Hang on, it's a hell of a ride!

From the band that lived by the motto "Anything worth doing was worth overdoing" -- Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Brad Whitford, and Joey Kramer -- comes a quarter century of rock godhood: the life, the music, the truth, the hell, the lost years, and the raunchy, unsafe sex.

And, of course, the drugs.

But after crashing in a suffocating cloud of cocaine, crystal meth, and heroin, Aerosmith rose up from the ashes to become clean and sober -- and reclaim their rightful title as World Champion Rockers. Learn how they did it in a book that is pure Aerosmith unbound: where they came from, what they are now, and what they will always be -- a great American band.

Beethoven's often-discussed dark side--marked by paranoia, narcissism, and obsession--is brought into focus by Peter J. Davies, who examines both the composer's genetic roots and the familial cruelty and neglect that defined his childhood. But this book is more than a biography, eschewing facile psychoanalysis in favor of a real exploration of how Beethoven's character shaped the work now universally regarded as among the best music ever written. Davies acutely observes the ways in which suffering can bring, at the same time, both madness and genius.

The author begins by tracing the medical history of mental disorders in Beethoven's family, and then goes on to detail the composer's religious beliefs and attitudes, his daily work habits and pastimes, and elements of his character including manic depression. Though the work does not purport to be a musical analysis, it does consider the many ways in which the things that shape an artist go on to shape his art.

A ROUGH TRADE, THE TIMES, CLASH BOOK OF THE YEAR The dramatic story of Solange: a musician and artist whose unconventional journey to international success was far more important than her family name. 'Why Solange Matters is a significant and sober treatise on popular music . . . This book is more than necessary.' THURSTON MOORE 'The author's prose sparkles . . . This is a book about what freedom could look like for Black women.' CALEB AZUMAH NELSON, OBSERVER 'Invigorating . . . much more than a dry thesis and at times something nearer to personal reverie.' IAN PENMAN, LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS 'A love letter to quirkly black creatives . . . [Phillips'] vibrant writing reminds us how Solange lit "the flame of creativity" within many Black women.' gal-dem Growing up in the shadow of her superstar sister, Beyonce, and defying an industry that attempted to bend her to its rigid image of a Black woman, Solange Knowles has become a pivotal musician and artist in her own right. In Why Solange Matters, Stephanie Phillips chronicles the creative journey of Solange, a beloved voice of the Black Lives Matter generation. A Black feminist punk musician herself, Phillips addresses not only the unpredictable trajectory of Solange's career but also how she and other Black women see themselves through the musician's repertoire. First, she traces Solange's progress through an inflexible industry, charting the artist's development up to 2016, when the release of her third album, A Seat at the Table, redefined her career. With this record and, then, When I Get Home (2019), Phillips describes how Solange has embraced activism, anger, Black womanhood and intergenerational trauma to inform her remarkable art. Why Solange Matters not only cements the subject in the pantheon of world-changing twenty-first-century musicians, it introduces its writer as an important new voice. MUSIC MATTERS: SHORT BOOKS ABOUT THE ARTISTS WE LOVE - Why Solange Matters by Stephanie Phillips - Why Marianne Faithfull Matters by Tanya Pearson - Why Karen Carpenter Matters by Karen Tongson

Finding the Beat explores humankind’s ability, propensity, and enjoyment in finding the beat in live and recorded experiences of music-making through the lens of entrainment, the human capacity to perceive a beat and to synchronize to it. Anyone who has attended a concert, gone to a club, or watched a sporting event has witnessed and/or participated in tapping, clapping, or dancing along with a piece, song, or chant. It doesn’t matter who or where you are in the world—as humans we spend a lot of time taking pleasure in matching our bodily movements with a perceived beat. Drawing upon diverse examples from the North American and British rock repertoire, Nathan Hesselink demonstrates that listeners are gripped in deep, compelling, and socially meaningful ways when musicians play with or against expectations set up by entrainment. Via musicology, music theory, popular music studies, ethnomusicology, and cognitive neuroscience, he illustrates the creative, aesthetic, and participatory pleasure and wonder afforded by our collective ability to find the beat.

Building on the strengths of the first edition, the second edition of Latin American Classical Composers: A Biographical Dictionary presents expanded and updated coverage of its topic with an aim to be comprehensive. The authors have conducted exhaustive research to fill in gaps and correct minor errors in the first edition, adding young composers and documenting deaths since 1996, when the first edition appeared. Hundreds of composers are represented in this volume, which presents biographical data, including dates of birth and death, personal information about composers' background and training, and a selective listing of each composer's works. Sources for further study are noted within each entry. An index of composers by country rounds out this work.

Bono is a passionate, articulate celebrity who has transcended his role as international rock star and become an effective political activist. This book provides insights into his life story and contributions to both popular culture and politics. Bono: A Biography takes a broad look at the pop star's life from his birth until the present day while also examining in depth the major events throughout his life. It covers Bono's accomplishments as part of U2 and also provides great detail about this complex celebrity figure's achievements outside of his involvement with his band-for example, his activities as a major spokesperson on issues of debt relief and poverty. This book will be appreciated by general readers as well as high school students with an interest in pop culture and politics. Authored by a writer who has been a fan of U2 and Bono since his youth, this book cites a variety of sources to present an engaging and comprehensive portrait of this passionate musician's contributions to popular music and his ongoing commitment to issues of social justice. Contains many direct quotes from Bono's speeches and interviews that address his activism and his life with U2 Presents a chronology of Bono's life from his birth onwards Includes a bibliography of works cited and other books worth reading

An examination of the work and music of the Royalist composer William Lawes. William Lawes is arguably one of the finest English composers of the early seventeenth century. Born in Salisbury in 1602, he rose to prominence in the early 1630s; in 1635 he gained a prestigious post among the elite private musicians of Charles I (the "Lutes, Viols and Voices"). With the outbreak of civil war in 1642, Lawes took arms in support of the king; he died during the Siege of Chester in September 1645. This book is divided into three sections. The first is a contextual examination of music at the court of Charles I, with specific reference to the abovementioned arcane group of musicians; much of Lawes's surviving consort music appears to have been written to be performed by this group. The remainder of the book deals with William Lawes the composer. The second section is a detailed study of Lawes's autograph sources: the first of its kind. It includes 62 black and white facsimile images, and complete inventories of all the autographs, and presents ground-breaking new research into Lawes's scribal hand, the sources and their functions, and new evidence for their chronology. The third section comprises six chapters on Lawes's consort music; in these chapters various topics are examined, such as chronology, Lawes's compositional process, and the relationship between Lawes's music and the court context from which it arose. This book willbe of interest to scholars working on English music in the Early Modern period, but also to those interested in source studies, compositional process and the function of music in the Early Modern court. JOHN CUNNINGHAMis a Senior Lecturer in Music, at Bangor University.

Bruno Mars has sold over 115 million records worldwide as a singer, producer and songwriter. This book documents his childhood in Honolulu and how he found fame from the age of four. Here is the incredible story of Bruno Mars, the obscure Hawaiian singer /songwriter who rocketed to global fame in just three years. After failure and near poverty in LA where the Motown record label signed and then dropped him, Bruno Mars had a surprise worldwide smash with his fi rst single for Atlantic, 'Just The Way You Are'. With sales of over 115 million, including two record-breaking digital single releases, Bruno Mars became a major star almost overnight. Even so, his exotic origins make for a story of rare fascination - raised by a family of musicians, learning his craft in Honolulu, playing, writing and performing on other people's records in LA and surviving a career-threatening drug bust. This is the amazing biography of Bruno Mars so far. The future promises even more success!

Many consider Patti Smith the godmother of punk. That label, however, is inaccurate. Although she possessed the energy and irreverence that would later mark the punk generation, she was inspired by the beatniks and by Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and many other figures whom the punk rockers were reacting against. Yet, she acted as a bridge between the two generations, finding common ground with both. The experimental and rebellious nature of her work made Smith and her band integral to the mid-'70s New York art rock scene, centered around the club CBGB on the Lower East Side. Smith's 1975 album, Horses, was the first album released from the scene and established Smith as a major artist. The androgynous appearance of Smith on the cover—shot by Robert Mapplethorpe—has become one of the most famous shots in rock history. Musically, the album was groundbreaking for its mix of improvisational music and Dionysian lyrics. As both an artist and a woman, she broke new ground. Smith released three more albums before abruptly walking away from her fame in 1980. She reemerged in the mid-'90s to reshape her image and astound fans with her dynamic performances. Smith's impact on rock music—her rebellion against gender roles, her charismatic performances, her merging of poetry and music, and the way she's aged as a rock star—has been vast. She has redefined what it means for women to be rock performers and blazed trails for many other popular female musicians to follow after her. Individual chapters examine individual albums and account for parallel developments in Smith's life. Tarr concludes his work with an examination of the influence Smith has had on pop culture and on rock 'n' roll in general. Patti Smith is a guarded and private person, and little has been written about her. In this searching analysis of Smith's life and work, author Joe Tarr has filled a huge gap and provided an essential guide to the iconic artist's career.

Prince, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Toto, James Taylor, Keith Richards—these stars and thousands of others all owe a debt of gratitude to Rob Turner who revolutionized the electric guitar and bass. Chasing Tone tells Rob Turner’s story from humble beginnings rewiring his father’s transistor radio components to founding EMG and, finally, to the world’s largest concert stages. Jim Reilly provides a wealth of fascinating insights by weaving together many exclusive interviews with top artists and colleagues, including James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo of Metallica; legendary session musician Leland Sklar; Vernon Reid of Living Colour; Victor Wooten; Béla Fleck; Nili Brosh; Jim Root of Slipknot; and guitar builders Mike McGuire and John Carruthers. Along the way, Reilly not only sheds light on the history of the electric guitar and bass and how EMG pickups forever altered their course but also explores the elusive relationship between builder and creator, showing how these artists found their sound. This book takes a deep dive into the creative process while providing a history of popular music told from a side of the stage previously underexplored.

Now in paperback, the New York Times bestseller by one of rock's most provocative figuresScar Tissue is Anthony Kiedis's searingly honest memoir of a life spent in the fast lane. In 1983, four self-described "knuckleheads" burst out of the mosh-pitted mosaic of the neo-punk rock scene in L.A. with their own unique brand of cosmic hardcore mayhem funk. Over twenty years later, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, against all odds, have become one of the most successful bands in the world. Though the band has gone through many incarnations, Anthony Kiedis, the group's lyricist and dynamic lead singer, has been there for the whole roller-coaster ride. Whether he's recollecting the influence of the beautiful, strong women who have been his muses, or retracing a journey that has included appearances as diverse as a performance before half a million people at Woodstock or an audience of one at the humble compound of the exiled Dalai Lama, Kiedis shares a compelling story about the price of success and excess. Scar Tissue is a story of dedication and debauchery, of intrigue and integrity, of recklessness and redemption--a story that could only have come out of the world of rock.

A renowned Verdi authority offers here the often-astounding first history of how Verdi's early operas -- including one of his great masterpieces, Rigoletto -- made their way into America's musical life. The operas of Giuseppe Verdi stand at the center of today's operatic repertoire, and have done so for more than a century. The story of how the reputation and wide appeal of these operas spread from Western Europe throughout the world has long needed to be told. This latest book by noted Verdi authority George W. Martin, Verdi in America: Oberto through Rigoletto, specifically details the changing fortunes of Verdi's early operas in the theaters andconcert halls of the United States. Among the important works whose fates Martin traces are Nabucco, Attila, Ernani, Macbeth (in its original version), Luisa Miller, and one of Verdi's immortal masterpieces: Rigoletto, denounced in 1860 as the epitome of immorality. Martin also explores the astonishing revival of many of these operas in the 1940s and onward (including Macbeth in its revised version of 1865), and the first American productions-sometimes in small opera houses outside the main circuit of some Verdi operas that had never previously managed to cross the Atlantic. Extensive quotations from newspaper reviews testify tothe eventual triumph of these remarkable works. They also reveal the crucial shifts in tastes and expectations that have occurred from Verdi's day to our own. Independent scholar George W. Martin is the author of several books on Italian opera, including Verdi, His Music, Life and Times, Verdi at the Golden Gate: Opera and San Francisco in the Gold Rush Years, and Aspects of Verdi.

The first full-length biographical study of Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1994). The British-born Irish composer (Dame) Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1994) is best known today for her cycle of thirteen string quartets, composed over five decades. And yet, her oeuvre ranges from large scale choral works, to ballets, operas, and symphonic scores. Having studied with Charles Wood and Ralph Vaughan Williams at the Royal College of Music, many of her compositions also garnered accolades from peers and established musical figures such as Gustav Holst, Donald Francis Tovey, and Henry Wood, among others. With access to a wealth of documentation previously unavailable, this book explores Maconchy's life and music within a greater consideration of the social and political context of the world in which she lived. While the influence of Bartók has been well documented, this book reveals the equally potent influence of Vaughan Williams on Maconchy's musical idiom. This book also discusses Maconchy's foray into administration and her advocacy of young composers through her work as the first woman to be elected Chairman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain in 1959 and President of the Society for the Promotion of New Music following the death of Benjamin Britten in 1976. It will be required reading for those interested in the lives of women composers, twentieth-century British music, and musical modernism.

Breaking the global record for streams in a single day, nearly 10 million people around the world tuned in to hear Kendrick Lamar's sophomore album in the hours after its release. To Pimp a Butterfly was widely hailed as an instant classic, garnering laudatory album reviews, many awards, and even a canonized place in Harvard's W. E. B. Du Bois archive. Why did this strangely compelling record stimulate the emotions and imaginations of listeners? This book takes a deep dive into the sounds, images, and lyrics of To Pimp a Butterfly to suggest that Kendrick appeals to the psyche of a nation in crisis and embraces the development of a radical political conscience. Kendrick breathes fresh life into the Black musical protest tradition and cultivates a platform for loving resistance. Combining funk, jazz, and spoken word, To Pimp a Butterfly's expansive sonic and lyrical geography brings a high level of innovation to rap music. More importantly, Kendrick's introspective and philosophical songs compel us to believe in a future where, perhaps, we gon' be alright.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'As the Brits say: I'm gobsmacked. I devoured this book... one of the most potent examples of living the dream' DEBBIE HARRY 'A great drummer who has written a great book' BILL MURRAY 'A revealing inside account of the highs and lows of a band who looked and sounded like nobody else' OLIVIA LAING, Guardian Chris Frantz's memoir tells the story of his life with Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and his life-long love affair with Tina Weymouth. He remembers the early performances at CBGB alongside the Ramones, Patti Smith, Television and Blondie and recording the game changing albums, Talking Heads '77, More Songs About Buildings And Food, Fear Of Music, and Remain In Light. During a break from Talking Heads, Chris and Tina formed Tom Tom Club; in the process creating a hybrid of funk, disco, pop and electro that would have a huge impact on the club scene around the world. Warm and candid, funny and heartfelt, Remain in Love charts the rise of a band that began as a dream and culminated with their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and reveals the once-in-a-lifetime love story and creative partnership between Chris and Tina, one of the greatest rhythm sections of all time.

William Levi Dawson (1899-1990) overcame adversity and Jim Crow racism to become a nationally recognized composer, choral arranger, conductor, and professor of music. In William Levi Dawson: American Music Educator, Mark Hugh Malone tells the fascinating tale of Dawson's early life, quest for education, rise to success at the Tuskegee Institute, achievement of national notoriety as a composer, and retirement years spent conducting choirs throughout the US and world. From his days as a student at Tuskegee in the final years of Booker T. Washington's presidency, Dawson continually pursued education in music, despite racial barriers to college admission. Returning to Tuskegee later in life, he became director of the School of Music. Under his direction, the Tuskegee Choir achieved national recognition by singing at Radio City Music Hall, presenting concerts for Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and performing on nationwide radio and television broadcasts. Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony, only the second extended musical work to be written by an African American, was premiered by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra in both Philadelphia and New York City. Dawson's arrangements of spirituals, the original folk music of African Americans enslaved in America during the antebellum period, quickly became highly sought-after choral works. This biographical account of Dawson's life is narrated with a generous sprinkling of his personal memories and photographs.

John Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra is one of the seminal works of the second half of the twentieth century, and the centerpiece of the middle period of Cage's output. It is a culmination of Cage's work up to that point, incorporating notation techniques he had spent the past decade developing - techniques which remain radical to this day. But despite Cage's vitality to the musical development of the twentieth century, and the Concert's centrality to his career, the work is still rarely performed and even more rarely examined in detail. In this volume, Martin Iddon and Philip Thomas provide a rich and critical examination of this enormously significant piece, tracing its many contexts and influences - particularly Schoenberg, jazz, and Cage's own compositional practice - through a wide and previously untapped range of archival sources. Iddon and Thomas explain the Concert through a reading of its many histories, especially in performance - from the legendary performer disobedience and audience disorder of its 1958 New York premiere to a no less disastrous European premiere later the same year. They also highlight the importance of the piano soloist who premiered the piece, David Tudor, and its use alongside choreographer Merce Cunningham's Antic Meet. A careful examination of an apparently bewildering piece, the book explores the critical response to the Concert's performances, re-interrogates the mythology surrounding it, and finally turns to the music itself, in all its component parts, to see what it truly asks of performers and listeners.

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK Bessie Smith: singer, icon, pioneer. Scotland's National Poet Jackie Kay brings to life the tempestuous story of the greatest blues singer who ever lived. 'A gem of a book . . . beautiful.' BERNARDINE EVARISTO 'A wonderful writer on a magnificent singer.' ROBERT WYATT 'Kay's book is the amplifier that Smith's voice deserves.' SUNDAY TIMES 'The most vivid evocation of Bessie Smith I have ever read.' IAN CARR, BBC MUSIC BESSIE SMITH was born in Tennessee in 1894. Orphaned by the age of nine, she sang on street corners before becoming a big name in travelling shows. In 1923 she made her first recording for a new start-up called Columbia Records. It sold 780,000 copies and made her a star. Smith's life was notoriously difficult: she drank pints of 'bathtub gin', got into violent fist fights, spent huge sums of money and had passionate love affairs with men and women. She once single-handedly fought off a cohort of the Ku Klux Klan. As a young black girl growing up in Glasgow, Jackie Kay found in Bessie someone with whom she could identify and who she could idolise. In this remarkable book Kay mixes biography, fiction, poetry and prose to create an enthralling account of an extraordinary life. 'Biographies don't usually bring the subject to life again. This one did. I finished the book then started it again immediately.' PEGGY SEEGER 'What a life! What gulpable storytelling! Exactly the kind of writing about music we need: personal, ardent, playfully confrontational, questioning, undogmatic. A love song to a complicated idol.' KATE MOLLESON 'Pure joy: one trailblazing woman pays tribute to another. Jackie Kay finds the music in the short, dazzling, capricious life of Bessie Smith.' HELEN LEWIS

Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), an extraordinary, innovative, and often controversial moving force in modern music, has been the subject of a vast amount of literary criticism, philosophical discussions, and groundbreaking performances. Originally in French, Scelsi's writings have been included in anthologies of prose, poetry, and memoires published in French, Italian, and German. For the first time, this volume brings selected writings into English. His writings enlighten the creative process and facilitate further the understanding of his musical message. Franco Sciannameo and Alessandra Carlotta Pellegrini provide two introductory essays followed by Scelsi's The Evolution of Harmony, The Evolution of Rhythm, Art and Satanism, Unity and Equalityof the Arts, Meaning of Music, Sound and Music, and Art and Knowledge-writings spanning from the early 1940s to February 1987. Additionally, the editors place Scelsi's aesthetical writings within a densely contextualized historical, social, and cultural landscape to provide scholarly yet approachable critical information. Iconographic plates, bibliography, discography, videography, websites and a comprehensive index complete the volume.

Legendarily reticent, perverse and misleading, Prince is one of the few remaining 80s superstars who still, perhaps, remains unexplained. Now a firm fixture in the pop canon, where such classics as 'Purple Rain', 'Sign o' the Times' and 'Parade' regularly feature in Best Ever Album polls, Prince is still, as he ever was, an enigma. His live performances are legendary (21 Nights at the O2 in 2007) and while recent releases have been modestly successful at best, his influence on urban music, and R'n'B in particular, has never been more evident. The Minneapolis Sound can now be heard everywhere. Matt Thorne's Prince, through years of research and interviews with ex-Revolution members such as Wendy and Lisa, is an account of a pop maverick whose experiments with rock, funk, techno and jazz revolutionised pop. With reference to every song, released and unreleased, over 35 years of recording, Prince will stand for years to come as the go-to book on the Great Man.

'No musician or music lover should be without it.' BBC Music Magazine Robert Schumann was far ahead of his time: his music anticipated a multitude of trends that would spread in the 150 years after his death, and almost every major composer who followed him acknowledged his influence. He was also revolutionary in his attitude to young people; in 1848 he wrote his famous Advice to Young Musicians, a book that is still deeply relevant today. In this volume, celebrated cellist Steven Isserlis has taken Schumann's words of wisdom and set them in a modern context with his own extensive commentary. By turns practical, humorous and profound, this book is a must for aspiring musicians and music-lovers of all ages.