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Song Machine
- Inside the Hit Factory
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
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Publisher's summary
Over the last two decades, a new type of song has emerged. Today's hits bristle with "hooks", musical burrs designed to snag your ear every seven seconds. Painstakingly crafted to tweak the brain's delight in melody, rhythm, and repetition, these songs are industrial-strength products made for malls, casinos, the gym, and the Super Bowl halftime show. The tracks are so catchy and so potent that you can't not listen to them.
Traveling from New York to Los Angeles, Stockholm to Korea, John Seabrook visits specialized teams composing songs in digital labs with novel techniques, and he traces the growth of these contagious hits from their origins in early '90s Sweden to their ubiquity on today's charts. Featuring the stories of artists like Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Rihanna as well as expert songsmiths like Max Martin, Ester Dean, and Dr. Luke, The Song Machine will change the way you listen to music.
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Featured Article: Turn Up the Volume—These Are the Best Listens for Music Fans
There’s nothing quite like the electricity that flows through the crowd at a concert: from the moment the lights come up on stage to the amazing sense of communal energy, it’s an experience unlike any other. So it's been a painful few months for fans, musicians, and venues as the pandemic upended album releases, festivals, concert tours, and other events. These listens offer a much-needed dose of the rhythm, artistry, and melodies you might be missing.
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With more than 90 million records sold and eight Grammy Awards throughout its 40-year history, Earth, Wind & Fire has staked its claim as one of the most successful, influential, and beloved acts in music history. Now, for the first time, its dynamic lead singer, Philip Bailey, chronicles the group's meteoric rise to stardom and his own professional and spiritual journey. Never before had a musical act crossed multiple styles and genres with a quixotic blend of astrology, universalism, and Egyptology as Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) did when it exploded into the public's conscience during the 1970s.
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Great book, but needed pro narrator
- By Wayne on 03-23-16
By: Philip Bailey, and others
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The Never-Ending Present
- The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip
- By: Michael Barclay
- Narrated by: George Stroumboulopoulos
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From our talent-rich neighbor to the north comes this biography of one of the most successful Canadian rock bands, The Tragically Hip, which announced a year-long tour after sharing the news of lead singer Gord Downie’s inoperable cancer. Now available to US listeners, The Never-Ending Present details what led up to the memorable night when music fans all over the world watched Downie’s heroic final performance.
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Hometown Heroes
- By Tommy Garou on 12-13-18
By: Michael Barclay
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Respect Yourself
- Stax Records and the Soul Explosion
- By: Robert Gordon
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of Stax Records unfolds like a Greek tragedy. A white brother and sister build a record company that becomes a monument to racial harmony in 1960’s segregated south Memphis. Their success is startling, and Stax soon defines an international sound. Then, after losses both business and personal, the siblings part, and the brother allies with a visionary African-American partner. Under integrated leadership, Stax explodes as a national player until, Icarus-like, they fall from great heights to a tragic demise.
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Great narration
- By A. K. Moore on 10-29-14
By: Robert Gordon
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Here Comes the Night
- The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues
- By: Joel Selvin
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
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Here Comes the Night: Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues is both a definitive account of the New York rhythm and blues world of the early '60s, and the harrowing, ultimately tragic story of songwriter and record producer Bert Berns, whose meteoric career was fueled by his pending doom. His heart damaged by rheumatic fever as a youth, doctors told Berns he would not live to see 21. Although his name is little remembered today, Berns worked alongside all the greats of the era.
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Great book.
- By The Blimmer on 10-14-23
By: Joel Selvin
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Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era. The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", and more.
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A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
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Walk This Way
- Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever
- By: Geoff Edgers
- Narrated by: Geoff Edgers
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Washington Post staff writer Geoff Edgers takes a deep dive into the story behind "Walk This Way", Aerosmith and Run-DMC's legendary, groundbreaking mashup that forever changed music.
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A MUST LISTEN/READ
- By Aron Teo Lee on 05-17-19
By: Geoff Edgers
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Fornication
- The Red Hot Chili Peppers Story
- By: Jeff Apter
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Despite an epic reputation for exhibitionism, drug taking, and drunkenness, through it all the Chili Peppers have continued to produce records that shock, challenge, and intrigue their fans. Jeff Apter tells the complete Red Hot Chili Peppers story, from their first meeting at a Los Angeles high school to the creation of such career-defining albums as BloodSugarSexMagik, Californication and By The Way.
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Cabron
- By Amazon Customer on 10-02-19
By: Jeff Apter
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Relentless
- The Memoir
- By: Yngwie J. Malmsteen
- Narrated by: Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Yngwie Malmsteen's revolutionary guitar style - combining elements of classical music with the speed and volume of heavy metal - made him a staple of the 80s rock scene. Decades later, he's still a legend among guitarists, having sold 11 million albums and influenced generations of rockers since. In Relentless, Malmsteen shares his personal story, from the moment he burst onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere in the early 80s to become a household name in the annals of heavy metal.
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yngwie rules!
- By Chief on 02-23-21
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Unchained
- The Eddie Van Halen Story
- By: Paul Brannigan
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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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 style of post-'60s hard rock and becoming the quintessential rock band of the 1980s. But the high-flying success was fraught with difficulty, as Eddie struggled with alcohol and drug addiction while simultaneously battling David Lee Roth over the musical direction of the band, eventually taking the band in an entirely new direction with Sammy Hagar and scaling new heights, before that iteration of Van Halen disintegrated.
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Please don't read other audible books
- By Mike on 02-01-22
By: Paul Brannigan
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Everybody Wants Some
- The Van Halen Saga
- By: Ian Christe
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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How did a pair of little Dutch boys trained in classical music grow up to become the nucleus of the most popular heavy metal band of all time? What's the secret behind Eddie Van Halen's incredible fast and furious guitar solos? What makes David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar so wacky? And, are all those stories about groupies, booze bashes, and contract riders true? The naked truth is laid bare in Everybody Wants Some - the real-life story of a rock 'n' roll fantasy come true.
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Good details of albums and post-1984 career
- By IndyMATT on 12-30-18
By: Ian Christe
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Dig If You Will the Picture
- Funk, Sex, God and Genius in the Music of Prince
- By: Ben Greenman
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Ben Greenman, New York Times best-selling author, contributing writer to The New Yorker, and owner of thousands of recordings of Prince and Prince-related songs, knows intimately that there has never been a rock star as vibrant, mercurial, willfully contrary, experimental, or prolific as Prince. Uniting a diverse audience while remaining singularly himself, Prince was a tireless artist, a musical virtuoso and chameleon, and a pop-culture prophet.
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Reads like a indepth career review & analysis
- By herb on 05-18-17
By: Ben Greenman
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All These Things That I've Done
- My Insane, Improbable Rock Life
- By: Matt Pinfield, Mitchell Cohen
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Matt Pinfield is the ultimate music fan. He's the guy who knows every song, artist, and musical riff ever recorded, down to the most obscure band's B-side single on its vinyl-only EP import. As a child, music helped Pinfield make sense of the world. Later he would approach his music idols after concerts and explain why he loved their music. As an adult, rock music inspired his career, fueled relationships, and, at times, became a life raft.
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great listen
- By nilda v. on 08-28-20
By: Matt Pinfield, and others
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Let’s Go Crazy
- Prince and the Making of Purple Rain
- By: Alan Light
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
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Purple Rain is a song, an album, and a film - each one a commercial success and cultural milestone. How did this semiautobiographical musical masterpiece that blurred R&B, pop, dance, and rock sounds come to alter the recording landscape and become an enduring touchstone for successive generations of fans?
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A Must-Read For Any PRINCE Fan
- By Bryan K. Chavez on 05-06-16
By: Alan Light
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What listeners say about Song Machine
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- tru britty
- 10-08-15
Want your music canned or in a box?
This is a lively history of pop music since 1989. If you think Katy Perry is great or you hate the Backstreet Boys, you will find out why in this book.
Or so the featured music producers like Denniz PoP and Max Martin would like you to think. This is a story about that segment of pop music where the artist is usually a pretty girl or boy whose sound and look are a creation of the producer and his team.
This is a story about songwriting simplified to a formula, where words are units of melody and melody is married to the beat.
The writer looks at sound factories in Sweden, America and Korea. He follows the careers of the major Svengali producers and the acts whose hits they have manufactured, including Kelly Clarkson (who fought against the constraints), Rihanna, Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry and a more recent Taylor Swift.
Spotify, the streaming music company, also gets a chapter.
You might become cynical about the music industry after this. You might get inspiration for your Ableton compositions. You might run out to see a real loose garage band or singer-songwriter just to prove to yourself that other kinds of music are out there.
But you won't look at today's music hits the same after reading this book.
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36 people found this helpful
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- Shannon
- 11-04-15
Insightful
The author did an amazing job of creating a timeline of music taste-makers over the past 2 decades. As a songwriter myself, it was inspiring to get a glimpse into the studio sessions of Max Martin, Ester Dean and Stargate, to name a few. I would recommend this book to anyone who aspires to be in the business of making music or anyone who is just curious about how one man, Max Martin, has continued to lead the industry in production and songwriting for TWO decades.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Press8 Telecom
- 10-20-15
Awesome.
Best book on the music indistry ever. It was so interesting to hear how stars are made and I will probably even reread this future.
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7 people found this helpful
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- B
- 01-07-16
Engaging and packed full of fun facts!
Dion Graham reads this perfectly, with just enough change in his voice to give character to the many personalities in the book.
I learned a lot about the pop songs that have shaped my generation and had fun doing it!
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5 people found this helpful
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- Dubi
- 03-08-16
Interesting Even If You're Not Interested
Excellent examination of how pop hits and pop stars have been manufactured over the past quarter century, an age when digital technology has made it a lot easier to create songs but much harder to sell them.
The book looks at some famous stars -- Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson, Rihanna, Katy Perry, et.al. -- as well as some deep cuts into the more anonymous people behind the music -- most astonishingly, quite a few songwriters and producers from Sweden and Norway, in addition to American songwriters and record men, and the Englishmen who launched American Idol. There is also a long section on Kesha and her relationship with Dr. Luke, which was just in the news when a judge ruled on her rape suit against him.
The first thing that struck me about this book is how interesting it was to listen to something I'm almost totally not interested in (except in keeping tabs on what my kids are listening to). On one hand, there is just good writing, good research, and interesting insight. On the other hand, it's like watching a car wreck -- you may be horrified to learn that the record industry is so much more commercial than you thought, but you can't take your eyes (or in this case ears) off it, especially since it is in the process of crashing in spectacular fashion.
There is also the question of authenticity, which could explain why this particular car wreck caught my attention. I'm a lifelong rock fan (and player), and rock is about authenticity, which starts with good musicians writing and recording their own music that we perceive as being honest and real (the new HBO show Vinyl is partially about this subject). Pop music is about calculating (scientifically and mathematically, these days) what will sell in large numbers, with almost no attention paid to the artistic merits of the music.
To prove the point without resorting to my own personal favorites, just look at two huge pop stars conspicuous by their absence in this story (beyond a handful of inconsequential name drops) -- Lady Gaga and Beyonce. And that is because those two have been in control of their own creative processes from the start, contrary to all of the other canned pop stars we meet in this book and the back-room schemers who put them in those cans (one section is about Kelly Clarkson trying to break the mold and become her own authentic artist).
But abstracting from the specific content of the book, there is this: I (and I'm certain most if not all of you) usually listen to non-fiction subjects we are interested in. I always caveat my reviews of non-fiction titles by noting my interest level. This book proves to me that a good book is good, no matter how your personal interest figures in. You don't always have to be a choir in search of a preacher -- sometimes it pays to test out new waters (if I may mix my metaphors).
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4 people found this helpful
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- GOODEaden
- 10-27-17
Wow: All I've Wanted to Know
As an aspiring songwriter/producer I've always wanted to know the beginnings of a variety of careers of artists, songwriter and producers that I love. Seabrook goes deep and gives me all I think I need for a good couple of years. A great listen. This Dion guy reads really well and I like his animated style.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Carson
- 10-21-17
New Insights Into My Career
Looking at pop music production/writing from the perspectives of the best in the world has really allowed me to feel the emotions that world brings. Thanks for writing this! I’m still on track but have much more insight about what it really means to make radio hits.
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- Arash
- 10-18-17
Pretty good insight into the music game.
As someone who creates, I head about this book via a recommendation from another music creator. Nice insight into people's processes and the struggles that go into making hits!
My only beef is that he mispronunces some names. The other voices were cool-it added some variety to the story.
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- Martin Pursell
- 08-10-17
Food Industry vs Music Industry
At the end of the day, people will not crave "processed music" anymore and realize that the "organic" product is far healthier and viable for their health. Pop music is fun and I enjoy it but it doesn't ever cause the user to think, further perpetuating a mindless society
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- M.
- 07-11-16
Rare Combo of Fun, Fascinating & Elucidating
Would you consider the audio edition of Song Machine to be better than the print version?
Yes and No
Yes: I don't have time to read every book, and this was a well-read book with a coherent narrative that was chronological. So it was a solid listening choice.
No: There is no information from the footnotes or acknowledgements which is particularly key for narrative non-fiction.
What other book might you compare Song Machine to and why?
Gods & Kings (on audible, which I read in print) about fashion. It's an enjoyable read but also academically underpinned in a subject that so often is over "fluffed".
What does Dion Graham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Enthusiasm. And--also underrated--tone. Serious when it needs to be, sly or fun when the occasion called for it.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Plot twists--where someone "irrelevant" showed up again as a significant figure.
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