Making the Scene in the Garden State explores New Jersey’s rich musical heritage through stories about the musicians, listeners and fans who came together to create sounds from across the American popular music spectrum. The book includes chapters on the beginnings of musical recording in Thomas Edison’s factories in West Orange; early recording and the invention of the Victrola at Victor Records’ Camden complex; Rudy Van Gelder’s recording studios (for Blue Note, Prestige, and ot...

The cultural history of one of rock's greatest masterpieces told through the eyes of its creator.Tommy*, Trauma, and Postwar Youth Culture* traces the development of one of rock music's central masterpieces and its relation to the social-cultural history of the era. Composer and guitarist Pete Townshend was the creative force behind the Who, one of Britain's greatest rock bands. Townshend grew up in an England decimated by the loss of life and hope that was the ini...

Los Angeles rock generally conjures memories of surf music, The Doors, or Laurel Canyon folkies. But punk? L.A.'s punk scene, while not as notorious as that of New York City, emerged full-throated in 1977 and boasted bands like The Germs, X, and Black Flag. This book explores how, in the land of the Beach Boys, punk rock took hold.As a teenager, Dewar MacLeod witnessed firsthand the emergence of the punk subculture in Southern California. As a scholar, he here reveals the origins o...

'She's experienced wealth, cultural alienation, homelessness, brushes with fame, prison, rehab, record deals, a million blown second chances, a dozen broken hearts and one bloody-knuckled ultimate spiritual redemption. She even died once in the process, and may very well have had sex with your wife back in the eighties...' Elizabeth GilbertWhen she was seven, Rayya Elias and her upper-class family fled the political conflict in their native Syria, settling in a suburb of D...

Freddie Mercury fronted the legendary rock group Queen. With songs such as "Don't Stop Me Now", "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "I want To Break Free", it's no wonder he was voted the greatest male singer of all time.  This is his story.  The unofficial Freddie Mercury Biography.

**WINNER OF THE 2026 PULITZER PRIZE FOR OPINION WRITINGFrom National Book Award winner Masha Gessen, the heroic story of Pussy Riot, who resurrected the power of truth in a society built on lies.**On February 21, 2012, five young women entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. In neon-colored dresses, tights, and balaclavas, they performed a “punk prayer” beseeching the “Mother of God” to “get rid of Putin.” They were quickly shut down by security, and in the we...

Before the charts were littered with generic urban music, there was the generation of grunge when songs was simplified into powerful riffs, and lyrics had emotion. Focusing upon passionate teenage angst, rather than clubbing and getting loaded. Amy Winehouse was recently omitted to the legendary 27 club, but before her there was Robert Johnson, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain.Kurt Cobain, the founder of grunge band Nirvana and an icon of a generation, ...

Black Flag were the pioneers of American Hardcore, and this is their blood-spattered story.Formed in Hermosa Beach, California, in 1978, for eight brutal years they made and played brilliant, ugly, no-holds-barred music on a self-appointed touring circuit of America’s clubs, squats, and community halls. They fought with everybody: the police, the record industry and even their own fans. They toured overseas on pennies a day and did it in beat-up trucks and vans.Spray Pa...

Straight Edge has persisted as a drug-free, hardcore punk subculture for 25 years. Its political legacy remains ambiguous and is often misrepresented as a Puritan conservatism. However, as this study shows, its history is more complex. Since its origins in 1980s, the scene has been linked to radical thought and music. Tracing this history, the book includes contributions from famed Straight-Edge rockers like Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), Mark Anderson (Dance of Days) and Andy Hurley (Fall Out Boy)...

In The Dark Stuff Nick Kent profiles twenty-two of the most gifted and self-destructive talents in rock history. From Brian Wilson to Syd Barrett, the Rolling Stones to Neil Young, Iggy Pop to Lou Reed, he offers intimate portraits that are unimaginable in the world of today's market driven music business.

In 1983, at the height of their fame and success, punk band The Clash simply disintegrated. This is the full story of what really happened, as told to film-maker Danny Garcia by members of the band and those who knew them.A Clash fan since his teenage years, film-maker Danny Garcia set out to discover what went wrong between his heroes, the late Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, and the rest of the band.It took him two years to win the trust of the key players in this Shakespearian...

**" [An] endlessly fascinating and frankly addictive masterpiece of safety-pin journalism." -- Austin ChronicleAn oral history of the modern punk-revival's West Coast Birthplace**Outside of New York and London, California?s Bay Area claims the oldest continuous punk-rock scene in the world. Gimme Something Better brings this outrageous and influential punk scene to life, from the notorious final performance of the Sex Pistols, to Jello Biafra?s bid for may...