|
|
Books > Music > Contemporary popular music
'Shadowman is an emotional and powerful read, deeply honest and
very personal, and at times made bearable only by Johnny Daukes'
ability to find comedy in horrific circumstances. An astonishing
piece of work' - David Quantick This is no ordinary autobiography.
In 2003 Johnny Daukes acknowledged to himself and confessed to his
younger brother that he had been sexually abused as a child. This
was by a man in charge of a boys' club in Oxford, run by the
Catholic organisation Opus Dei. In 1984 the abuser married their
older sister and the couple went on to have ten children. In 1992
Johnny formed the band FIN and they released records, toured
extensively and received a great deal of press and national
airplay. He also went on to become a successful voice-over artist,
screenwriter and director. Later in life Johnny came to realise
that these projects his lyrics, sketches and scripts were in fact
the documents, or records, of a life that had been corrupted.
Shadowman is an extraordinary memoir about childhood abuse and one
man's unwitting attempt to examine and understand the past through
creativity and art. 'What a unique book Johnny Daukes' Shadowman
is. On the surface it's memoir but at its heart it's a book that
wrestles with big questions about pain, art, memory and love' - Mat
Osman 'Johnny Daukes' compelling memoir navigates both darkness and
exhilaration with intensity and painful candour but also joy and
wit. This is a book that is often melancholy but never mawkish and
at its heart is an affirming appetite for life.' - Stuart Maconie
AUTHOR: Johnny Daukes is a writer, musician, film editor, voice
artist. He was the singer/songwriter of 90s indie-band FIN, became
a comedy writer with sketch shows on BBCR4 (Radio9 & The
Scanner), BBC3TV (The Message) and voiced 16 series of C4's
Eurotrash. He wrote and directed the 2011 feature film Acts of
Godfrey (starring Simon Callow), released solo albums including
Promise that was album of the week in The Sunday Times and Rough
Trade. His sitcom Cracking Up ran for two series on BBCR4 and he
has latterly cut feature films including Finding Your Feet,
Fisherman's Friends and Settlers.
For What It's Worth is a revealing insiders look at an influential
and groundbreaking rock group whose remendous talents have gone on
to achieve legendary status in the annals of rock music history.
Besides chronicling Buffalo Springfield's roots and career, the
book offers rare and personal glimpses into several seminal music
scenes, notably the Greenwich Village folk movement, the embryonic
San Francisco scene, and LA's Sunset Strip, along with a lesson in
the pitfalls of the music industry. Written with founding member
Richie Furay and including the insights, recollections, and
reflections of band members, managers, close friends, associates,
and contemporaries, the book paints a unique portrait of one of
rock music's most beloved groups. Updated edition includes new
epilogue.
The Hiplife in Ghana explores one international site - Ghana, West
Africa - where hip-hop music and culture have morphed over two
decades into the hiplife genre of world music. It investigates
hiplife music not merely as an imitation and adaptation of hip-hop,
but as a reinvention of Ghana's century-old highlife popular music
tradition. Author Halifu Osumare traces the process by which local
hiplife artists have evolved a five-phased indigenization process
that has facilitated a youth-driven transformation of Ghanaian
society. She also reveals how Ghana's social shifts, facilitated by
hiplife, have occurred within the country's 'corporate
recolonization,' serving as another example of the neoliberal free
market agenda as a new form of colonialism. Hiplife artists, we
discover, are complicit with these global socio-economic forces
even as they create counter-narratives that push aesthetic limits
and challenge the neoliberal order.
Lead author Bruno Nettl. The grand-daddy of Ethnomusicology
compiled the first edition, and his name and contributions to the
field have brought the book forward several editions. Chapters are
written by established/known ethnomusicologists specializing in the
particular region, in the perhaps the most balanced attempt to get
expert authors together. Does not aim to teach students how to do
field work (like Titon), per se, or other ethnomusicological study,
and does not aim to teach music - rather, how to think about music
in world perspective and the major themes and issues that emerge
when we take the musics of the world seriously. Draws a big picture
and explains why the musics of the world matter.....the economics,
politics, and social dynamics of these sounds.
New Wave: Image is Everything traces the evolution of the often
neglected pop music genre, new wave. Using artists from Elvis
Costello to Cyndi Lauper as illustrations, the book argues that new
wave was among the first flowerings of postmodern theory in popular
culture.
Jazz has always been a genre built on the blending of disparate
musical cultures. Latin jazz illustrates this perhaps better than
any other style in this rich tradition, yet its cultural heritage
has been all but erased from narratives of jazz history. Told from
the perspective of a long-time jazz insider, Latin Jazz: The Other
Jazz corrects the record, providing a historical account that
embraces the genre's international nature and explores the dynamic
interplay of economics, race, ethnicity, and nationalism that
shaped it.
After the breakup of the Beatles in 1971, Paul McCartney formed
Wings with his wife Linda on keyboards, ex-Moody Blues guitarist
Denny Laine, and American session drummer Denny Seiwell. For ten
dramatic and turbulent years, the band weathered the critics,
endured pot busts, survived a harrowing recording stint in Nigeria,
changed drummers constantly, and produced a great deal of
remarkable music. McGee's tale of one of the most successful bands
of the seventies-the first book to focus exclusively on Paul's
post-Beatles years-tells the stories behind the #1 hits "Listen To
What the Man Said," "My Love," "Band on the Run," "Jet," "With a
Little Luck," and "Coming Up." McGee reveals the band's inner
dynamics and its relationship with the press and public, examining
Paul's determination to pursue a new sound, the criticisms Linda
initially got from fans and bandmates, and the character conflicts
that kept the lineup changing. Appendices include interviews with
former Wings guitarist Henry McCullough, a complete discography, a
list of singles with Paul's comments on each, and rankings from the
sales charts. Band on the Run also includes a trove of rare Wings
promotional material-album covers, posters, ads, and candid photos
of the band on tour.
Winner of the Southwest Popular and American Culture Association's
2016 Peter C. Rollins Book Award in the category of Film/Television
The popular music industry has become completely interlinked with
the film industry. The majority of mainstream films come with
ready-attached songs that may or may not appear in the film but
nevertheless will be used for publicity purposes and appear on a
soundtrack album. In many cases, popular music in films has made
for some of the most striking moments in films and the most
dramatic aesthetic action in cinema, like Ben relaxing in the pool
to Simon and Garfunkel's 'The Sound of Silence' in The Graduate
(1967), and the potter's wheel sequence with the Righteous
Brothers' 'Unchained Melody' in Ghost (1990). Yet, to date, there
have only been patchy attempts to deal with popular music's
relationship with film. Indeed, it is startling that there is so
little written on subject that is so popular as a consumer item and
thus has a significant cultural profile. Magical Musical Tour is
the first sustained and focused survey to engage the intersection
of the two on both an aesthetic and industrial level. The chapters
are historically-inspired reviews, discussing many films and
musicians, while others will be more concentrated and detailed case
studies of single films. Including an accompanying website and a
timeline giving a useful snapshot around which readers can orient
the book, Kevin Donnelly explores the history of the intimate bond
between film and music, from the upheaval that rock'n'roll caused
in the mid-1950s to the more technical aspects regarding 'tracking'
and 'scoring'.
Uncompromising and innovative, hardcore punk in Washington, DC,
birthed a new sound and nurtured a vibrant subculture aimed at a
specific segment of the city's youth. Shayna L. Maskell explores
DC's hardcore scene during its short but storied peak. Led by bands
like Bad Brains and Minor Threat, hardcore in the nation's capital
unleashed music as angry and loud as it was fast and minimalistic.
Maskell examines the music's aesthetics and the unique impact of
DC's sociopolitical realities on the sound and the scene that
emerged. As she shows, aspects of the music's structure merged with
how bands performed it to put across distinctive representations of
race, class, and gender. But those representations could be as
complicated and contradictory as they were explicit. A fascinating
analysis of a punk rock hotbed, Politics as Sound tells the story
of how a generation created music that produced--and
resisted--politics and power.
In August 1970 Elton John achieved overnight fame after a rousing
performance at the Troubadour in Los Angeles; over the next five
years he was unstoppable, scoring seven consecutive number 1 albums
and sixteen Top 10 singles in America. But behind his outre image
and comedy glasses lay a desperately shy individual, conflicted
about his success, his sexuality, and his narcotic indulgences. In
1975, at the apex of his fame, John attempted suicide twice yet,
after announcing his retirement in 1977 at the age of thirty as
well as coming out as a gay man, he gradually found his way back to
music. Captain Fantastic is an intimate look at the rise, fall and
rise again of John's fame-and-drug fuelled decade, with a final
section bringing his life up to the present.
William S. Burroughs's fiction and essays are legendary, but his
influence on music's counterculture has been less well
documented-until now. Examining how one of America's most
controversial literary figures altered the destinies of many
notable and varied musicians, William S. Burroughs and the Cult of
Rock 'n' Roll reveals the transformations in music history that can
be traced to Burroughs. A heroin addict and a gay man, Burroughs
rose to notoriety outside the conventional literary world; his
masterpiece, Naked Lunch, was banned on the grounds of obscenity,
but its nonlinear structure was just as daring as its content.
Casey Rae brings to life Burroughs's parallel rise to fame among
daring musicians of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, when it became a
rite of passage to hang out with the author or to experiment with
his cut-up techniques for producing revolutionary lyrics (as the
Beatles and Radiohead did). Whether they tell of him exploring the
occult with David Bowie, providing Lou Reed with gritty depictions
of street life, or counseling Patti Smith about coping with fame,
the stories of Burroughs's backstage impact will transform the way
you see America's cultural revolution-and the way you hear its
music.
Go Where You Wanna Go collects the memories of band members John
and Michelle Phillips, Cass Elliot, and Denny Doherty, along with
recollections from friends, fellow musicians, industry insiders,
and other eyewitnesses. In Greenwald's hands, the intertwining
interviews tell the story of the band from its early days in
downtown New York to its global success following the release of
"California Dreamin'." As the testimonials reveal, the band that
harmonized together perfectly was loaded with conflicts. Michelle's
brief affair with Denny enraged a jealous Cass, and led to John's
temporarily kicking Michelle out of the band. Their trip to the top
of the pop music ladder further eroded the band's unity, as its
members found themselves living in separate mansions in California,
finding it increasingly difficult to tour and perform together. In
addition to new interviews with Michelle and Denny, Go Where You
Wanna Go includes material from an in-depth and
never-before-published interview with the late Cass Elliot. Other
people speaking out in the book include David Crosby and Graham
Nash (introduced to each other by Cass), Ray Manzarek and drummer
Hal Blaine, musician and record producer P. F. Sloan, photographer
Guy Webster and Kingston Trio songwriter John Stewart, and dozens
of others. The tale of The Mamas & The Papas is the
quintessential story of pop music in the 60s; holding on to the
youthful dreams and love of music while caught in the whirl of sex,
drugs, and million-dollar deals. Go Where You Wanna Go revisits-in
the words of those who were there-that time when four talented
people added an unforgettable new sound to America's music.
Documentaries of over one hundred vintage dance halls and their
communities are explored in Dance Halls and Last Calls. Many
entertainers, booking agents, club owners, and country music fans
were interviewed for this book. In a day when there was no
competition from television or video players, these shrines gleamed
proudly each weekend. Today a new generation of Texas music lovers
has helped these halls enjoy a resurgence in popularity.
This book examines social change in Africa through the lens of hip
hop music and culture. Artists engage their African communities in
a variety of ways that confront established social structures,
using coded language and symbols to inform, question, and
challenge. Through lyrical expression, dance, and graffiti, hip hop
is used to challenge social inequality and to push for social
change. The study looks across Africa and explores how hip hop is
being used in different places, spaces, and moments to foster
change. In this edited work, authors from a wide range of fields,
including history, sociology, African and African American studies,
and political science explore the transformative impact that hip
hop has had on African youth, who have in turn emerged to push for
social change on the continent. The powerful moment in which those
that want change decide to consciously and collectively take a
stand is rooted in an awareness that has much to do with time.
Therefore, the book centers on African hip hop around the context
of "it's time" for change, Ni Wakati.
Black Metal, Trauma, Subjectivity and Sound: Screaming the Abyss
weaves together trauma, black metal performance and disability into
a story of both pain and freedom. Drawing on her years as a black
metal guitarist, Jasmine Hazel Shadrack uses autoethnography to
explore her own experiences of gender-based violence, misogyny, and
the healing power of performance. This profoundly personal book
offers a detailed explanation of autoethnography, followed by a
careful exposition of the relationship between metal and gender,
considering - among other things - how women are engaged with by
metal music culture. After examining the various waves of black
metal and how this has impacted black metal theory, the book moves
on to consider female performers and performance as catharsis,
including a discussion of the author's work as guitarist and
vocalist with the black metal band Denigrata and her alter-ego, the
'antlered priestess' Denigrata Herself. The book concludes with
some thoughts on acquired disability, freedom and peace. The book
includes a foreword from eminent gender researcher Rosemary Lucy
Hill, a guest section from metal scholar Amanda DiGioia, an
epilogue from Rebecca Lamont-Jiggens (a legal pracademic
specialising in disability), suggestions of sources of help for
those in abusive relationships and further reading for those
wishing to learn more about black metal theory.
No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller. 'Can't fail to move' The Sunday
Times ALL AUTHOR PROCEEDS DONATED TO THE AMY WINEHOUSE FOUNDATION.
As an artist, she had few peers. Her lyrical prowess and timeless
contralto vocals made her an instant revelation when her debut
album Frank was released in 2003. And as her star continued to rise
it became evident that this seemingly delicate girl from north
London was much more than just a precocious talent. Genius,
inspiration, icon; there are many ways to describe Amy Winehouse,
but it was her wit, charm and lust for life that cemented her place
in the hearts of her fans. Here, using exclusive extracts from his
own personal diaries, Amy's father and confidant Mitch celebrates
what influenced his daughter. Documenting her early years from
Sylvia Young to the Brit School, and the darker side of her life as
she struggled to cope with her addictions under the glare of the
media spotlight, he gives new insights. With never before seen
photos, notes and drawings, this book brings together the many
layers of Amy's life - the personal, the private and the public -
to create an honest and intensely moving account of the life of the
most talented recording artist of her generation.
Elvis Presley and his two faithful sidekicks tore up Texas
highways, crisscrossing the state, always late for their next high
school hop, car dealership opening, or Lion's Club fund raiser.
Kurt Cobain and Ian Curtis. Through death, they became icons.
However, the lead singers have been removed from their humanity,
replaced by easily replicated and distributed commodities bearing
their image. This book examines how the anglicised singers provide
secular guidance to the modern consumer in an ever more uncertain
world.
The first book by David Dicaire, Blues Singers: Biographies of 50
Legendary Artists of the Early 20th Century, (McFarland, 1999),
included pioneers, innovators, superstars, and cult heroes of blues
music born before 1940. This second work covers those born after
1940 who have continued the tradition. This work has five sections,
each with its own introduction. The first, Modern Acoustic Blues,
covers artists that are major players on the acoustic blues scene
of recent time, such as John Hammond, Jr. The second, Contemporary
Chicago Blues, features artists of amplified, citified, gritty
blues (Paul Butterfield and Melvin Taylor, among others). Section
three, Modern American Electric Blues, includes some Texas blues
singers such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan and examines
how the blues have spread throughout the United States.
Contemporary Blues Women are in section four. Section five, Blues
Around the World, covers artists from four different continents and
twelve different countries. Each entry provides biographical and
critical information on the artist, and a complete discography. A
bibliography and supplemental discographies are also provided.
As told by the musicians who made it happen, Desperados: The Roots
of Country Rock revisits country rock's rise to the top of the
charts. Music scholar John Einarson delves into the years from
1963, when Buck Owens and his Buckaroos brought an electric edge to
their Texas honky-tonk tunes, to 1973, when The Eagles released
their album "Desperado" on David Geffen's label. Einarson examines
how folk, rockabilly, blues, Nashville country, Tejano, bluegrass,
and other musical idioms influenced a generation of journeyman
musicians. He traces the paths taken by the songsmiths, the bands
in which they served their apprenticeships, and the songs they
wrote together, as they steadily shaped the country rock sound. The
protagonists of this story include talented but troubled Gram
Parsons, a virtuoso determined to burn out before he faded away;
the versatile and appealing Linda Ronstadt; Mike Nesmith, the
Monkee from Texas who returned to his musical roots with a trilogy
of country-rock albums; TV heartthrob turned country rocker Rick
Nelson; folkie songbird Emmylou Harris before she made it in
Nashville; and many others.
Rick Bucklers autobiography is the first from a member of The Jam,
who some considered were the ultimate Mod band. Rick tells The Jam
story from growing up in Woking and meeting fellow members Paul
Weller and Bruce Foxton at school, through their formation in 1972
and tells of the band's early years before signing to Polydor
records. He provides a year by year account of The Jam's progress
whilst describing what it was like being a part of the music
industry during the 70's and 80's and some of the characters who he
met along the way including the Ramones, John Enwistle, Sid
Vicious, Blondie, Boy George and Paul McCartney. Rick shares his
own experiences and thoughts about what it was like to be in one of
the UK's most successful bands who spent a great deal of time
recording, performing and touring. Following The Jam's split in
1982, Rick gives a candid account of how he coped and his
subsequent relationship with Paul and Bruce. All three members of
The Jam stayed within the music industry and Rick takes the reader
through his years in Time UK and various other bands up until
forming From the Jam. A must read for any Jam fan.
Winner of the 2010 Non-Fiction National Book Award Patti Smith's
definitive memoir: an evocative, honest and moving coming-of-age
story of her extraordinary relationship with the artist Robert
Mapplethorpe 'Sharp, elegiac and finely crafted' Sunday Times
'Terrifically evocative ... The most spellbinding and diverting
portrait of funky-but-chic New York in the late '60s and '70s that
any alumnus has committed to print' New York Times 'Render,
harrowing, often hilarious' Vogue In 1967, a chance meeting between
two young people led to a romance and a lifelong friendship that
would carry each to international success never dreamed of. The
backdrop is Brooklyn, Chelsea Hotel, Max's Kansas City, Scribner's
Bookstore, Coney Island, Warhol's Factory and the whole city
resplendent. Among their friends, literary lights, musicians and
artists such as Harry Smith, Bobby Neuwirth, Allen Ginsberg, Sandy
Daley, Sam Shepherd, William Burroughs, etc. It was a heightened
time politically and culturally; the art and music worlds exploding
and colliding. In the midst of all this two kids made a pact to
always care for one another. Scrappy, romantic, committed to making
art, they prodded and provided each other with faith and confidence
during the hungry years--the days of cous-cous and lettuce soup.
Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. Beautifully
written, this is a profound portrait of two young artists, often
hungry, sated only by art and experience. And an unforgettable
portrait of New York, her rich and poor, hustlers and hellions,
those who made it and those whose memory lingers near.
An engaging biography of a living musical legend, Oscar Peterson. A
man Duke Ellington once called the " maharajah of the piano." Gene
Lees carefully builds up the portrait of Peterson, his childhood
and what it meant to be be black and talented in Montreal in the
1940s, hist three marriages and six children, his musical partners
(Ray Brown, Herb Ellis and Ed Thigpen), his musical friends and
colleagues (Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum and Lester
Young, amongst others) and the critical controversy and mythology
that have long surrounded Peterson. This updated version has a new
chapter that covers Peterson's appointment as Chancellor of York
University; his receipt of ten honorary doctorates and the Order of
Canada; his stroke and partial recovery; the origins and fallout of
his cancelled North American tour and much more.
|
|