Showing titles in History & Criticism

Beatleness explains how the band became a source of emotional, intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual nurturance in fans’ lives, creating a relationship that was historically unique. Looking at that relationship against the backdrop of the sexual revolution, the Vietnam War, political assassinations, and other events of those tumultuous years, the audiobook critically examines the often-heard assertion that the Beatles changed everything.

In 1979, 2 Tone exploded into the national conscience as records by The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The Beat, and The Bodysnatchers burst onto the charts and a youth movement was born. 2 Tone was black and white: a multi-racial force of British and Caribbean island musicians singing about social issues, racism, class and gender struggles. It spoke of injustices in society and took fight against right wing extremism. The music of 2 Tone was exuberant: white youth learning to dance to the infectious rhythm of ska and reggae; and crossed with a punk attitude to create an original hybrid.

Decades tend to crest halfway through, and 1995 was the year of the Nineties: peak Britpop, peak YBA (Tracey Emin's tent), peak New Lad (when Nick Hornby published High Fidelity, when James Brown's Loaded detonated the publishing industry, and when pubs were finally allowed to stay open on a Sunday). It was the year of The Bends, the year Danny Boyle started filming Trainspotting, the year Richey Edwards went missing, the year Alex Garland wrote The Beach, the year Blair changed Clause IV after a controversial vote at the Labour Conference.

It was a magical time enhanced by radio as well as the great live performances. Radio and music of the Big Band Era were made for each other, and the so-called Swing Years were a golden age of rhythm. It was not just music that made you want to dance. It was music that made you glow, music that made you want to sing, music that made you come alive, music for falling in love. And, despite the passage of time, it still is.

Music plays such an important part in everyone’s life, but how much do we know about the history of music? How did music shape our civilization, and how was music itself shaped by the Catholic Church? Susan Treacy, an experienced professor of music, is an excellent guide to the history of music. Every Catholic should own at least one book on music.

Explore five decades of hey genre that came from the streets. With the invention of sampling and the emergence of DJs in the 1970s, it was time to grab your grandmother's photograph and start making some money. Journey through 50 years of an emergent genre and the artists and albums that made this music what it is today.

The '80s were about big ideas writ large - new money, new style, gender fluidity, gay pride, attritional politics, the 'special relationship', nuclear fear, AIDS, cocaine, ecstasy, tabloid royalty, the rise of urban pop and ultimately geopolitical chaos. Using a big narrative approach, Dylan Jones' history of the decade in pop frames the decade through some of its most important and popular hits, choosing records that either epitomised their time or ushered in a new cultural shift.

A small-town Florida teenager discovers punk rock through a loaned mix tape, and punk music and culture slowly takes over all aspects of his life. His new passion causes him to form a band, track down out-of-print records he loves and reissue them, open a record store, start a record distribution operation as a public service, mentor a host of young musicians, and befriend all manner of punk luminaries along the way. Slowly his life's pursuit pushes him to the point of personal ruination and, ultimately, redemption.

This Very Short Introduction, written with both humor and flair, begins with a sampling of music as human activity and then goes on to consider the slippery phenomenon of how music has become an object of thought. Covering not only Western and classical music, Cook touches on all types from rock to Indonesian music and beyond. Incorporating musical forms from every continent, Music will be enjoyable for beginner and expert alike.

This enlightening book reframes the history of hip-hop—and this time, women are given credit for all their trailblazing achievements that have left an undeniable impact on music. First Things First, hip-hop is not just the music, and women have played a big role in shaping the way it looks today. First Things First takes listeners on a journey through some notable firsts by women in hip-hop history and their importance.

Seis músicos imprescindibles para comprender la compleja evolución de la historia del rock -Bowie, Cohen, Mercury, Cash, Harrison y Zevon-, en la medida que sus influyentes obras evidencian extraordinarias cualidades artísticas, tan originales como contrapuestas.

In more than 40 stories from the glory days of rock’n’roll, featuring Lou Reed, Elton John, Sting and The Clash, Allan Jones remembers a world that once was – one of dark excess and excitement, outrageous deeds and extraordinary talent, featuring legends at both the beginnings and ends of their careers.

Author and singer John Potter tells the European story of song. The form has captivated audiences and excited performers for centuries, from the music of the troubadours and the Christian liturgy through classical composers such as Bach and Schumann up to Britten, Berio, and the rise of popular music. Choosing twelve key works, Potter offers a personal tour through this vital tradition, from John Dowland's "Flow My Tears" to George Gershwin's "Summertime." Throughout, he reveals who wrote and sang these joyful masterpieces—and what they mean to singers and audiences today.

La biografía integral de Roger Waters, cerebro de una de las bandas más importantes de los últimos sesenta años, en un recorrido que va de su infancia—marcada por la desaparición de su padre en la guerra—a la ebullición cultural de la Inglaterra de los Beatles y los Stones y después. Syd Barrett, las giras, los discos, El lado oscuro de la luna, The Wall, David Gilmour, la militancia política y las peleas y polémicas de una carrera única que lo encuentra vital como siempre y tocando por todo el mundo a los 80.

André Gide, one of the great intellectuals of the 20th century and a devoted pianist, invites readers to reevaluate Frédéric Chopin as a composer "betrayed...deeply, intimately, totally violated" by a music community that had fundamentally misinterpreted his work. As a profound admirer of Chopin’s "promenade of discoveries", Gide intersperses musical notation throughout the text to illuminate his arguments, but most moving is Gide’s own poetic expression for the music he so loved.

Paul Morley had stopped being surprised by modern pop music and found himself retreating into the sounds of artists he loved when, as an emerging music journalist in the '70s, he wrote for NME. But not wishing to give in to dreary nostalgia, endlessly circling back to the bands he wrote about in the past, he went searching for something new, rare and wondrous - and found it in classical music.

The Beatles' third tour of North America was nearly a year in the planning. By late 1964, manager Brian Epstein knew that they were not only the biggest act in his stable: they had become the biggest act on earth. America worshipped them. Somewhere different for the start of this tour, in New York - somewhere appropriately massive - had to be found. It was: a baseball stadium in Flushing, Queens. On August 15, 1965, The Beatles played the concert of their lives there.

From Mozart to Mendelssohn, this comprehensive guide to classical music history and classical music biography is the perfect latest addition to the best-selling Big Ideas series. Easy to understand and clear to follow, this history of classical music explores and explains music theory and the impact of seminal pieces, while also providing fascinating stories about the lives of crucial composers and performers. Including an insightful foreword by Katie Derham, The Classical Music Book analyses more than 90 works by famous composers.

From Nathan Rabin, the original head writer of the A.V Club, coiner of the phrase "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" and the author of Weird Al: The Book (with Al Yankovic), comes 7 Days in Ohio, the riveting concluding entry in the "Trilogy of Psychological Terror." The tragicomic, pop-culture-crazed trilogy began with 2009's The Big Rewind (which The New York Times hailed as "full of caustic wit") and continued with 2013's You Don't Know Me But You Don't Like Me, which was named by Rolling Stone and Slate as one of the best books of the year. The "If We Make It Through November expanded edition" ...

From the award-winning author of Bring It On Home: Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin, and Beyond and Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd comes this deeply researched alphabetical biography of Queen and each of its dynamic members. Addressing the phenomenal success of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, acclaimed music journalist Mark Blake builds on the legend of Queen and their enduring audience appeal.