It began with the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter.” It was distilled to its dark essence by Black Sabbath. And it’s flourished into a vibrant modern underground, epitomized by Newcastle’s Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs. This is the evolution of heavy music, and “Electric Wizards” is your sonic gazetteer. The voyage is as varied as it is illuminating: from the lysergic blunt trauma of Blue Cheer to the locked grooves of Funkadelic, the aural frightmares of Faust to the tectonic crush of Sleep, aligh...
Mar 17, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Craig Odanovich grew up in Flour Bluff, Texas. In an era before Dairy Queen officially expanded their menu beyond dessert, he learned entrepreneurial principles working for the family-owned franchise. Later as a young music entrepreneur, he launched a successful record store: Craig's Record Factory. It was a time when neighborhood record stores were still a prime point of connection between popular music and the public. The experience augmented Craig's passion for music and prepared him for futu...
Mar 10, 2022•1 hr 30 min
Called by Record Collector “the most accomplished critical overview yet” of progressive rock and one of their 2011 books of the year, “Beyond and Before” moves away from the limited consensus that prog rock is exclusively English in origin and that it was destroyed by the advent of punk in 1976. Instead, by tracing its multiple origins and complex transitions, it argues for the integration of jazz and folk into progressive rock and the extension of prog in Kate Bush, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree an...
Mar 03, 2022•1 hr 30 min
Arriving in California as a young boy in the early 1960s, Edward Van Halen and his brother Alex were ripe for the coming musical revolution. The sons of a Dutch, saxophone-playing father, the brothers discovered the Beatles, Cream and others, and once Eddie switched from drums to guitar it started to become apparent where the future of both brothers lay. From the moment their hugely influential 1978 debut landed, Van Halen set a high bar for the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, creating an entirely new ...
Feb 26, 2022•1 hr 40 min
Co de Kloet and Frank Zappa were friends for many years, and during that time Co recorded nearly every conversation the two men had. They also corresponded frequently—about life, music, politics, and much more besides—and this book offers a unique chronicle of their friendship, from their first meeting in 1977 to Zappa’s death in 1993. Co is renowned as an expert on Zappa’s music, but this book is about far more than that, and is unlike any other collection of interviews. As his son Dweezil writ...
Feb 24, 2022•1 hr 47 min
If you’ve never heard of Nick Panaseiko, that’s entirely understandable. He was a backstage guy, making sure that the act onstage is playing to a full house, making sure their records were on the radio and in record stores. He was a promo man. Kelly Jay of Crowbar referred to the Canadian music industry of the era as a matter of ‘six degrees of Nick Panaseiko’. Taking off from a popular Panasonic ad campaign of the day, legendary rocker Ronnie Hawkins dubbed him, “Nick Panaseiko, a man slightly ...
Feb 17, 2022•1 hr 3 min
The ELO story is one of continued success for over 50 years. From inauspicious beginnings in 1971, where live audiences barely reached double figures, ELO would become one of the most popular bands in the world by the end of the decade, thanks largely to the songwriting and production talents of Jeff Lynne. There were hits such as “Evil Woman”, “Mr. Blue Sky” and “Don’t Bring Me Down”; multi-platinum albums like ‘Out Of The Blue’ and ‘Discovery’, and, of course, their spectacular stage shows. Al...
Feb 10, 2022•1 hr 24 min
"Aerosmith On Tour" focuses on the touring history of one of rock’s legendary bands based on local reviews of the shows and the contemporaneous critical perception of the band. This first volume of "Aerosmith On Tour" covers the band's early grind, as they sought to establish themselves on the rock 'n' roll landscape, through the successes and internal turmoil, ending with the successful 1984 reunion. Also covered are the offshoot bands, the Joe Perry Project and Whitford/St. Holmes, and classic...
Feb 03, 2022•1 hr 9 min
1970 was a year of change in pop and rock music, with divisions between both becoming ever more blurred. More ambitiously constructed epics, heavy rock numbers and contemporary folk songs competed with the mainstream and easy listening fare on Top of the Pops and in the Top 30 singles, while progressive and jazz-rock took their first bows in the album charts. There were live albums, notably from The Rolling Stones and The Who, made partly to combat the market in bootleg recordings. Meanwhile, se...
Jan 28, 2022•46 min
In the early 1980s two bands dominated the independent charts: the Smiths and the Sisters of Mercy. They have proved to be equally influential. In every city in the world you will find people dressed like they have just walked offstage from playing a gig with the Sisters of Mercy in 1983. “Paint My Name in Black and Gold” tells the story of their rise – how against the odds and all reasonable expectation they came to make transcendent and life-changing music. It is also about the glorious stupid...
Jan 20, 2022•1 hr 23 min
When Yes ran into problems recording their tenth album in Paris at the end of 1979, it was almost the end. Yet in the 80s the band rallied, firstly as part of an unlikely collaboration with a new wave duo, then with 90125, the most successful album of their career, which spawned a number one hit in the USA with ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’. The band failed to capitalize on this success, however, lingering too long over its successor Big Generator and by the end of the decade, Yes had effectively sp...
Jan 13, 2022•1 hr 33 min
Think about Led Zeppelin and the image coming to mind would be of them straddling the world as the archetypal 'rock gods', defining the 1970s like no other artist did. Dig deeper though, and there's a lot more to Zeppelin than hard rock and bluster, with folk and blues strongly threading through their catalogue from the very beginning. “Led Zeppelin: Every Album, Every Song” digs into every Led Zeppelin track recorded during their decade-long existence before John Bonham's death brought down the...
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr 36 min
From 1983 until 1991, Glam Metal was the sound of American culture. This was the world stalked by bands like Bon Jovi, Kiss, W.A.S.P., Skid Row, Dokken, Motley Crue, Cinderella, Ratt and many more. Big hair, massive amplifiers, drugs, alcohol, piles of money and life-threatening pyrotechnics. Armed with hairspray, spandex and strangely shaped guitars, they marked the last great era of supersize bands. Where did Glam Metal come from? How did it spread? What killed it off? And why does nobody admi...
Dec 30, 2021•1 hr 50 min
Renowned British photographer Bill Zygmant and Beatles historian and author David Bedford have released a new book entitled “Where Did You Get That Shirt?”, featuring three decades’ worth of Zygmant’s film and rock photos. Zygmant’s Beatles photos are considered so important that the Hard Day’s Night Hotel in Liverpool displays them within a suite named after him. This brand-new book, designed by artist Paul Skellett, contains over 200 original photos taken by Zygmant – including 60 of the Beatl...
Dec 22, 2021•1 hr 18 min
This is the songwriting class you always wish you'd taken, taught by the professor you always wish you'd had. "Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide For The Advancing Songwriter" takes a deep dive into the heart of questions asked by songwriters of all levels, from how to begin journaling to when you know that a song is finished. With humor and empathy, Mike Errico unravels both the mystery of songwriting and the logistics of life as a songwriter. For years, this set of tools, prompts, and idea...
Dec 18, 2021•1 hr 49 min
U2 planted the seeds for 'The Joshua Tree' during an existential journey through America. As Irishmen in the 1970s, the band grew up with the belief that America was a place of freedom and prosperity, a symbol of hope and a refuge for all people. However, global politics of the 1980s undermined that impression and fostered hypocritical policies that manipulated Americans and devastated people around the world. Originally conceived as 'The Two Americas', 'The Joshua Tree' was U2's critique of Ame...
Dec 11, 2021•1 hr 1 min
The Doors remain one of the most original acts in the history of Rock and Roll. However, their actual music is sometimes overshadowed by the cult of Jim Morrison. Those with long memories will recall a point in the 1980s when he went from lead singer of an old band to a signifier of cool known as ‘Morrison.’ His image appeared everywhere on t-shirts, posters, and in the film The Lost Boys, adorning a wall in Keifer Sutherland’s vampire cave. A biopic in the 1990s attempted something like realism...
Dec 04, 2021•2 hr 4 min
"Neil Young on Neil Young: Interviews and Encounters" is a revealing anthology of Young's most significant, fascinating, and entertaining discussions, declarations, and dreams, chronicling fifty years of conversations, feature stories, and press conferences. With many interviews widely available for the first time—including new transcriptions and first-time translations into English—the book spans Young's words and ideas from 1967 onward: his early days with Buffalo Springfield and 1970s Harvest...
Nov 27, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Los Angeles in the 1960s gave the world some of the greatest music in rock 'n' roll history: "California Dreamin'" by the Mamas and the Papas, "Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds, and "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, a song that magnificently summarized the joy and beauty of the era in three and a half minutes. But there was a dark flip side to the fun fun fun of the music, a nexus between naïve young musicians and the hangers-on who exploited the decade's peace, love, and flowers ethos, all f...
Nov 20, 2021•1 hr 35 min
Over fifty years after his death, Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) is celebrated as the greatest rock guitarist of all time. But before he was setting guitars and the world aflame, James Marshall Hendrix was a shy kid in Seattle, plucking at a broken ukulele and in fear of a father who would hit him for playing left-handed. Bringing Jimi’s story to vivid life against the backdrop of midcentury rock, and with a wealth of new information, acclaimed music biographer Philip Norman delivers a captivating and...
Nov 11, 2021•44 min
Come the late '70s, the rock music landscape was littered with the bloated carcasses of bands who partied too hard, burned out, or became complacent in success. The door was open for something fresh, wild, and enrapturing. Enter Van Halen. Made up of two Dutch-born brothers, one on drums and the other whose guitar was an extension of his very being, a bass player with a golden throat, and a frontman who made up for his lack of traditional singing ability with attitude and gravity-defying acrobat...
Nov 06, 2021•1 hr 43 min
"Haunted Rock & Roll: Ghostly Tales Of Musical Legends" - From Rock & Roll’s pioneers to its contemporary rebels, the greatest names live on after death - in unexpected and frightening ways. Discover thrilling stories of Michael Jackson, Jim Morrison, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Amy Winehouse, and many more rockers who’ve been seen haunting their favorite bars, clubs, and homes. "Haunted Rock and Roll" covers rock’s entire paranormal legacy, allowing you to explore the famous faces, place...
Oct 30, 2021•51 min
You’ve probably read about Led Zeppelin’s success in their famous biography "Hammer of the Gods". You watched Queen take over the world in "Bohemian Rhapsody". And although you probably won’t admit it to your friends, you enjoyed the crazy TV ride in Motley Crüe’s "The Dirt". Rock bios are all the rage. Lead singers, guitarists, managers, roadies, groupies, even drummers have told their tales and they all point to the same reason for their success...The Fans: This is their story. This is our sto...
Oct 30, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Decades after the rise of rock music in the 1950s, the rock concert retains its allure and its power as a unifying experience—and as an influential multi-billion-dollar industry. In "Rock Concert", acclaimed interviewer Marc Myers sets out to uncover the history of this compelling phenomenon, weaving together ground-breaking accounts from the people who were there. Myers combines the tales of icons like Joan Baez, Ian Anderson, Alice Cooper, Steve Miller, Roger Waters, and Angus Young with figur...
Oct 22, 2021•1 hr 30 min
"Searching For Jimmy Page" is the fictional story of Luna Kane. The unraveling of eighteen-year-old Luna’s haunted past begins in the winter of 1988, when her dying great-grandfather, a self-proclaimed faith healer, claims he hears phantom owls crying in the night. “Them owls, like music. Can you hear the music?” he implores her in his final moments, triggering Luna’s repressed memory of her dead mother’s obsession with Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin’s legendary guitar wizard. Desperate to learn the t...
Oct 17, 2021•41 min
Written with S.E. Feinberg, Alan Walden’s "Southern Man" is the memoir of a life in music during one of the most racially turbulent times in American history. It presents the voice of Alan Walden—a remarkable, sensitive, humble, and brilliant man; a boy from the country who, serendipitously, along with his brother Phil and best friend Otis Redding, helped to nurture a musical renaissance. It is the story of a son of Macon, Georgia, and his passion for R&B and rock’n’roll at a time when it to...
Oct 15, 2021•1 hr 43 min
Of all of the 'classic' British rockers who came to prominence in the 1960s, only a very few have achieved significant, sustained success through to the present day. A list that comprises Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones should also include Eric Clapton. His critical and commercial accomplishments with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith and his first solo album between 1965 and 1970 was followed by the inexplicable failure of the ‘Layla’ album. Clapton withdrew into addiction f...
Oct 11, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Jude Southerland Kessler, the world’s leading authority on the life of John Lennon, will release Volume 5 in "The John Lennon Series" titled "Shades of Life Part 1". "Shades of Life Part 1" follows The Beatles through the first half of 1965, including the making of the "Help!" movie and soundtrack, their European Tour, The Beatles' MBE nomination and the first fissure in The Beatles unity as Paul McCartney records his solo song, "Yesterday." The year would also see John Lennon publishing his sec...
Oct 09, 2021•1 hr 44 min
When rock legend Eddie Van Halen died of cancer on October 6, 2020, the entire world seemed to stop and grieve. Since his band Van Halen burst onto the scene with their self-titled debut album in 1978, Eddie had been hailed as an icon not only to fans of rock music and heavy metal, but to performers across all genres and around the world. Van Halen’s debut sounded unlike anything that listeners had heard before and remains a quintessential rock album of the era. Over the course of more than four...
Sep 30, 2021•1 hr 35 min
With extensive, first-hand reflections from Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart, as well as from family, friends, and fellow musicians, "Anthem: Rush in the ’70s" is a detailed portrait of Canada’s greatest rock ambassadors. The first of three books in the "Rush Across The Decades" series, "Anthem" puts the band’s catalog, from their self-titled debut to 1978’s 'Hemispheres' into both Canadian and general pop culture context, and presents the trio of quintessentially dependable, courteous Ca...
Sep 25, 2021•40 min
