Black Diamond Queens

Black Diamond Queens

Author: Maureen Mahon

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2020-10-09

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1478012773

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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.


Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll

Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll

Author: Marc Dolan

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2012-06-04

Total Pages: 529

ISBN-13: 0393081354

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Describes the life and music of one of America's greatest rock artists, providing an overview and analysis of the cultural, political, and personal forces that influenced his music and led him to explore issues like war, class disparity, and prejudice.


Let's Rock!

Let's Rock!

Author: Richard Aquila

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2016-10-28

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1442269375

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Rock & roll was one of the most important cultural developments in post–World War II America, yet its origins are shrouded in myth and legend. Let’s Rock! reclaims the lost history of rock & roll. Based on years of research, as well as interviews with Bo Diddley, Pat Boone, and other rock & roll pioneers, the book offers new information and fresh perspectives about Elvis, the rise of rock & roll, and 1950s America. Rock & roll is intertwined with the rise of a post–World War II youth culture, the emergence of African Americans in society, the growth of consumer culture, technological change, the expansion of mass media, and the rise of a Cold War culture that endorsed traditional values to guard against communism. Richard Aquila’s book demonstrates that early rock & roll was not as rebellious as common wisdom has it. The new sound reflected the conservatism and conformity of the 1950s as much as it did the era’s conflict. Rock & roll supported centrist politics, traditional values, and mainstream attitudes toward race, gender, class, and ethnicity. The musical evidence proves that most teenagers of the 1950s were not that different from their parents and grandparents when it came to basic beliefs, interests, and pastimes. Young and old alike were preoccupied by the same concerns, tensions, and insecurities. Rock & roll continues to permeate the fabric of modern life, and understanding the music’s origins reminds us of the common history we all share. Music lovers who grew up during rock & roll’s early years as well as those who have come to it more recently will find Let’s Rock an exciting historical and musical adventure.


Rock 'n' Roll Soccer

Rock 'n' Roll Soccer

Author: Ian Plenderleith

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2015-09-22

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1466884002

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Journalist Ian Plenderleith's Rock 'n' Roll Soccer presents the raucous history of the hype and chaos surrounding the rapid rise and cataclysmic fall of the NASL. The North American Soccer League - at its peak in the late 1970s - presented soccer as performance, played by men with a bent for flair, hair and glamour. More than just Pelé and the New York Cosmos, it lured the biggest names of the world game like Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Gerd Müller and George Best to play the sport as it was meant to be played-without inhibition, to please the fans. The first complete look at the ambitious, star-studded NASL, Rock 'n' Roll Soccer reveals how this precursor to modern soccer laid the foundations for the sport's tremendous popularity in America today. Bringing to life the color and chaos of an unfairly maligned league, soccer journalist Ian Plenderleith draws from research and interviews with the men who were there to reveal the madness of its marketing, the wild expectations of businessmen and corporations hoping to make a killing out of the next big thing, and the insanity of franchises in scorching cities like Las Vegas and Hawaii. That's not to mention the league's on-running fight with FIFA as the trailblazing North American continent battled to innovate, surprise, and sell soccer to a whole new world. As entertaining and raucous as the league itself, Rock 'n' Roll Soccer recounts the hype and chaos surrounding the rapid rise and cataclysmic fall of the NASL, an enterprising and groundbreaking league that did too much right to ignore.


The Official Book of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll Lists

The Official Book of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll Lists

Author: Judy Mcguire

Publisher: Catapult

Published: 2012-05-22

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1593764456

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Get ready for the most outrageous, unapologetically hedonistic rock-and-roll book ever. Combing the best nuggets of drug- andsex-related exploits from the lives of Mötley Cru¨e, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Presley, Keith Richards, Michael Jackson, and dozens more of infamous rock-and-roll animals, sexpert Judy McGuire has compiled the mother lode of all books of lists. Beginning with health tips from Ozzy Osbourne and weeding its way through every possible vice, The Official Book of Sex, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll Lists leaves no Rolling Stone unturned in its quest for cheap laughs and mind-blowing trivia, especially when it comes to the debauchery of rock-star lives and the songs that make parents crazy. It’s all here, and lavishly illustrated by comic book hero Cliff Mott, the genius behind the outrageous drawings in the punk rock and heavy metal volumes in this series. The Official Book of Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll Lists is the ultimate trip for all rock-and-roll fans living life vicariously from the comfort of their armchair or toilet. But be careful . . . after reading this book, you just may just wind up in rehab!


See a Little Light

See a Little Light

Author: Bob Mould

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2011-06-15

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 0316175714

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The long-awaited, full-force autobiography of American punk music hero, Bob Mould. Bob Mould stormed into America's punk rock scene in 1979, when clubs across the country were filling with kids dressed in black leather and torn denim, packing in to see bands like the Ramones, Black Flag, and the Dead Kennedys. Hardcore punk was a riot of jackhammer rhythms, blistering tempos, and bottomless aggression. And at its center, a new band out of Minnesota called Hvosker Dvo was bashing out songs and touring the country on no money, driven by the inspiration of guitarist and vocalist Bob Mould. Their music roused a generation. From the start, Mould wanted to make Hüsker Dü the greatest band in the world - faster and louder than the hardcore standard, but with melody and emotional depth. In See a Little Light, Mould finally tells the story of how the anger and passion of the early hardcore scene blended with his own formidable musicianship and irrepressible drive to produce some of the most important and influential music of the late 20th century. For the first time, Mould tells his dramatic story, opening up to describe life inside that furnace and beyond. Revealing the struggles with his own homosexuality, the complexities of his intimate relationships, as well as his own drug and alcohol addiction, Mould takes us on a whirlwind ride through achieving sobriety, his acclaimed solo career, creating the hit band Sugar, a surprising detour into the world of pro wrestling, and most of all, finally finding his place in the world. A classic story of individualism and persistence, Mould's autobiography is an open account of the rich history of one of the most revered figures of punk, whose driving force altered the shape of American music.


TV-a-Go-Go

TV-a-Go-Go

Author: Jake Austen

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

Published: 2005-07

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 1569762414

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From Elvis and a hound dog wearing matching tuxedos and the comic adventures of artificially produced bands to elaborate music videos and contrived reality-show contests, television--as this critical look brilliantly shows--has done a superb job of presenting the energy of rock in a fabulously entertaining but patently "fake" manner. The dichotomy of "fake" and "real" music as it is portrayed on television is presented in detail through many generations of rock music: the Monkees shared the charts with the Beatles, Tupac and Slayer fans voted for corny American Idols, and shows like" Shindig! "and "Soul Train "somehow captured the unhinged energy of rock far more effectively than most long-haired guitar-smashing acts. Also shown is how TV has often delighted in breaking the rules while still mostly playing by them: Bo Diddley defied Ed Sullivan and sang rock and roll after he had been told not to, the Chipmunks' subversive antics prepared kids for punk rock, and things got out of hand when" Saturday Night Live "invited punk kids to attend a taping of the band Fear. Every aspect of the idiosyncratic history of rock and TV and their peculiar relationship is covered, including cartoon rock, music programming for African American audiences, punk on television, Michael Jackson's life on TV, and the tortured history of MTV and its progeny.


New Book of Rock Lists

New Book of Rock Lists

Author: Dave Marsh

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1994-11

Total Pages: 626

ISBN-13: 0671787004

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Dave Marsh has been an editor and columnist at Creem and Rolling Stone. His books include Born to Run, Behind Blue Eyes: The Story of the Who, Glory Days, and Louie Louie. This virtual Methusaleh of rock critics currently serves as a music critic at Playboy and as editor of Rock and Rap Confidential.


The 10 Rules of Rock and Roll

The 10 Rules of Rock and Roll

Author: Robert Forster

Publisher: Black Inc.

Published: 2009-10-31

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 1921866764

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'Sometimes I play a game in my head: name the five best American rock bands of the '60s. My list goes: The Velvet Underground, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Doors, and then I stall on the fifth. Creedence? The Band — although they're mostly Canadian. Simon and Garfunkel? Jefferson Airplane? The Lovin' Spoonful? But I plump for The Monkees.' Robert Forster In The 10 Rules of Rock and Roll, Robert Forster takes readers on an exhilarating trip through the past and present of popular music – from Bob Dylan, AC/DC and Nana Mouskouri through to Cat Power, Franz Ferdinand and ... Delta Goodrem. To accompany Forster's acclaimed writing for The Monthly, there are some stunning new pieces – 'The 10 Rules' and 'The 10 Bands I Wish I'd Been In' and an appreciation of Guy Clark – as well as a reflection on The Velvet Underground, a short story about Normie Rowe and a moving tribute to fellow Go-Between Grant McLennan. Funny and illuminating, The 10 Rules of Rock and Roll shows a great critic at work.