These books are new to the Northwest Library as of summer 2024. Click on the title or image to learn more about the book, and if it's available to borrow. These titles cover music, musicians, trends, and musical biographies. Enjoy!
60 Songs That Explain The '90s by
NAMED A BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2023 by PITCHFORK, VARIETY, AND ROLLING STONE A companion to the #1 music podcast on Spotify, this book takes readers through the greatest hits that define a weirdly undefinable decade. The 1990s were a chaotic and gritty and utterly magical time for music, a confounding barrage of genres and lifestyles and superstars, from grunge to hip-hop, from sumptuous R&B to rambunctious ska-punk, from Axl to Kurt to Missy to Santana to Tupac to Britney. In 60 SONGS THAT EXPLAIN THE '90s, Ringer music critic Rob Harvilla reimagines all the earwormy, iconic hits Gen Xers pine for with vivid historical storytelling, sharp critical analysis, rampant loopiness, and wryly personal ruminations on the most bizarre, joyous, and inescapable songs from a decade we both regret entirely and miss desperately.
All I ever wanted : a rock 'n' roll memoir by
Go-Go's bassist Kathy Valentine's story is a roller coaster of sex, drugs, and of course, music; it's also a story of what it takes to find success and find yourself, even when it all comes crashing down. All I Ever Wanted is a deeply personal reflection on a life spent in music.
The Beatles lyrics : the stories behind the music, including the handwritten drafts of more than 100 classic Beatles songs by
More than 100 songs and lyrics are reproduced in The Beatles Lyrics, providing Hunter Davies a unique platform to tell the story of the music.
Declassified by
"A refreshingly fun guide" that reads "as if you're a fly on the wall in conservatory auditions, cutthroat competitions and the obsessive practice routines of professional musicians." (The New York Times) Declassified cheekily demystifies the world of High Art while making the case that classical music matters, perhaps now more than ever.
Everybody Had an Ocean: Music and mayhem in 1960s Los Angeles by
"Excellent social history...an indispensable account of a time of beauty and terror." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review A modern epic of the battles between innocence and cynicism, joy and terror Los Angeles in the 1960s gave the world some of the greatest music in rock 'n' roll history:
George Michael: A Life by
... explores the compelling story of a superstar whose struggles, as well as his songs, continue to touch fans all over the world. With deep analysis of the creative process behind Michael's albums, tours, and music videos, as well as interviews with hundreds of his friends and colleagues, George Michael: A Life is a probing, definitive portrait of a pop legend.
Her country : how the women of country music became the success they were never supposed to be by
In country music, the men might dominate the radio waves. But it's women--like Maren Morris, Mickey Guyton, and Kacey Musgraves--who are making history. This is the full and unbridled story of the past twenty years of country music seen through the lens of these trailblazers' careers--their paths to stardom and their battles against a deeply embedded boys' club, as well as their efforts to transform the genre into a more inclusive place.
Hit girls : women of punk in the USA, 1975-1983 by
Hit Girls is the story of local and regional bands whose legacy would be otherwise lost. Despite the modern narrative labeling women as anomalies in rock music, the truth is: women played important roles in punk and its related genres in every city, in every scene, all over the United States. The women and bands profiled by Jen B. share their experiences of sexism and racism as well as their joy and successes from their days on stage as they changed what it meant to be in a band.
Live music in America : a history from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé by
...surveys the ongoing impact and changing conditions of live music performance in the U.S. It covers a range of historic performances, from the Fisk Jubilee Singers expanding the sphere of African American music in the 1870s, to Benny Goodman bringing swing to Carnegie Hall in 1938, to 1952's Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland - arguably the first rock and roll concert - to Beyoncé's boundary-shattering performance at the 2018 Coachella festival.
Madonna : A Rebel Life by 
Mucho corazón : stages in the life of a pioneer female mariachi by
In 1960s East Los Angeles, La Estrella de la Canción Romántica interpreted boleros and other music from the collective memory of Mexico. Though an untrained, local artist, her musical performance was as trans-racial, trans-class, trans-generational, and trans-national as the most celebrated artists of the music of latinidad. That stage of her artistic career would be key when she later helped deconstruct the machismo that framed the mariachi tradition, as a founding member of the first all-female mariachi group, Las Generalas. Mucho Corazón, a biography/autoethnography written by the protagonist's daughter, relates the life- and performing stages of Aurora Prado Pastrano, who against overwhelming odds, followed her heart to become a bolerista, songwriter, and the first professional woman guitarrón player in United States history. Seamless storytelling advances the long-neglected history of Chicana grassroots artists. Framed by allusions to the music popular during her Texas-Mexican American childhood, her young adult life in Mexico, to her artistic rise in East Los Angeles, the story vividly exemplifies how gendered subjectivity infuses public performance of what the author coins "cultural music." This is a resource on regional history and its music of the 1940s-1970s. Written for anyone interested in women's participation in the production and performance of mariachi music in the United States, Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano, and Latino music, and the cultural history of the Southwest, it is especially valuable to ethnomusicology, cultural studies, women's history, women's and gender studies, Latinx studies, Chicanx studies, cultural anthropology, ethnology, and sociology, and accessible to levels from high school to higher education professionals.
Musical revolutions : how the sounds of the western world changed by
From the critically acclaimed author of Temperament, a narrative account of the most defining moments in musical history--classical, jazz, rock--all of which forever altered Western culture
Top Eight by
"A brilliant and addictive chronicle of a pop explosion that helped shape our moment. An absolute delight to read." --Rob Sheffield, bestselling author of Love is a Mix Tape, Dreaming the Beatles, and other books In extensive interviews with scene pioneers and mainstays including Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional), Geoff Rickly (Thursday), Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), Gabe Saporta (Midtown/Cobra Starship), and Max Bemis (Say Anything), veteran music journalist Michael Tedder has crafted a once-in-a-generation exploration of emo and The Scene that is as forthright as it is tenderly nostalgic, taking to task the elements of toxic masculinity and crass consumerism that bled out of the early 2000s cultural milieu and ultimately led to the implosion of emo's first home and the best social media network, MySpace. When MySpace thrived, the Internet was still fun. Top Eight recalls the excitement and freedom of the era, an unprecedented time when a generation of fans were able to connect directly with the bands and musicians they idolized, from Colbie Caillat to Lil Jon. MySpace changed everything, and Top Eight gives major voices of the era the chance to tell us why it couldn't last.
Shine bright : a very personal history of black women in pop by
From one of the preeminent cultural critics of her generation, a radiant weave of memoir, criticism, and biography that tells the story of black women in music--from the Dixie Cups to Gladys Knight to Janet, Whitney, and Mariah-- as the foundational story of American pop
What to Listen for in Music by
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 readers a deeper appreciation of the most viscerally rewarding of all art forms.
Why you like it : the science and culture of musical taste by
From the chief architect of the Pandora Radio's Music Genome Project comes a definitive and groundbreaking examination of why we respond to music the way we do.
