy Greenwald on Emo, RJ Smith on Gangsta Rap, Jon Dolan on The White Stripes, Chris Norris on Nirvana, Doug Brod on Oasis + Britpop, Jim DeRogatis on Smashing Pumpkins, Laura Sinagra on Courtney Love, Ta-Nehisi Coates on Tupac
Grow Rich While You Sleep
Ben Sweetland - 1962
Without changing the meaning of this timeless, golden truth, the author gives it to you more along the lines of modern psychology: A man is what his Creative Mind says he is.So prepare yourself for a wonderful journey. Whatever you want out of life, this book will show you the way to make it come to you. Be it money, influence, love, respect, or admiration -- be it any or all of these -- it will be yours in abounding measure.Before you finish this book, you are going to know once and for all: - How to recognize your real goals in life--no matter what anyone else tries to tell you - How to get acquainted with your real self--your true abilities, your vast fund of hidden talent. - How to fill yourself with such genuine, deep-down confidence, zest and goodwill that other people will be pleased to help you get what you want. - How to find and hold the full, glorious picture of your own success and build toward that picture with every word and deed.
Spin Alternative Record Guide
Eric Weisbard - 1995
National ads/media.From the Trade Paperback edition.
How to Work Without Losing Your Mind
Cate Sevilla - 2021
Cate Sevilla is insightful, inventive and so supportive' Viv Groskop 'Entertaining and practical; moving and funny and, most importantly, a helping hand from someone who's been through it' Emma Gannon, Sunday Times bestselling author 'A timely and provocative book that is at once empathetic about the challenges work presents and empowering on how to overcome them' Bruce Daisley, author of The Joy of Work Bosses are maddening. Colleagues are profoundly irritating. And balancing family and work is daunting. So how do we balance success with sanity? How do we progress without burning out? Whether you're drowning in a toxic working environment, battling burnout, recovering from redundancy, or just struggling to figure out what you actually want from your career, Cate Sevilla is here to help coach you through the shittiness of your work day, and help you shift your relationship with your career.Having worked at giant corporations like Google (where her days consisted of aggressive bosses, complimentary pastries and lots of tears) and scrappy start-ups like The Pool (where she was Editor-in-Chief when it all went pear-shaped), Cate Sevilla has laboured through a lot of stressful and downright ridiculous work situations so that you don't have to. Drawing from lessons learned in her career and interviews with other women, How to Work Without Losing Your Mind is a relatable and reassuring guide to the messy, stressful and sometimes bizarre side of work that everyone experiences but no one talks about. It'll be your tonic after a long, hard working week, where you've ugly cried with your colleagues and are exhausted from endless video calls - and are wondering what the hell to do next.
The Powers to Lead
Joseph S. Nye Jr. - 2008
Nye offers a sweeping look at the nature of leadership in today's world, in an illuminating blend of history, business case studies, psychological research, and more. As he observes, many now believe that the more authoritarian and coercive forms of leadership--the hard power approaches of earlier military-industrial eras--have been largely supplanted in postindustrial societies by soft power approaches that seek to attract, inspire, and persuade rather than dictate. Nye argues, however, that the most effective leaders are actually those who combine hard and soft power skills in proportions that vary with different situations. He calls this smart power. Drawing examples from the careers of leaders as disparate as Gandhi, Churchill, Lee Iacocca, and George W. Bush, Nye uses the concept of smart power to shed light on such topics as leadership types and skills, the needs and demands of followers, and the nature of good and bad leadership in terms of both ethics and effectiveness. In one particularly instructive chapter, he looks in depth at contextual intelligence--the ability to understand changing environments, capitalize on trends, and use the flow of events to implement strategies.Thoroughly grounded in the real world, rich in both analysis and anecdote, The Powers to Lead is sure to become a modern classic, a concise and lucid work applicable to every field, from small businesses and nonprofit organizations to nations on the world stage. This paperback edition includes a new preface by the author.
Song Maps: A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics
Simon Hawkins - 2016
Does any of the following sound familiar? - You worry that the lyrics you write just don't deliver their full potential but can't figure out why, even though technically they tick all the right boxes. - You have great ideas but your finished lyrics somehow fall short of the emotional impact you wanted and, as a result, your songs get passed over. - You have a busy schedule with limited time to write and have wasted too many hours chasing un-writable lyric ideas. - You wonder how some professional songwriters always seem to get a particular dynamic in their lyrics, consistently writing songs better than 90% of what you hear on the radio. - You are perhaps nervous about going into a pro co-writing session because you fear your ideas aren't worth bringing into the writing room. - You know you have so many great titles waiting to be written but haven't found a way of systematically developing them into well-crafted lyrics. - After writing an amazing hooky Chorus and a great supporting first Verse, you hit the dreaded wall that is “second verse curse”. In Song Maps – A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics, I deliver simple, logical, well-defined solutions to these issues and more: I give you seven well-developed professional templates for you to bring your lyrics to life. I also provide you with a tried and tested process for writing lyrics using Song Maps. And I'll reveal the songwriter’s secret weapon. Much of this book contains new material. This is because, while I enjoyed building a firm foundation of knowledge about the craft from the songwriting programs at Berklee Music School and other sources, I discovered Song Maps afterwards, from my experience as a professional songwriter, writing either on my own or in the writing rooms of Nashville. Having been signed as a staff songwriter at Universal Music Publishing in Nashville, being nominated and winning awards for my songs including Grammys, Doves and hymn-writing awards, and after spending many years studying thousands of techniques and developing them in my own songwriting and in the writing room, I've had the privilege of teaching the material in this book to hundreds of songwriters and seeing a step change in their writing. I have been blessed to watch them find their authentic voice in writing ideas to their full potential, helping them achieve their dream to move from writing flat 2D lyrics to fabulous High Definition full-color 3D lyrics. As you assimilate Song Maps into your writing workflow, your songwriting will shift away from tentative, self-conscious, inhibited writing to strong, bold, intentional and vulnerable writing that does full justice to your original ideas, ultimately allowing you to make the impact you deserve as a songwriter. If you implement the simple, easy-to-understand concepts in this book, I promise you your songs will be better crafted than 90% of the songs you hear on the radio. It will also transform your effectiveness as a co-writer. Importantly, no matter where your songs end up, you will be confident you have written a brilliant lyric and you have served your co-writers well. Let this book help you transform your lyric writing by using Song Maps in your songwriting workflow and take your song ideas to their ultimate potential by writing your best, truly golden, spectacular songs.
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More
Adrian Harte - 2018
But I have to give credit where it is due, it’s a quality piece. The man has done his research and it shows. It provided me with more than a few revelations … and I’m in the band.’ — Bill Gould, Faith No MoreSmall Victories: The True Story of Faith No More is the definitive biography of one of the most intriguing bands of the late twentieth century. Written with the participation of the group’s key members, it tells how such a heterogeneous group formed, flourished, and fractured, and how Faith No More helped redefine rock, metal and alternative music. The book chronicles the creative and personal tensions that defined and fueled the band, forensically examines the band’s beginnings in San Francisco’s post-punk wasteland, and charts the factors behind the group’s ascent to MTV-era stardom.Small Victories strips away the mythology and misinformation behind their misanthropic masterpiece Angel Dust, explores the rationale behind the frequent hiring and firing of band members, and traces the unraveling of the band in the mid-1990s. It also examines the band’s breakup and hiatus, explores their unwelcome legacy as nu-metal godfathers, and gives a behind-the-scenes view of their rebirth. Based on meticulous research and hundreds of interviews with current and former band members and other key figures, Small Victories combines a fan’s passion with a reporter’s perspicacity.
Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business
Fredric Dannen - 1990
Chronicling the evolution of America's largest music labels from the Tin Pan Alley days to the present day, Fredric Dannen examines in depth the often venal, sometimes illegal dealings among the assorted hustlers and kingpins who rule over this multi-billion-dollar business.
The Org: The Underlying Logic of the Office
Ray Fisman - 2013
But once we're inside, these organizations rarely feel inspirational. Instead, we're often baffled by what we encounter: clueless managers, a lack of clear objectives, a seeming disregard for data, and the vast gulf between HR proclamations and our experience in the cubicle.So where did it all go wrong?In THE ORG, Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan explain the tradeoffs that every organization faces, arguing that this everyday dysfunction is actually inherent to the very nature of orgs. THE ORG diagnoses the root causes of that malfunction, beginning with the economic logic of why organizations exist in the first place, then working its way up through the org's structure from the lowly cubicle to the CEO's office.Woven throughout with fascinating case studies-including McDonald's, al Qaeda, the Baltimore City Police Department, Procter and Gamble, the island nation of Samoa, and Google--THE ORG reveals why the give-and-take nature of organizations, while infuriating, nonetheless provides the best way to get the job done.You'll learn:The purpose of meetings and why they will never go awayWhy even members of al Qaeda are required to submit Travel & Expense reportsWhat managers are good forHow the army and other orgs balance marching in lockstep with fostering innovationWhy it's the hospital administration-not the heart surgeon-who is more likely to save your lifeThat CEOs often spend over 80% of their time in meetings-and why that's exactly where they should be (and why they get paid so much)Looking at life behind the red tape, THE ORG shows why the path from workshop to corporate behemoth is pockmarked with tradeoffs and competing incentives, but above all, demonstrates why organizations are central to human achievement.