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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Contemporary popular music
A blend of This Is Spinal Tap and Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas, the cult classic confessions of a debauched rock 'n' roller
and his adventures in excess on the '80s hair-metal nostalgia tour
through Middle America--available again, and now revised and
updated.
Once upon a time at the start of the new century, the unheard-of
Unband got a chance to drink, fight, and play loud music with '80s
metal bands like Dio and Def Leppard. To the mix they brought
illegal pyrotechnics, a giant red inflatable hand with movable
digits, a roadie dubiously named Safety Bear, a high tolerance for
liver damage, and an infectious love of rock & roll and
everything it represents.
Unband bassist Michael Ruffino takes us on an epic joyride
across a surrealistic American landscape where we meet mute
Christian groupies, crack-smoking Girl Scouts, beer-drinking
chimps, and thousands of head-bangers who cannot accept that hair
metal is dead. Here, too, are uncensored portraits of Ronnie James
Dio, Anthrax, Sebastian Bach, Lemmy of Motorhead, and others.
Adios, Motherfucker is gonzo rock storytelling at its
finest--excessive, incendiary, intelligent, hilarious, and utterly
original.
Essays that overthrow stereotypes and demonstrate the genre's power
and mystique. Contributions by Georgia Christgau, Alexander S.
Dent, Leigh H. Edwards, Caroline Gnagy, Kate Heidemann, Nadine
Hubbs, Jocelyn Neal, Ase Ottosson, Travis Stimeling, Matthew D.
Sutton, and Chris Wilson Country music boasts a long tradition of
rich, contradictory gender dynamics, creating a world where Kitty
Wells could play the demure housewife and the honky-tonk angel
simultaneously, Dolly Parton could move from traditionalist ""girl
singer"" to outspoken trans rights advocate, and current radio
playlists can alternate between the reckless masculinity of
bro-country and the adolescent girlishness of Taylor Swift. In this
follow-up volume to A Boy Named Sue, some of the leading authors in
the field of country music studies reexamine the place of gender in
country music, considering the ways country artists and listeners
have negotiated gender and sexuality through their music and how
gender has shaped the way that music is made and heard. In addition
to shedding new light on such legends as Wells, Parton, Loretta
Lynn, and Charley Pride, it traces more recent shifts in gender
politics through the performances of such contemporary luminaries
as Swift, Gretchen Wilson, and Blake Shelton. The book also
explores the intersections of gender, race, class, and nationality
in a host of less expected contexts, including the prisons of
WWII-era Texas, where the members of the Goree All-Girl String Band
became the unlikeliest of radio stars; the studios and offices of
Plantation Records, where Jeannie C. Riley and Linda Martell
challenged the social hierarchies of a changing South in the 1960s;
and the burgeoning cities of present-day Brazil, where ""college
country"" has become one way of negotiating masculinity in an age
of economic and social instability.
Sex, death and nostalgia are among the impulses driving Beatles
fandom: the metaphorical death of the Beatles after their break-up
in 1970 has fueled the progressive nostalgia of fan conventions for
48 years; the death of John Lennon and George Harrison has added
pathos and drama to the Beatles' story; Beatles Monthly predicated
on the Beatles' good looks and the letters page was a forum for
euphemistically expressed sexuality. The Beatles and Fandom is the
first book to discuss these fan subcultures. It combines academic
theory on fandom with compelling original research material to tell
an alternative history of the Beatles phenomenon: a fans' history
of the Beatles that runs concurrently with the popular story we all
know.
Experience the K-Pop phenomenon of BTS in this best-selling
Ultimate Fan Book! BTS are much more than just a group of seven
talented individuals, they are a band acclaimed for their
record-smashing, barrier-breaking, trend-setting dance-pop and
hip-hop tunes and personal philosophies. Featuring brand new
content and sensational new photos, BTS - The Ultimate Fan Book
includes everything you need to know about Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM,
Jimin, V and Jungkook, as well as the BTS ARMY. A celebration of
the K-Pop phenomenon, exploring in stunning technicolour detail the
group's origins, members and super rise to success, this Ultimate
Fan Book is beautifully accompanied by photographs showcasing the
band's kaleidoscope of personalities and passions that have made
them famous. BTS are more than just a boy band - they are a way of
life.
Explore the fascinating history of the Muscle Shoals Sound.
You can tell a lot about somebody in a minute. If you choose the
right minute. As a journalist (for Rolling Stone, the "New York
Times", and elsewhere) and bestselling author, Neil Strauss
considers it his job to hang around celebrities, rock gods, porn
queens, up-and-coming starlets, and iconic superstars long enough -
whether it takes moments or months - to find that minute, the one
when the curtain finally falls away and the real person is
revealed. In this new collection, Strauss offers up 120 of those
singular, hit-you-in-the guts, perception-altering, revolutionary
minutes, as only he can - with total honesty, deadpan wit, and
unmatched style. Among the game-changing moments collected here are
interviews with: Tom Cruise; Snoop Dogg; Madonna; Johnny Cash; Cher
and Dave Navarro; Oasis; Julian Casablancas of The Strokes; Brian
Wilson; Eric Clapton; and, Hugh Hefner. Wickedly illustrated
throughout with sketches by artist Sian Pattenden, Strauss'
first-ever collection of rock journalism is equally raw and
revealing (Tom Cruise on Scientology, Brian Wilson on drugs and
alcohol), hilarious (Snoop Dogg on record companies and baby
diapers), and deeply honest (Eric Clapton on the death of Kurt
Cobain and his own struggle with depression). "Everyone Loves You
When You're Dead" is Neil Strauss, cultural journalist, at his
finest.
Rock 'n' roll is a style that was born out of the great American
melting pot. An outgrowth of the blues, rock 'n' roll music
combines driving rhythms, powerful chords, and lyrics that
communicate the human experience to audiences around the world.
Although rock singing was once seen as a vulgar use of the human
voice and was largely ignored by the academic community, voice
teachers and singers around the world have recently taken a
professional interest in learning specialized techniques for
singing rock 'n' roll. So You Want to Sing Rock 'n' Roll gives
readers a comprehensive guide to rock history, voice science, vocal
health, audio technology, technical approaches to singing rock, and
stylistic parameters for various rock subgenres. Matthew Edwards,
assistant professor of voice at Shenandoah Conservatory, provides
easy-to-understand explanations of technical concepts, with tips
for practical application, and suggestions for listening and
further reading. So You Want to Sing Rock 'n' Roll includes
guest-authored chapters by singing voice researchers Dr. Scott
McCoy and Dr. Wendy LeBorgne, as well as audio and visual examples
available from the website of the National Association of Teachers
of Singing. This work is not only the ideal guide to singing
professionals, but the perfect reference work for voice teachers
and their students, lead and back-up singers, record producers and
studio engineers. The So You Want to Sing series is produced in
partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Rock 'n' Roll
features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please
visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and
video files, and additional resources.
John Lennon wrote Skywriting by Word of Mouth, an impressive collection of writings and drawings, while Yoko was pregnant with Sean, and always planned to have it published. It was a wish that seemed to end with his assassination in 1980 and the subsequent theft of the manuscript from the Lennons' home in 1982. When it was recovered and first published in 1986, Skywriting received immediate critical and popular acclaim. Written in Lennon's extraordinary voice, and lavishly illustrated with his own drawings, the collection reveals his fertile creative spirit up close and in full force. Included in Skywriting is Two Virgins, written when the public learned that John and Yoko were living together as husband and wife, and John's only autobiography. In addition there are notes on his falling in love with Yoko, the breakup of the Beatles, his persecution by the U.S. authorities and his withdrawal from public life. This is a book with John Lennon's spirit on every page -- a spirit the world needs to remember. "Candid and scathing....It's no wonder Lennon's fans grow more in love with him as time goes by... his great influence on popular music makes him impossible to forget; so does this book." --Houston Chronicle "Marvelous, delightful reading, and for Lennon fans a must." --Publishers Weekly
In Heavy Metal Music in Latin America: Perspectives from the
Distorted South, the editors bring together scholars engaged in the
study of heavy metal music in Latin America to reflect on the heavy
metal genre from a regional perspective. The contributors' southern
voices diversify metal scholarship in the global north. An extreme
musical genre for an extreme region, the contributors explore how
issues like colonialism, dictatorships, violence, ethnic
extermination and political persecution have shaped heavy metal
music in Latin America, and how music has helped shape Latin
American culture and politics.
'A masterpiece, as fresh and shocking as if it were written
yesterday' Craig Brown "I've been told that no one sings the word
'hunger' like I do. Or the word 'love'." Lady Sings the Blues is
the inimitable autobiography of one of the greatest icons of the
twentieth century. Born to a single mother in 1915 Baltimore,
Billie Holiday had her first run-in with the law at aged 13. But
Billie Holiday is no victim. Her memoir tells the story of her life
spent in jazz, smoky Harlem clubs and packed-out concert halls, her
love affairs, her wildly creative friends, her struggles with
addiction and her adventures in love. Billie Holiday is a wise and
aphoristic guide to the story of her unforgettable life.
Crazy Rich Asians meets Gossip Girl by way of Jenny Han in this
knock-out sequel, about a Korean American teen who is thrust into
the competitive, technicolor world of K-pop, from Jessica Jung,
K-pop legend and former lead singer of one of the most influential
K-pop girl groups of all time, Girls Generation. Couture gowns,
press parties, international travel. Rachel Kim is at the top of
her game. Girls Forever is now the number-one K-pop group in the
world, and her fame skyrockets after her viral airport styling
attracts the attention of fashion's biggest names. Her life's a
swirl of technicolour glamour and adoring fans. Rachel can't
imagine shining any brighter. The only thing that's missing is
love-but Rachel's determined to follow the rules. In her world,
falling in love can cost you everything. Enter Alex. When Rachel
literally falls head over designer heels into his lap on a crowded
metro, she's tempted to give up her anti-love vows. Alex is more
than just heart-stopping dimples and adorably quirky banter. He
believes in Rachel's future-both in music and in fashion. But the
higher you rise, the harder you fall. And when a shocking act of
betrayal shatters her world, Rachel must finally listen to her
heart.
Nicknamed the "Godmother of Punk," Patti Smith rose to fame during
the 1970s New York counterculture movement where she welcomed a new
breed of rock and roll. Smith sanctioned the presence of a
strong-willed woman in the mainstream rock community by breaking
not only the fragile glass ceiling, but also the "rules" about
women on the rock stage. Smith pushed right up to the front of the
punk scene, stripping down sexual, religious, and emotional
barriers to create a raw, viscerally personal message. In Patti
Smith: America's Punk Rock Rhapsodist, musician and historian Eric
Wendell delves into the volatile mix of religious upbringing and
musical and literary influences that gave shape to Smith's lyrics,
music, and artistic output. Wendell explores how Smith's
androgynous stage presence pulled the various societal triggers,
adding a new layer of meaning to popular music performance.
Songwriter and singer, performance artist and poet, Smith created
work that drew together biography, history, and music into a
powerful collage of an artist who shaped a generation of musicians.
For poets and performers, as well as fans of Patti Smith and punk
rock history, Patti Smith: America's Punk Rock Rhapsodist is the
perfect introduction to Smith's achievements and the politics and
art of a generation that is still felt.
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