In this book, Julian Hellaby presents a detailed study of English piano playing and career management as it was in the middle years of the twentieth century. Making regular comparisons with early twenty-first-century practice, the author examines career-launching mechanisms, such as auditions and competitions, and investigates available means of career sustenance, including artist management, publicity outlets, recital and concerto work, broadcasts, recordings and media reviews. Additionally, Hellaby considers whether a mid-twentieth-century school of English piano playing may be identified and, if so, whether it has lasted into the early decades of the twenty-first century. The author concludes with an appraisal of the state of English pianism in recent years and raises questions about its future. Drawing on extensive research from a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, this book is structured around case-studies of six pianists who were commencing and then developing their careers between approximately 1935 and 1970. The professional lives and playing styles of Malcolm Binns, Peter Katin, Moura Lympany, Denis Matthews, Valerie Tryon and David Wilde are examined, and telling comparisons are made between the state of affairs then and that of more recent times. Engagingly written, the book is likely to appeal to professional and amateur pianists, piano teachers, undergraduate and postgraduate music students, academics and anyone with an interest in the history of pianists, piano performance and music performance history in general.

Recognized for its distinctive musical features and its connection to periods of social innovation and ferment, the genre of psychedelia has exerted long-term influence in many areas of cultural production, including music, visual art, graphic design, film, and literature. William Echard explores the historical development of psychedelic music and its various stylistic incarnations as a genre unique for its fusion of rock, soul, funk, folk, and electronic music. Through the theory of musical topics-highly conventional musical figures that signify broad cultural concepts-and musical meaning, Echard traces the stylistic evolution of psychedelia from its inception in the early 1960s, with the Beatles' Rubber Soul and Revolver and the Kinks and Pink Floyd, to the German experimental bands and psychedelic funk of the 1970s, with a special emphasis on Parliament/Funkadelic. He concludes with a look at the 1980s and early 1990s, touching on the free festival scene, rave culture, and neo-jam bands. Set against the cultural backdrop of these decades, Echard's study of psychedelia lays the groundwork and offers lessons for analyzing the topic of popular music in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER "Mark Lanegan-primitive, brutal, and apocalyptic. What's not to love?" NICK CAVE "A stoned cold classic" IAN RANKIN 'Mark Lanegan writes like he sings, from the pained heart of a damaged soul with brutal honesty' BOBBY GILLESPIE "Powerfully written and brutally, frighteningly honest" LUCINDA WILLIAMS A ROUGH TRADE AND MOJO BOOK OF THE YEAR From the back of the van to the front of the bar, from the hotel room to the emergency room, Mark Lanegan takes us back to the sinister, needle-ridden streets of Seattle, to an alternative music scene that was simultaneously bursting with creativity and saturated with drugs. He tracks the tumultuous rise and fall of Screaming Trees, from a brawling, acid-rock bar band to world-famous festival favourites with an enduring legacy, and tells of his own personal struggles with addiction, culminating in homelessness, petty crime, and the tragic deaths of his closest friends. Gritty, gripping and unflinchingly raw, SING BACKWARDS AND WEEP is about a man who learned how to drag himself from the wreckage, dust off the ashes, and keep living and creating. 'The most brutally honest rock memoir imaginable' DAILY TELEGRAPH

As recommended by USA Today and excerpted on Rolling Stone.com! More than forty years after breaking up, The Beatles remain the biggest-selling and most influential group in the history of popular music. Fans endlessly replay their songs, craving more, while thousands of cover versions of their songs have been recorded and performed. Band biographies, pop music histories, song books, and academic titles on the Fab Four clutter shelves. But never has there been a definitive guide to the finest songs of The Beatles after they called it quits. Still the Greatest is a love song to the songwriting and recording achievements of Paul, John, George, and Ringo after each struck out on his own. In this creative history, Jackson selects the best songs in each solo career and organizes them into fantasy albums they might have formed had the legendary group stayed together. This romp through the post-Beatles history of each artist delves into the circumstances behind the composition, recording, and reception of each work, offering a refreshing take on how spectacular much of The Beatles' second act truly is. Jackson assesses the more than seventy albums and nine hundred songs the four collectively released, selecting the creme de la creme of their output. Still the Greatest brims with facts (release dates, writing and performing credits, and information about production techniques) and insightful analyses of the music and lyrics. In telling the stories behind the songs, Jackson recounts the remarkable influence the Post Fab Four continued to have long after the big split. Both a handy reference and an engrossing cover-to-cover read, Still the Greatest is an invaluable companion for those who thought it all ended with the 1970 album Let It Be.

This title was first published in 1983.

(Book). The definitive, unauthorized biography of Jeff Beck This well-researched, enlightening book positions Jeff Beck's astonishing achievements like the pioneering of feedback within the musical climate of the times. Chronicling his incarnations before and with the Yardbirds, the Jeff Beck Group and beyond, the book describes in detail: Beck's favored Fender guitars; passion for hot rods; relationships with Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy and other artists; love of rockabilly; recording collaborations ranging from Donovan to Tina Turner; landmark solo and instrumental work; and much more. Includes a wealth of personal, musical and historical detail, great photos, and a comprehensive discography.

Self-described as a 'spotty, chubby, ginger teenager' with a love for Damien Rice and Nizlopi, Ed Sheeran was never an obvious bet to become a global superstar. And yet that's exactly what he's achieved, winning plenty of awards (and hearts) along the way. But how did a young musician go from selling CDs from his rucksack to becoming the millennial record-breaking international stadium act? Tracing his story from his bohemian childhood in Yorkshire and Suffolk to the release of his third album Divide, music journalist David Nolan chronicles Sheeran's musical life and times. Featuring exclusive interviews with friends, relatives, musical collaborators and key figures in his rise to stardom, Divide and Conquer tells the story of how Ed Sheeran went from school drop-out to one of the world's most successful musicians.

Elvis passed away in 1977 but his spirit lives on. His records still sell, his movies are still hugely popular and his concerts are still discussed by new generations of fans. The Elvis Presley estate has tens of thousands of photographs and miles of video footage from all eras of Elvis' career and fans' hunger for new imagery and information on the King remains unsated. This publication is a beautiful, desirable package, ideal for any Elvis fan. This book tells the personal story of Elvis and his relationships with those near and dear to him and contains more than 150 colour and black and white photographs from the Graceland archives, accompanied by insightful text from an author with a proven Elvis track record. To take you closer than ever before to the King, 30 items of rare memorabilia are carefully reproduced on the page, including personal letters, receipts, telegrams, publicity material and other fascinating items which provide new insight into the life of a legend. There are photographs of Elvis himself, Elvis with friends and family, and all manner of personal artifacts, including guitars, jewelry, clothing, vehicles and more.

Experiencing Alice Cooper: A Listener's Companion takes a long overdue look at the music and stage act of rock music's self-styled arch-villain. A provocateur from the very start of his career in the mid-1960s, Alice Cooper, aka Vince Furnier, son of a lay preacher in the Church of Jesus Christ, carved a unique path through five decades of rock'n'roll. Despite a longevity that only a handful of other artists and acts can match, Alice Cooper remains a difficult act and artist to pin down and categorize. During the last years of the 1960s and the heydays of commercial success in the 1970s, Cooper's groundbreaking theatricality, calculated offensiveness, and evident disregard for the conventions of rock protocols sowed confusion among his critics and evoked outrage from the public. Society's watchdogs demanded his head, and Cooper willingly obliged at the end of each performance with his on-stage self-guillotining. But as youth anthem after youth anthem - "I'm Eighteen," "School's Out," "Elected," "Department of Youth"-rang out in his arena concerts the world over and across airwaves, fans flocked to experience Cooper's unique brand of rock. Critics searched for proper descriptions: "pantomime," "vaudeville," "retch-rock," "Grand Guignol." In 1973 Cooper headlined in Time magazine as "Schlock Rock's Godzilla." In Experiencing Alice Cooper: A Listener's Companion, Ian Chapman surveys Cooper's career through his twenty-seven studio albums (1969-2017). While those who have written about Cooper have traditionally kept their focus on the stage spectacle, too little attention has been paid to Cooper's recordings. Throughout, Chapman argues that while Cooper may have been rock's most accomplished showman, he is first and foremost a musician, with his share of gold and platinum albums to vouch for his qualifications as a musical artist.

An updated edition of this bestselling biography that features details of her second album Born This Way and her subsequent tour as well as the release of her long-awaited third album in spring 2013, ARTPOP. Includes her numerous controversies such as that meat dress, her many collaborations with everyone with Elton John to Cher and Tony Bennett, and her movie acting debut in Machete Kills in early 2013. This is the story of her high-speed rise in the fame game, told with a mix of admiration and sharp journalistic insight. Packed with full-colour photographs complete this portrait of one of the biggest names in modern music.

Here is the story of an often overlooked one-of-a-kind rock 'n' roll musician and the historic times he lived in. In spite of numerous opportunities for success he became a tragedy.THJerry Nolan came out of New York in the 1970s as part of two of the most influential and infamous bands of the time the proto-punk New York Dolls and Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers. Jerry had what it took to be a star but his battles with heroin continually stymied his career and ultimately ended his life. Despite this he is remembered as a cross between a Martin Scorsese film character and jazz legend Gene Krupa: a stylish urban wisecracking trendsetting raconteur who was also a powerhouse drummer.THEStranded in the Jungle: Jerry Nolan's Wild Ride a A Tale of Drugs Fashion the New York Dolls and Punk RockE tells Jerry's story through extensive research and interviews with those closest to him: bandmates friends lovers and family members including new interviews with members of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bands the Sex Pistols the Ramones Talking Heads and Blondie. It gives firsthand accounts of not only Jerry's life and struggles but the earliest history of punk rock in both New York and London highlighting his notorious and incendiary musical partner Johnny Thunders.

Women and Popular Music explores the changing role of women musicians and the ways in which their songs resonate in popular culture. Sheila Whiteley begins by examining the counter-culture's reactionary attitudes to women through the lyrics of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. She explores the ways in which artists like Joplin and Joni Mitchell confronted issues of sexuality and freedom, redefining women's participation in the industry, and assesses the personal cost of their achievements. She considers how stars such as Annie Lennox, Madonna and k.d. lang have confronted issues of gender stereotyping and sexuality, through pop videos for 'Justify My Love' and 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)', and looks at the enduring importance of the singer-songwriter through artists such as Tracey Chapman. Lastly, she assesses the contribution of contemporary artists including Tori Amos, P.J. Harvey and Courtney Love, and asks whether the Spice Girls are just a 'cartoon feminist pop group' or if they provide positive role models for teenage girls.

Paul McCartney is one of the best pop bass players in the world, and he was at a creative peak during the time he played with The Beatles. This is the first book to present a musical analysis of his consistently inventive and influential bass playing of the period. At the core of the work are full transcriptions (including Tab and chord names) of ten of McCartney's most revered bass parts: "You Won't See Me", "Drive My Car", "The Word", and "In My Life" from "Rubber Soul"; the classic b-side "Rain"; "Taxman" and "I'm Only Sleeping" from "Revolver"; "Lovely Rita" from "Sgt Pepper"; "Dear Prudence" from the "White Album"; and "Something" from "Abbey Road". Each of these ten key tracks is taken apart and examined in detail to show today's bassists how much we can still learn from McCartney's remarkable playing skills. How does his phrasing and choice of notes shape each bassline? What are McCartney's melodic sources, and how does this relate to his abilities as a songwriter and composer? The ten transcriptions are set in the context of McCartney's role as bass player in The Beatles from the first single, "Love Me Do" in 1962, to the last album, "Let It Be" in 1970. Drawing on an interview with McCartney, much of which has not been published before, the authors show how he started as a guitarist in the group but soon came to expand and transform bass playing, bringing new musical ideas and a fresh outlook on sound that virtually defined the role of the modern bassist in pop music. All bass players owe a debt to McCartney's groundbreaking and revolutionary work with The Beatles, and for the first time this book shows exactly why.

An updated edition of the bestselling biography to include details of her sixth studio album The Truth About Love which was a worldwide number one hit and the birth of her first child in 2011. Paul Lester traces the extraordinary career of Alicia Beth Moore from Pennsylvania through her stint in the girl group Choice to her present incarnation as global superstar Pink. Split Personality reveals the two sides of this complex artist: the feisty fun-filled performer who at thirty continues to conquer in a teen-dominated industry and the conflicted woman whose dark urges have fuelled her deceptively upbeat glossy brand of hi-tech pop. This is a pop biography that makes for a truly exciting read that's worthy of it's electrifying subject!

Following their first tour to Japan in 1966, the Beatles would become an important part of Japan's postwar cultural development and its deepening relationship with the West. By the 1960s Japan's dramatic rise in prosperity and the self-confidence of the country's 'economic miracle' period were yet to come; it was not, at this stage, considered a fully-fledged partner of the West. All these potential developments were consolidating around the time of the 1966 tour. The Beatles' concerts in Tokyo contributed to the construction of a new Japanese national identity and introduced Japan as a new potential market to UK and US music producers, broadening the country's transnational cultural links. This book explores the Beatles' engagement with Japan within the larger context of the country's increased global connection and large-scale economic, social and cultural change. It describes the great impact of the Beatles' contentious 1966 tour, which took place amid public displays of both euphoric 'Beatlemania' and angry protests, and discusses the lasting impression of this tour on Japanese culture and identity to the present day. The Beatles' relationship with Japan did not end after their departure; this book also examines the Beatles' subsequent contacts with Japan, including John Lennon's marriage and artistic partnership with Yoko Ono, and Paul McCartney's later Japanese tours and the warm reception the ex Beatles and their musical legacy have received over the years.

The Music Learning Profiles Project: Let's Take This Outside uses ethnographic techniques and modified case studies to profile musicians active in a wide range of musical contexts not typically found in traditional music education settings. The book illuminates diverse music learning practices in order to impact music education in classrooms. It goes on to describe the Music Learning Profiles Project, a group of scholars dedicated to developing techniques to explore music learning, which they call "flash study analysis." Twenty musicians were interviewed, invited to talk about what they do, how they learned to do it, and prompted to: Identify key learning experiences Discuss their involvement in formal learning environments Predict how they see musicking practices passing to a future generation The Music Learning Profiles Project offers a nuanced understanding of the myriad approaches to music learning that have emerged in the early part of the twenty-first century.

In I Die Each Time I Hear the Sound, musician Mike Doughty presents stories about life on the road as an indie rock musician, taking readers deep inside the dislocated life of an itinerant performer, the exhilaration and terror involved in getting up in front of strangers night after night, and as far behind the curtain as they've ever dared to venture. Doughty's writing is deeply provocative, eliciting visceral responses from his readers, and this extraordinary book will blow the minds of people who have never considered what life is like for those on the other side of the stage. I Die Each Time I Hear the Sound is composed of strange, surreal tales from on the road that draw from dream-like conflations of memories of times and places, especially New York City in the '90s. It looks at why diminished circumstances are sometimes, bafflingly, more profitable than chart success, how the nostalgia of fans is both a boon and a burden for an artist struggling to stay vital, and what it means--and how it works--to grow into middle age while still playing hundreds of shows and releasing albums prolifically. Both a fascinating and dislocated narrative and a highly review-worthy examination of what it is to be an artist at this cultural juncture, I Die Each Time I Hear the Sound is funny, unsparing, vulnerable, and incisive.

This is the first book to bring together the imagination and energy of rock music with its sources in mythology and science fiction. The mythological roots of classic rock music artists from David Bowie, the Jefferson Airplane, and Pink Floyd, to Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, and Iron Maiden are explored, along with the stories they tell and the critiques of contemporary society that their songs carry. Discover science fiction imagery, music that suggests the reaches of space, lyrics that draw upon mythic archetypes, and the mythical hero's journey. Hear from mythologists and psychologists like Joseph Campbell, J.G. Frazier, Carl Jung, Mircea Eliade and others in an exploration of musical creativity. Memories of the progressive rock era of Yes, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and Hawkwind meet with the mythological explorations of the precursors of heavy metal, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, and the exuberance of pop/ rock bands like ELO and the Alan Parsons Project. Rock listeners are invited to search new horizons with this unusual blend of musicology, literature, science fiction, and inquiry into the creative process.

Once upon a time I was falling apart. Now I'm always falling in love.

When Rob Sheffield moved to New York City in 2001, he was a young widower trying to start a new life in a new town. One night, some friends dragged him to a karaoke bar--and that night turned into many nights in many karaoke bars. Karaoke became a way to be someone else if only for the span of a three-minute song, and through the sublime ridiculousness of karaoke, Rob began to find his voice.

And then the unexpected happened. A voice on the radio got Rob's attention. And the voice came attached to a woman who could name every constellation in the sky, every Depeche Mode B side, and could belt out a mean Bonnie Tyler. Turn Around Bright Eyes is a journey of hilarity and heartbreak with a karaoke soundtrack. It's about finding the courage to move on, clearing your throat, and letting it rip--and how songs get tangled up in our deepest emotions.

This collection of essays, first published in 1987, provides a sociological treatment of many musical forms - rock, jazz, classical - with special emphasis on the perspective of the practising musician. Among the topics covered are the legal structures governing musical production and the question of copyright; recording and production technology; the social character of musical style; and the impact of lyrical content, considered socially and historically.

In Tin Pan Alley we see the beginnings of the pop world as we now know it: commercial, constantly capturing, exploiting or even occasionally creating a public mood. The Alleymen were workers as much as artists. This book, first published in 1982, explores how the change occurred, the ways in which songwriters organised themselves to get greater control over their products, the social circumstances that influenced their choice of subject-matter, the new forms, such as the integrated musical, developed for maximum appeal, the vast publicity structure built to market the merchandise, and, of course, the many stars who came to fame by taking a walk down the Alley.

While the growing field of scholarship on heavy metal music and its subcultures has produced excellent work on the sounds, scenes, and histories of heavy metal around the world, few works have included a study of gender and sexuality. This cutting-edge volume focuses on queer fans, performers, and spaces within the heavy metal sphere, and demonstrates the importance, pervasiveness, and subcultural significance of queerness to the heavy metal ethos. Heavy metal scholarship has until recently focused almost solely on the roles of heterosexual hypermasculinity and hyperfemininity in fans and performers. The dependence on that narrow dichotomy has limited heavy metal scholarship, resulting in poorly critiqued discussions of gender and sexuality that serve only to underpin the popular imagining of heavy metal as violent, homophobic and inherently masculine. This book queers heavy metal studies, bringing discussions of gender and sexuality in heavy metal out of that poorly theorized dichotomy. In this interdisciplinary work, the author connects new and existing scholarship with a strong ethnographic study of heavy metal's self-identified queer performers and fans in their own words, thus giving them a voice and offering an original and ground-breaking addition to scholarship on popular music, rock, and queer studies.

This book aims to revisit the notion of subculture for the 21st century, reinterpreting it and extending its scope. On the one hand, the notion of resistance is redefined and applied to contemporary practices of cultural production and entrepreneurship. On the other hand, contributors reconsider the connection of subcultures to everyday culture, exploring more mainstream forms of cultural production and consumption across a wider range of social groups. As a consequence, this book extends the scope to look beyond the white, male, adolescent, urban cultures identified with earlier subcultural studies. Contributors also examine fusions and crossovers between Western and non-Western cultural practices.