Book picks similar to
Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind by Brian Frederiksen
music
biography
collecting-dust
music-books
Some Girls
Cyrus R.K. Patell - 2011
A fascinating look at the Stones in the late 70s - inspired by a year just spent in the disco/punk cauldron of New York City.
Grace
Daphne A. Brooks - 2005
Here, Daphne Brooks traces Jeff Buckley s fascinating musical development through the earliest stages of his career, up to the release of the album. With access to rare archival material, Brooks illustrates Buckley s passion for life and hunger for musical knowledge, and shows just why he was such a crucial figure in the American music scene of the 1990s. EXCERPT: Jeff Buckley was piecing together a contemporary popular music history for himself that was steeped in the magic of singing. He was busy hearing how Dylan channeled Billie Holiday in Blonde On Blonde and how Robert Plant was doing his best to sound like Janis Joplin on early Led Zeppelin recordings. He was thinking about doo-wop and opera and Elton John and working at developing a way to harness the power of the voice In the process, he was re-defining punk and grunge attitude itself by rejecting the ambivalent sexual undercurrents of those movements, as well as Led Zeppelin s canonical cock rock kingdom that he d grown up adoring. He was forging a one-man revolution set to the rhythms of New York City and beyond. And he was on the brink of recording his elegant battle in song for the world to hear.
Brian May: Biografie
Laura Jackson - 2007
Packed with nearly 70 exclusive interviews with some of his closest friends, colleagues, and fellow musicians—among them Tony Iommi, Joe Elliott, Richie Sambora, Bruce Dickinson, Raul Rodgers, Cliff Richard, and Spike Edney—this is the definitive life of the guitar virtuoso. It charts his life from his childhood through his years studying astrophysics and his initial success with Queen. May’s camaraderie and conflicts within Queen are addressed as are his most difficult years, which include the disintegration of his first marriage, the death of his father, and the profound professional and emotional effects of Freddie Mercury's illness and death. Hard-hitting and completely up to date, this is an engaging look at a life lived in the spotlight.
George Harrison: Reconsidered
Timothy White - 2013
There was no need to be nervous—Cloud Nine would be considered his greatest achievement since the seminal, All Things Must Pass.In George Harrison: Reconsidered, the process of getting to that pressing is presented—as well as remembrance of those things past.Timothy White honed his journalistic skills the old-fashioned way, working first as a copyboy for the Associated Press, then moving on to cover sports and entertainment. White was managing editor, then senior editor, of the music magazine Crawdaddy. He joined Rolling Stone as an associate editor, and rose through the ranks to become senior editor. In the last eleven years of his life, he served as editor-in-chief of Billboard. A prolific, award-winning writer, Timothy White interviewed hundreds of musicians, and became known as a champion of unknown artists.
There’s No Bones in Ice Cream: Sylvain Sylvain’s Story of the New York Dolls
Sylvain Sylvain - 2018
A cross between the Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols, the Dolls became the link in the chain between them, offering a crash course in mischief, cross-dressing and anarchy, but like unheralded prophets of Biblical times they were cast aside until the world finally caught up.“Other people turned the New York Dolls into legends. We just went along for the ride.”
Are You Ready for the Country: Elvis, Dylan, Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock
Peter Doggett - 2001
But the artistically fertile relationship between rock and country music has--since their first encounter in the 1950s--been uneasy and often explosive.
I Saw the Light: The Story of Hank Williams
Colin Escott - 2015
In his brief life, Hank Williams created one of the defining bodies of American music. Songs such as "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Hey, Good Lookin'," and "Jambalaya" sold millions of records and became the model for virtually all country music that followed. But by the time of his death at age twenty-nine, Williams had drunk and drugged and philandered his way through two messy marriages and out of his headline spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Even though he was country music's top seller, toward the end he was so famously unreliable that he was lucky to get a booking in a beer hall. Colin Escott's enthralling, definitive biograph -- now the basis of the major motion picture I Saw the Light -- vividly details the singer's stunning rise and his spectacular decline, revealing much that was previously unknown or hidden about the life of this country music legend. Originally published as Hank William: The Biography.
Oasis: The Truth: My Life as Oasis's Drummer
Tony McCarroll - 2011
What started as five young men with a common dream of becoming rock stars eventually disintegrated into in-fighting, ego clashes, and financial disputes, until in 1995, following the release of Definitely Maybe, things came to a head and Tony left the band. Here, Tony reveals the truth about the early years before the band was formed. He discusses the drug consumption, the sexual activities, his much-publicized rift with Noel Gallagher, and how he was duped into signing a less-than-favorable record contract. His recollections include stories involving David Beckham, Prince, Eric Cantona, and John McEnroe. Witty, revealing, and fascinating, this book is a must-read for Oasis fans.
Ronnie
Ronnie Wood - 2007
For more than three decades since then, Ronnie, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts have formed the core of the greatest rock 'n' roll band in history. This book is Ronnie's autobiography, and like the band it can only be talked about in superlatives: it's simply one of the biggest, most outrageous, most extraordinary and most fun rock 'n' roll memoirs ever to be published.From early 1960s Britain, when acts like The Yardbirds, The Kinks, The Who and The Rolling Stones crisscrossed the country's club scene in clapped-out vans, barely making ends meet but having the time of their lives, through to the global mega stadium concerts of the 21st century (in 2006 the Stones played live to more than two million people in Rio), Ronnie takes us on a journey through his life and through rock history. Filled with unforgettable characters and truly eye-popping stories, his autobiography reveals Ronnie the husband, father, grandfather, artist and rock star the way you have never seen any rock star before.
Ronnie
is an up-front and personal look at life as a Rolling Stone, from the inside, and at the Stones as the rest of the world has never seen them. After
Ronnie
, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll will never be the same again.
Miles Davis: The Playboy Interview
Miles Davis - 2012
It covered jazz, of course, but it also included Davis’s ruminations on race, politics and culture. Fascinated, Hef sent the writer—future Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Alex Haley, an unknown at the time—back to glean even more opinion and insight from Davis. The resulting exchange, published in the September 1962 issue, became the first official Playboy Interview and kicked off a remarkable run of public inquisition that continues today—and that has featured just about every cultural titan of the last half century.To celebrate the Interview’s 50th anniversary, the editors of Playboy have culled 50 of its most (in)famous Interviews and will publish them over the course of 50 weekdays (from September 4, 2012 to November 12, 2012) via Amazon’s Kindle Direct platform. Here is that first Interview with Miles Davis.
The Clash
Joe Stummer - 2011
Strummer, Jones, Simonon and Headon tell it like it was. Accept no substitutes.The unique story of the Clash, by the Clash. The Clash were a band like no other. Pioneers of punk rock, their incendiary gigs, intelligent songwriting, definitive style and passionate idealism caught the spirit of the times and made them a worldwide phenomenon. Rolling Stone magazine declared London Calling one of the greatest albums of all time, their autobiographical documentary Westway to the World won a Grammy, and their music lives on, influencing emerging bands and exciting new audiences today.This is the only book to be created by the band and is now available as an eBook. The Clash: trendsetters, icons, revolutionaries. One of the most influential bands of their time, they have inspired bookshelves of commentary, but this is the only book to be created by the band themselves. With unprecedented access to the Clash archives and original interviews with band, this publication tells it like it was. The full story from the last gang in town. Strummer, Jones, Simonon and Headon in their own words.Reviews‘One of the greatest bands of all time.' The Edge, U2 'A massive inspiration for me.' Bernard Sumner, Joy Division and New Order 'I adore The Clash.' Pete Townshend, The Who'One of England's greatest bands.' Nick Hornby ‘What could be more fun than a book about The Clash written by The Clash - What makes this tome more worthy than the reams of unofficial Clash literature available is that in it, the band tells their story in their own words - it's packed with little secrets and playful digs - Brilliant.' Short List 'Thrilling - This is a treasure trove of hitherto undiscovered gems. Long overdue.' Classic Rock ''This book is a cracker - crammed with Clash bits and bobs.' The Sunday Times
Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects
Kurt St. Thomas - 2004
No rock star contrivance, no intellectual perspective, no master plan for world domination. You're talking about four guys from rural Washington who wanna rock..."--Everett True, Melody Maker, March 18th, 1989In 1992, Nirvana's breakthrough anthem, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," introduced a new underground sound to the mainstream music world. The record-breaking sales and global recognition that followed should have been a welcomed payoff for the hard-working punk band. Instead, that bright optimism quickly faded into bitter dissatisfaction, as the trio became conflicted about their unexpected success, and about having an audience that was the epitome of everything they had attempted to rebel against.Nirvana's sonic catapult from obscurity to international stardom and their chart-topping success changed the face of rock music world-wide. In Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects, the authors have used a wealth of sources, including personal interviews with Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, in order to reconstruct Nirvana's meteoric rise and the subsequent fall of their troubled lead singer. The result is a front row perspective of the musical influences that helped nurture Nirvana's seminal sound, the stories about the creation of their albums, and the ideas that shaped their songs. Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects also contains a comprehensive discography and an A-Z listing of every Nirvana song officially released.Kurt St. Thomas and Troy Smith were an award-winning programming team at WFNX-FM, Boston (MA), one of the nation's top alternative radio stations in the early 1990's. The pair wrote and produced the definitive Nirvana interview compact disc, Nevermind, It's an Interview, as well as interview CDs for Paul Weller, The Breeders, and Frank Black. St. Thomas lives in New York City, and Smith resides on Cape Cod, MA.
Britney: Inside the Dream: The Biography
Steve Dennis - 2009
. . Baby One More Time,” Britney Spears quickly became an international pop idol. At just 27 years of age, she has racked up five number-one albums, seven top-10 singles, and seven sold-out world tours. For all of her success, however, over the past decade Britney’s private life has been a difficult one. She has endured numerous failed relationships as well as a very public divorce and custody battle, all in the full glare of the international media. Drawing on exclusive interviews with those closest to her, this is an engrossing portrait of fascinating superstar.
