Download or read book Is Rock Dead written by Kevin J.H. Dettmar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rock and roll's death has been forecast nearly since its birth; the country song "The Death of Rock and Roll" appeared in September 1956, showing that the music had already outraged a more conservative listening audience. Is Rock Dead? sets out to explore the varied and sometimes conflicting ways in which the death of rock has been discussed both within the discourse of popular music and American culture. If rock is dead, when did it die? Who killed it? Why do rock journalists lament its passing? Has its academic acceptance stabbed it in the back or resuscitated an otherwise lifeless corpse? Why is rock music the music that conservatives love to hate? On the other side of the coin, how have rock's biggest fans helped nail shut the coffin? Does rock feed on its own death-and-rebirth? Finally, what signs of life are there showing that rock, in fact, is surviving? Is Rock Dead? will appeal to all those who take seriously the notion that rock is a serious musical form. It will appeal to students of popular music and culture, and all those who have ever spun a 45, cranked up the radio, or strummed an air guitar.

Download or read book Living with the Dead written by Rock Scully and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2001 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This memoir chronicles the Dead's seminal years: 1965-1985.

Download or read book The Rock And Roll Book Of The Dead written by David Comfort and published by Kensington Publishing Corp.. This book was released on 2009-08-25 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once you're dead, you're made for life. --Jimi Hendrix Hendrix. Janis. Morrison. Elvis. Lennon. Cobain. Garcia. Their reckless brilliance held the key to their self-destruction. Their deaths had much in common--and, surprisingly, so did their lives. From lonely childhoods marred by loss to groundbreaking music and turbulent careers that ended tragically and suspiciously, David Comfort explodes the myths as he probes: • The sinister roles of Hendrix's manager and girlfriend in his death and subsequent cover-up • The bizarre odyssey of Jim Morrison's corpse • Why Kurt Cobain was worth more dead than alive to Courtney Love • The twisted motives that caused John Lennon to sail through the Devil's Triangle to Bermuda--nearly going down in a storm--shortly before he was fatally shot • The crippling disease and "miracle" drug that drove Elvis to suicide Charismatic and gifted, but also isolated and conflicted, these are not the rock icons you thought you knew. Here are their larger-than-life stories of turmoil and excess that led to their early deaths and ultimate immortality. It's a wild ride to the other side of fame. "Fame is the soul eater." --Jerry Garcia "Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground." --John Lennon Includes Rare Photos David Comfort is the author of three bestselling nonfiction books. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines, including Eclectic Literary Forum, Pacific Review, Coe Review, and Belletrist Review. He has been the recipient of several literary prizes and a finalist for such prestigious awards as the Nelson Algren Award and America's Best. A former rock musician, he has spent over 30 years studying rock music, particularly the revolutionary and fatalistic pioneers of the 1960s. He lives in Santa Rosa, California.

Download or read book Uncommon People written by David Hepworth and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2017-11-21 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named one of the best music books of 2017 by The Wall Street Journal An elegy to the age of the Rock Star, featuring Chuck Berry, Elvis, Madonna, Bowie, Prince, and more, uncommon people whose lives were transformed by rock and who, in turn, shaped our culture Recklessness, thy name is rock. The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn’t stay the course. In Uncommon People, David Hepworth zeroes in on defining moments and turning points in the lives of forty rock stars from 1955 to 1995, taking us on a journey to burst a hundred myths and create a hundred more. As this tribe of uniquely motivated nobodies went about turning themselves into the ultimate somebodies, they also shaped us, our real lives and our fantasies. Uncommon People isn’t just their story. It’s ours as well.

Download or read book The Glen Rock Book of the Dead written by Marion Winik and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2018-09-15 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In her author's note, Marion Winik writes that in Mexico on the Day of the Dead, "people build altars to their loved ones . . . they go to the cemetery and stay all night, praying, singing, drinking, wailing. They tell the sad stories and the noble ones; they eat cookies shaped like skeletons. They celebrate and mourn at once." Striking that balance, The Glen Rock Book of the Dead presents snapshot portraits of The Jeweler, The Driving Instructor, The Bad Influence, The Queen of New Jersey—and roughly fifty others who have touched Winik's life, from her son's second grade teacher to Keith Haring. Tied together by the inimitable, poignant voice of Winik, these losses form not only an autobiography but a story of our time, delivering a lyrical journey that ultimately raises the spirits.

Download or read book Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock n Roll Group written by Ian Svenonius and published by Akashic Books. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Washington, D.C.-based rock 'n' roll antihero Ian F. Svenonius provides an unparalleled and exquisitely provocative how-to guide for rock bands.

Download or read book Think Rock written by Kevin Dettmar and published by Prentice Hall. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Introduction to Rock Music courses. THINK ROCK is the first Music title in the THINK series. It is designed for an introduction to rock music course for the non-music major at an economical price. Taking a chronological approach, it offers a basic introduction to the key eras, performers, and songs that shaped rock music. THINK ROCK is a full history, beginning with pre-rock styles and covering all styles right up to today's latest sounds. In addition to the music itself, THINK ROCK addresses the rich cultural history of the rock era, and how social/cultural events shaped rock and were shaped by it. The book is richly illustrated with period photographs and reproductions of album covers and concert posters. An open access companion website is available with THINK ROCK at www.thethinkspot.com. Review this title! Pearson's Reading Hour Program for Instructors Interested in reviewing new texts in Music? Click on the below link to choose an electronic chapter to preview... Settle back, read, and receive a Penguin paperback for your time! http: //www.pearsonhighered.com/readinghour/music

Download or read book More Fun in the New World written by John Doe and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This sequel to Grammy-nominated bestseller Under the Big Black Sun continues the up-close and personal account of the L.A. punk scene—and includes fifty rare photos. Picking up where Under the Big Black Sun left off, More Fun in the New World explores the years 1982 to 1987, covering the dizzying pinnacle of L.A.'s punk rock movement as its stars took to the national—and often international—stage. Detailing the eventual splintering of punk into various sub-genres, the second volume of John Doe and Tom DeSavia's west coast punk history portrays the rich cultural diversity of the movement and its characters, the legacy of the scene, how it affected other art forms, and ultimately influenced mainstream pop culture. The book also pays tribute to many of the fallen soldiers of punk rock, the pioneers who left the world much too early but whose influence hasn't faded. As with Under the Big Black Sun, the book features stories of triumph, failure, stardom, addiction, recovery, and loss as told by the people who were influential in the scene, with a cohesive narrative from authors Doe and DeSavia. Along with many returning voices, More Fun in the New World weaves in the perspectives of musicians Henry Rollins, Fishbone, Billy Zoom, Mike Ness, Jane Weidlin, Keith Morris, Dave Alvin, Louis Pérez, Charlotte Caffey, Peter Case, Chip Kinman, Maria McKee, and Jack Grisham, among others. And renowned artist/illustrator Shepard Fairey, filmmaker Allison Anders, actor Tim Robbins, and pro-skater Tony Hawk each contribute chapters on punk's indelible influence on the artistic spirit. In addition to stories of success, the book also offers a cautionary tale of an art movement that directly inspired commercially diverse acts such as Green Day, Rancid, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilco, and Neko Case. Readers will find themselves rooting for the purists of punk juxtaposed with the MTV-dominating rock superstars of the time who flaunted a "born to do this, it couldn't be easier" attitude that continued to fuel the flames of new music. More Fun in the New World follows the progression of the first decade of L.A. punk, its conclusion, and its cultural rebirth.

Download or read book Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation written by David Malvinni and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 15 years since the death of lead guitarist and singer Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead stands as a cultural symbol of the unresolved cultural clashes of 1960s. The band’s 30-year odyssey is a testament to the American imagination, with thousands of live concert recordings by fans and the band itself, preserved alongside a cultural iconography of images, artwork, and paraphernalia. Most recently, the Grateful Dead has stepped up release of its live archive of recordings, culminating in one of the largest boxed sets of live music—73 compact discs—ever released. This publicly available archive of recorded music lays the groundwork for David Malvinni’s exploration in Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation on the band’s musical signature as the ultimate jam band. Malvinni considers a a select group of songs from the Dead’s early repertoire, from its unique covers of “Viola Lee Blues,” “Midnight Hour,” and “Love Light” to original masterpieces like “Dark Star.” Marrying basic music analysis to philosophical frames offered by improvisatory musings of Heidegger, Derrida, and Deleuze, Malvinni outlines the core aesthetic underlying the Dead’s musical styling. In tracing the evolution of the band’s unique jam style, Malvinni outlines The Dead’s gift as gatherers and collectors of old and new soundscapes in their improvisations. Like no other band, The Dead brought together a variety of styles from roots and folk to country and free jazz to postmodern European art music. Devoted Deadheads reveled in the band’s polyglot approach to playing live, its free-wheeling and often risky efforts to reach a type of cosmic ecstasy, commonly described as the “X factor.” Although fans and scholars alike recognize the Grateful Dead as icons of the psychedelic music, the band’s improvisatory approach still remains an enigma to the uninitiated. In Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation, Malvinni unravels this mystery, walking readers through the band’s musical decision-making process. Written for rock music fans with little to no background in music theory, and scholars and students of popular music culture, the book reveal the method behind the seeming madness of America’s greatest jam band.

Download or read book Dead Man s Curve written by Mark A. Moore and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-08-02 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jan Berry, leader of the music duo Jan & Dean from the late 1950s to mid-1960s, was an intense character who experienced more in his first 25 years than many do in a lifetime. As an architect of the West Coast sound, he was one of rock 'n' roll's original rebels--brilliant, charismatic, reckless, and flawed. As a songwriter, music arranger, and record producer for Nevin-Kirshner Associates and Screen Gems-Columbia Music, Berry was one of the pioneering self-produced artists of his era in Hollywood. He lived a dual life, reaching the top of the charts with Jan & Dean while transitioning from college student to medical student, until an automobile accident in 1966 changed his trajectory forever. Suffering from brain damage and partial paralysis, Jan spent the rest of his life trying to come back from Dead Man's Curve. His story is told here in-depth for the first time, based on extensive primary source documentation and supplemented by the stories and memories of Jan's family members, friends, music industry colleagues, and contemporaries. From the birth of rock to the bitter end, Berry's life story is thrilling, humorous, unsettling, and disturbing, yet ultimately uplifting.

Download or read book Killing Yourself to Live written by Chuck Klosterman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-06-13 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author recounts his more than 6,500-mile journey across America, during which he visited the sites of famous rock star deaths and experienced philosophical changes of perspective.

Download or read book All Gates Open written by Rob Young and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All Gates Open presents the definitive story of arguably the most influential and revered avant-garde band of the late twentieth century: CAN. It consists of two books. In Book One, Rob Young gives us the full biography of a band that emerged at the vanguard of what would come to be called the Krautrock scene in late sixties Cologne. With Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay - two classically trained students of Stockhausen - at the heart of the band, CAN's studio and live performances burned an incendiary trail through the decade that followed: and left a legacy that is still reverberating today in hip hop, post rock, ambient, and countless other genres. Rob Young's account draws on unique interviews with all founding members of CAN, as well as their vocalists, friends and music industry associates. And he revisits the music, which is still deliriously innovative and unclassifiable more than four decades on. All Gates Open is a portrait of a group who worked with visionary intensity and belief, outside the system and inside their own inner space. Book Two, Can Kiosk, has been assembled by Irmin Schmidt, founding member and guiding spirit of the band, as a 'collage - a technique long associated with CAN's approach to recording. There is an oral history of the band drawing on interviews that Irmin made with musicians who see CAN as an influence - such as Bobby Gillespie, Geoff Barrow, Daniel Miller, and many others. There are also interviews with artists and filmmakers like Wim Wenders and John Malkovitch, where Schmidt reflects on more personal matters and his work with film. Extracts of Schmidt's notebook and diaries from 2013-14 are also reproduced as a reflection on the creative process, and the memories, dreams, and epiphanies it entails. Can Kiosk offers further perspectives on a band that have inspired several generations of musicians and filmmakers in the voices of the artists themselves. CAN were unique, and their legacy is articulated in two books in this volume with the depth, rigour, originality, and intensity associated with the band itself. It is illustrated throughout with previously unseen art, photographs, and ephemera from the band's archive.

Download or read book Why the Grateful Dead Matter written by Michael Benson and published by University Press of New England. This book was released on 2016-02-09 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Why the Grateful Dead Matter, veteran writer and lifelong Deadhead Michael Benson argues that the Grateful Dead are not simply a successful rock-and-roll band but a phenomenon central to American culture. He defends the proposition that the Grateful Dead are, in fact, a musical movement as transformative as any -ism in the artistic history of this century and the last. And a lot more fun than most. From the street festivals of Haight-Ashbury to the cross-country acid tests with the Merry Pranksters, and from the sound-and-light show at the Great Pyramid at Giza to the ecstatic outpouring of joy at Soldier Field in the summer of '15, the Grateful Dead have been at the center of American life, music, and karmic flow for fifty years. In Why the Grateful Dead Matter, Michael Benson brings it all back to life and makes a compelling case for the band's lasting cultural importance.

Download or read book Cheetah Chrome written by Cheetah Chrome and published by Voyageur Press. This book was released on 2010-11-10 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the autobiography of Cheetah Chrome, lead guitarist of the Dead Boys, one of the greatest punk bands ever. It’s a tale of success--and excess: great music, drugs (he overdosed and was pronounced dead three times), and resurrection. The Dead Boys, with roots in the band Rocket from the Tombs, came out of Cleveland to dominate the NYC punk scene in the mid-1970s. Their hit “Sonic Reducer” soon became a punk anthem. Now, for the first time, Cheetah dishes on the people he’s known onstage and off, including the Dead Boys’ legendary singer Stiv Bators, Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls, the Ramones, the Clash, Pere Ubu, and the Ghetto Dogs, as well as life at CBGBs, a year with Nico, and more. Straight from the man, these are the backstage stories that every punk fan will want to hear. Never mind the Sex Pistols, here’s Cheetah Chrome!

Download or read book Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life written by Steve Almond and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-04-13 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drooling fanatic, n. 1. One who drools in the presence of beloved rock stars. 2. Any of a genus of rock-and-roll wannabes/geeks who walk around with songs constantly ringing in their ears, own more than 3,000 albums, and fall in love with at least one record per week. With a life that’s spanned the phonographic era and the digital age, Steve Almond lives to Rawk. Like you, he’s secretly longed to live the life of a rock star, complete with insane talent, famous friends, and hotel rooms to be trashed. Also like you, he’s content (sort of) to live the life of a rabid fan, one who has converted his unrequited desires into a (sort of) noble obsession. Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life traces Almond’s passion from his earliest (and most wretched) rock criticism to his eventual discovery of a music-crazed soul mate and their subsequent production of two little superfans. Along the way, Almond reflects on the delusional power of songs, the awkward mating habits of drooling fanatics, and why Depression Songs actually make us feel so much better. The book also includes: • sometimes drunken interviews with America’s finest songwriters • a recap of the author’s terrifying visit to Graceland while stoned • a vigorous and credibility-shattering endorsement of Styx’s Paradise Theater • recommendations you will often choose to ignore • a reluctant exegesis of the Toto song “Africa” • obnoxious lists sure to piss off rock critics But wait, there’s more. Readers will also be able to listen to a special free mix designed by the author, available online at www.stevenalmond.com, for the express purpose of eliciting your drool. For those about to rock—we salute you!

Download or read book Dead Rock Stars written by Guy Mankowski and published by . This book was released on 2020-07-20 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The first page of my sister's diary was a picture of Frances Farmer, facing a drawing of Ophelia. My sister's psychic accomplices were all tragic figures...' Emma Imrie was a Plath-obsessed, self-taught teenage musician dreaming of fame, from a remote village on the Isle of Wight. She found it too, briefly becoming a star of the nineties Camden music scene. But then she died in mysterious circumstances. In the aftermath of Emma's death, her younger brother, Jeff, is forced by their parents to stay at the opulent home of childhood friends on the island. During a wild summer of beach parties and music, Jeff faces up to the challenges that come with young love, youthful ambition and unresolved grief. His sister's prodigious advice from beyond the grave becomes the only weapon he has against an indifferent world. As well as the only place where the answers he craves might exist... 'An excellent summer read. Mankowski entrances you with the vivid world of 1990s Camden as he weaves an adept story full of emotion and compelling characters. He tells a tale of an unbreakable sibling bond with a fluid style and a caring voice.' Anna Caltabiano, author of The Seventh Miss Hatfield

Download or read book Twilight of the Gods written by Steven Hyden and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-05-08 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Bestseller * Named one of Rolling Stone's Best Music Books of 2018 * One of Newsweek's 50 Best Books of 2018 * A Billboard Best of 2018 * A New York Times Book Review "New and Noteworthy" selection The author of the critically acclaimed Your Favorite Band is Killing Me offers an eye-opening exploration of the state of classic rock, its past and future, the impact it has had, and what its loss would mean to an industry, a culture, and a way of life. Since the late 1960s, a legendary cadre of artists—including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, Black Sabbath, and the Who—has revolutionized popular culture and the sounds of our lives. While their songs still get airtime and some of these bands continue to tour, its idols are leaving the stage permanently. Can classic rock remain relevant as these legends die off, or will this major musical subculture fade away as many have before, Steven Hyden asks. In this mix of personal memoir, criticism, and journalism, Hyden stands witness as classic rock reaches the precipice. Traveling to the eclectic places where geriatric rockers are still making music, he talks to the artists and fans who have aged with them, explores the ways that classic rock has changed the culture, investigates the rise and fall of classic rock radio, and turns to live bootlegs, tell-all rock biographies, and even the liner notes of rock’s greatest masterpieces to tell the story of what this music meant, and how it will be remembered, for fans like himself. Twilight of the Gods is also Hyden’s story. Celebrating his love of this incredible music that has taken him from adolescence to fatherhood, he ponders two essential questions: Is it time to give up on his childhood heroes, or can this music teach him about growing old with his hopes and dreams intact? And what can we all learn from rock gods and their music—are they ephemeral or eternal?