The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Author: Holly George-Warren
Publisher: Harper Design
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2009-10-06
Genre: Art
ISBN:

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is the most famous rock and roll institution in the world. In 2009, the Hall of Fame celebrated its twenty-fifth year with numerous events in Cleveland and a two-day anniversary filmed concert on October 29 and 30, 2009 at Madison Square Garden. A four-hour edited version appeared on HBO. An illustrated, vibrant book commemorating the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s twenty-fifth anniversary through colorful profiles of its inductees over the years, this volume includes a wealth of historical photography, archival memorabilia, and the low-down on the musicians and their contributions to the genre. It is published with the full support of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, allowing full access to their archives. Jann Wenner, co-founder and publishier of Rolling Stone magazine, has contributed the foreword. It is an essential volume that completes every rock lover's bookshelf. Every inductee in the Hall of Fame is included--from musicians to producers--in an engaging visual format that features great vintage and contemporary photography, memorabilia from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, first-person quotes and anecdotes, encapsulated biographies, statistics on top-selling records, hits, awards, influences and influencers. Often hilarious, sometimes sentimental and sometimes very serious, the book answers questions like: What did Sheryl Crow say when she inducted Fleetwood Mac? What did the Edge say when he inducted the Clash? What did Bono say when he inducted Bruce Springsteen in 1999--and six years later, what did Springsteen say about U2? It is a seminal book for rock and roll fans around the world.

The House That Rock Built

The House That Rock Built
Author: Norm N. Nite
Publisher: Kent State University Press
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2020-09
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781606353998

The behind-the-scenes battle for the Rock Hall For 25 years, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has defined Cleveland's image as the "Rock and Roll Capital of the World." But while the Rock Hall has become an iconic landmark for the city of Cleveland and for fans of rock and roll around the world, it was just one missed phone call away from never being built in Cleveland. If the prominent singer and actress Leslie Gore hadn't contacted radio personality Norm N. Nite in August 1983, the Hall of Fame would not be in Cleveland--period. Earlier that summer, Gore had learned that the newly formed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was looking for a city to house their planned museum honoring the history of rock. Gore knew that a year earlier, Nite had pitched an idea for a similar museum, so she reached out to let him know that other figures in the music industry were working to turn his dream into a reality. Nite immediately joined the project's Rules and Nominating Committee and spearheaded the campaign to bring the museum to Cleveland. At the time, the search committee was considering several other cities, including Memphis, Detroit, and New York, but Nite argued that the city's deep historical connection to rock music through Alan Freed and the Moondog Coronation Ball made Cleveland the perfect location. He began lobbying local and state politicians, fundraising with music moguls and civic leaders, and promoting the museum to the broader Cleveland public. As fans got involved, especially with their overwhelming response to a USA Today phone poll, Nite's campaign to bring the Hall to Cleveland was ultimately successful. This book, told from Nite's insider perspective, draws on both first-person accounts and exclusive interviews with influential business leaders, government officials, and giants of the music industry. A detailed record of the Rock Hall's inception and creation, The House That Rock Built becomes a true tribute to the people who made it happen--through Herculean efforts--and to the music it celebrates.

The Emergence of Rock and Roll

The Emergence of Rock and Roll
Author: Mitchell K. Hall
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2014-05-09
Genre: Music
ISBN: 113505357X

Rock and roll music evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and 1950s, as a combination of African American blues, country, pop, and gospel music produced a new musical genre. Even as it captured the ears of the nation, rock and roll was the subject of controversy and contention. The music intertwined with the social, political, and economic changes reshaping America and contributed to the rise of the youth culture that remains a potent cultural force today. A comprehensive understanding of post-World War II U.S. history would be incomplete without a basic knowledge of this cultural phenomenon and its widespread impact. In this short book, bolstered by primary source documents, Mitchell K. Hall explores the change in musical style represented by rock and roll, changes in technology and business practices, regional and racial implications of this new music, and the global influences of the music. The Emergence of Rock and Roll explains the huge influence that one cultural moment can have in the history of a nation.

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley
Author: Magdalena Alagna
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2001-12-15
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780823935246

Presents the life and career of the legendary and influential rock and roll artist, from the early years to his controversial death in 1977.

Rush

Rush
Author: Martin Popoff
Publisher: Voyageur Press (MN)
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2017-05
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0760352208

"...Treats fans to an unparalleled look back at the trio's twenty studio albums through the minds and ears of twenty musicians, Rush authorities, and fellow journalists." -back cover.

Just Around Midnight

Just Around Midnight
Author: Jack Hamilton
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2016-09-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0674416597

By the time Jimi Hendrix died in 1970, the idea of a black man playing lead guitar in a rock band seemed exotic. Yet a mere ten years earlier, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley had stood among the most influential rock and roll performers. Why did rock and roll become “white”? Just around Midnight reveals the interplay of popular music and racial thought that was responsible for this shift within the music industry and in the minds of fans. Rooted in rhythm-and-blues pioneered by black musicians, 1950s rock and roll was racially inclusive and attracted listeners and performers across the color line. In the 1960s, however, rock and roll gave way to rock: a new musical ideal regarded as more serious, more artistic—and the province of white musicians. Decoding the racial discourses that have distorted standard histories of rock music, Jack Hamilton underscores how ideas of “authenticity” have blinded us to rock’s inextricably interracial artistic enterprise. According to the standard storyline, the authentic white musician was guided by an individual creative vision, whereas black musicians were deemed authentic only when they stayed true to black tradition. Serious rock became white because only white musicians could be original without being accused of betraying their race. Juxtaposing Sam Cooke and Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones, and many others, Hamilton challenges the racial categories that oversimplified the sixties revolution and provides a deeper appreciation of the twists and turns that kept the music alive.

Janis

Janis
Author: Holly George-Warren
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2019-10-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1476793123

Longlisted for the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence This blazingly intimate biography of Janis Joplin establishes the Queen of Rock & Roll as the rule-breaking musical trailblazer and complicated, gender-bending rebel she was. Janis Joplin’s first transgressive act was to be a white girl who gained an early sense of the power of the blues, music you could only find on obscure records and in roadhouses along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. But even before that, she stood out in her conservative oil town. She was a tomboy who was also intellectually curious and artistic. By the time she reached high school, she had drawn the scorn of her peers for her embrace of the Beats and her racially progressive views. Her parents doted on her in many ways, but were ultimately put off by her repeated acts of defiance. Janis Joplin has passed into legend as a brash, impassioned soul doomed by the pain that produced one of the most extraordinary voices in rock history. But in these pages, Holly George-Warren provides a revelatory and deeply satisfying portrait of a woman who wasn’t all about suffering. Janis was a perfectionist: a passionate, erudite musician who was born with talent but also worked exceptionally hard to develop it. She was a woman who pushed the boundaries of gender and sexuality long before it was socially acceptable. She was a sensitive seeker who wanted to marry and settle down—but couldn’t, or wouldn’t. She was a Texan who yearned to flee Texas but could never quite get away—even after becoming a countercultural icon in San Francisco. Written by one of the most highly regarded chroniclers of American music history, and based on unprecedented access to Janis Joplin’s family, friends, band mates, archives, and long-lost interviews, Janis is a complex, rewarding portrait of a remarkable artist finally getting her due.

Black Diamond Queens

Black Diamond Queens
Author: Maureen Mahon
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2020-10-09
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1478012773

African American women have played a pivotal part in rock and roll—from laying its foundations and singing chart-topping hits to influencing some of the genre's most iconic acts. Despite this, black women's importance to the music's history has been diminished by narratives of rock as a mostly white male enterprise. In Black Diamond Queens, Maureen Mahon draws on recordings, press coverage, archival materials, and interviews to document the history of African American women in rock and roll between the 1950s and the 1980s. Mahon details the musical contributions and cultural impact of Big Mama Thornton, LaVern Baker, Betty Davis, Tina Turner, Merry Clayton, Labelle, the Shirelles, and others, demonstrating how dominant views of gender, race, sexuality, and genre affected their careers. By uncovering this hidden history of black women in rock and roll, Mahon reveals a powerful sonic legacy that continues to reverberate into the twenty-first century.

The Rock History Reader

The Rock History Reader
Author: Theo Cateforis
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2013
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0415892120

The Rock History Reader is an eclectic compilation of readings that tells the history of rock as it has been received and explained as a social and musical practice throughout its six decade history. The readings range from the vivid autobiographical accounts of such rock icons as Ronnie Spector and David Lee Roth to the writings of noted rock critics like Lester Bangs and Chuck Klosterman. It also includes a variety of selections from media critics, musicologists, fanzine writers, legal experts, sociologists and prominent political figures. Many entries also deal specifically with distinctive styles such as Motown, punk, disco, grunge, rap and indie rock. Each entry includes headnotes, which place it in its historical context. This second edition includes new readings on the early years of rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll, as well as entries on payola, mods, the rise of FM rock, progressive rock and the PMRC congressional hearings. In addition, there is a wealth of new material on the 2000s that explores such relatively recent developments as emo, mash ups, the explosion of internet culture and new media, and iconic figures like Radiohead and Lady Gaga. 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.

Bobby Rydell

Bobby Rydell
Author: Bobby Rydell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: Alcoholics
ISBN: 9780997385106

"From his vivid childhood on the fabled mid-20th-century streets of South Philadelphia, to his reign as the Justin Bieber of the "Camelot" era, his battles with alcoholism, and his lifesaving double-transplant surgery, multitalented entertainer Bobby Rydell has one hell of a story to tell. ... Co-written with award-winning musician-author-filmmaker Allan Slutsky (Standing in the Shadows of Motown), Teen Idol on the Rocks not only tells the story of Bobby Rydell, but that of American pop culture through the past six decades ... But, Teen Idol on the Rocks also is a very personal - and often-painful - story. Bobby delves into the darker and more dramatic aspects of his life, including the death of his beloved first wife, Camille, his decades of alcohol abuse, and the last-ditch transplant surgery that saved his life."--Publisher web page.