Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? -- Volume 1


Book Description

"Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? -- Volume 1" chronicles the lives of musical soloists and band members whose songs hit the top of the music charts in the late 1950s and in the '60s. Through conversations with them, as well as producers, managers and family members, we share fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses into the lives of these creative, talented people."Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? -- Volume 1" includes authenticated, authorized biographical chapters on seven musical groups and solo performers: the Association (whose songs include three gold records -- "Cherish," "Windy" and "Never My Love"); Herman's Hermits (whose extensive string of hits includes three gold records -- "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter," "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" and "There's a Kind of Hush"); the Kingston Trio (whose enormous popularity reflected in seven gold albums triggered the folk music craze of the early '60s, and whose hits included million-selling "Tom Dooley," along with "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "Greenback Dollar"); Chris Montez (whose hit tunes included "Let's Dance," "Call Me" and "The More I See You"); the Spiral Starecase (who recorded "She's Ready," "No One For Me To Turn To" and the smash hit "More Today Than Yesterday"); Bobby Vee (whose 30 hit records included "Take Good Care of My Baby," "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" and the million-selling "Come Back When You Grow Up"); and the Zombies (whose hits included "She's Not There," "Tell Her No" and the gold record "Time of the Season").




The Beautiful Music All Around Us


Book Description

The Beautiful Music All Around Us presents the extraordinarily rich backstories of thirteen performances captured on Library of Congress field recordings between 1934 and 1942 in locations reaching from Southern Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta and the Great Plains. Including the children's play song "Shortenin' Bread," the fiddle tune "Bonaparte's Retreat," the blues "Another Man Done Gone," and the spiritual "Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down," these performances were recorded in kitchens and churches, on porches and in prisons, in hotel rooms and school auditoriums. Documented during the golden age of the Library of Congress recordings, they capture not only the words and tunes of traditional songs but also the sounds of life in which the performances were embedded: children laugh, neighbors comment, trucks pass by. Musician and researcher Stephen Wade sought out the performers on these recordings, their families, fellow musicians, and others who remembered them. He reconstructs the sights and sounds of the recording sessions themselves and how the music worked in all their lives. Some of these performers developed musical reputations beyond these field recordings, but for many, these tracks represent their only appearances on record: prisoners at the Arkansas State Penitentiary jumping on "the Library's recording machine" in a rendering of "Rock Island Line"; Ora Dell Graham being called away from the schoolyard to sing the jump-rope rhyme "Pullin' the Skiff"; Luther Strong shaking off a hungover night in jail and borrowing a fiddle to rip into "Glory in the Meetinghouse." Alongside loving and expert profiles of these performers and their locales and communities, Wade also untangles the histories of these iconic songs and tunes, tracing them through slave songs and spirituals, British and homegrown ballads, fiddle contests, gospel quartets, and labor laments. By exploring how these singers and instrumentalists exerted their own creativity on inherited forms, "amplifying tradition's gifts," Wade shows how a single artist can make a difference within a democracy. Reflecting decades of research and detective work, the profiles and abundant photos in The Beautiful Music All Around Us bring to life largely unheralded individuals--domestics, farm laborers, state prisoners, schoolchildren, cowboys, housewives and mothers, loggers and miners--whose music has become part of the wider American musical soundscape. The hardcover edition also includes an accompanying CD that presents these thirteen performances, songs and sounds of America in the 1930s and '40s.




Where Have All the Good Times Gone?


Book Description

Louis Barfe's elegantly written, authoritative and highly entertaining history charts the meteoric rise and slow decline of the popular recording industry. Barfe shows how the 1920s and 1930s saw the departure of Edison from the phonograph business he created and the birth of EMI and CBS. In the years after the war, these companies, and the buccaneers, hucksters, impresarios and con-men who ran them, reaped stupendous commercial benefits with the arrival of Elvis Presley, who changed popular music (and sales of popular music) overnight. After Presley came the Beatles, when the recording industry became global and record sales reached all time highs. Where Have All The Good Times Gone? also charts the decline from that high-point a generation ago. The 1990s ushered in a period of profound crisis and uncertainty in the industry, encapsulated in one word: Napster. Barfe shows how the almost infinite amounts of free music available online have traumatic and disastrous consequences for an industry that has become cautious and undynamic.




The Association ‘Cherish’


Book Description

The very first full biography of The Association, one of the most successful bands to come out of the mid-1960s US folk-rock boom, with some of the most distinctive harmony sounds of the era, but one that is largely overlooked today. The group achieved two US Billboard Number One hits, a number of further Top 20 places, along with a run of successful best-selling LPs. In addition, whilst often credited as being one of the hardest working bands of the era, they are also honoured as having the second-most played song on US radio history during the 20th century! This extensive biography looks at the early foundations of the line-up, from the various group member’s struggles in an early 1960s Los Angeles, touring the folk clubs and coffee houses, through to their 1965 breakthrough and their first recording contract. Then, follow the band through the heady days of a psychedelic 1960s America, and into the confusion of the 1970’s where tragedy, disappointment and disarray left the band on the edge of breakup. The careers of each of the band members are discussed at length as they came, left and re-joined, most notably during the 1980s reunion tour, with full access to the recollections from principle members Jules Alexander, Terry Kirkman and Jim Yester. Finally, we bring the story fully up to date, with the band celebrating their 50th Anniversary and still out on the road, playing to packed venues across the country. Cherish IS indeed the word




40 Hits, 40 Stories


Book Description

Innovative sounds in pop, rock and soul in the 1960s and 1970s meant that music appealed to more people than ever before. While some songs appealed to a broad audience, some targeted a much narrower demographic, meaning songs on the pop charts might not do as well on the adult contemporary or soul charts, or vice versa. This book examines forty songs featured on song charts of the 1960s and 1970s. Charts considered are Billboard Pop, Billboard Soul, Adult Contemporary, Cashbox and British Charts. Each listing includes discussion of the factors that contributed to the songs' popularity. Author interviews with songwriters, musicians and artists such as KC (of KC and the Sunshine Band), Mark Farner (of Grand Funk), Jerry Butler, Ron Dante (of the Archies and the Cuff Links), Freda Payne, Lou Christie, Tommy Roe, The Spinners and others tell the stories behind some of the era's most popular songs.




Musical Life in Guyana


Book Description

Musical Life in Guyana is the first in-depth study of Guyanese musical life. It is also a richly detailed description of the social, economic, and political conditions that have encouraged and sometimes discouraged musical and cultural creativity in Guyana. The book contributes to the study of the interactions between the policies and practices by national governments and musical communities in the Caribbean. Vibert C. Cambridge explores these interactions in Guyana during the three political eras that the society experienced as it moved from being a British colony to an independent nation. The first era to be considered is the period of mature colonial governance, guided by the dictates of “new imperialism,” which extended from 1900 to 1953. The second era, the period of internal self-government and the preparation for independence, extends from 1953, the year of the first general elections under universal adult suffrage, to 1966, the year when the colony gained its political independence. The third phase, 1966 to 2000, describes the early postcolonial era. Cambridge reveals how the issues of race, class, gender, and ideology deeply influenced who in Guyanese multicultural society obtained access to musical instruction and media outlets and thus who received recognition. He also describes the close connections between Guyanese musicians and Caribbean artists from throughout the region and traces the exodus of Guyanese musicians to the great cities of the world, a theme often neglected in Caribbean studies. The book concludes that the practices of governance across the twentieth century exerted disproportionate influence in the creation, production, distribution, and consumption of music.




The Rock History Reader


Book Description

This eclectic compilation of readings tells the history of rock as it has been received and explained as a social and musical practice throughout its six decade history. This third edition includes new readings across the volume, with added material on the early origins of rock 'n' roll as well as coverage of recent developments, including the changing shape of the music industry in the twenty-first century. With numerous readings that delve into the often explosive issues surrounding censorship, copyright, race relations, feminism, youth subcultures, and the meaning of musical value, The Rock History Reader continues to appeal to scholars and students from a variety of disciplines. New to the third edition: Nine additional chapters from a broad range of perspectives Explorations of new media formations, industry developments, and the intersections of music and labor For the first time, a companion website providing users with playlists of music referenced in the book Featuring readings as loud, vibrant, and colorful as rock ‘n’ roll itself, The Rock History Reader is sure to leave readers informed, inspired, and perhaps even infuriated—but never bored.




Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone?


Book Description




Girls Can Kiss Now


Book Description

A "collection of personal essays exploring the intersection of queerness, relationships, pop culture, the Internet, and identity, introducing one of the most undeniably original new voices today. Jill Gutowitz's life--for better and worse--has always been on a collision course with pop culture, [including] ... the pivotal day when Orange Is the New Black hit the airwaves and broke down the door to Jill's own sexuality. In these honest examinations of identity, desire, and self-worth, Jill explores perhaps the most monumental cultural shift of our lifetimes: the mainstreaming of lesbian culture"--




Sells like Teen Spirit


Book Description

This account of modern rock music “skillfully articulates the brutal social truths that compel young people to create meaning and subculture out of chaos” (Donna Gaines, author of Teenage Wasteland). In Sells Like Teen Spirit, Ryan Moore tells the story of how music and youth culture have changed along with the economic, political, and cultural transformations of American society over four decades. By attending concerts, hanging out in dance clubs and after-hour bars, and examining the do-it-yourself music scene, Moore gives a riveting, first-hand account of the sights, sounds, and smells of “teen spirit.” Moore traces the histories of punk, hardcore, heavy metal, glam, thrash, alternative rock, grunge, and riot grrrl music, and relates them to wider social changes that have taken place. Alongside the thirty images of concert photos, zines, flyers, and album covers in the book, Moore offers original interpretations of the music of a wide range of bands including Black Sabbath, Black Flag, Metallica, Nirvana, and Sleater-Kinney. Written in a lively, witty style, Sells Like Teen Spiritsuggests a more hopeful attitude about the ways that music can be used as a counter to an overly commercialized culture, showcasing recent musical innovations by youth that emphasize democratic participation and creative self-expression—even at the cost of potential copyright infringement. “Brilliantly situates the histories of several musical styles within the political, economic, and social changes that led to the development of an assortment of rock subgenres . . . engaging.” —Journal of Youth and Adolescence