1 hour, 27 minutes   I was unable to embed this video into this platform, so here is the link to the C-Span location. http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/179129-1.  I highly recommend that you watch it.  It got me thinking about the connection between music and politics today.  Does popular music still have a strong influence on freedom and the political structure  within countries?

Below are some links that may help answer that question.

The books I list below will be available at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum Library and Archives when it opens to the public in January, 2012.  You can also check at your local school, college or public library for access.

 

A ferocious government crackdown on the Plastic People and their supporters occurred in 1976. Many of them were jailed, their meager instruments and recording equipment confiscated or destroyed, all in the hope that this troublesome group of avant-garde artistic political radicals would finally be stopped. The problem was that Czech government officials didn’t realize that the music of the Plastic People was being listened to in the West (thanks to favorable reviews of Egon Bondy in the British music press and in America in the Village Voice) and that groups such as Amnesty International were now wondering why these musicians were being persecuted and jailed without trial.

The facts of Victor Jara‘s tragic death are well-documented. Arrested in the aftermath of a military coup d’etat, Jara was one of many political prisoners led to the National Football Stadium where many were tortured, beaten, and executed. Although his hands were broken or, as many have claimed, amputated, Jara continued to sing a song supporting the ousted Popular Unity Party. After receiving many brutal blows, Jara stopped singing only when a machine gun fired by a military officer took his life. In the nearly three decades since, Jara‘s songs and spirit have been celebrated by numerous politically minded folksingers including Pete Seeger and Tom Paxton. Arlo Guthrie set Adrian Mitchell‘s ballad “Victor Jara,” and recorded it on his album, Amigo. Undoubtedly, although Jara‘s heart may have been forcefully stilled, his music has lived on.

I wanted to post some more new books that we have received.  I am excited that books are filling up our shelves, but it couldn’t be done without the hard work of our cataloging team here at the Library and Archives.  So props to our team of catalogers who have been working diligently to get these items into our catalog.  We have partnered with Case Western Reserve University Library, so our holdings with appear in their catalog with the Rock Hall Library location. Once the library is open, we will have our own in-house catalog which will include the Finding Aidsfor our archival materials.   OUr Archivists have also been hard at work developing these Finding Aids so that they will be ready for  you when we open. Phew!

MORE NEW BOOKS

American recordings / Tony Tost

This title offers a superb investigation of what is arguably Johnny Cash’s
greatest album, focusing on his enduring mythology. When Johnny Cash signed to
Rick Rubin’s record label in 1993, he was a country music legend who, like his
fellow Highwaymen Willie, Waylon and Kris, remained a fondly regarded yet
completely marginalized Nashville figure, unheard on the radio and unseen on the
charts. Cash’s odyssey from oldies act to folk hero pivots on his first American
Recordings album, a document of almost unbearable solitude and directness. It is
a singular record, an instance in which a musical giant has been granted a kind
of midnight reprieve, a chance to regain and renew his legend. Tony Tost
illuminates the ways in which American Recordings is the crossroads where
cultural, spiritual and mythic archetypes come together in the figure of The Man
in Black. Ultimately, this is a guidebook to myth and mystery, a means of
apprehending the stark beauty of Cash’s greatest record, the sound of a man
alone and fighting for his soul, one song at a time. “33 1/3″ is a series of
short books about a wide variety of albums, by artists ranging from James Brown
to the Beastie Boys. Launched in September 2003, the series now contains over 60
titles and is acclaimed and loved by fans, musicians and scholars alike.

Guitar heroes of the ’70s / edited by Michael Molenda

Launched in 1967, Guitar Player was the only guitar publication in existence when the ’60s and ’70s six-string explosion ignited across the globe. As a result, Guitar Player interviewed scores of seminal guitar stars as the magic happened. Now Guitar Player has opened its archives to present a thrilling collection of articles that detail the equipment and tone explorations of transcendent guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Duane Allman, Steve Howe, Peter Green, and many others. Every article originally appeared in the 1970s, when these young guns were in the midst of conjuring world-changing guitar sounds, riffs, and musical concepts – all building the foundation for what has become revered as “classic rock.” Anyone wishing to study the building blocks of what drove audiences to first utter the phrase “Guitar Hero” can now get the story straight from the players who earned the title.

Bob Marley : the stories behind every song / Maureen Sheridan

Reggae superstar Bob Marley died 30 years ago, and this Behind the Songs
compilation pays tribute to his musical legacy. Written by Maureen Sheridan-a
writer and editor for Billboard-it features specially conducted
interviews with Rita Marley, all the surviving Wailers, studio engineers, and
others.

 I’m feeling the blues right now : blues tourism and the Mississippi
Delta / Stephen A. King

In I’m Feeling the Blues Right Now: Blues Tourism and the Mississippi
Delta, Stephen A. King reveals the strategies used by blues promoters and
organizers in Mississippi, both African American and white, local and state, to
attract the attention of tourists. In the process, he reveals how promotional
materials portray the Delta’s blues culture and its musicians. Those involved in
selling the blues in Mississippi work to promote the music while often
conveniently forgetting the state’s historical record of racial and economic
injustice. King’s research includes numerous interviews with blues musicians and
promoters, chambers of commerce, local and regional tourism entities, and
members of the Mississippi Blues Commission.

This book is the first critical account of Mississippi’s blues tourism
industry. From the late 1970s until 2000, Mississippi’s blues tourism industry
was fragmented, decentralized, and localized, as each community competed for
tourist dollars. By 2003-2004, with the creation of the Mississippi Blues
Commission, the promotion of the blues became more centralized as state
government played an increasing role in promoting Mississippi’s blues heritage.
Blues tourism has the potential to generate new revenue in one of the poorest
states in the country, repair the state’s public image, and serve as a vehicle
for racial reconciliation.

Beyond and before : progressive rock since the 1960s / Paul Hegarty and
Martin Halliwell

A sweeping new study, Beyond and Before argues that progressive rock is the most concentrated expansion of form in the history of popular music. The book traces the ways in which folk, blues, jazz, psychedelia and classical music of the 1960s were drawn together by progressive musicians, against a backdrop of technological innovation. Rather than pigeonholing progressive rock, the authors explain its diverse roots and argue that a fusion of musical styles and approaches defined the 1970s even after the assault of punk. These connections are grounded by close analysis of albums and key tracks, and an examination of performance and cultural contexts.

Hegarty and Halliwell show that ‘progression’ underpins many
subgenres of rock, including major progressive albums and bands of the 1970s,
alongside neo- and post-progressive musicians from the 1980s to the 2000s.
Featuring artists as diverse as Marillion, Kate Bush, Talk Talk, Radiohead, The
Mars Volta, Porcupine Tree and Midlake, Beyond and Before is ideal reading for anyone interested in exploring the history and meaning of progressive rock – in all its forms.

Bob Dylan : stories behind the songs 1962-69 / Andy Gill

Dylan’s songs defined a generation, and Andy Gill assesses his groundbreaking
1960′s hits. Tracing the artist’s progress from tyro folkie to protest singer
and beyond, Gill examines Dylan’s symbolist lyrics; controversial shift from
acoustic to electric; and surprising embrace of country music.

Red Hot Chili Peppers : the stories behind every song / Rob
Fitzpatrick

Red Hot Chili Peppers front man Anthony Kiedis grew up in Hollywood, hustling a
living with his actor father. He eventually discovered music and fell in with
Hillel Slovak, Jack Irons, and Michael “Flea” Balzary to form the Red Hot Chili
Peppers. Fired up by 1970s funk, rock, ska, and soul, the band fought, split,
kissed, made up, and then fought again. This collision of singular personalities
and musical genius resulted in a run of albums and reputation as a formidable
live act. By the end of the 1980s, though, the band was one man down, with lead
guitarist Hillel Slovak dying from a drug overdose. The struggle gave rise to
1989′s groundbreaking Mother’s Milk album. Pre-dating Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili
Peppers was the first underground band to take what critics dubbed “alternative
rock” into the mainstream charts. In 1991, Blood Sugar Sex Magik compounded the
Chili Peppers’ success, turning its members into bona fide rock stars and
plunging them headlong into a riot of drugs, sex, near-death experiences, and
spiritual awakening. This book looks at the group through dozens of photographs,
and examines the music and stories of one of the most original bands on the
planet.

 Disco / Johnny Morgan ; with a foreword by Gloria Gaynor

This is the ultimate compendium for the dancing queens and the hustle-happy who
put on their boogie shoes, shook their groove thing, and felt the night
fever! From its beginnings in Paris, disco quickly spread around the world,
taking hold of a small club on L.A.’s Sunset Strip and ultimately becoming a
lifestyle that influenced everything from music and dancing to movies to
fashion. Disco captures this incredible phenomenon with great storytelling and
lavish photos and memorabilia from the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s.

Rock brands : selling sound in a media saturated culture / edited by
Elizabeth Barfoot Christian

Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture, edited by Elizabeth Barfoot Christian, is an edited collection that explores how different genres of popular music are branded and marketed today.  The book’s core objectives are addressed over three sections. In the first part of Rock Brands, the authors examine how established mainstream artists/bands are continuing to market themselves in an ever-changing technological world, and how bands can use integrated marketing communication to effectively “brand” themselves. This branding is intended as a protection so that technology and delivery changes don’t stifle the bands’ success. KISS, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Phish, and Miley Cyrus are all popular musical influences considered in this part of the analysis.  In the second section, the authors explore how some musicians effectively use attention-grabbing issues such as politics (for example, Kanye West and countless country musicians) and religion (such as with Christian heavy metal bands and Bon Jovi) in their lyrics, and also how imagery is utilized by artists such as Marilyn Manson to gain a fan base. Finally, the book will explore specific changes in the media available to market music today (see M.I.A. and her use of new media) and,similarly, how these resources can benefit music icons even after they are long gone, as with Elvis and Michael Jackson. Rock Brands further examines gaming, reality television, and social networking sites as new outlets for marketing and otherwise experiencing popular music. What makes some bands stand out and succeed when so many fail? How does one find a niche that isn’t just kitsch and can stand the test of time, allowing the musician to grow as an artist as well as grow a substantial fan base? Elizabeth Barfoot Christian and the book’s contributors expertly navigate these questions and more in Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture.

Marquee moon / Bryan Waterman

Two kids in their early twenties walk down the Bowery on a spring afternoon, just as the proprietor of a club hangs a sign with the new name for his venue. The place will be called CBGB which, he tells them, stands for “Country Bluegrass and Blues.” That’s exactly the sort of stuff they play, they lie, somehow managing to get a gig out of him. After the first show their band, Television, lands a regular string of Sundays. By the end of the summer a scene has developed that includes Tom Verlaine’s new love interest, a poet-turned-rock chanteuse named Patti Smith. American punk rock is born.

Bryan Waterman peels back the layers of the origin myth and, assembling a rich historical archive, situates Marquee Moon in a broader cultural history of SoHo and the East Village. As Waterman traces the downtown scene’s influences, public image, and reputation via a range of print, film, and audio recordings we come to recognize the real historical surprises that the documentary evidence still has to yield.

Pretty hate machine / by Daphne Carr

This is the story of the depraved, no-future land called the American Midwest in the 1980s, and of a boy who rose from a dismal town (population 2300) to become one of the biggest selling musicians of the 1990s. A kid from a broken home, and a college drop-out, Trent Reznor wrote the material that would become Pretty Hate Machine while a janitor at a studio where he tinkered after-hours. Each of the midnight layers that made the album opener “Head Like a Hole” such a claustrophobic head-trip came from just one guy, on one synth, in one room. Daphne Carr’s book will fill in the background of Trent Reznor’s early years in Mercer, Pennsylvania – a miserable backwater offering only television and radio waves as indications that interesting places did exist. Somewhere else. Daphne Carr interviews dozens of hardcore NIN fans, digging up memories of what it was like to encounter this album in 1989, and discussing how Trent Reznor’s persona and worldview impacted on the lives of these fans – including herself. This book not only tells the story of the birth of Nine Inch Nails, but also gives voice to a peculiarly American subculture that – especially since the Columbine shootings – has been widely vilified: Mall Goths, of whom Trent Reznor is undoubtedly the patron saint.

Rockabilly : the twang heard ’round the world : the illustrated history
/ editor, Michael Dregni ; featuring Greil Marcus … [et al.] ; foreword by
Sonny Burgess

It was the twang heard ’round the world: Rockabilly was born out of country,
bluegrass, jazz, and the blues in the 1950s, becoming rock ’n’ roll and ruling
the world. Here’s the story of Elvis Presley’s first Sun records that inspired
all. And here’s Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis,
Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and many more rockabillies from the golden years of
1955–1959, in a book chock full of photos, collectible memorabilia, movie
posters, rare records, fashion, and rebel lifestyle. Includes contributions from
noted music journalists Greil Marcus, Peter Guralnick, Luc Sante, Robert Gordon,
and more.

You’re living all over me / Nick Attfield

This is an in-depth study of the visceral slacker classic from 1987, an album
that influenced enormously the nascent alternative scene. Dinosaur Jr, the
stereotypical slackers. Mascis, Barlow, Murph (just Murph): three early-twenty
somethings still overburdened by a torpid adolescence and a disastrous dress
sense. With battered guitar, bass, and kit, they carry around a catalogue of
songs that betrays identities half-formed at best, schizoid at worst. But
listen. “1987″, a new album, a snapshot of a moment when a furious musical
intensity swung upwards and pushed their lyrics and Mascis’ vocal whine far into
the margins. Searing riffs, mountainous solos, and the tightest of fills -
underpinned by stream-of-consciousness structures and a palette of crazed
effects – steal the show. These three build a one-off sound that stirred up the
hardening alternative mainstream and drove it to distraction. “You’re Living All
Over Me”: supposedly Mascis’ indictment of what it was like to tour in a van
with these other two misfits, but also testimony to the obsession – an itch, a
disease – that the band’s disengagement from their world had produced. This
record cares so little it cares a lot.

The Austin Chronicle music  anthology / edited by Austin Powell & Doug Freeman ; foreword by Daniel Johnston ; introduction by Louis Black

“Music saturates the city of Austin, always has, and likely always will,”
observes Louis Black, the founding editor of the renowned alternative newspaper,
The Austin Chronicle. Music is more than simply the sound track of
Austin, however; it’s a force inseparable from the city’s culture, economics,
politics, and daily life. The very history of Austin can be drafted upon the
frequencies that flood its streets, from legendary clubs–Antone’s, Emo’s, and
the Broken Spoke–to internationally renowned events such as South by Southwest
and the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Since publishing its first issue in
1981, The Austin Chronicle has evolved alongside the city’s sound
to define and give voice to “The Live Music Capital of the World.”

In honor of the Chronicle‘s thirtieth anniversary, this  anthology gathers the weekly’s best music writing and photography, with introductions to each decade by the paper’s principal voices, Margaret Moser, Raoul Hernandez, and Christopher Gray. Through album and live show reviews, stunning portraits, and in-depth articles, the collection traces the roots of Austin’s unique sound, featuring seminal artists ranging from Doug Sahm and Stevie Ray Vaughan to the Butthole Surfers and Spoon. With historical pieces that look back at Twelfth Street’s blues beginnings, the Sixties’ psychedelic
origins, and the definitive progressive country scene of the Seventies, the
anthology provides an unparalleled sweep of Austin music history, while also
shining light on the integral but often overlooked figures of the music scene
with a thoroughness and honesty that’s hallmark to the Chronicle‘s
style. Framing the work from such esteemed music writers as Chet Flippo, Ed
Ward, Dave Marsh, Joe Nick Patoski, John T. Davis, Michael Corcoran, and Peter
Blackstock, are now-iconic images from photographers Burton Wilson, Scott
Newton, John Carrico, and Todd Wolfson, among others.

Dirty South : Outkast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern rappers
who reinvented hip-hop / Ben Westhoff

Reveals the roots of southern rap, examining the groundbreaking artists and labels who have changed hip-hop – and the scene’s haters. Southern rap dominates the airwaves, and has challenged the authority and coastal dominance of the scene since the early-2000s. While it’s clearly appealing to the masses, its cultural significance has been hotly debated, and its emergence has been contentious in the hip-hop world. In 2007, original West Coast gangsta rapper Ice-T accused viral-success-story Soulja Boy of “single-handedly” killing hip hop, and he wasn’t alone in his ire.

Acting as both investigative journalist and irreverent critic, Westhoff journeys across the southern United States in a small Hyundai, and the exclusive interviews with the genre’s prominent players take many forms—watching rappers “make it rain” in a Houston strip club, partying with Luke Campbell, visiting the gritty neighborhoods where T. I. and Lil Wayne grew up, and speaking with popular-but-derided artists DJ Smurf and Ms. Peachez along the way. The celebrated but dark history of Houston’s Rap-A-Lot Records, the lethal rivalry between Atlanta’s Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy, and the venerable Scarface’s memories from time in a mental institution are just a few of the textured and tricky subjects explored.

Westhoff explores the genre that is often thought of as “simple” or lacking a message. Including interviews with key figures like Luke Campbell, Juvenile, Big Boi of OutKast, Memphis trailblazers 8Ball & MJG, Lil Jon, and Ludacris, Dirty South shares the stories of acts that put southern rap on the map, and lays out why the genre is so vital.

Peppered with surprising details and insider perspectives that make the growth and revolution of hip-hop a cultural touchstone, Dirty South is a fresh and highly readable account of the scene, the society that fostered it and its effect on the music industry.

Well that is all I have time for today. I will post some more books tomorrow. I told you I’ve been buying a lot! Remember, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum Library and Archives is gearing up to open to the public in January 2012. Hope to see you here using our fabulous resources!

]]> http://iwasborntorockandroll.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/more-new-books-at-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-museum-library-and-archives/feed/ 0 zoomusicgirl http://iwasborntorockandroll.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/new-books-at-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-museum-library-and-archives/ http://iwasborntorockandroll.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/new-books-at-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-museum-library-and-archives/#comments Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:49:46 +0000 Laura http://iwasborntorockandroll.wordpress.com/?p=75 Continue reading →]]> I’ve been a bit busy since I arrived here about a month ago. For one thing, I have been ordering a lot of books in preparation for the Library and Archives Grand Opening in January 2012.   I will post some more new books later.  I want to give you a preview of what you will find on the shelves when the library opens.  Right now we are not available to help you with your Rock and Roll research, but we will be very very soon.

Def Leppard : the definitive visual history / photographs by Ross Halfin
; foreword by Joe Elliott.

Def Leppard’s unstoppable, anthemic hard rock has earned it sales of more than
65 million albums worldwide and a legion of dedicated fans. This fully
authorized visual history of the band follows them from the new wave of British
heavy metal to their massive Pyromania and Hysteria albums to
the sustained power of their records and tours today. Legendary rock
photographer Ross Halfin has been shooting Def Leppard since 1978, and his
candid and definitive pictures have helped capture and shape the image of the
band. Def Leppard includes more than 450 classic and unseen
photographs, along with text from Halfin and stories and commentary by the band
members and others. The book’s publication coincides with the release of an
all-new Def Leppard album in the spring and a worldwide tour in the summer.

1000 songs that rock your world / Dave Thompson

A headlong collision between controversy, humor and respect, held together by an
abiding love for rock and pop music, 1,000 Songs That Rock Your World is the
ultimate guide to the best music of the past 50+ years. From Abba to ZZ Top, via
the Beatles, Elvis, the Stones, Bruce and the Bee Gees, this isn’t simply the
ideal companion to any music collection, it is also the ultimate guide for the
iTunes /Youtube generation, a one-stop catalog of the ultimate listening
experience.

Rush and philosophy : heart and mind united / edited by Jim Berti and
Durrell Bowman.

For forty years Rush has gone its own way, combining serious thought and the highest musical standards to create a uniquely identifiable yet continually evolving musical and lyrical style.

Sticking to their own mission and purpose, fiercely independent of all mindless fashions, Geddy, Alex, and Neil have outlasted their superficial detractors, and are now more popular than ever, with no end in sight to their ever-expanding following.  The biggest of all cult bands, they have made the mainstream come to them.  They now pack stadiums like no other band, and in number of consecutive platinum and gold albums, they rank third after the Beatles and the Stones.

Rush’s clear-sighted scrutiny of political tyranny, religious orthodoxy, mind control, the nature of free will and individuality, the human potential for fulfillment, and our relationship to machines makes the group a prophetic voice that speaks directly and honestly to millions of receptive minds in every country.

Rush and Philosophy comes at Rush from many different angles and concerns.  The writers are scholarly thinkers with diverse backgrounds who love Rush’s music and who “get” the meaning and importance of it.

The 70′s : the hits and the trivia / by Ted Yates

From country and rock to soul and R & B, this one-stop reference covers all
the hit songs of the 1970s, highlighting fascinating facts and entertaining
trivia for each one. Along with the 170 chart-toppers of the decade, many other
lists are featured, including each year’s top albums, one-hit wonders, and the
most popular songs by genre. Recapturing an eclectic and memorable decade, this
lively recollection also contains a “Whatever Became of . . . ” section and more
than 30 memorable album covers of the era.

33 revolutions per minute : a history of protest songs, from Billie
Holiday to Green Day / Dorian Lynskey.

The protest song reached its zenith in 1960s America when Bob Dylan, Buffalo
Springfield, Country Joe and the Fish, Jimi Hendrix, and Joan Baez wrote popular
songs to protest American involvement in the Vietnam War and the mistreatment of
social and economic groups. In some cases—Dylan’s “Masters of War,” P.F. Sloan’s
“Eve of Destruction,” Country Joe McDonald’s “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die
Rag”—the songs became anthems that defined a generation, confirming the idea
that popular music could indeed bring people together to promote a common cause
for the common good. Sadly, British music critic Lynskey doesn’t capture the
deep significance of the protest song or the cultural moments that created them.
Although he admirably attempts to isolate the personal and cultural contexts of
33 protest songs, from Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” and James Brown’s “Say
It Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud” to the Clash’s “White Riot,” Public Enemy’s
“Fight the Power,” and Steve Earle’s “John Walker’s Blues,” Lynskey doesn’t
fully demonstrate the reasons that each song qualifies as a protest song in the
first place, or why the songs he gathered provide the best examples of a protest
song.

Fire and rain : the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY,
and the lost story of 1970 / David Browne.

January 1970: the Beatles assemble one more time to put the finishing touches
on Let It Be; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are wrapping up Déjà
Vu; Simon and Garfunkel are unveiling Bridge Over Troubled Water;
James Taylor is an upstart singer-songwriter who’s just completed Sweet Baby
James. Over the course of the next twelve months, their lives–and the world
around them–will change irrevocably. Fire and Rain tells the story of
four iconic albums of 1970 and the lives, times, and constantly intertwining
personal ties of the remarkable artists who made them. Acclaimed journalist
David Browne sets these stories against an increasingly chaotic backdrop of
events that sent the world spinning throughout that tumultuous year: Kent State,
the Apollo 13 debacle, ongoing bombings by radical left-wing groups, the
diffusion of the antiwar movement, and much more.

Featuring candid interviews with more than 100 luminaries, including some of
the artists themselves, Browne’s vivid narrative tells the incredible story of
how–over the course of twelve turbulent months–the ’60s effectively ended and
the ’70s began.

Enter night : a biography of Metallica / Mick Wall

Their roots lie in the heavy rock of 70s groups like Deep Purple. The music
they played—heavy metal mixed with punk attitude—became its own genre: thrash.
Their bassist died and they survived to became the biggest-selling band in the
world. As grunge threatened to overtake them, they reinvented themselves. Then
their singer went into rehab and they almost fell apart. They are Metallica, the
most influential heavy metal band of the last thirty years.

As Led Zeppelin was for hard rock and the Sex Pistols were for punk,
Metallica became the band that defined the look and sound of 1980s heavy metal.
Inventors of thrash metal—Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth followed—it was always
Metallica who led the way, who pushed to another level, who became the last of
the superstar rockers.

Metallica is the fifth-largest selling artist of all time, with 100 million
records sold worldwide. Their music has extended its reach beyond rock and
metal, and into the pop mainstream, as they went from speed metal to MTV with
their hit single “Enter Sandman”. Until now there hasn’t been a critical,
authoritative, in-depth portrait of the band. Mick Wall’s thoroughly researched,
insightful work is enriched by his interviews with band members, record company
execs, roadies, and fellow musicians. He tells the story of how a
tennis-playing, music-loving Danish immigrant named Lars Ulrich created a band
with singer James Hetfield and made his dreams a reality. Enter Night
follows the band through tragedy and triumph, from the bus crash that killed
their bassist Cliff Burton in 1986 to the 2004 documentary Some Kind of
Monster, and on to their current status as the leaders of the Big Four
festival that played to a million fans in Britain and Europe and continues in
the U.S. in 2011.

Enter Night delves into the various incarnations of the band, and the
personalities of all key members, past and present—especially Ulrich and
Hetfield—to produce the definitive word on the biggest metal band on the planet.

Red : my uncensored life in rock / Sammy Hagar ; with Joel Selvin ;
foreword by Michael Anthony

Loud rock, fast cars, and Cabo. This is the life of Sammy Hagar.For almost forty years, Sammy Hagar has been a fixture in rock music. From breaking into the industry with the band Montrose to his multiplatinum solo career to his ride as the front man of Van Halen, Sammy’s powerful and unforgettable voice has set the tone for some of the greatest rock anthems ever written—songs like “I Can’t Drive 55,” “Right Now,” and “Why Can’t This Be Love.”

In Red, Sammy tells the outrageous story of his tear through rock
‘n’ roll, detailing the backstage antics and nonstop touring that have made his
voice instantly recognizable. Beginning with his musical coming-of-age in the
blue-collar towns of California, Sammy traces his rough and determined rise to
fame, working harder than anyone else out there and writing songs about the
things he loved—fast cars, loud parties, and lots of good times.

But solo success was just the start, a prelude to his raucous and notorious
decade as the front man for Van Halen, one of the biggest-selling rock groups in
history. Filled with behind-the-scenes stories from his time with the band,
Red offers the Van Halen story as Sammy saw it, holding nothing back
about the worldwide stadium tours, the tensions with Eddie, the messy parties,
the divided friendships, and, of course, his controversial and widely disputed
exit from the band.

After Van Halen, Sammy changed directions again, throwing himself headfirst
into the tequila business and creating Cabo Wabo, one of the most successful
tequila brands in the world. And all the while he continued to rock, touring the
country with his bands the Waboritas and Chickenfoot, and eventually reuniting
with Van Halen for a tour that became both a box-office smash and a personal
catastrophe.

Rock & roll : and the beat goes on / “Cousin Brucie” Morrow, with
Rich Maloof ; foreword by Brian Wilson ; preface by Petula Clark ; epilogue by
Billy Joel

Following up on Doo Wop: The Music, the Times, the Era, this
retrospective celebrates the rock scene of the 1960s and early 1970s. Legendary
deejay Morrow and Maloof, former editor-in-chief of Guitar, note the
eruption of drugs, radicalism and freakery into rock during the 1960s, but
politely spare us the juicy details we expect from a man with the kind of
all-access pass Morrow had. Morrow makes prim reference to the Doors’
controversy-courting frontman Jim Morrison and to Ozzie Osbourne’s reputation as
a very strange person. Morrow does highlight the Beatles’ first performance at
Shea Stadium in 1965—which he himself emceed. The screams of 55,000 fans were so
loud that Ed Sullivan nervously turned to Morrow and asked, Is this going to be
dangerous? The authors include sidebar appreciations of individual bands and
illuminate, through their photographic documentation, the apocalyptic changes
in, among other things, men’s hair styles during the 1960s. Descriptions of pop
culture symbols—the 1965 Mustang; Batman TV series; The
Graduate—help put perspective on the music of the era. The authors cover
everything, from the British Invasion (Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, etc.) to
Motown (including the Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas), ending with the
Doobie Brothers, Allman Brothers, Steely Dan and Pink Floyd.

Out of the vinyl deeps : Ellen Willis on rock music / Ellen Willis ; edited by Nona Willis Aronowitz ; foreword by Sasha Frere-Jones ; afterword by Daphne Carr and Evie Nagy

In 1968, the New Yorker hired Ellen Willis as its first popular
music critic. Her column, Rock, Etc., ran for seven years and established Willis
as a leader in cultural commentary and a pioneer in the nascent and otherwise
male-dominated field of rock criticism. As a writer for a magazine with a
circulation of nearly half a million, Willis was also the country’s most widely
read rock critic. With a voice at once sharp, thoughtful, and ecstatic, she
covered a wide range of artists—Bob Dylan, The Who, Van Morrison, Elvis Presley,
David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joni Mitchell,
the Velvet Underground, Sam and Dave, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie
Wonder—assessing their albums and performances not only on their originality,
musicianship, and cultural impact but also in terms of how they made her
feel. Because Willis stopped writing about music in the early 1980s—when, she
felt, rock ’n’ roll had lost its political edge—her significant contribution to
the history and reception of rock music has been overshadowed by contemporary
music critics like Robert Christgau, Lester Bangs, and Dave Marsh. Out of the
Vinyl Deeps collects for the first time Willis’s Rock, Etc. columns and her
other writings about popular music from this period (includingliner notes for
works by Lou Reed and Janis Joplin) and reasserts her rightful place in rock
music criticism. More than simply setting the record straight, Out of the Vinyl
Deeps reintroduces Willis’s singular approach and style—her use of music to
comment on broader social and political issues, critical acuity, vivid prose,
against-the-grain opinions, and distinctly female (and feminist) perspective—to
a new generation of readers. Featuring essays by the New Yorker’s current
popular music critic, Sasha Frere-Jones, and cultural critics Daphne Carr and
Evie Nagy, this volume also provides a lively and still relevant account of rock
music during, arguably, its most innovative period.

Women who rock : vision passion power / Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and
Museum ; James Henke, editor

Explores the role and impact of female musicians in the world of rock and pop
music, from early 20th century roots artists to contemporary stars of the
Aughts, through photos, clothing, and memorabilia.

Not dead & not for sale : the earthling papers : a memoir / Scott
Weiland with David Ritz

In the early 1990s, Stone Temple Pilots—not U2, not Nirvana, not Pearl Jam— was
the hottest band in the world. STP toppled such mega-bands as Aerosmith and Guns
N’ Roses on MTV and the Billboard charts. Lead singer Scott Weiland
became an iconic front man in the tradition of Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and
Robert Plant.Then, when STP imploded, it was Weiland who emerged as the emblem of rock star excess, with his well-publicized drug busts and trips to rehab. Weiland has
since made a series of stunning comebacks, fronting the supergroup Velvet
Revolver, releasing solo work, and, most recently, reuniting with Stone Temple
Pilots. He still struggles with the bottle, but he has prevailed as a loving,
dedicated father, as well as a business-savvy artist whose well of creativity is
far from empty.These earthling papers explore Weiland’s early years as an altar boy right along with his first experiences with sex and drugs. Weiland discusses his
complex relationships with his parents, stepfather, siblings, and the love of
his life, Mary Forsberg Weiland. Readers learn the fascinating stories behind
his most well-known songs and what it was like to be there at the beginning of
the grunge phenomenon, as Rolling Stone proclaimed on its cover: “the
year punk broke.” Not Dead & Not for Sale is a hard rock memoir to be
reckoned with—a passionate, insightful, and at times humorous book that reads
with extraordinary narrative force. 

1950s radio in color : the lost photographs of deejay Tommy Edwards /
Christopher Kennedy
Between 1955 and 1960, popular Cleveland deejay Tommy Edwards photographed
the parade of performers who passed through the WERE-AM radio studio for on-air
interviews, shooting more than 1,700 Ektachrome slides. Following his death in
1981, most of the collection vanished and was presumed lost. The few images that
remained were often reprinted and rarely credited to Edwards, labeled
photographer unknown. Until now.

Discovered by musician Chris Kennedy in
2006, Tommy Edwards’s candid photographs capture the birth of rock ‘n’ roll at
its flashpoint: Elvis Presley while he was still dangerous; a raw and incomplete
Chuck Berry before his star ascended; and some beady-eyed, high-voiced kid named
Roy Orbison. It wasn’t just the architects of rock music whom Edwards had in his
viewfinder. There were also pop and country music s biggest stars, mysterious,
unknown hopefuls, and vulnerable, deglamourized Hollywood celebrities. Edwards’s
passion for photography immortalized hundreds of pioneers of rock ‘n’ roll and
pop culture in the radio studio, a setting that was often unseen. His photos
offer a rare look behind a closed door.

In 2009, Kennedy located the only
surviving copy of the T.E. Newsletter collection, Tommy Edwards’s self-published
weekly two-page recap of Cleveland radio and record news for music business
insiders, spanning from 1953 through 1960. The wealth of information and dates
contained in the newsletters are the photo collection’s indispensable companion
piece, and Edwards’s anecdotal quips are interspersed throughout the text of the
book.

1950s Radio in Color gives Tommy Edwards his due recognition
as the deejay responsible for perhaps the most important photographic and
written documentation of twentieth-century music ever produced. Featuring over
200 color photographs, this book will transport readers back in time, allowing
them to step into Edwards’s shoes for a moment and to feel the wonder and
excitement he must have felt every day while witnessing a cultural revolution.

Music in Dreamland : Bill Nelson & Be Bop Deluxe / Paul Sutton Reeves

Music in Dreamland is the authorized biography of Bill Nelson, best
known as guitarist, singer, and songwriter with ’70s art rock band Be Bop
Deluxe. Be Bop came to prominence through a combination of rock theatrics and
Nelson’s flamboyant guitar work, moving from glam rock to new wave via the
band’s art rock masterwork, Sunburst Finish. After Nelson split from Be
Bop Deluxe, he formed the acclaimed but short-lived Red Noise, with whom he
recorded the new wave classic Sound On Sound before embarking on a solo
career. He continues to record and perform live.

Electric Eden : unearthing Britain’s visionary music / Rob Young

In this massive, beguiling history of 20th-century British folk music and its
legacy, music journalist Young surveys the scene from the Edwardian revival
through its postwar coffee-house heyday to contemporary outcroppings. He probes
its influences on other genres, from the classical music of Ralph Vaughan
Williams to the plangent Renaissance-ish harmonies of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway
to Heaven”; the book’s headliners are folk-rock luminaries of the ’60s and ’70s:
Fairport Convention, the Incredible String Band, Steeleye Span, and Nick Drake.
Young roots his narrative in analyses of folk traditions and the eternal English
nostalgia for a mythic rural past, but he also treats the folkie eruption as a
very modern reaction to the discontents of industrial society. The folk culture
he celebrates is really that of the musicians themselves: their gypsy
wanderings, their clubs and festivals and country-house idylls, their debauches
and overdoses, their fashion oscillations between hobbit outfits and pagan
nudity. American readers’ eyes may glaze at the endless litany of groups they
have never heard of, but many will be inspired to rediscover these bands by
Young’s evocations of their music—and the romantic yearnings it expressed.
Photos

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She told us how she brought together Goldie and the Gingerbreads, finding her drummer in a corner of a bar backing up a piano player. How they had to go to the UK to become popular in the States and how Hermans Hermits beat them to a hit record with Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat. She told us how she talked Ronnie Spector into covering The Ramones, and about her love for working with Stiv Bators and Cheetah Chrome.

She says its all in her book, which I need to now read.

Here is a video of Goldie and the Gingerbreads performing in the UK.

Thanks Genya. You totally rock.

Laura

The Museum also has one of the largest Education Departments that offers free programs open to the public. Tomorrow I am going to attend the program featuring Genya Ravan.

Genya Ravan will be featured as part of the “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power” exhibit, now ongoing at the Museum. Genya also has a personal website: http://www.genyaravan.com/

GENYA RAVAN RARE CHANNEL 5 NEW YORK INTERVIEW 1977

I will give you a report on the Genya Ravan event posthaste.

Enjoy.

Laura

Music at the J. Paul Leonard Library

The reason I moved to Cleveland is an exciting one.  Tomorrow is my first day as Public Services Librarian at the Library and Archives for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I was born in Chicago so being back in the Midwest is familiar to me.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives isn’t yet open to the public, but the doors plan to open in January of 2012.   We will be getting it ready for you to come use its resources.

I will keep this introductory post short and leave you with this little  ditty by The Beatles.

Ciao for now!  Laura