"From their first performances to the release of their bestselling Black Album and beyond, this lavishly illustrated book charts the career of Metallica. Telling the history of Metallica through their tours, from the smallest early clubs to the biggest...
"From a Robert Frost poem on her debut album to the myth of Cassandra on The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift's lyrics are filled with literary connections. Make sure you're catching them all with this expert guide to the novels, poems, and plays that...
"When Stalin came to power, making music in Russia became dangerous. Composers now had to create work that served the socialist state, and all artistic production was scrutinized for potential subversion. In The Sound of Utopia, Michel Krielaars vividly...
"The Ring is one of the most epic and compelling stories of the nineteenth century, created by a composer who was, alongside Dickens, Tolstoy and Victor-Hugo, also one of the century's master storytellers. But the story of how Wagner created the work is one...
"On December 31, 2020, the world was shocked to learn about the death of hip-hop legend MF Doom. Born in London and raised in the suburban enclave of Long Beach, New York, Daniel Dumile Jr.'s love of cartoons and comic books would soon turn him into one of...
"School friend, aide-de-camp and tour manager, Richard Macphail was for almost five years the glue that held Genesis together, and in his affectionate memoir My Book of Genesis he tells his own unique story of the group's early years"--Publisher's description.
"Roll Hall of Famer Dave Mason found early success with the band Traffic, establishing himself as a skilled guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter who penned the classic 'Feelin' Alright?'. Departing the band for a solo career, Mason earned three gold...
"The Cure: Stills follows the changing faces of one of the leading British rock bands during the post-punk and new-wave movements of the late '70s and '80s. As the band has continued over a period of nearly 50 years, front man and only constant member Robert...
"Why is classical music predominantly the preserve of the white middle classes? Contemporary associations between classical music and social class remain unexplored, with classical music primarily studied as a text rather than as a practice until recently....
"'Wildfire' tells the story of the first decade of The Prodigy from the perspective of original member Leeroy Thornhill, fully illustrated with entirely unseen photography from the earliest raves, to Japan and the United States in the late '90s, by which point...
"Marty Friedman's upbringing was as atypical as his career. Growing up in a Jewish household in Maryland, the son of an NSA executive, he lacked motivation until he accidentally discovered the guitar and immediately found his calling. Enjoying a hazy...
"Discover the powerful and universal lessons from the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim, the genius behind such musical theater masterworks as Company, West Side Story, and Into the Woods. Stephen Sondheim died on November 26, 2021, but for countless fans...
"Bolstered by an exclusive interview with Neil Finn and including the band's most recent album Gravity Stairs, this track-by-track exploration of their poetic lyrics and musical legacy recognises the quality that has brought them the love and admiration of...
"This candid memoir of punk rock, fame, and endurance from Deryck Whibley, lead singer of Sum 41, follows Whibley's rise from a punk kid in Canada to an international star. From his earliest days as a kid in Canada, Deryck Whibley was a punk who loved music...
"A full-colour account of Lindsay Reade and Tony Wilson's working life and relationship told through scans of their letters, pictures and Lindsay's diary entries accompanied by commentary and reflections from Lindsay. A Continual Farewell tells the story of...
""Now Michael, you're the son of a naval officer, you must behave like a naval officer at all times..." What Captain William Rutherford told his seven-year-old son Michael was to stay with him all his life. Born in 1950, Michael was truly his father's son,...
"While the global history of the dictatorships, oppression, racism and state violence over the last century is well known, the role that music played in people's lives during these times is less understood. Rebel Sounds stories and hidden histories about how...
"Before he was the charismatic singer of Black Veil Brides and an accomplished solo artist under the Andy Black moniker, he was Andrew Dennis Biersack, an imaginative and creative kid in Cincinnati, Ohio, struggling with anxiety, fear, loneliness, and the...
"Before she became Smokin Jo - the most famous and visible of the first generation of 'superstar DJs' - Joanne Joseph was a young girl growing up in a children's home with her sister. Until her mother returned and whisked the siblings away just before...
"A year in the life of Lawrence, Britain's most singular musical genius who never hit the big time. Lawrence is the greatest pop star who never made it, his dreams of glory thwarted over the past five decades by bad luck and self-sabotage. At sixty-one, he set...
"The definitive guide to the band offering song-by-song analysis, full chronology and gig guide, full bootleg guide, and exclusive interviews with surviving members. Pink Floyd formed in London in 1965, signed with EMI in 1967, and recorded their first album,...
"A highly engaging homage to the iconic style of Elvis Presley, who shook up the world of music and fashion, triggering a cultural revolution that stopped 1950s America in its tracks. Born into poverty, his voice of liquid gold and show-stopping appearance...
"Era-defining obituaries, illustrated with behind-the-scenes photos from The Times archive, revealing the lives behind the music that have left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape. Authoritative, insightful and endlessly engaging, this collection of...
"Whether you've been with Taylor from the start or are a new fan, this guide is for you. Use it to catch up on all the lore and inside jokes from the beginning, or to discover forgotten details from the past. From MySpace comments to T-Party invites to Secret...
"The epic, dramatic story of the 18th century men and women behind the making of Handel's Messiah, one of the world's most beloved works of classical music, from a New York Times bestselling historian and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. George...
"UK-born John Drummond became addicted to opera in his teens, so much so that he made music his career. Here he tells the story of his involvement in over sixty opera productions, some professional and some amateur, beginning in England and then, from 1976, ...
"Described variously as a 'polymath', a 'renaissance man' and 'one of the most colourful characters in the music business', Mike Batt has led an extraordinarily vibrant and challenging life that has been full of both glorious victories and bitter...
"A bright, obsessive compulsive boy is shipped off to a hothouse academic boarding school just before he reaches his thirteenth birthday; just as Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited starts to bite, and the Beatles' Revolver explodes. In January 1966, Robyn...
"The singer and drummer of the Band details, in this book, the history of one of the most influential groups of the 1960s. While their music evoked a Southern mythology with their beautifully crafted, image-rich songs, only their Arkansan drummer, Levon Helm,...
"Do you want to get better at music? Would you love to unlock your musical potential, explore your creativity and become a better musician? In Play Music Better, music examiner and renowned teacher, Fiona Berry shares practice tips for music with a holistic...
"The first book about De La Soul, High and Rising is a stunning cultural biography of the era-defining hip-hop trio that touched millions of lives and changed rap forever. De La Soul burst onto the scene with the release of their groundbreaking 1989 album 3...
"As the title suggests"Material art of noseflute-making & performance art of noseflute-playing... encompasses an exploration of the Tongan noseflute, and indigenous Tonga musical instrument, that is both a Tongan material art and a performance art. This book...
"Finally- a concise exploration of the impact of Dylan's music on popular culture, ideal for both long-time fans and newcomers to his work. Perfect for both the long-time Dylan fan and for bemused family and friends wanting to understand the devotion, this...
""An electrifying cultural biography of the greatest and last American rock band of the millennium, whose music such as "Losing My Religion," "Man on the Moon," "The One I Love" and "It's the End of the World as We Know It" ignited a generation -- and...
"Out of the Blue: Life on the Road with Muddy Waters begins with a moment lifted from a young musician's dreams. Brian Bisesi, a guitarist barely out of his teens, is invited on stage to fill in for a missing member of the band backing blues legend Muddy...
"Far from being yesterday's fading, forgotten format, vinyl records have survived and flourished as the music medium of choice for not only baby-boomers, but all ages. Every record a collector acquires comes with a story of its own, and the recent Covid-19...
"There is nothing that can touch the sound made by a close-knit group of people who have been playing together for years and years and years, playing as though their lives depended on it. For many years, all our lives did, and actually, I'd suddenly realised,...
"Robert Shelton met Bob Dylan when the young singer arrived in New York in 1961. He became Dylan's friend, champion, and critic. His book, first published in 1986, was hailed as the definitive unauthorized biography of this moody, passionate genius. Shelton...
"Rush at 50 presents an authoritative and illustrated retrospective of one of rock's most beloved acts, as told through 50 landmark releases, career pivots, and professional associations"--Publisher's description.
"The definitive history of the rise and heyday of the revolutionary Greenwich Village music scene, based on new research and first-hand interviews with many of its legendary performers Although Greenwich Village encompasses less than a square mile in downtown...
"Lee Jaffe is a cross-disciplinary visual artist, musician and poet who captured extremely intimate photographs of Bob Marley and The Wailers during the last three years that they performed together. After their initial introduction in their mutual friend...
"Love is a gift, isn't it? From our early childhood years to growing up and pairing off, it's a feeling we chase knowing we're better off with it. But what if love is claustrophobic and conflicting? And what if at the same time we're chasing addictions to...
"In 1984, pop came out of the closet, even if not all of the artists, including Queen, George Michael, David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Madonna, felt that they could. Wade studies the impact these groundbreaking musicians had before,...
"Leonard Cohen has aimed high: to be all Jewish heroes at once. Like Jacob, he struggled with angels. Like David, he sang psalms and seduced women. Like Abraham, he moved from place to place and remained a stranger everywhere. But he never ceased doing what he...
"In Cello, Kate Kennedy weaves together the lives of four remarkable cellists who suffered various forms of persecution, injury and misfortune. The Hungarian Jewish cellist and composer Pál Hermann managed to keep one step ahead of the Gestapo for much of the...
"For 5 years after they'd swapped sought-after apprenticeships for life on the dole, brothers William and Jim Reid sat up till the early hours in the front room of their parents' East Kilbride council house, plotting their path to world domination over endless...
"From bass player to lead guitarist, member, Steve Diggle has been the driving force keeping Buzzcocks alive since he first met Pete Shelley in 1976. Together they would ignite the Manchester music scene, kickstart indie and become one of the best loved and...
"Legendary producer and record label boss Joe Boyd has spent a lifetime travelling the globe and immersing himself in music. He has witnessed first-hand the growing popularity of music from Africa, India, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe since...
"Simon Reynolds's first book in eight years is a celebration of music that feels like a taste of tomorrow. Sounds that prefigure pop music's future - the vanguard genres and heroic innovators whose discoveries eventually get accepted by the wider mass...
"Rockfield is a recording studio that literally lives up to its name. Over the past thirty years, this rural Monmouthshire locale has played host to a bevy of British musical legends--from Robert Plant, Queen, and Black Sabbath to Oasis, the Stone Roses,...
"Kamahl's journey from where it all began in 1953 as a chronically shy Tamil teenager named Kandiah Kamalesvaran. He arrived in Australia at the height of the White Australia policy, to complete his education. Little did he know where or what he would beome by...
"Taylor Swift is so much more than a pop star: she has more number one albums than any other female performer in history and The Eras Tour has filled stadiums across the world. Her influence on our culture seems to know no bounds. With more than 100 amazing...
"With appeal to more than just punk band obsessives, Orstralia offers an unprecedented snapshot of an underacknowledged segment of Australian life and history. Far from punk's more modish North Atlantic core in the late 1970s, discontented youth were enacting...
"Dua Lipa has enjoyed a sensational rise to the peak of pop stardom. Her infectious disco-influenced hits have scored billions of plays on Spotify - yes, billions! - and her sharp fashion choices have turned heads across the fashion industry. In 2023, Dua's...
"Beyoncé Is Life is a beautifully illustrated guide that explores and celebrates the singer and her music. Confirm your Beyhive superfan status with this gorgeously illustrated, all-encompassing guide to all things Beyoncé. All hail the queen! From her first...
"Growing up in Peterborough, voted the 'worst place to live in England & the UK', certainly had its challenges. But a love for Nick Cave's band and a passion for indie music launched the author, Pete Elderkin, on a series of extraordinary events while...
"White Limozeen (1989) was a commercial recovery after Dolly Parton's first major failure two years previously with the release of Rainbow. This book is a case study in how an album is sold and a persona constructed. The album had a complex relationship to the...
"Discusses America's most tenured rock and roll band (of 66 years), their breakout masterpiece album, 3+3, and the twists and turns of being a foundational Black act in rock music navigating institutional racism in the music business"--Publisher's description.
"Platinum award-winning singer, songwriter, and lyricist Mark Winkler provides a handbook on writing great lyrics, chock full of songwriting exercises and engaging personal vignettes. This book crosses a variety of genres and teaches the craft of modern...
"Working As A Film Composer is an inside look at what it is like working in the industry today. It's a journey through the career defining moments of an award-winning Hollywood composer with insightful perspectives from industry professionals and action steps...
"After more than seventy years of fighting to live her life on her own terms, Cher finally reveals her true story in intimate detail, in part one of a two-part memoir"--Publisher's description.
"In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir. A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman...
"Christine McVie born Christine Perfect, was the quintessentially English rock star, as both the backbone and the beating heart of Fleetwood Mac. Straddling the band's incarnations to achieve global fame alongside Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey...
"In this heartfelt, funny, and fascinating memoir, Kenny G shares how skinny Kenneth Gorelick, the kid who got hassled for his lunch money in a Seattle high school, became one of the most celebrated and revered virtuosos in the music industry. He uncovers how...
"Music is one of humanity's oldest medicines. From the Far East to the Ottoman Empire, Europe to Africa and the pre-colonial Americas, many cultures have developed their own rich traditions for using sound and rhythm to ease suffering, promote healing, and...
"A cultural phenomenon. A worldwide obsession. An agent of emotional chaos. There's no parallel to Taylor Swift in history: a teenage girl who turns into the world's favorite pop star, songwriter, storyteller, guitar hero, live performer, changing how music is...
"An exploration of the writing, recording and release of John Lennon's fourth solo album Mind Games. Presents handwritten lyrics, letters, artworks by Lennon and Ono, and previously unseen photography alongside their firsthand commentary about the lyrics,...
"For the past two decades, young women (and men) have found their way to feminism through Riot Grrrl. Against the backdrop of the culture wars and before the rise of the Internet or desktop publishing, the zine and music culture of the Riot Grrrl movement...
"Discover the untold stories behind ABBA's greatest hits, including the iconic 'Waterloo', 'Mamma Mia' and 'Dancing Queen' in this loving and thorough dissection of every album and song released by the pop megastars. From their first single in 1972, all the...
"Few musicians have lived a musical life as rich as the songwriter and producer Ian Broudie. From recording the glorious uplifting psychedelic pop of his band the Lightning Seeds to producing bands like Echo & the Bunnymen and the Fall, Ian has journeyed from...
"Future Jaw-Clap tells the story of a highly influential movement in New Zealand music: the self-made musicians of pioneering free jazz ensemble Primitive Art Group, who carved out their own radical musical language in the cold, hard reality of 1980s...
"Once upon a time, in the small town of Dartford, Kent, a boy named Keith Richards was born into a world recovering from the shadows of war, on the 18th of December, 1943. Little did the world know that this boy would grow up to become a cornerstone of one of...
"Secret (and not-so-secret) weapons, side-of-the-stagers, rhythm and horn sections, backup singers, accompanists--these and other "band people" are the anonymous but irreplaceable character actors of popular music. Through interviews and incisive cultural...
"A significant collection of interviews with the defiant, controversial, and ground-breaking singer, songwriter, and activist throughout her turbulent career . . .Sinéad O'Connor's music -- both in her songwriting and in her beautiful voice -- addressed both...
"The Ultimate Book of Blues Guitar Legends features 150+ blues guitarists from prewar to today, featuring artist photography and an authoritative text detailing their careers and gear"--Publisher's description.
"The book explores the contexts, themes, and influences that shaped Kollaps. It describes the early days of Einstürzende Neubauten in West Berlin, the manic energy of their performances, their use of scrap metal, drill hammers, bodily sounds, and tape loops,...
"In 'Echoes', legendary guitarist and founding member of Echo & the Bunnymen, Will Sergeant, recounts the band's whirlwind rise to stardom with his trademark wryness and intelligence. Sharing never-before-told anecdotes - including the heady Rockfield Studio...
"In Search of Beethoven is John Suchet's latest and most personal book dedicated to the life of this extraordinary composer. Part biography, part memoir, part travelogue, Suchet draws on his own life and career as a foreign correspondent and news anchor to...
"Signed to a major recording deal at just 12 years old, JoJo catapulted to the top of the pop-and-R&B-infused charts in the mid 2000's... JoJo was an undeniable superstar and pop culture fixture, spanning roles in major studio films, omnipresence on Top 40...
"Listen in as Pete unabashedly shares historical and family stories; tells of learning the banjo, traveling with Woody Guthrie, and finding commercial success with The Weavers; explains how he wrote books and put together songs; delves into controversial...
"Fleetwood Mac have had a chart-topping career that spans over fifty years and includes some of the biggest-selling albums and greatest hits of the 20th and 21st centuries. But the band's story is one of enormous triumph and also unimaginable tragedy. There...
"The definitive biography of songwriter Randy Newman, told with his full cooperation, by acclaimed biographer and longtime Los Angeles Times music critic, Robert Hilburn . . . Randy Newman is widely hailed as one of America's all-time greatest songwriters,...
"When Kurt Cobain died at his Seattle home on April 8, 1994 at the age of 27, music lost the idol of an entire generation. Ernesto Assante, renowned music journalist, guides the reader through the personal story of an artist and the discovery of an entire...
"Pressure Drop is a major account of reggae's pivotal decade, upturning notions of a period seemingly defined by glam rock, disco and punk. Reggae's story is one of triumphs, spiritual quests, feuds, betrayal, heartbreak and near misses, musical or otherwise....
"When Miranda Sawyer interviewed Liam Gallagher in 1994, his gag wishing Damon Albarn would die of AIDS became front-page news all over the world. This fascinating pop history, exploring the moment British music suddenly meant everything, explains why. Picking...
"Celebrate the history and memories of NSYNC with the ultimate tribute book-filled with amazing tour photography, band-member profiles, fan memories, and more. With over 70 million records sold, NSYNC is one of the best-selling boy bands of all time-and...
"Through exclusive interviews and over a decade of deep research, renowned music journalist Jan Gradvall explores the secrets to ABBA's success. More than half a century after their songs were recorded, ABBA still make people the world over dance and sing...
"How to Disappear is bassist Colin Greenwood's stunning portrait of Radiohead in his own photographs. Two decades in the making, he takes us on a journey into the heart of the 21st-century's most influential band, a maverick collective who have vastly...
"The '80s. The era of Hawke, a booming economy, big hair, gender benders and the new wave synth pop explosion. Every Sunday night, Australians would be glued to Countdown to watch the latest and local bands strut their stuff. Bands who became household names...
"On March 17, 2005, Spamalot debuted on Broadway to rapturous reviews for its star-studded creative team, including creator Eric Idle, director Mike Nichols, and stars Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, Sara Ramirez, John Cleese, and more. But long before show...
"In this intimate and open account--nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you've ever read--Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and band mate. Brothers is...
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