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This comprehensive guide is a must-have for the legions of fans of the beloved and perennially popular music known as soul and rhythm & blues. The latest in the definitive All Music Guide series, the All Music Guide to Soul offers nearly 8 500 entertaining and informative reviews that lead readers to the best recordings by more than 1 500 artists and help them find new music to explore. Informative biographies, essays and “music maps” trace R&B's growth from its roots in blues and gospel through its flowering in Memphis and Motown, to its many branches today. Complete discographies note bootlegs, important out-of-print albums, and import-only releases. “Extremely valuable and exhaustive.” – The Christian Science Monitor
This is an innovative book that addresses the question of how consumers make decisions about what is good and what is bad in popular culture. An entertaining and informative guide to the range of aesthetic criteria that goes into judging mass culture's most celebrated texts and objects - from Batman to motor bikes, and pop stars to internet pornography Brings together a series of accessible and engaging essays written by connoisseurs of various areas of popular culture Tackles the core question of how consumers make decisions about what is good popular culture and what is bad popular culture Offers an entertaining and educative read for academic readers as well as purveyors of culture; moving beyond a 'greatest hits' list of popular culture to debate broader issues.
This dazzling volume shines new light on the songs, styles, and enduring pop culture impact of the 1970s musical genre that emerged from Black and Latin queer culture to take the world by storm. Half a century after the drug-fueled, DJ-driven, glamour-drenched musical phenomenon of disco was born at a New York City loft party, disco’s musical and fashion influences live on in popular culture. This is a frolicking, entertaining, yet serious tribute to the overlooked art form of disco, which has never been given its proper due, nor taken its true place in the historic struggle for LGBTQ+, gender, and racial equality. Painting a vivid portrait of this provocative era, DeCaro explores the cult...
“A veteran manager of groups like the Yardbirds, Napier-Bell was just about ready to retire when Wham! fell into his lap...those interested in what goes on backstage and behind the scenes will find Napier-Bell's stories worthwhile and entertaining.” —Publishers Weekly A gossipy, rollicking music memoir about bringing Wham! to communist China in the ‘80’s—now, in paperback London, 1983. Pop impresario Simon Napier-Bell has had enough. Tired of managing groups, and sick of the constant grief at home, with his two ex-boyfriends bickering and bleeding him dry, he’s ready to give up the music business for good. But before he gets the chance, he falls in love with a new passion: a dy...
The female vocalists who pioneered the disco genre in the '70s and early '80s were an extraordinarily talented group who dazzled the world with an exciting blend of elegance, soulful passion and gutsy fire. In this book of original interviews, 32 of these women tell their stories, explaining how they view their music, careers, connection to gay audiences, and their places in dance music history. Interviewed artists include: The Andrea True Connection; Claudja Barry; Pattie Brooks; Miquel Brown; Linda Clifford; Carol Douglas; Yvonne Elliman; Rochelle Fleming (First Choice); Gloria Gaynor; Debbie Jacobs-Rock; Madleen Kane; Evelyn "Champagne" King; Audrey Landers; Suzi Lane; Cynthia Manley (Boys Town Gang); Kelly Marie; Maxine Nightingale; Scherrie Payne; Wardell Piper; The Ritchie Family, 1975-1978: Gwendolyn Wesley, Cassandra Wooten and Cheryl Mason-Dorman; The Ritchie Family, 1978-1982: Theodosia "Dodie" Draher; Barbara Roy (Ecstasy Passion & Pain); Pamala Stanley; Evelyn Thomas; Jeanie Tracy; Anita Ward; Martha Wash; Carol Williams; Jessica Williams and Norma Jean Wright.
For most of the US, disco died in 1979. Triggered by the infamous Disco Demolition night at Comiskey Park in Chicago on July 12, 1979, a backlash made the word disco an overnight punchline. Major labels dropped disco artists and producers, and those mainstream musicians who had jumped on the bandwagon just as quickly threw themselves off. Gay men, however, continued to dance, and in the gay enclave of the Castro District in San Francisco, enterprising gay DJs, record producers, and musicians started their own small dance music record labels to make up for the lack of new, danceable music. Almost immediately this music reached far beyond the Bay, with Megatone Records, Moby Dick Records, and ...
Let the Music Play is the overlooked story of how R&B, disco and funk were transformed by the explosion of music tech in the era of ghetto blasters and Ronald Reagan. It traces how pioneers like Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock inspired a new generation of black musicians and producers to reinvent music with a whole new set of rules. From superstars like Prince and Sade to production geniuses like Kashif and Jam & Lewis, it tells the fascinating stories of the artists involved and how they made some of the best-loved records of the era – creating a blueprint for music today.
This biography of the Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated redhead covers Bette's life and career from her childhood on Hawaii, her New York nightclub years, and her current career in Hollywood.