Music and Musicians: Rock, Classical, Funk, Soul, Punk, Country, Etc.

From the moment that he first shook up the world in the mid 1950s, Elvis Presley has been one of the most vivid and enduring myths of American culture.

Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley is the first biography to go past that myth and present an Elvis beyond the legend. Based on hundreds of interviews and nearly a decade of... Read more »

The scandal over modern music has not died down. While modern paintings by Picasso and Pollock sell for a hundred million or more, shocking musical works from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring onward still send ripples of unease through audiences; yet the influence of modern sound can be felt everywhere. Alex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker,...

Now in audio: "The definitive guide to musical enjoyment" (Forum).

In this fascinating analysis of how to listen to both contemporary and classical music analytically, eminent American composer Aaron Copland offers provocative suggestions that will bring listeners a deeper appreciation of the most viscerally rewarding of all art forms. Read more »

In Just Kids, Patti Smith’s first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel in the late sixties and seventies. An honest and moving story of youth and friendship, Smith brings the...

The revelatory and wildly bestselling memoir by legendary rock star Bruce Springsteen: “Glorious…a philosophically rich ramble through a rock ’n roll life…It’s the lyric he was born to write” (USA TODAY, 4 out of 4 stars).

Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life. The result is... Read more »

If you were a fan of popular music in the 1960s and early '70s, you were a fan of the Wrecking Crew—whether you knew it or not.

On hit record after hit record by everyone from the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Monkees to the Grass Roots, the 5th Dimension, Sonny &  Cher, and Simon & Garfunkel, this collection of West Coast studio... Read more »

For the first time, Appetite for Self-Destruction recounts the story of the precipitous rise and fall of the recording industry over the past three decades, when the incredible success of the CD turned the music business into one of the most glamorous, high-profile industries in the world – and the advent of file sharing brought it to its knees.... Read more »

This program is read by the author, and includes an introduction written by Pharrell, and read by Nick Cannon.

"Dyson's incisive analysis of JAY-Z's brilliance not only offers a brief history of hip-hop's critical place in American culture, but also hints at how we can best move forward." —Questlove

JAY-Z: Made in America is the fruit of Michael...

“Before Elvis there was nothing.”—John Lennon

“It was like he came along and whispered some dream in everybody’s ear, and somehow we all dreamed it.”—Bruce Springsteen

That voice, those eyes, that hair, the cars, the girls. Elvis Presley revolutionized American pop culture when, at age twenty-one, he became a modern superstar. He had a personal...

Discover the man behind the myth in this new biography of one of the most pioneering and influential performers of our time—David Bowie.

David Bowie—the iconic superstar of rock, fashion, art, design, and the quintessential sexual liberator—is a living legend. However, for the past five decades, he has managed to retain his Hollywood star...

At thirty-five, Destiny Day is at the top of her game, and she is the shrewdest and most ambitious sister walking around in a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes. When she meets Taye Crawford, an independent financial advisor, Destiny finds herself moving in a direction she never anticipated. Read more »

The inspiration for the Play It Loud exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Every guitar player will want to read this book twice. And even the casual music fan will find a thrilling narrative that weaves together cultural history, musical history, race, politics, business case studies, advertising, and technological discovery." —Daniel... Read more »