I couldn’t read music if you put a gun to my head. But I have no trouble reading about music. Here are the biographies and other books due this week:
Inner City Pressure: The Story of Grime
By Dan Hancox
SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The year 2000. As Britain celebrates the new millennium, something is stirring in the crumbling council estates of inner-city London. Making beats on stolen software, spitting lyrics on tower block rooftops and beaming out signals from pirate-radio aerials, a group of teenagers raised on UK garage, American hip-hop and Jamaican reggae stumble upon a dazzling new genre. Drawn from over a decade of in depth interviews and research with all the key MCs, DJs and industry players, in this extraordinary book the UK’s best grime journalist Dan Hancox tells the remarkable story of how a group of outsiders went on to create a genre that has become a British institution. Here, for the first time, is the full story of grime.”
Je T’aime: The legendary love story of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg
By Veronique Mortaigne
SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Published on the 50-year anniversary of the legendary song Je t’aime moi non plus, deemed too risque for many American radio stations, Véronique Mortaigne’s book on Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin is a lyrical retelling of a relationship that defined an age. Skipping back and forth in time, Je t’aime takes the reader from the foggy Normandy landscapes where Serge and Jane retreated, to their carefree summers on the coast. En route to their superstardom in films and music, we experience their intrigues, triangular relationships, and jealous rages, the genius and the self-torture. Tenderly told, via new interviews with key players in their story, Je t’aime details the coming together of two massive personalities, who together created a model of the rebel couple for the ages.”
33 Percent Rockstar: Music, Heartbreak and the Pursuit of Rock Stardom
By S. C. Sterling
SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Scott has played over 500 concerts at hundreds of venues spanning almost two decades. From performing to the bar staff at strip mall dive bars, to a sold-out show with members of The Misfits and The Ramones, 33 Percent Rockstar: Music, Heartbreak and the Pursuit of Rock Stardom is about the love of music and life as a struggling musician. It is the true story of what happens when you give up everything to follow your dreams—even when they lead to a run-down strip club in a seedy part of Lincoln, Nebraska. 33 Percent Rockstar: Music, Heartbreak and the Pursuit of Rock Stardom is a Behind the Music for the vast majority of musicians who never achieve rock stardom and offers a glimpse of the everyday lives of those hopeful, possibly deluded souls pursuing the rockstar dream.”
