Is Rock Dead?

Is Rock Dead?
Author: Kevin J.H. Dettmar
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2013-01-11
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1136774033

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.

The Rock And Roll Book Of The Dead

The Rock And Roll Book Of The Dead
Author: David Comfort
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Total Pages: 697
Release: 2009-08-25
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0806532122

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.

Living with the Dead

Living with the Dead
Author: Rock Scully
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2001
Genre: Rock musicians
ISBN: 0815411634

This memoir chronicles the Dead's seminal years: 1965-1985.

Grunge Is Dead

Grunge Is Dead
Author: Greg Prato
Publisher: ECW Press
Total Pages: 738
Release: 2010-12-15
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1554903475

Grunge Is Dead weaves together the definitive story of the Seattle music scene through a series of interviews with the people who were there. Taking the form of an "oral" history, this books contains over 130 interviews, along with essential background information from acclaimed music writer Greg Prato. The early '90s grunge movement may have last only a few years, but it spawned some of the greatest rock music of all time: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden. This book contains the first-ever interview in which Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder was willing to discuss the group's history in great detail; Alice in Chains' band members and Layne Staley's mom on Staley's drug addiction and death; insights into the Riot Grrrl movement and oft-overlooked but highly influential Seattle bands like Mother Love Bone/Andy Wood, the Melvins, Screaming Trees, and Mudhoney; and much more. Grunge Is Dead digs deeper than the average grunge history, starting in the early '60s, and explaining the chain of events that gave way to the grunge movement. The end result is a book that includes a wealth of previously untold stories and insight for the longtime fan, as well as its renowned story for the newcomer. Grunge Is Dead collects the whole truth of grunge music in one comprehensive volume.

Uncommon People

Uncommon People
Author: David Hepworth
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2017-11-21
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1250124131

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.

Why Evolution is True

Why Evolution is True
Author: Jerry A. Coyne
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2010-01-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 019164384X

For all the discussion in the media about creationism and 'Intelligent Design', virtually nothing has been said about the evidence in question - the evidence for evolution by natural selection. Yet, as this succinct and important book shows, that evidence is vast, varied, and magnificent, and drawn from many disparate fields of science. The very latest research is uncovering a stream of evidence revealing evolution in action - from the actual observation of a species splitting into two, to new fossil discoveries, to the deciphering of the evidence stored in our genome. Why Evolution is True weaves together the many threads of modern work in genetics, palaeontology, geology, molecular biology, anatomy, and development to demonstrate the 'indelible stamp' of the processes first proposed by Darwin. It is a crisp, lucid, and accessible statement that will leave no one with an open mind in any doubt about the truth of evolution.

Twilight of the Gods

Twilight of the Gods
Author: Steven Hyden
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2018-05-08
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0062657151

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?

Dead Man's Curve

Dead Man's Curve
Author: Mark A. Moore
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 526
Release: 2021-08-02
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1476672105

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.

The Glen Rock Book of the Dead

The Glen Rock Book of the Dead
Author: Marion Winik
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2010-09
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 145875751X

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 nob...

Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation

Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation
Author: David Malvinni
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2013-02-28
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0810883481

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.