Edgy, witty, and opinionated critical analysis of “classic rock” in the 21st century, discussing everything from modern remixes of classic albums (why?) to concert ticket prices, Record Store Day, the vinyl revival, milking deceased artists, reunions, tribute acts, and more. When Dave Thompson’s I Hate New Music: The Classic Rock Manifesto in 2008, the book did not so much divide the world of rock reading as leave it in an uproar. It started arguments, it ended debates, and for the author of over 150 music books, it not only received the strongest reader response of any book he’d written, it also still crops up in author interviews today. Almost fifteen years later, however, much has changed, and the classics have lost some of their bite as well. In I Hate Old Music, Too, Thompson recasts the story of “classic rock” in the 21st century. Among the targets of his ire are lavish box sets that mostly just duplicate the albums you already own; comebacks and reunions featuring half or even fewer of the band members; the dark side of the “vinyl revival;” the continued cult of The Beatles; and much more.

Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book of the Year Time magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007 Newsweek Favorite Books of 2007 A Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2007 In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. The Rest Is Noise is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.

One of The Telegraph's Best Music Books 2011 Alex Ross's award-winning international bestseller, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, has become a contemporary classic, establishing Ross as one of our most popular and acclaimed cultural historians. Listen to This, which takes its title from a beloved 2004 essay in which Ross describes his late-blooming discovery of pop music, showcases the best of his writing from more than a decade at The New Yorker. These pieces, dedicated to classical and popular artists alike, are at once erudite and lively. In a previously unpublished essay, Ross brilliantly retells hundreds of years of music history—from Renaissance dances to Led Zeppelin—through a few iconic bass lines of celebration and lament. He vibrantly sketches canonical composers such as Schubert, Verdi, and Brahms; gives us in-depth interviews with modern pop masters such as Björk and Radiohead; and introduces us to music students at a Newark high school and indie-rock hipsters in Beijing. Whether his subject is Mozart or Bob Dylan, Ross shows how music expresses the full complexity of the human condition. Witty, passionate, and brimming with insight, Listen to This teaches us how to listen more closely.

Women write about their experiences of loving music that doesn’t love them back – a feminist 'guilty pleasures'.e - a kind of feminist guilty pleasures. In the majority of mainstream writing and discussions on music, women appear purely in relation to men as muses, groupies or fangirls, with our own experiences, ideas and arguments dismissed or ignored. But this hasn’t stopped generations of women from loving, being moved by and critically appreciating music, even – and sometimes especially – when we feel we shouldn’t. Under My Thumb: Songs that Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them is a study of misogyny in music through the eyes of women. It brings together stories from journalists, critics, musicians and fans about artists or songs we love (or used to love) despite their questionable or troubling gender politics, and looks at how these issues interact with race, class and sexuality. As much celebration as critique, this collection explores the joys, tensions, contradictions and complexities of women loving music – however that music may feel about them. Featuring: murder ballads, country, metal, hip hop, emo, indie, Phil Spector, David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, 2Pac, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, AC/DC, Elvis Costello, Jarvis Cocker, Kanye West, Swans, Eminem, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Combichrist and many more.

What goes on in human beings when they make or listen to music? What is it about music, what gives it such peculiar power over us, power delectable and beneficent for the most part, but also capable of uncontrollable and sometimes destructive force? Music has no concepts, it lacks images; it has no power of representation, it has no relation to the world. And yet it is evident in all of us–we tap our feet, we keep time, hum, sing, conduct music, mirror the melodic contours and feelings of what we hear in our movements and expressions. In this book, Oliver Sacks explores the power music wields over us–a power that sometimes we control and at other times don’t. He explores, in his inimitable fashion, how it can provide access to otherwise unreachable emotional states, how it can revivify neurological avenues that have been frozen, evoke memories of earlier, lost events or states or bring those with neurological disorders back to a time when the world was much richer. This is a book that explores, like no other, the myriad dimensions of our experience of and with music.

Sod 70! Keep fit, keep the brain going, and with a spot of good fortune you can be living a fulfilling, active life into your nineties and beyond. This book – part exercise book, part manifesto for a happier, healthier life – tells you how. Many of us approach our seventies with an unhelpful stereotype lodged in our brains. The stooped figures on the road sign imply that ageing inevitably causes problems but many of these can be postponed or prevented because they are caused not by ageing, but by loss of fitness, preventable disease and the wrong attitude. Shake off the stereotypes and empower yourself. Embrace seventy, and make the most of it by following the simple resolutions created for you in this book, packed with ideas to help you get fit and healthy, in body and mind. This book tells you how to Sod Seventy! – and live life to the full! Keep fit, keep your brain active, and with a spot of good fortune you can be living a rewarding, active life into your eighties, nineties and beyond. Part exercise book, part manifesto for a happier, healthier life – this book will show you how. From the art of body maintenance to the importance of choosing healthcare wisely, Sod Seventy! is the practical and uplifting approach to living longer and better. The perfect gift for friends or relatives nearing seventy, or a present to yourself!

An entertaining trivia compendium flush with fun facts about all things music. From boogie-woogie to Beethoven, from Prince to Pavarotti, from the bards of Broadway to the rebels of rock ’n’ roll—it’s all here. Uncle John has created this harmonious collection of tuneful tales for music lovers everywhere. Uncle John has proven once again that he is in tune with our legion of loyal readers. This 516-page musical masterpiece dedicated to all things noteworthy ranges from silly one-hit wonders to culture-changing musical milestones. You’ll get a glimpse into the future of music and go back to the days when prehistoric man first started communicating in song. So, plug in your amp, turn the dial up to eleven, and have a blast reading about: · The origins of nearly every genre and style of music—including rock, country, jazz, the blues, rhythm-and-blues, hip hop, punk, folk, polka, opera, Muzak, disco, and even marching bands · Musical legends, from “outsiders” like the Shaggs and the Carter family, to giants like the Beatles, Elvis, and Weird Al Yankovic · The stories of legendary music venues like the Grand Ole Opry, the Apollo, and the Fillmore · How a computer glitch led to Right Said Fred’s 1991 hit “I’m Too Sexy” · Why waltzing was considered as scandalous in its early days as rock was in its early days · The birth of the banjo, the electric guitar, karaoke, and the Stradivarius violin · How John Williams struck a universal chord with his score for Star Wars · Go underground to play the world’s largest natural musical instrument · What happened at Woodstock and other weird concert mishaps And much, much more