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Van Halen: A Visual History, 1978-1984
Neil Zlozower - 2007
Nobody rockedor partiedharder. Photographer Neil Zlozower first met the band in 1978, worked with them again on Van Halen II, and soon became their friend, hanging out in L.A. and hitting the road on tour with them. Van Halen collects more than 250 backstage, candid, and full rock-out photos of the all-powerful, spandexed, high-kicking, guitar blazing, stadium-shaking, original Van Halen lineup. Accompanying Zlozower's amazing photos are an introduction about his wild ride with VH, a foreword by David Lee Roth, and testimony from the rock pantheon paying homage to the band, including members of Led Zeppelin, Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, KISS, Motley Cre, and more. Turn it up!
Cash
Johnny Cash - 1997
He was an icon of rugged individualism who had been to hell and back, telling the tale as never before. In his unforgettable autobiography, Johnny Cash tells the truth about the highs and lows, the struggles and hard-won triumphs, and the people who shaped him.In his own words, Cash set the record straight -- and dispelled a few myths -- as he looked unsparingly at his remarkable life: from the joys of his boyhood in Dyess, Arkansas to superstardom in Nashville, Tennessee, the road of Cash's life has been anything but smooth. Cash writes of the thrill of playing with Elvis, the comfort of praying with Billy Graham; of his battles with addiction and of the devotion of his wife, June; of his gratitude for life, and of his thoughts on what the afterlife may bring. Here, too, are the friends of a lifetime, including Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Kris Kristofferson. As powerful and memorable as one of his classic songs, Cash is filled with the candor, wit, and wisdom of a man who truly "walked the line."
Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste
Carl Wilson - 2007
There's nothing cool about Céline Dion, and nothing clever. That's part of her appeal as an object of love or hatred — with most critics and committed music fans taking pleasure (or at least geeky solace) in their lofty contempt. This book documents Carl Wilson's brave and unprecedented year-long quest to find his inner Céline Dion fan, and explores how we define ourselves in the light of what we call good and bad, what we love and what we hate.
Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life
Graham Nash - 2013
Graham Nash's songs defined a generation and helped shape the history of rock and roll he s written over 200 songs, including such classic hits as "Carrie Anne," On A Carousel, "Simple Man," "Our House," Marrakesh Express, and "Teach Your Children." From the opening salvos of the British Rock Revolution to the last shudders of Woodstock, he has rocked and rolled wherever music mattered. Now Graham is ready to tell his story: his lower-class childhood in post-war England, his early days in the British Invasion group The Hollies; becoming the lover and muse of Joni Mitchell during the halcyon years, when both produced their most introspective and important work; meeting Stephen Stills and David Crosby and reaching superstardom with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and his enduring career as a solo musician and political activist. Nash has valuable insights into a world and time many think they know from the outside but few have experienced at its epicenter, and equally wonderful anecdotes about the people around him: the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Dylan, and other rock luminaries. From London to Laurel Canyon and beyond, Wild Tales is a revealing look back at an extraordinary life with all the highs and the lows; the love, the sex, and the jealousy; the politics; the drugs; the insanity and the sanity of a magical era of music."
Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll
James Greer - 2005
Critics internationally have lauded the band’s brain trust, Robert Pollard, as a once-in-a-generation artist. Pollard has been compared by The New York Times to Mozart, Rossini, and Paul McCartney (in the same sentence) and everyone from P. J. Harvey, Radiohead, R.E.M., the Strokes, and U2 has sung his praises and cited his music as an influence. But it all started rather prosaically when Pollard, a fourth-grade teacher in his early thirties from Dayton, Ohio, began recording songs with drinking buddies in his basement. James Greer, an acclaimed music writer and former Spin editor, enjoys a unique advantage in having played in the band for two years. This personal connection grants him unparalleled insight and complete access to the workings of Pollard’s muse.
Fleetwood Mac: The Definitive History
Mike Evans - 2011
After enjoying initial success as a British blues band, Fleetwood Mac became wildly popular.
Banned in D C: Photos and Anecdotes from the DC Punk Underground
Cynthia Connolly - 1988
Taken both by Connolly and an assortment of punk enthusiasts, BANNED IN DC is a set of vibrant shots that portray the anarchic spirit, pure energy, and camaraderie of the DC scene in a series of 450 black and white photographs. Major figures in the hardcore movement, like Dischord Records co-owner and then-Minor Threat member Ian MacKaye and Bad Brains vocalist HR, share space with naked musicians, ubiquitous scenesters, shaven-headed audience members, and riotous punks, in a freewheeling combination of pictures and quotes. Vividly capturing the scene's idealistic intensity, BANNED IN DC is an invaluable document of Washington hardcore's exuberance and aspirations.
The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars: Heroin, Handguns, and Ham Sandwiches
Jeremy Simmonds - 2008
Jeremy Simmonds here draws on a lifetime’s obsession to match the industry’s biggest departed stars--Buddy, Jeff, Sid, Jimi, Biggie, Janis, Elvis, Marc, Tupac--with more than a few lesser-known tales of rock tragedy. He also includes a smorgasbord of lighter-hearted sidebars, including strange facts, lucky escapes, and top-ten death discs. An indispensable reference full of useful and useless information, with hundreds of photos of the good, the bad, and the silly, The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars is guaranteed to rock the world of trivia buffs and diehards alike.
Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal
David Konow - 2002
Whether headbanging is your guilty pleasure or you firmly believe that this much-maligned genre has never received the respect it deserves, Bang Your Head is a must-read that pays homage to a music that’s impossible to ignore, especially when being blasted through a sixteen-inch woofer.Charting the genesis of early metal with bands like Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden; the rise of metal to the top of the Billboard charts and heavy MTV rotation featuring the likes of Def Leppard and Metallica; hitting its critical peak with bands like Guns N’ Roses; disgrace during the “hair metal” ’80s; and a demise fueled by the explosion of the Seattle grunge scene and the “alternative” revolution, Bang Your Head is as funny as it is informative and proves once and for all that there is more to metal than sin, sex, and spandex.To write this exhaustive history, David Konow spent three years interviewing the bands, wives, girlfriends, ex-wives, groupies, managers, record company execs, and anyone who was or is a part of the metal scene, including many of the band guys often better known for their escapades and bad behavior than for their musicianship. Nothing is left unsaid in this jaw-dropping, funny, and entertaining chronicle of power ballads, outrageous outfits, big hair, bigger egos, and testosterone-drenched debauchery.
Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide
Lois Tyson - 1998
It provides clear, simple explanations and concrete examples of complex concepts, making a wide variety of commonly used critical theories accessible to novices without sacrificing any theoretical rigor or thoroughness.This new edition provides in-depth coverage of the most common approaches to literary analysis today: feminism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, reader-response theory, new criticism, structuralism and semiotics, deconstruction, new historicism, cultural criticism, lesbian/gay/queer theory, African American criticism, and postcolonial criticism. The chapters provide an extended explanation of each theory, using examples from everyday life, popular culture, and literary texts; a list of specific questions critics who use that theory ask about literary texts; an interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby through the lens of each theory; a list of questions for further practice to guide readers in applying each theory to different literary works; and a bibliography of primary and secondary works for further reading.
Ordinary People
Ozzy Osbourne - 2003
It will also feature the couple's third child, Aimee, who declined to take part in the show and lived in the guesthouse during the six months of taping. It features their alternating voices and will add yet another dimension to this highly original show.
I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like: Mostly True Tall Tales
Todd Snider - 2014
This collection takes readers on a tour through one of the most inventive and idiosyncratic minds at work today.
Murder in the Front Row: Shots From the Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter
Brian Lew - 2011
Featuring hundreds of unseen live and candid color and black-and-white photographs, "Murder in the Front Row" captures the wild-eyed zeal and drive that made Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth into legends, with over 100 million combined records sold.
The Grand Illusion: Love, Lies, and My Life with Styx
Chuck Panozzo - 2007
With four consecutive triple-platinum albums and 54 million records sold, their tours continue to sell out and classic songs like "Lady," "Renegade," "Come Sail Away," and "The Grand Illusion" have earned them a whole new generation of fans. At the height of their fame, they were living the ultimate rock 'n' roll fantasy -- an odyssey of groupies, drugs, and music that most musicians only dream of. As a band, Styx seemed invincible. But their founding member and bass player, Chuck Panozzo, was about to hit rock bottom. His seemingly debauched life as the ultimate rocker was a lie -- and the truth was about to catch up with him.The Grand Illusion is a no-holds-barred, backstage pass to the journey of one of the world's most revered bands, and the true story of Chuck Panozzo's 50-year struggle to reconcile his public life as a rock star with his private life as a gay man. Beginning with the birth of Styx in Chicago and their meteoric rise, The Grand Illusion is a revealing look at the triumphs and tragedies that surrounded Panozzo's life. He chronicles life on the road, the break-up of the band, his struggle to help his twin brother and bandmate John Panozzo battle addiction, as well as his split with Dennis De Young, and finally coming to terms with his HIV positive status. Illuminating and unflinching, The Grand Illusion will captivate the band's legions of devoted fans, as well as music lovers everywhere.
The Trouser Press Guide to 90's Rock
Ira A. Robbins - 1997
Each insightful entry contains pungent critical analysis, biographical information and a complete album disography.Selected praise for "The Trouser Press Record Guide to '90's Rock""My trustworthy fact checker, be-all-and-end-all arguement settler and the last word on modern rock. I don't go on the air without it." -- Gary Cee, WLIR-FM"Still the most comprehensive guide through the labryrinth of indie and alternative rock. WHen you need a refresher course on all of Steve Albini's bands, or if you just wan tto know what Boy George did after Cultrue Club, this is the book to grab." -- David Browne, "Entertainment Weekly"