History & Criticism

By a pair of veteran music writers, an unprecedented history of the electric guitar, its explosive impact on music and culture, and the people who brought it to life....

Dangerous Rhythms tells the symbiotic story of jazz and the underworld: a relationship fostered in some of 20th century America’s most notorious vice districts. For the first half of the century mobsters and musicians enjoyed a mutually beneficial partnership....

The story of how jazz arrived at the pinnacle of American culture in 1959, told through the journey of three towering artists—Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans—who came together to create the most famous and bestselling jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue....

A tour de force of storytelling years in the making: a dual biography of two of the greatest songwriters, Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, that is also a murder mystery....

MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellow and best-selling author Hanif Abdurraqib has written a profound and lasting reflection on how Black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture....

In essays that have been published by the New York Times, MTV, and Pitchfork, among others—Abdurraqib uses music and culture as a lens through which to view our world so that we might better understand ourselves, and in so doing proves himself a bellwether for our times....

A Really Strange and Wonderful Time features a representative cross-section of what was being created in and around Chapel Hill between 1989 and 1999.

How Music Works is David Byrne’s incisive and enthusiastic look at the musical art form, from its very inceptions to the influences that shape it, whether acoustical, economic, social or technological....

A companion to the #1 music podcast on Spotify, this book takes listeners through the greatest hits that define a weirdly undefinable decade....

Without Nebraska, Bruce Springsteen might not be who he is today. The natural follow-up to Springsteen’s hugely successful album The River should have been the hit-packed Born in the U.S.A....

An energetic and explosive oral history examining emo’s pop culture takeover from 1999-2008, featuring exclusive interviews with My Chemical Romance’s Mikey Way and Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump....

Ted Gioia's History of Jazz has been universally hailed as a classic - acclaimed by jazz critics and fans around the world....

Tune In is the first volume of All These Years - a highly-anticipated, groundbreaking biographical trilogy....

40-Foot Lemon: The Complete Story of U2's Pop & PopMart takes listeners into the studio and onto the stage during U2’s most experimental and ambitious era. It chronicles the difficult and expensive yearlong recording of Pop.

In this intimate and open account—nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you’ve ever listened to—Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and band mate.

In the second half of the 20th century New York was the source of new sounds, including the Greenwich Village folk scene....

Fleetwood Mac's classic 1977 Rumours album topped the Billboard 200 for 31 weeks and won the Album of the Year Grammy....

This book is about one of the greatest periods in American history, a time when music helped relieve some of the worries of the Great Depression and World War II....

Pamela Des Barres, the world’s foremost supergroupie, here offers an all-access backstage pass to the world of rock stars and the women who love them....

Nirvana reflects on the meaning of the revolutionary band Nirvana, their leader Kurt Cobain, and the band's personal, musical and cultural contexts in the '90s....

Grunge Is Dead weaves together the definitive story of the Seattle music scene through a series of interviews with the people who were there....

The birth of rock 'n roll ignited a firestorm of controversy - one critic called it "musical riots put to a switchblade beat"....

Classical music has a reputation for being stuffy, boring, and largely inaccessible, but Burton-Hill is here to change that. Year of Wonder introduces listeners to one piece of music each day of the year, artfully selected from across genres, time periods, and composers....

An epic achievement and a huge delight, the entire history of popular music over the past 50 years refracted through the big genres that have defined and dominated it: rock, R&B, country, punk, hip-hop, dance music, and pop....

For millennia, the sacred drummers of pre-Christian Mediterranean and western Asia were women. In this inspiring book, Layne Redmond, herself a renowned drummer, tells their history....

Discover the cadence of history and the melody of time in "Harmonies and Histories". This in-depth exploration delves into the captivating world of classical music, offering a comprehensive understanding that fascinates both neophytes and veteran aficionados alike. Embark on a rich journey starting with the origins and impact of classical music in Chapter 1, expanding your knowledge about this timeless genre. Unravel the beauty of appreciating classical music in Chapter 2, learning to identify musical elements and interpret gripping narratives. Chapter 3 will then guide you through the ...

Music has played a central role in human culture for centuries, with a rich and diverse history that spans the globe. This book traces the evolution of music from its earliest origins to the present day, exploring the various forms, styles, and traditions that have shaped the music we know today. It covers a wide range of musical genres and traditions, including classical, jazz, rock, pop, and more, and discusses the cultural and historical context in which these musical styles developed. Along the way, it examines the role of music in society and its influence on art, politics, and popular...

Music videos have played a significant role in the music industry for decades. They have evolved from simple promotional tools to become an art form in their own right, influencing fashion, culture, and technology. This book traces the history of music videos, from their early beginnings in the 1950s to their current status as an integral part of the music industry. It explores the various techniques and styles that have been used in music videos over the years, as well as the cultural and technological developments that have shaped their evolution. Along the way, it discusses the impact of...

The Beloved Vision links the music history of this singular epoch to the ideas that lay behind Romanticism in all its manifestations. In this account, we come to understand the phase in music history that has become the mainstay of the twentieth and twenty-first century concert and operatic repertoire.

The epic, rollicking, up-and-down life of Muddy Waters—who went from Mississippi farmhand to musical legend, invented electric blues, and created the template for the rock-and-roll band and its wild lifestyle—is chronicled with rare vividness in Robert Gordon’s widely praised biography.

Looking for the Magic is a cultural-historical remix, a fresh perspective on how Arista Records reflected its place and time, New York in the 1970s and early 1980s. Through interviews with dozens of artists and executives, music journalist Mitchell Cohen goes inside the business of making and marketing music during this vibrant and diverse period. Under Clive Davis, rock, pop, punk, jazz, R&B, disco, cabaret and Broadway were all represented on Arista. The label sounded like the city it was at the geographical center of. From its inception as a new entity built on the pop and soul ...

Sacha Lord's journey is interwoven with the history and culture of the city of Manchester. Listeners will discover Manchester’s vibrant music scene(s) and the challenges it has faced over the decades. The book takes the listener behind the scenes of Sacha's groundbreaking events, including his early nights at the legendary Haçienda club, the establishment of Warehouse Project and Parklife. Sacha's never-told stories are fascinating and entertaining, covering a three-decade structure through 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

A Really Strange and Wonderful Time features a representative cross-section of what was being created in and around Chapel Hill between 1989 and 1999. In addition to the aforementioned indie bands, it documents―through firsthand accounts―other local notables like Ben Folds Five, Dillon Fence, Flat Duo Jets, Small, Southern Culture on the Skids, Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Veldt, and Whiskeytown. At the same time, it describes the nurturing infrastructure which engendered and encouraged this marvelous diversity. In essence, A Really Strange and Wonderful Time is proof of the genius of community.

Taking us from the present day back to the dawn of time, long-lost music is here reconstructed as we enter the worlds of its makers. We feel a child's delight at playing with a water-filled pot that chirps like a bird in Peru in 700 AD; we appreciate the challenge of a soldier sending signals by trumpet along Hadrian's Wall; we hear the chiming of 64 bells buried in a tomb in 5th century China. Graeme Lawson leads us on a grand tour of the world's greatest musical discoveries, revealing that music is part of our DNA.

The Everly Brothers—aka Don and Phil to fans with an intimate appreciation for them—seemed to exist almost as an apparition. Emerging within the formative era for young Baby Boomers during the blandly regimented '50s, they were a ubiquitous presence, clad in snug suits and skinny ties, hair neatly Brylcreemed, never raising their voices when they sang. The two prim-looking country boys with dark, curiously penetrating eyes and perfectly merged, honey-dipped harmonies, were oddly but comfortably settled as sentimental, soothing, sometimes lovelorn voices of a still-uncharted cultural turf.

Suzi Ronson was working in a Beckenham hair salon in the early seventies when Mrs Jones came in for her weekly shampoo and set. After being introduced to her son David and his wife Angie, Suzi finds herself at the Bowies' bohemian apartment and is soon embroiled in their raucous world. Having crafted his iconic Ziggy Stardust hairstyle, Suzi becomes the only working woman in David's touring party and joins the Spiders from Mars as they perform around the globe.

New York Times-bestselling author Elijah Wald, one of the most wide-ranging and respected writers on blues and popular music, traces the beginnings of the music that became our national soundtrack. Using Morton’s life and songs as a connecting thread, Jelly Roll Blues suggests an alternate history of blues and jazz, surveying a world of Black and working class culture that at times seems startlingly modern.

40-Foot Lemon: The Complete Story of U2's Pop & PopMart takes listeners into the studio and onto the stage during U2’s most experimental and ambitious era. It chronicles the difficult and expensive yearlong recording of Pop, where the band worked with five producers in multiple studios on two continents, striving to create a masterpiece. Instead, with tour dates already booked, U2 handed in an unfinished album.

After February 9, 1964, everyone wanted to be Debbie Gendler. She was one of a handful of lucky fans who were in the live audience for the Beatles' historic performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Everyone has a story about where they were when they watched the appearance, but very few were there in-person—and even fewer would go on not just to meet the Beatles, but end up building a career around the band. But Debbie did.

Leafy St Albans is an unlikely starting point for one of the great psychedelic/acid house musicians of his generation, but, like so many others who brought radical change to the counterculture, Richard Norris' story starts in the suburbs. Strange Things Are Happening documents his journey from punk through the emerging DIY indie culture to producing the UK's first acid house album, Jack the Tab. This is an insider's tale of inspiration and collaboration, working with some of the most iconic artists in music and beyond.