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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Contemporary popular music
This violent and introspective memoir reveals not only 50 Cent's
story but also the story of a generation of youth faced with hard
choices and very few options. It is a tale of sacrifice,
transformation, and redemption, but also one of hope,
determination, and the power of self. Told in 50's unique voice,
the narrative drips with the raw insight, street wisdom, and his
struggle to survive at all costs -- and behold the riches of the
American Dream.
What did rap music and hip hop culture inherit from the spirituals,
classic blues, ragtime, classic jazz, and bebop? What did rap music
and hip hop culture inherit from the Black Women's Club Movement,
New Negro Movement, Harlem Renaissance, Hipster Movement, and Black
Muslim Movement? How did black popular music and black popular
culture between 1900 and the 1950s influence white youth culture,
especially the Lost Generation and the Beat Generation, in ways
that mirror rap music and hip hop culture's influence on
contemporary white youth music, culture, and politics? In Hip Hop's
Amnesia award-winning author, spoken-word artist, and
multi-instrumentalist Reiland Rabaka answers these questions by
rescuing and reclaiming the often-overlooked early twentieth
century origins and evolution of rap music and hip hop culture. Hip
Hop's Amnesia is a study about aesthetics and politics, music and
social movements, as well as the ways in which African Americans'
unique history and culture has consistently led them to create
musics that have served as the soundtracks for their
socio-political aspirations and frustrations, their socio-political
organizations and nationally-networked movements. The musics of the
major African American social and political movements of the 1950s,
1960s, and 1970s were based and ultimately built on earlier forms
of "African American movement music." Therefore, in order to really
and truly understand rap music and hip hop culture we must
critically examine both classical African American musics and the
classical African American movements that these musics served as
soundtracks for. This book is primarily preoccupied with the ways
in which post-enslavement black popular music and black popular
culture frequently served as a soundtrack for and reflected the
grassroots politics of post-enslavement African American social and
political movements. Where many Hip Hop Studies scholars have made
clever allusions to the ways that rap music and hip hop culture are
connected to and seem to innovatively evolve earlier forms of black
popular music and black popular culture, Hip Hop's Amnesia moves
beyond anecdotes and witty allusions and earnestly endeavors a
full-fledged critical examination and archive-informed
re-evaluation of "hip hop's inheritance" from the major African
American musics and movements of the first half of the twentieth
century: classic blues, ragtime, classic jazz, swing, bebop, the
Black Women's Club Movement, the New Negro Movement, the Harlem
Renaissance, the Bebop Movement, the Hipster Movement, and the
Black Muslim Movement.
We are what we listen to. That's the premise of this study of 100
songs that have shaped and defined the American experience, from
the Colonial period to the present. Well-known music author James
Perone looks at 100 songs that helped tell America's story. He
examines why each song became a hit, what cultural and social
values it embodies, what issues it touches upon, what audiences it
attracted, and what made it such a definitive part of American
history and popular culture. The chart-topping singles presented
here crossed gender, age, race, and class lines to appeal to the
mass American audience. The book discusses patriotic songs,
minstrel music, and sacred songs and hymns as well as music in the
broad categories of pop, rock, hip hop, jazz, country, and folk. An
introduction provides an overview of the history and significant
issues raised by the songs as a whole. Individual songs are then
presented chronologically, based on when they were written. The
revealing commentary for each "hit" is not only interesting and
fun, but reveals what it was like to live in the United States at a
particular time by unveiling the social, economic, and political
issues-as well as the musical tastes-that made life what it was.
Takes an entertaining approach to understanding the cultural tides
in American history Covers a wide range of songs from the Colonial
period through the present to depict political and social
perspectives as represented in music Explores numerous subtopics
related to the songs Engages and educates as it gives historical
context and meaning to songs with which readers have long been
familiar Uses a research-based approach to explore the historical
and cultural background behind America's hits
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Rock Music Research is the first
comprehensive academic survey of the field of rock music as it
stands today. More than 50 years into its life and we still ask -
what is rock music, why is it studied, and how does it work, both
as music and as cultural activity? This volume draws together 37 of
the leading academics working on rock to provide answers to these
questions and many more. The text is divided into four major
sections: practice of rock (analysis, performance, and recording);
theories; business of rock; and social and culture issues. Each
chapter combines two approaches, providing a summary of current
knowledge of the area concerned as well as the consequences of that
research and suggesting profitable subsequent directions to take.
This text investigates and presents the field at a level of depth
worthy of something which has had such a pervasive influence on the
lives of millions.
This book explores the development of a range of cults of popular
music as a response to changes in attitudes to meaning,
spirituality and religion in society. At a time when fundamentalism
is on the rise, traditional religions are in decline and
postmodernity has challenged any system that claims to be
all-defining, young people have left their traditional places of
worship and set up their own, in clubs, at festivals and within
music culture. "Pop Cults" investigates the ways in which popular
music and its surrounding culture have become a primary site for
the location of meaning, belief and identity. It provides an
introduction to the history of the interactions of vernacular music
and religion, and the role of music in religious culture. Rupert
Till explores the cults of heavy metal, pop stars, club culture and
virtual popular music worlds, investigating the sex, drug, local
and death cults of the sacred popular, and their relationships with
traditional religions. He concludes by discussing how and why
popular music cultures have taken on many of the roles of
traditional religions in contemporary society.
My Wingmen is a true account of my journey with angels. They
entered my world during a period of inner reflection as I
researched personal growth during a challenging life transition.
The books I was drawn to came alive as I read about alternate
realities and spiritual concepts. I witnessed these realities as my
home became a stomping ground for angels and spirit guides, where I
enjoyed their appearances and intervention. They showed me how to
interpret and discern the lighter side of the earth realm, and they
gave me examples of what clear expanded believing could
accomplish.
As I began to openly talk about prayer, my psychic senses began
to blossom. I was embraced by two angels, and they offered me
healing along with their companionship. They have become my
teachers, and they have helped me connect with truths beyond my
wildest dreams. It was in expanded thought that I was able to grasp
a world that is clearer to me now, as this present-day drama fades
to black. I have opened my arms to an enlightened world, because
where there is love, there is no room for fear. Meet my wingmen,
Archangel Michael and Archangel Raphael.
Bill Anderson is one of the most successful songwriters,
performers, and personalities in country music history. Known as
"Whisperin' Bill" to generations of fans, Anderson's soft
vocalisations and spoken lyrics are the hallmarks of his style. A
long-standing member of the weekly Grand Ole Opry radio program and
stage performance in Nashville, he also discovered future Country
Music Hall of Famer Connie Smith and wrote her first hits, toured
with Johnny Cash, hosted his own television show, sang eighty
charting singles and thirty-seven Top Ten country music hits, and
wrote songs recorded by James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Louvin
Brothers, Dean Martin, Aretha Franklin, and many more. Anderson's
current and reinvigorated career is covered in this revision and
expansion of his 1989 autobiography. Over the past twenty years, he
has won two Country Music Association Song of the Year prizes, been
nominated for GRAMMY awards, won the Academy of Country Music's
Song of the Year distinction, and had works recorded by superstars
Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Alison Krauss, George Strait, Vince
Gill, Elvis Costello, and many more. In 2001, he entered the
Country Music Hall of Fame. Whisperin' Bill: An Unprecedented Life
in Country Music presents a portrait of a long-gone Nashville and
introduces readers to the famous and fascinating characters who
helped build what is now known as country music. Richly illustrated
with black-and-white photos of Anderson interacting with the
superstars of American roots music, including such legends as Patsy
Cline, Vince Gill, and Steve Wariner, this autobiography highlights
Anderson's trajectory in the business and his influence on the
past, present, and future of this dynamic genre.
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Chicago Blues
(Hardcover)
Wilbert Jones; Foreword by Kevin Johnson
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R781
R686
Discovery Miles 6 860
Save R95 (12%)
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Finding Fogerty: Interdisciplinary Readings of John Fogerty and
Creedence Clearwater Revival, edited by Thomas M. Kitts, begins to
correct the scholarly neglect of John Fogerty, one of America's
great songwriters, one of the rock era's great vocalists, and one
of its underrated guitarists and producers. This essential
collection pulls together scholars from a wide range of disciplines
and approaches to assess Fogerty's fifty-year career and to argue
for his musical and cultural significance. The composer of American
classics like "Proud Mary," "Fortunate Son," "Green River," "Who'll
Stop the Rain," and "Centerfield," Fogerty first achieved
commercial success with the release of Creedence Clearwater Revival
in 1968. As the band's songwriter, lead singer, lead guitarist, and
producer, Fogerty led CCR in a blistering output of 10 top-ten
singles and seven gold albums before disbanding CCR in 1972.
Divided into four sections ("Born on the Bayou," "Run Through the
Jungle," "Centerfield, "and "Keep on Chooglin'"), Finding Fogerty
investigates Fogerty's songs, life, and legacy, and stands as a
tribute to one of America's most treasured musical legends.
When Jeff Buckley drowned at the age of thirty in 1997, he not only left behind a legacy of brilliant music -- he brought back haunting memories of his father, '60s troubadour Tim Buckley, a gifted musician who barely knew his son and who himself died at twenty-eight. Both father and son made transcendent music that mixed rock, jazz, and folk; both amassed a cadre of obsessive, adoring fans. This absorbing dual biography -- based on interviews with more than one hundred friends, family members, and business associates as well as access to journals and unreleased recordings -- tells for the first time the intriguing, often heartbreaking story of these two musicians. It offers a new understanding of the Buckleys' parallel lives -- and tragedies -- while exploring the changing music business between the '60s and the '90s. Finally, it tells the story of a father and son, two complex, enigmatic men who died searching for themselves and each other.
Quyen Van Minh (b. 1954) is not only a jazz saxophonist and
lecturer at the prestigious Vietnam National Academy of Music, but
he is also one of the most preeminent jazz musicians in Vietnam.
Considered a pioneer in the country, Minh is often publicly
recognized as the "godfather of Vietnamese jazz." Playing Jazz in
Socialist Vietnam tells the story of the music as it intertwined
with Minh's own narrative. Stan BH Tan-Tangbau details Minh's life
story, telling how Minh pioneered jazz as an original genre even
while navigating the trials and tribulations of a fervent socialist
revolution, of the ideological battle that was the Cold War, of
Vietnam's war against the United States, and of the political
changes during the Doi Moi period between the mid-1980s and the
1990s. Minh worked tirelessly and delivered two breakthrough solo
recitals in 1988 and 1989, marking the first time jazz was
performed in the public sphere in the socialist state. To gain jazz
acceptance as a mainstream musical art form, Minh founded Minh Jazz
Club. With the release of his debut album of original compositions
in 2000, Minh shaped the nascent genre of Vietnamese jazz. Minh's
endeavors kickstarted the momentum, from his performing jazz in
public, teaching jazz both formally and informally, and
contributing to the shaping of an original Vietnamese voice to
stand out among the many styles in the jazz world. Most
importantly, Minh generated a public space for musicians to play
and for the Vietnamese to listen. His work eventually helped to
gain jazz the credibility necessary at the national conservatoire
to offer instruction in a professional music education program.
"Hymns to the Silence" is a thoroughly informed and enlightened
study of the art of a pop music maverick that will delight fans the
world over.In 1991, Van Morrison said, "Music is spiritual, the
music business isn't". Peter Mills' groundbreaking book
investigates the oppositions and harmonies within the work of Van
Morrison, proceeding from this identified starting point."Hymns to
the Silence" is a detailed investigative study of Morrison as
singer, performer, lyricist, musician and writer with particular
attention paid throughout to the contradictions and tensions that
are central to any understanding of his work as a whole.The book
takes several intriguing angles. It looks at Morrison as a writer,
specifically as an Irish writer who has recorded musical settings
of Yeats poems, collaborated with Seamus Heaney, Paul Durcan and
Gerald Dawe, and who regularly drops quotes from James Joyce and
Samuel Beckett into his live performances. It looks at him as a
singer, at how he uses his voice as an interpretive instrument. And
there are chapters on his use of mythology, on his stage
performances, and on his continuing fascination with America and
its musical forms.
THE LEGENDARY GUITAR GOD WHO EXCEEDED ALL LIMITS AND LIVED TO TELL
TAKES FANS ON A WILD RIDE THROUGH "KISS"TORY.
He was just a boy from the Bronx with stars in his eyes. But when
he picked up his guitar and painted stars on his face, Ace Frehley
transformed into "The Spaceman"--and helped turn KISS into one of
the top-selling bands of all time. Now, for the first time, the
beloved rock icon reveals his side of the story with
no-holds-barred honesty . . . and no regrets.
For KISS fans, Ace offers a rare behind-the-makeup look at the
band's legendary origins, including the lightning-bolt logo he
designed and the outfits his mother sewed. He talks about the
unspoken division within the band--he and Peter Criss versus Paul
Stanley and Gene
Simmons--because the other two didn't "party every day." Ace also
reveals the inside story behind his turbulent break-up with KISS,
their triumphant reunion a decade later, and his smash solo career.
Along the way, he shares wild stories about dancing at Studio 54
with "The Bionic Woman," working as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix, and
bar-flying all night with John Belushi. In the end, he comes to
terms with his highly publicized descent into alcohol, drugs, and
self-destruction--ultimately managing to conquer his demons and
come out on top.
This is Ace Frehley. No makeup. No apologies. No regrets.
A profile of Buffalo Springfield, a group whose members included
Neil Young and Stephen Stills. Though acknowledged as a talented
and adventurous group of the late-60s, they did not achieve
international success. This book gives insight into the group and
the American music scene of the 60s.
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