Popular music

They say it's hard getting into the movies...try getting out!Fresh from the cutting room floor,The Silver Screamexposes the bloodiest behind-the-scenes details of the most gruesome, shocking, true-crime tragedy of our time. Part autopsy, part grisly...

THE STORIES BEHIND EVERY STUDIO TRACK FROM THE ONLY BAND THAT MATTERS.Established in 1976 at the fore London's punk rock insurgence, The Clash would outlast their peers while creating some of the most influential albums in rock 'n' roll history. Author...

Syd Barrett was an art-school student when he founded Pink Floyd, with whom he served as vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter in the original line-up. Famous before his twentieth birthday, Barrett led the charge of psychedelia onstage at...

Live at the Safari Club: A People's History of HarDCore is the uncensored oral history of a notorious underground punk venue in the nation's capital, told by the bands, fans, zinesters, promoters, graffiti artists, scenesters, senators' kids and...

'There's love in the music and people can relate to the love, regardless of whether you're two years old or 92 years old. For me, music is about love. Love is the message I want to share. I hope people feel that in my music. That makes the hard...

Growing up in the Boston suburbs, Tom Werman was deeply affected by pop music from a young age. He long dreamed of a career in music-first as Elvis, then as the next George Harrison-but it almost didn't turn out that way. Dutifully following the path his...

This book is a four step method to develop the skills and concepts needed to play contemporary jazz guitar.To listen to any of the top jazz guitarist today , it is easy to hear a blending of guitar styles and techniques that include blues, jazz, rock and...

The White Stripes Complete Lyrics is a deluxe new 300+ page hardbound book documenting all of Jack White's original words written for the 6x Grammy Award-winning duo he and Meg White formed in 1997 through the release of their final album in 2007. The...

'Kevin does what I pretend to do. Kevin's a proper musician.' David Bowie'Kevin Armstrong has been around, and around.' Iggy PopGrowing up in a world of punk squats and the London pub-rock scene, suburban rookie guitarist Kevin Armstrong found himself...

On December 8, 1980, twenty-something rock journalist Laurie Kaye entered the legendary Dakota apartments in New York to interview her longtime idol John Lennon. It was the last interview Lennon would ever give- just hours later, outside that same...

'John Robb is as punk rock as The Clash.' - Alan McGeeDo You Believe in the Power of Rock & Roll? is a history of alternative rock from music writer John Robb, with the music still ringing in his ears. This collection follows Robb's...

A Grateful Dead concert, Ray Robertson argues, is life.Like life, it can be alternately compelling and lackluster; familiar and foreign; occasionally sublime and sometimes insipid. Although the Grateful Dead stopped the day Jerry Garcia's heart did, what...

John, Paul, George, and Ringo were more than great musicians: they were the quintessential fashion icons of one of the most exciting and memorable fashion eras of all time. From their starts in black leather through Sergeant Pepper to Nehru collars and...

Crosby, Holiday, Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Garland, and Streisand were the major interpreters of the American songbook, and this is the interlocking story of their lives and careers. Here is the epic tale of how these artists dominated American popular music...

Rebel Music: Bob Marley & Roots Reggae is a tribute to the leading icon in music, Bob Marley. In 1975, after meeting Marley in London, photographer Kate Simon gained unique access to the Wailers, capturing intensely personal moments and momentous...

'Mark is one of the most indomitable yet gentle spirits I've ever met. He will always be one of my favorite artists I've ever worked with. And someday when I grow up, I want to be just like him.'Alice Cooper'This book is a puzzle. The outside frame...

The first authorised visual record of one of New York's greatest bands.An intimate and impressionistic narrative of The Strokes' first ten years, including images of the guys when they were students at the Dwight School in Manhattan and would gather for...

Formed in Wiltshire, England, in 1980, the Subhumans are rightly held in high regard as one of the best punk rock bands to ever hail from the UK.Over the course of five timeless studio albums and just as many classic EPs, not to mention well over 1,000...

An experimental account of one woman's quest to shed addictive substances and behaviors from her life-which dares to ask if we're really better off without them.In January 2021, Freda Love Smith, acclaimed rock musician and author of Red Velvet...

This is the first comprehensive history of goth music and culture. Across more than 500 pages, John Robb explores the origins and legacy of this enduring scene, which has its roots in the post-punk era.Drawing on his own experience as a musician and...

Donald Fagen will forever be associated with Steely Dan, the band he formed with Walter Becker and four other musicians in 1972.The smooth, radio-friendly veneer of the duo's songs made Steely Dan internationally popular and famous in the 1970s, but the...

In extensive interviews with scene pioneers and mainstays including Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional), Geoff Rickly (Thursday), Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), Gabe Saporta (Midtown/Cobra Starship), and Max Bemis (Say Anything), veteran music...

The only encyclopedic and definitive book on American indie metal!If all you know about metal music was what was heard on commercial radio, then you don't know metal at all. Heroes of the Metal Underground profiles over 1100 American bands from every...

This book is a critical history of Sub Pop, the Seattle independent rock label that launched the careers of countless influential 'grunge' bands in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It focuses in particular on the languages and personas...

This book takes you through the first two years of the legendary Led Zeppelin's career from their first concert to becoming the biggest rock band in the world with interviews, memories and rare and unseen photographs.Fifty years ago on 7th September 1968...

Pairing history's 100 greatest rock stars with recipes for their iconic drink of choice, How to Drink Like a Rock Star is the perfect guide to summoning the muse for music fans, rock and roll bartenders, and cocktail enthusiasts.Have you longed for a...

Every photographer knows the moment of truth, and every picture tells a story. Over the past four decades, Paul Natkin has had a front-row seat for music history, attending over 10,000 shows and concerts to chronicle the excitement and excess of the...

"The masterful art of chess, Kung-fu sword play, and the sweet science of boxing are all hip-hop expressions that connect us universally.Beatboxingtells the story. It's razor sharp."-Masta Killa, Wu-Tang Clan"I love howTodd Snyder's brain works. Like...

On February 25, 1963, Columbia Records released The Barbra Streisand Album. The first song was "Cry Me a River," and with that a star was born. Barbra Joan Streisand had a zany personality backed by a talent that Stephen Sondheim once described as "one...

'Weird Al' Yankovic is one of music's most beloved figures. A skilled accordion player and songwriter, the California native is known for his meticulous parodies of popular songs, hilarious originals, and, of course, for upbeat polkas!For much of Al's...

Co-founder of Rhino Records, Harold Bronson, tells his story. As a passionate music fan who explored the British music scene and met many of the performers whose music he loved, and in some cases got to know them as a music journalist, music executive,...

The rise and fall of Some Bizzare-the label that introduced the world to Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, and The The-is the great untold story of alternative music.Along with Factory, Mute, and Creation, Some Bizzare was the vanguard of outsider music in the...

Holy Ghost is the first extended study of free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler, who is seen today as one of the most important innovators in the history of jazz.Ayler synthesized children's songs, La Marseillaise, American march music, and gospel hymns,...

"There were only a handful of people in the world who still really believed in Suede at the time, and five of them were in the band."Brett Anderson, Suede"Suede were Marmite at the time, and I was expecting the press to trash them. Every meeting I had...

'It's amazing that this style came to be. Can you imagine being a struggling musician back then? It must take an incredible amount of restraint to play that gently.' -Actor/comedian Fred Armisen, from his foreword to this book Just what is 'yacht rock,'...

'I was raised with an artist's mentality; my first 25 years were spent as somebody who wanted to live among graphics and artwork and illustration, and then for the next 30 years it was all music. Recently, I've reverted into the arts, combining...

'I can be scratching around at home on an acoustic guitar, or singing a funny little idea into my phone, and all of a sudden, it becomes a beautifulfully fledged song. And I'm asking myself, how did we do that again? I still find that...

'Here on the shore, twenty years later, my message in a bottle has reached dry land. Words about our life, his death but mostly love and our journey to the end.' - Olivia HarrisonOlivia Harrison presents Came the Lightening a book of...

'These guitars have been really good tools; they're not just museum pieces. They all have a soul and they all come alive.' Eric Clapton'In his own words, Clapton tells his story through the history of his instruments.'Rolling StoneInSix-String...

'When I wrote and recorded these songs originally, I never would have expected the fantastic audience response all these years later; it's amazing.' Jeff LynneThe music of Jeff Lynne is beloved by fans all over the world and...

'I'm both blessed and cursed to be a guitar player. I didn't choose it, it chose me. The challenge was to find a way to weave my convictions into my music in a meaningful way.' - Tom MorelloAs the cofounder and guitarist of Rage Against the...

Now Is the Time to Invent offers a definitive portrait of the vibrant indie-rock scene that flourished in the mid-1980s and reached its creative peak in the 1990s. More than 60 profiles and interviews, taken from the pages of the acclaimed independent...

Dusty Springfield was one of the biggest musical stars of the twentieth century. From the launch of her solo career in 1963, and until her departure for Los Angeles a decade later, she was Britain's biggest female star, with a glamour and voice that...

In the 1950s and 1960s, Memphis, Tennessee, was the launch pad of musical pioneers such as Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Al Green and Isaac Hayes, and by 1968 was a city synonymous with soul music. It was a deeply segregated city, ill at...

Detroit 67 is the story of Motor City in the year that changed everything. Twelve chapters take you on a turbulent year-long journey through the drama and chaos that ripped through the city in 1967 and tore it apart in personal, political and interracial...

The legendary music impresario (and producer of bands likeThe Yardbirds and Wham!)tells his life story in a series of mesmerisingly candid vignettes.Sour Mouth, Sweet Bottom: Lessons from a Dissolute Lifeis the book Simon Napier-Bell's fans have always...

Black Vinyl White Powder is the definitive story of five decades of British Pop - now in paperbackWhether penning hits for Dusty Springfield, discovering Marc Bolan or managing a series of stellar acts ranging from the Yardbirds to Wham! - Simon...