The Billboard Book of Gold & Platinum Records


Book Description

Identifies every recording artist in the 20th-century whose music has been certified as gold or platinum.




Gold and Platinum Records


Book Description




The Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits


Book Description

Documents the history of rhythm and blues music by examining every song to top the Billboard R & B singles chart between 1965 and 1990 and offers inside stories from the singers, musicians, songwriters, arrangers, and producers who created the hits.




Chronology of American Popular Music, 1900-2000


Book Description

The field of Popular Music Studies is growing, but still lacks some basic reference materials. The Chronology of American Popular Music, 1899-2000 fills this gap by offering a comprehensive overview of the field. It will be a must-own for libraries and individuals interested in this growing field of research.




A Guide to Popular Music Reference Books


Book Description

A guide to locating information on popular music and the people who create it, this volume is designed as a desk reference—to locate answers to specific questions and to direct library users to key resources. More than 400 comprehensive titles are carefully annotated, describing content, scope, and special features. The focus is on the musical styles that have developed measurable commercial success through recordings and live performance. Along with academic titles, many important titles from the popular press are included, as well as selected electronic resources. A necessary reference tool for any library, scholar, student, and popular music buff. The work covers bibliographies, indexes, discographies, dictionaries and encyclopedias, biographical resources, directories, almanacs, yearbooks, and guidebooks on styles that include jazz, swing, Tin Pan Alley, country, gospel, blues, rhythm and blues, soul, rockabilly, rock, heavy metal, musical theater, and film music. Its extensive appendices feature discographies and bibliographies of individual artists and ensembles. A detailed index combining authors, titles, and subjects makes cross-referencing easy. The entries are modeled after the immensely useful The Guide to Reference Books.




Boricua Power


Book Description

Where does power come from? Why does it sometimes disappear? How do groups, like the Puerto Rican community, become impoverished, lose social influence, and become marginal to the rest of society? How do they turn things around, increase their wealth, and become better able to successfully influence and defend themselves? Boricua Power explains the creation and loss of power as a product of human efforts to enter, keep or end relationships with others in an attempt to satisfy passions and interests, using a theoretical and historical case study of one community–Puerto Ricans in the United States. Using archival, historical and empirical data, Boricua Power demonstrates that power rose and fell for this community with fluctuations in the passions and interests that defined the relationship between Puerto Ricans and the larger U.S. society.




The Billboard Book of Top 40 Albums


Book Description

Every album to reach the Top 40 of Billboard's "Top Pop Albums", including the top classical, country, Christmas, and soundtracks, is listed in thisupdated companion volume to The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Offering complete data on each release, this edition contains hundreds of new album titles covering 1955 to the present. Facts about the artists and biographicalinformation are also featured.t printing.




Saved by Song


Book Description

Saved by Song returns to print with its sweeping overview of the history of gospel music. Powerful and incisive, the book traces contemporary Christianity and Christian music to the sixteenth century and the Protestant Reformation after examining music in the Bible and early church. In America, gospel music has been divided between white and black gospel. Within these divisions are further divisions: southern gospel, contemporary Christian music, spirituals, and hymns. Don Cusic has provided background and insight into the developments of all these rich facets of gospel music. From the psalms of the early Puritans through the hymns of Isaac Watts and the social activism of the Wesleys, to the camp meeting songs of the Kentucky Revival, the spirituals that came from the slave culture, and the hymns from the great revival after the Civil War, gospel music advanced through the nineteenth century. The twentieth century brought the technologies of recordings and the electronic media to gospel music. Saved by Song is ultimately the definitive and complete history of a uniquely American art form. It is a must for anyone interested in the musical and spiritual life of a nation.







Precious and Few


Book Description

The early '70s brought us a convoy of great music - everything from camp to classics, one-hit wonders to one-in-a-million superstars. But rock critics often overlook this unique, eclectic, and exuberant slice of our musical history. Not for long. Divided into categories that include bubblegum, progressive rock, self-pity songs, religious pop, Motown, novelty songs, disco, and more, the book captures the magic of early '70s hits.