Dead Kennedys routinely top both critic and fan polls as the greatest punk band of their generation. Their debut full-length, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, in particular, is regularly voted among the top albums in the genre. Fresh Fruit offered a perfect hybrid of humor and polemic strapped to a musical chassis that was as tetchy and inventive as Jello Biafra’s withering broadsides. Those lyrics, cruel in their precision, were revelatory. But it wouldn’t have worked...

The complete, uncensored history of the award-winning The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as told by its correspondents, writers, and host.For almost seventeen years, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart brilliantly redefined the borders between television comedy, political satire, and opinionated news coverage. It launched the careers of some of today's most significant comedians, highlighted the hypocrisies of the powerful, and garnered 23 Emmys. Now th...

A Rolling Stone Top 10 Best Music Books of the Year“That’s what I’m talking about…Of all these memoirs, Dancing With Myself was the only one that stimulated my envy—made me want to be Billy Idol for five minutes….He’s a genuine romantic, writing in a kind of overheated journalese about his London punk rock roots…and then falling head over heels for America.” —James Parker, The New York Times Book ReviewIn this high...

When the first edition of this book was published in 2004 it caused enormous controversy with author Joel McIver's account of Metallica's rise and fall exposing the multiple myths that had surrounded the band for years. For the first time a book dared to tell the unvarnished truth about their early life on the San Francisco circuit their heyday as the world's most uncompromising metal band and the notorious controversies which plagued their later years. Napster Playboy Rehab St...

Newly updated to include his critically acclaimed post-millennial work, this look at Tom Waits - both the reality and the myriad myths - reveals the man behind the curtain. A tale of how a self-taught, drunken hipster in roach-killers and a dirty beret has influenced a generation of musicians with his sound, warmth, and willingness to take chances, this biography shows how he has moved between sideshow barker and evocative troubadour with ease, recording almost 20 albums that range from ca...

Teenage punk self-taught musician bandleader session man smoker drinker multi-millionaire David Grohl has achieved a rare feat a rock n roll double crown having been a member of two hugely successful and influential bands Nirvana and The Foo Fighters. Loaded with candid interviews and hard truths about Grohls life in music this is the first comprehensive biography of an icon whose career charts rock and rolls rise and fall over the past two decades. Details his drumming and touring with Qu...

This eBook tells the story of how three young men made themselves into one of the most popular bands in the world, and how their distinctive sound has come to influence a whole new generation of guitar groups.This eBook draws upon the memories of a host of band associates, including Larry Livermore, the founder of Lookout Records and former band mate of Tre Cool, who was an important figure during the bands early days, and John Lucasey, the owner of Studio 880 where the band recorded their...

This is the powerful, detailed and enlightening biography of the iconic composer, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist - the inimitable Prince.Prince was an icon. A man who defined an era of music and changed the shape of popular culture forever. There is no doubt that he was one of the most talented and influential artists of all time, and also one of the most mysterious. On 21st April 2016 the world lost its Prince; it was the day the mus...

A revelatory account of the life of beloved American music icon, Paul Simon, by the New York Times –bestselling rock biographer, the author of Bruce .To have been alive during the last sixty years is to have lived with the music of Paul Simon. The boy from Queens scored his first hit record in 1957, just months after Elvis Presley ignited the rock era. As the songwriting half of...

For the first time ever, Bono--the biggest rock star in the world--tells his life story.In a series of intimate conversations with his friend Michka Assayas, a music journalist who has been with the band since the very beginning, Bono reflects on his transformation from the extrovert singer of a small Irish post-punk band into one of the most famous individuals in the world--and from an international celebrity to an influential activist. He speaks candidly about hi...

Longtime friend and reporter, Neil McCormick, reveals childhood and present day stories about Bono and his band, U2.Some are born great.Some achieve greatness.Some have greatness thrust upon them.And some have the misfortuneto go to school with Bono.Everyone wants to be famous. But as a young punk in Dublin in the 1970s, Neil McCormick's ambitions went way beyond mere pop stardom. It was his destiny to be a veritable Rock God. He...

'A fantastic tribute to an amazingly creative musical period . . . An instant pop classic, worthy of a place on your shelves beside the handful of music books that really matter.' John McTernan, Scotland on SundayPunk revitalized rock in the mid-seventies, but the movement soon degenerated into self-parody. Rip It Up and Start Again is the first book-length celebration of what happened next: post-punk bands who dedicated themselves to fulfilling punk's un...