It’s not every week that Bono, Bob Dylan and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford all have new books in the queue. And when you add in new tomes on Nirvana, Beyoncé, Amy Winehouse, David Bowie, Prince, rock feuds and more, it’s clearly a big week for bookworms. Get busy readin’ or get busy dyin’:
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story
By Bono
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bono — artist, activist, and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2 — has written a memoir: Honest and irreverent, intimate and profound, Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he’s lived, the challenges he’s faced, and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him. “When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail what I’d previously only sketched in songs. The people, places, and possibilities in my life. Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me. Growing up in Ireland in the ’70s with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept. A word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book. I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist. Surrender is the story of one pilgrim’s lack of progress … with a fair amount of fun along the way.” As one of the music world’s most iconic artists and the cofounder of the organizations One and (RED), Bono’s career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, it’s Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was 14, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than 20 years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Writing with candor, self-reflection, and humor, Bono opens the aperture on his life — and the family, friends, and faith that have sustained, challenged, and shaped him. Surrender’s subtitle, 40 Songs, One Story, is a nod to the book’s 40 chapters, which are each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created forty original drawings for Surrender.”
The Philosophy of Modern Song
By Bob Dylan
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Philosophy of Modern Song is Bob Dylan’s first book of new writing since 2004’s Chronicles: Volume One — and since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his extraordinary insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over 60 essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. They are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-out-loud funny. And while they are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition. Running throughout the book are nearly 150 carefully curated photos as well as a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem and add to the work’s transcendence. In 2020, with the release of his outstanding album Rough And Rowdy Ways, Dylan became the first artist to have an album hit the Billboard Top 40 in each decade since the 1960s. The Philosophy of Modern Song contains much of what he has learned about his craft in all those years, and like everything that Dylan does, it is a momentous artistic achievement.”
Biblical: Rob Halford’s Heavy Metal Scriptures
By Rob Halford
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rob Halford has long been known for his legendary voice. As the frontman of Judas Priest, his vocals have been tremendous, and tremendously influential. In 2020, he brought his voice to the page with a glorious autobiography. Fans and readers loved Halford’s frank and open narrative, as well as his terrific insight and sense of humor. In an ideal followup, Halford runs his lively eye over all facets of the hard-rock history and the heavy metal world. Biblical is an encyclopedia and manifesto in which Halford shares his opinions, memories, and anecdotes regarding every element of the rock ’n’ roll work and lifestyle from tours to tattoos, riffs to riders, and drugs to devil horns. In Halford’s relaxed and honest tone, the book mixes serious and in-depth pieces with whimsical reflections on lessons learned during his 50 years of a life in music. Biblical is a handed-down-from-on-high holy tome that transports fans behind the scenes and back into their record collections, to the almighty ways of rock.”
Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History (Updated)
By Andrew Earles
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic comprised Nirvana, the band that unintentionally tore the music world asunder with the 1991 album Nevermind. The record that includes hits such as Smells like Teen Spirit, Come as You Are and Lithium continues to rattle speakers with grunge that truly rocks. Here we are, over three decades after Nirvana irrevocably changed rock ’n’ roll, and the band are as relevant and influential as ever. Nirvana reveals the band’s history with fresh eyes, telling the story of a group that instigated a return to punk-inspired rock. This edition of the complete illustrated history of the immortal grunge Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductee features: The writing of a sparkling team of grunge-rock experts and word slingers; performance and backstage photography; handbills, singles, ticket stubs, gig posters, and other memorabilia that complement the narrative; album reviews, gear breakdowns, and mini synopses of Cobain’s 50 all-time favorite albums. Nirvana’s ride was a wild one—and all too brief. Discover the full story here.”
Whitney Houston: The Greatest Love of All
By Carolyn McHugh
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Whitney Houston was certified as the most awarded female artist of all time by Guinness World Records and sold over 200 million records worldwide. Houston released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums and is regarded as one of the greatest artists and female vocalists of all time. She signed to Arista Records at the age of 19. Her first two studio albums, Whitney Houston (1985) and Whitney (1987), reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and are among the best-selling albums of all time. She is the only artist to have seven consecutive No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, from Saving All My Love for You in 1985 to Where Do Broken Hearts Go in 1988. Houston made her acting debut in The Bodyguard (1992). She recorded six songs for the film’s soundtrack, including I Will Always Love You, which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became the best-selling physical single by a woman in music history. Houston renewed her contract with Arista for $100 million in 1999. However, her personal struggles received widespread media coverage, and on Feb. 11, 2012, Houston was found dead at the Beverly Hilton. This is her story.”
Addicted To Noise: The Music Writings of Michael Goldberg
By Michael Goldberg
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Addicted to Noise collects the best interviews, profiles, and essays Michael Goldberg has written during his 40-plus years as a journalist. From combative interviews with Frank Zappa and Tom Waits to essays on how Jack Kerouac influenced Bob Dylan and the lasting importance of San Francisco’s first punk rock club, Goldberg, as novelist Dana Spiotta wrote, “shows us how consequential music can be.” Contained within these pages: interviews with Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Flipper, John Fogerty, Neil Young and Rick James, along with profiles of Robbie Robertson, John Lee Hooker, James Brown, the Clash, Prince, Michael Jackson, the Flamin’ Groovies, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, X, Laurie Anderson, Stevie Wonder, George Clinton, Devo, San Francisco punks Crime and more. Plus short takes on Muddy Waters, Townes Van Zandt, Captain Beefheart, Professor Longhair and others. As Greil Marcus writes in the foreword, “You can feel the atmosphere: someone has walked into a room with a pencil in his hand — as the words go in perhaps the first song about a music critic, not counting Chuck Berry’s aside about the writers at the rhythm reviews — and suddenly people are relaxed … He isn’t after your secrets. He doesn’t want to ruin your career to make his. He doesn’t care what you think you need to hide. He actually is interested in why and how you make your music and what you think of it. So people open up, very quickly, and, very quickly, as a reader, you’re not reading something you’ve read before.”
Thirty Years Behind the Glass: From Otis Redding and Stax Records to Santana’s Supernatural
By Lee Zimmerman
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In a recording career spanning some 50 years, bridging a range in time and style that reaches from the early days at Memphis’s Stax Records to Carlos Santana’s eight-Grammy year in 2000 and beyond, producer Jim Gaines has operated the mixing board for some of the greatest artists in American music. Journey, Huey Lewis and the News, Steve Miller, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Dionne Warwick are just a few of the influential musicians who have entrusted their creativity and talent to his proven abilities. Gaines still remembers the day — April 4, 1968 — when Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. Hearing the sirens and seeing the smoke rising from the downtown Memphis skyline, Gaines remembers loading tapes from Stax studio that night into various employees’ vehicles to be taken away for safekeeping until the unrest in the city subsided. Near the other end of his career, Gaines recalls receiving a phone call during a break in the session at Willie Nelson’s studio near Austin, where he was recording demo tracks for the rising Texas group Los Lonely Boys. The date was Sept. 11, 2001. Once again, there would be no more recording completed that day. In this wide-ranging collection of personal interviews and reminiscences, Gaines, with the help of author Lee Zimmerman, offers readers the priceless opportunity to sit down with a true music industry veteran and hear a lifetime’s worth of stories from inside the studio.”
Beyoncé (Lives of the Musicians)
By Tshepo Mokoena
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Beyoncé is not simply a pop sensation. She is a cultural phenomenon empowering the oppressed and dispossessed, challenging white privilege and misogyny and exploding gender politics. But who is Beyoncé Knowles-Carter? And how did a small girl from Houston become the strong confident woman whose albums sell in their millions and whose songs have become anthems against racial and sexual discrimination and oppression? This biography sets out to reveal exactly that.”
David Bowie (Lives of the Musicians)
By Robert Dimery
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “As with all great pop stars, David Bowie’s image changed with almost every new album release. This appetite for reinvention, both musically and visually, saw him dubbed the ‘chameleon of pop’. But Bowie’s influence extended well beyond his discography and makeup drawer. His androgynous qualities and public statements on his sexuality proved liberating for those who were uncertain about their own. Lives of the Musicians: David Bowie covers the years he spent struggling to find the right artistic outlet to the dramatic breakthrough in 1972 with Ziggy Stardust — and afterwards, the excessive lifestyle that nearly cost him his sanity. It continues with his artistic rebirth in Berlin during the late ’70s, the mainstream success he achieved with Let’s Dance in 1983 and the artistic price that he paid for it.”
Prince (Lives of the Musicians)
By Jason Draper
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “His name was Prince, and he was funky. He was also inspiring, infuriating, visionary and otherworldly. Channelling contradictions in search of his own unique truth, he eventually changed his name to an unpronounceable glyph that merged the male and female symbols in an outward expression of his inner dualities. Gifted with the ability to play almost every instrument on his records, and shifting between musical styles as much as he switched-up his looks, he refused to acknowledge boundaries. Instead, he brought opposing forces together in a life-long quest to reconcile a dirty mind with a love for God. In doing so, the mini Minneapolis genius became a world-conquering icon whose towering legacy continues to shape pop culture.”
Amy Winehouse (Lives of the Musicians)
By Kate Solomon
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Amy Winehouse is one of those pop stars that comes along so rarely we’re not sure we knew what we had when we had her. Her story speaks to us not because the relentless tabloid coverage of her darker days unfolded in real time, but because she tapped into deeply personal yet universal feelings and displayed them to us in all their painful, raw glory. She turned our demons into something we could dance and sing to, and she skewered those who wronged her in ways we could only dream of.”
Queen and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind
By Jared Kemling & Randall E. Auxier
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Queen and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind is a collection of cutting-edge philosophical essays on the rock group Queen, founded in 1970 and originally featuring lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991. Queen‘s reputation and fan following continue to grow in the 21st century.”
I Heard The Strokes Before You: Notes From The Unremembered ’00s Indie Scene
By Dorian Cox
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bumping into Amy Winehouse, The Cribs, The Libertines, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, The Horrors and Erol Alkan in the centre of the ’00s Indie Scene. Dorian Cox was there, down back alleyways in East London with famous rock stars’ daughters, getting taxis across town with The Klaxons, taking drugs at Camden Barfly, flying back to Cologne to look for a pair of winkle pickers in a dressing room and waiting until Tuesday to read about what he’d been up to in the NME. After flying back from L.A. and collapsing in a hotel room, Dorian joined the 27 Club for a few minutes, before coming back to the real world. With a bouquet of flowers sent by Duran Duran. Here he trawls his diaries to bring you the unvarnished stories from the heart of the indie scene. A cross between The Dirt by Mötley Crüe and The Kenneth Williams Diaries.”
You Started It: Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Most Notorious and Bitter Feuds
By Ken McNab
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Many of the world’s biggest bands have imploded amid bitter and violent grudges over money, publishing, ego-driven power plays, relationships, drugs, and that famous old bromide, “musical differences.” Iconic bands like The Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, The Supremes, The Clash, The Eagles, The Band, The Police, Cream and Guns N’ Roses all suffered rancorous break-ups that have cast long shadows over their legacies. Musical — and real — brotherhoods such as The Everly Brothers, Jagger-Richards, Ray and Dave Davies, Simon and Garfunkel and Lennon-McCartney fractured as private brawls transitioned into toxic, public blame games. Yet, as music lovers, we can’t help but be strangely captivated by the internecine warfare that is part of their shared antiquity, no matter the era you belong to — along with the timeless music they left behind. Ken McNab’s You Started It charts these tales of rock ’n’ roll excess and internal strife. He captures unique accounts from eye-witnesses of these legendary bands and their legendary breakups, bringing to life the divisions that produced domino effects of animus that followed them through the decades. McNab provides fresh takes on the human stories behind the in-fighting that saw a stairway to heaven become a highway to hell for the biggest bands of this or any other time.”
Members Only: The Iconic Membership Cards and Passes of the Acid House and Rave Generations
By Rob Ford
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Members Only is a showcase of the iconic membership cards and passes (VIP, Access All Areas etc) of the acid house and rave generations. In A to Z format, the book features over 500 items of memorabilia from the late ’80s and ’90s and covers all the legendary and pioneering events of the eras, including Amnesia House; Biology; Dreamscape; Eclipse; Energy; Fantazia; Genesis; FAC51 Hacienda; Jungle Fever; Labrynth, Ministry of Sound; Rage; Raindance; Shoom; Spectrum; Sterns; Club UK; World Dance. The book, whilst featuring all of the iconic events, clubs and parties, legal and illegal, also includes quotes from the pioneering event founders, DJs, MCs, PAs; ravers and even with the person who “invented” glow sticks giving us insight on when, where and how they came about.”
