There's a reason hit songs offer such guilty pleasure--they're designed that way. Over the last two decades a new type of hit song has emerged, one that is almost inescapably catchy. Pop songs have always had a "hook," but today's songs bristle with them: a hook every seven seconds is the rule. Painstakingly crafted to tweak the brain's delight in melody, rhythm, and repetition, these songs are highly processed products. Like snack-food engineers,...

A chronicle of Freddie Mercury and the band Queen during the years leading up to their appearance at the 1985 Live Aid concert.

"For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown. So Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean Mercury Ellis. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights--plus hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the lies...

"Understanding Audio explores the fundamentals of audio and acoustics that impact every stage of the music recording process. Whether you are a musician setting up your first Pro Tools project studio, or you are a seasoned recording engineer or producer eager to find a reference that fills in the gaps in your understanding of audio, this book is for you. Understanding Audio will enable you to develop a thorough understanding of the underlying principles...

"Pop music didn't begin with the Beatles in 1963, or with Elvis in 1956, or even with the first seven-inch singles in 1949. There was a pre-history that went back to the first recorded music, right back to the turn of the century. Who were these earliest record stars--and were they in any meaningful way "pop stars"? Who was George Gershwin writing songs for? Why did swing, the hit sound for a decade or more, become almost invisible after World War...

A riveting story of obsession, music, crime, and money, featuring visionaries and criminals, moguls and tech-savvy teenagers. It's about the greatest pirate in history, the most powerful executive in the music business, a revolutionary invention and an illegal website four times the size of the iTunes Music Store. Journalist Stephen Witt traces the secret history of digital music piracy, from the German audio engineers who invented the mp3, to a North...

"Songwriter Eden Voss had the perfect man--sexy, charming, talented and hers. Until record executive Blaine Woodson broke her heart to save his fledging label. Now music's bad boy is back, begging for her songwriting skills in his studio...and her lovemaking skills after hours. Eden vows to keep things strictly business this time. But there is nothing professional about the heat still between them..."--Back cover.

Recorded during the blazing summer of 1971 at Villa Nellcote, Keith Richards' seaside mansion in the south of France, Exile on Main St. has been hailed as one of the Rolling Stones' best albums--and one of the greatest rock records of all time. Yet its improbable creation was difficult, torturous, and at times dangerous. In self-imposed exile, the Stones--along with wives, girlfriends, and a crew of hangers-on--spent their days smoking, snorting,...

The remarkable story of an ordinary woman who lived the dream of millions -- to be part of rock royalty's trusted inner circle. Illustrated with private photographs and jam-packed with intimate anecdotes, Miss O'Dell is a backstage pass to some of the most momentous events in rock history.

"Rockfield is a recording studio that literally lives up to its name. Over the past thirty years, this rural Monmouthshire locale has played host to a bevy of British musical legends--from Robert Plant, Queen, and Black Sabbath to Oasis, the Stone Roses, Simple Minds to present day acts like The Darkness and Kasabian--as its unique acoustics have helped to define the sounds of many of rock's most classic albums. A rich narrative history packed with...