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Presented in diary form covering 40 years, Time Has Come Today recounts Rhino Records co-founder Harold Bronson’s lifetime of adventures in the world of rock music.These eyewitness accounts of concerts, events, interviews, travels and meetings with noted hitmakers, from the Monkees to KISS, are rich with fascinating detail, packed with dates and behind-the-scene details.Before he co-founded Rhino Records and put decades of rock and roll history back into musical circulation, Harold Bronson was just a devoted fan with boundless enthusiasm, a discerning ear and a near-photographic memory. He channeled his passion into writing for the UCLA Daily Bruin and then Rolling Stone and other magazines before launching the Rhino label from the back room of the Los Angeles record store he managed.Completing a trilogy that began with The Rhino Records Story (2013) and continued with My British Invasion (2017), this 40-year diary documents Bronson’s progress from student musician and journalist to label executive, where his fandom, wit and wildly creative imagination augmented and altered the course of many brilliant careers. Time Has Come Today contains accounts of significant events and meetings with noted hitmakers and reveals fascinating details that have never before been made public.Featuring close encounters with:The MonkeesPeter NooneThe TurtlesAC/DCArthur Lee and LoveGene SimmonsMaurice GibbOzzy OsbourneJohn SebastianGeorge CarlinGeorge ClintonAndrew Loog OldhamHenny YoungmanThe Electric Light OrchestraNeil InnesMark LindsayPaul AnkaPeter AsherMickie MostBadfingerSpiritRod ArgentStephen BishopWally Amos...and many more

In his rollicking memoir, Los Angeles rock and roll man about town Art Fein recounts his experiences with John Lennon, Brian Wilson, Phil Spector and many others.In 1985, Art Fein did the one thing fans are always cautioned against: he befriended an idol, becoming part of record producer Phil Spector's inner circle. That relationship – often gratifying, sometimes terrifying – lasted through Spector's murder conviction in 2009. Fein here shares startling and intimate details about the eccentric recluse.

In this boisterous and entertaining memoir, Nigel Dick recounts his wild ride from record company motorcycle messenger to one of the world's leading music video directors.After a brief stint busking in the Paris Metro, Nigel Dick got his start in the music business at London's upstart Stiff Records in the late '70s, working with Graham Parker, Ian Dury, Devo and the Go-Go’s. From helping out on a Madness video, he began a career as a music video director; he went on to work with hundreds of stars, including Oasis, Ozzy Osbourne, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Guns n' Roses, Cher, Toto, Britney Spears, Yes, Nickelback, Celine Dion, Alice Cooper, Alice in Chains and Tears for Fears. If you’ve ever watched MTV, you’ve seen his work.Ten classic videos directed by Nigel Dick:Band Aid: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”Cher: “Believe”Def Leppard: “Rocket”Celine Dion: "Falling Into You"Guns n’ Roses: “Sweet Child o’ Mine”Nickelback: “Photograph”Oasis: “Wonderwall”Ozzy Osbourne: "Back on Earth"Britney Spears: “Oops!...I Did It Again”Tears for Fears: “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”With so many artists depicted here making the videos by which they have come to be known, there is something for everyone who's ever watched MTV and wondered about their creation.Chad Kroeger of Nickelback: "If you thought Nigel Dick could direct a video, you should see him write a book!"Steve Lukather of Toto: "We hated doing videos cause we are musicians not dancers or actors. But Nigel made it fun, did an amazing job, was a great hang and caught on to our personalities quick."Tony Scalzo of Fastball: "Nigel is a brilliant storyteller and a tireless creative force."Rob Tannenbaum, co-author of I Want My MTV: "It’s pretty unlikely that Nigel Dick – a frustrated architect, failed rock star and failed bike messenger (he didn’t own a bike), a man whose own mother told him he’d never amount to anything – played such a significant role in music video history, but it’s true. He was a balding, abstemious 28 year old PR man when he was handed a camera and told to figure it out. In this blunt, colorful memoir, in which he seemingly meets everyone in the music business, he describes the wild west early days of MTV and videos, when no one knew what they were doing and an entire art form was invented on the fly. It’s incredible what one can accomplish with ingenuity, pluck and good cheer."

POW! is the fascinating memoir of a precocious English teen in the early 1980s who published a music magazine, interviewed many of the era's top artists, befriended rock stars, ran a record label, appeared on television, played in a band and found first love -- all at the same time!In this sequel to his Boy About Town (2013), Tony Fletcher's incredible adventures in the world of British post-punk make for a compelling adventure of highs (an exclusive interview with Paul McCartney, friendship with Paul Weller of the hugely successful Jam, playing to huge audiences, discovering love and sex) and lows (heartbreak, learning the financial challenges of running a label the hard way, the collapse of his band). Despite the passage of time, he summons up all the enthusiasm he felt for the music and women he loved and marvels at the incredible experiences he had as a hard-working young striver.The generation raised on MTV, the New Musical Express and bands like Madness, Wham!, the Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dexy's Midnight Runners and Killing Joke will love reading this inside view of a knowledgeable fan who got to know them all.“Tony Fletcher, one of the great post-punk inspirational writers and thinkers: his fanzine Jamming! inspired me to start Creation. This early '80s memoir POW! is his story of that period. Take a bow Tony, you always were a cool chap.” Alan McGee, author of Creation Records: Riots, Raves and Running a Label“Tony writes with the energy of the music he loves and knows. Forward motion: it’s the life he’s lived.” Johnny Marr, author of Set the Boy Free: The Autobiography“What makes POW! special is that it captures the early-'80s UK music storm not from the top of the industry but from knee height, through the eyes of a 16-year-old who had somehow blundered into the middle of it.” Mark Jay, author of The Nudniks of 1977“Anyone who ever fell in love with pop music will be enthralled by Tony Fletcher’s Access All Areas adventure. Packed with anecdotes and insight, this is an absolute gem of a book.” Russ Litten, author of Scream If You Want to Go Faster"Tony's compulsively readable memoir takes me right along with him on his youthful adventures in grimy early-'80s London and beyond." Dan Epstein, author of Now You're One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross“POW! is quite an extraordinary achievement, at the very least for showing that Tony’s memories are as detailed and full as if these things has happened just last week. Memories that stimulate and force my own to come rushing, partially, back: both good and bad. It was an extraordinary time to be that age, to be steeped in such action and excitement, as we were. Most autobiographies skim over the bad bits with a wry eye, a 'whoops' with a grin. but Tony has no such tone. Or shame, even! His gods are as slammed as they are revered, showing both their humanity and their human-ness, their own faults and problems.” Hugo Burnham, Gang of Four

“You've Got Michael” tells the inside story of the high-stakes battle to save Michael Jackson's career and market his 1995 greatest hits album, HIStory, as documented by a record executive who worked closely with him.In 1991, Dan Beck -- a senior marketing executive at Epic Records in New York -- became Michael Jackson's product manager, with direct responsibility for the artist's record packaging, publicity, videos, retail strategy and contact with the label. The story he tells here is of the five years in that role, dealing with Jackson's unchecked ambition, surprising need for reassurance and increasing challenges to his career, many of them self-induced. Beck recounts his often surprising (if sometimes dismaying) experiences with clear-eyed objectivity, seeing Jackson as both a superstar and a real person.While detailing the inner workings of the music business at its mega-platinum peak, “You've Got Michael” is also a gripping drama about helping a global talent survive the most difficult time in his career.

What do radicals, religion, race, riots, restaurants and Rufus Thomas all have in common? According to this provocative first novel by veteran music journalist Ira Robbins, they are all defining elements of the 1960s. At times dishearteningly bleak, Kick It Till It Breaks is rich with offbeat characters vividly drawn against a tableau of antiwar violence. Unlike most stories of the time, the author - who nonetheless claims a high regard for its political and cultural achievements - is unsparing in his depiction of dedicated idealists failing to uphold their ideals. The author uses slang, dialect and timely pop culture touchstones to bring the Viet Nam era to life in such disparate locales as Memphis, London, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Chicago and New York. Fans of Putney Swope, The Young Ones and A Confederacy of Dunces will likely recognize a harmony of tone and perspective with those darkly humorous works.

In his first novel, Kick It Till It Breaks, veteran music journalist Ira Robbins satirizes the foibles and fanaticism of '60s radical activists.Ydinia Ochreman is the leader of a terrorist organization; her travels and exploits drive the story, which involves a colorful cast of dubious characters, including the incompetent FBI agent on her trail, a pacifist protest leader with a complicated agenda, a cranky peg-legged bar owner, an Irish atheist on a quest to end organized religion and a lost soul from Memphis who ends up in London. The dark humor of Kick It Till It Breaks is tempered by abiding respect for those who sacrificed their lives to end the war in Viet Nam.

In Marc Bolan Killed in Crash, an ordinary schoolgirl in 1972 London is pulled into the world of a fading rock star and becomes the secret weapon in a plan to revive his career.As playful glam rock is busy upending the bluesy and serious sounds of the late ’60s, 15-year old Laila Russell makes a serendipitous entry into the cutthroat music business via a handbag accidentally left on the Tube. Laila picks it up and takes it home, hoping to locate the mysterious – and attractive – woman who it belongs to.The mysteries of sex and songwriting, connivance, fame, family, and the music business collide to bring Laila to a high-flying life she could never have imagined. But there are consequences. Filled with detailed and knowing musical history as its backdrop, Marc Bolan Killed in Crash is a colorful romp through an extraordinary era of chart pop.Written with a deep knowledge of the city, its music and its vernacular, the story draws together a number of colorful characters whose shifting loyalties, ambitions and status come to a head with two stunning acts: one of betrayal, the other of violence.

If you've ever wondered how or why anyone becomes a critic, some of the answers are in Music in a Word Volume 1, an anthology-cum-memoir by veteran music journalist and Trouser Press magazine co-founder Ira Robbins.The first of three volumes collects articles, essays, album and concert reviews, previously unpublished interviews and other writing mingled with colorful recollections of 50 years spent on a musical soapbox. Profusely illustrated with images from the author's archive.

The second volume of veteran rock critic Ira Robbins' anthology-cum-memoir, Music in a Word, compiles extensive writing about nine artists: the Who, Cheap Trick, Ramones, Nirvana, the Clash, Kinks, Elvis Costello, Keith Richards/Rolling Stones and the Replacements.Profiles, interviews (some previously unpublished), concert and record reviews and much more.

This history of Arista Records, from its 1960s roots in Bell Records through the transformative success of Whitney Houston in the mid-'80s, tells the story of a record label, its visionary leader, Clive Davis, and the artists and genres it embraced and promoted: Barry Manilow, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, the Kinks and many others.Author Mitchell Cohen, a well-known music journalist who served as an A&R executive at Arista, interviewed dozens of artists and former colleagues to produce this detailed and thoughtful account of how Arista Records reflected its place and time: New York in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The third volume of Ira Robbins’ Music in a Word is an annotated collection of feature articles, previously unpublished interviews, album liner notes, book reviews, obituaries, critics' polls and correspondence.Subjects covered in Music in a Word Volume 3 include David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Television, Radiohead, Morrissey, CBGB, Isaac Hayes, Dusty Springfield, Stray Cats, ELO, Johnny Thunders, Adam Ant, Nick Lowe, Fountains of Wayne, Lester Bangs, Patti Smith, Bryan Adams, Blondie, They Might Be Giants and more.

In this collection of intimate interviews, profiles and essays, from Phil Ochs to Leonard Cohen, veteran music journalist Bruce Pollock, a Greenwich Village resident and clubgoer during its heyday, documents folk music's evolution from passing the hat to topping the charts.From the coffeehouses of Greenwich Village to the stage of Woodstock, folksingers became a powerful cultural force in the 1960s. Mixing music and politics, tradition and innovation, romance and righteousness, these men and women were outspoken voices for their generation, each with a story to tell.

Jim Sullivan, who spent 26 years writing about popular music for the Boston Globe, focuses on artists who came to prominence in the 1950s and '60s in the first volume of his anthology, Backstage & Beyond.Drawing on multiple interviews he conducted with each artist, Sullivan – a 2023 inductee into the New England Music Hall of Fame – delivers fascinating, entertaining (and occasionally hair-raising) profiles of such Rock and Roll Hall of Famers as:Jerry Lee LewisDavid BowieWarren ZevonThe KinksAerosmithLou ReedGeorge ClintonIggy PopPete TownshendAlice CooperJohn FogertyTina TurnerLeonard CohenRather than simply collect up previously published articles as they originally appeared, Sullivan combed through his archive to find everything he wrote about each artist and worked them together into a more expansive time-passages view that chronicles their changing situations, outlooks and experiences.In the preface, Sullivan writes, “My hope is that the recollections contained here … trigger some memories, bring you back to where you wanted to be — backstage and beyond, as it were. And if you weren’t around then, I hope this transports you back to several golden ages of rock and roll.”

Jim Sullivan, who spent 26 years writing about popular music for the Boston Globe, focuses on artists who came to prominence in the 1970s and '80s in the second volume of his anthology, Backstage & Beyond.Drawing on multiple interviews he conducted with each artist, Sullivan – a 2023 inductee into the New England Music Hall of Fame – dives deep into punk, new wave and post-punk to profile such notable artists as the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash. Patti Smith, New Order, the Cure, Talking Heads, the Police and the Cars.

Presented in diary form covering 40 years, Time Has Come Today recounts Rhino Records co-founder Harold Bronson’s lifetime of adventures in the world of rock music.These eyewitness accounts of concerts, events, interviews, travels and business meetings with noted hitmakers, from the Monkees to KISS, the Turtles to Ozzy Osbourne, are rich with fascinating detail, packed with dates and behind-the-scene details.

Including his work with the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed released nearly 50 original albums during his lifetime; in Sweet, Wild and Vicious, critic Jim Higgins delves into each, with descriptions, details, analysis and appraisals that will amplify and expand fans’ understanding and appreciation of them.Reed was an American rock original (and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer) whose work went from “Heroin” and “Sweet Jane” to Metal Machine Music and “Walk on the Wild Side” to a collaboration with Metallica. They're all covered here.This listener's guide is personal as well as definitive, a thoughtful consideration of Reed's entire career from the perspective of a devoted follower able to separate the highs from the lows.In the words of Greg Kot, acclaimed journalist, author and co-host of the long-running syndicated radio program Sound Opinions, "I didn’t think we needed another book on Lou Reed or the Velvet Underground until I read Sweet, Wild and Vicious. A voracious listener and gifted writer, Jim Higgins contextualizes Reed's life and aesthetic in a way that illuminates the world he created between the headphones. His recordings — by turns brilliant, confounding and daring — finally get the book they deserve. It’s nothing less than an essential addition to our understanding and appreciation of Reed/Velvets."

Set against the backdrop of a generation awakening from its countercultural dreams to the realities of a materialistic society – San Francisco in the late 1970s – Philip Polarov is a would-be writer scraping by while attempting to turn his self-described “stream of drivel” into an Important Novel.As the last soldiers of the Beat Generation become ghosts, and the Baby Beats, a clique of their acolytes, take over the bars and coffeehouses, Philip searches for meaning, sex, drugs ... and an affordable place to crash. WannaBeat is an incisive and provocative novel about yearning for authenticity in the face of an increasingly artificial reality.

Zip It Up!, a massive annotated anthology of the highly regarded American music magazine Trouser Press (1974-1984), offers readers an immersion in rock journalism as it was practiced in its heyday — as well as a deeply informative history of many important rock artists.Known variously as “America’s Only British Rock Magazine” and “the bible of alternative rock,” Trouser Press was an important chronicler of trends and developments, from the British Invasion to new wave and punk. The features assembled here go deep, while the interviews include impertinent questions of the sort few have the courage to ask. Throughout, the writing is witty, smart and packed with strong opinions. The book includes the longest, most detailed interview Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin has ever given as well as fascinating and entertaining interviews with and profiles of Pete Townshend, Robert Fripp, KISS, Cheap Trick, Lou Reed, Malcolm McLaren, the Ramones and Richie Blackmore of Deep Purple.

Originally issued in 1988, This Ain't No Disco is the only warts-and-all history of CBGB: memories, stories and gossip from dozens of insiders who worked, played or just hung out at New York’s legendary birthplace of punk rock.Located on the Bowery in New York City, CBGB was the birthplace of punk and new wave in America in the 1970s. Blondie, the Ramones, Television, Talking Heads and many other groundbreaking bands got their start in the rock club on New York’s Bowery. Years later, CB’s became the cauldron for New York hardcore.Originally issued in 1988 and out of print for decades, This Ain't No Disco was written long before the legend overtook the reality — while the club was open and most of the principals alive. This is the real story, told in gritty, outrageous and sometimes hilarious detail.The text includes unguarded quotes from CBGB founder Hilly Kristal, Joey Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone (the Ramones), Clem Burke and Chris Stein (Blondie), David Byrne (Talking Heads), Jim Carroll, Willy DeVille (Mink DeVille), Annie Golden (Shirts), Richard Hell and Richard Lloyd (Television), Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Handsome Dick Manitoba (Dictators), Wendy O. Williams (Plasmatics) and many others.This new edition includes a new foreword by Chris Frantz of Talking Heads, a 12-page glossy selection of photographs by Ebet Roberts and historical reporting about the club's closing in 2006.

In this sensitive and smart coming-of-age rock novel, Atlanta fast food worker Calvin loses his girlfriend, his band and his best friend in a single day. Suddenly, everything he had planned to spend the rest of his life doing seems to have flown away.Many novels set in the world of rock music depict stardom, debauchery and deceit. King Cal instead focuses on the creative process, the devotion required to choose an uncertain life in music, the inspiration for songwriting and the challenge of making the rent while making art.Told with insight, sensitivity and deep respect for what it really takes to make a life in music, King Cal is a coming-of-age novel about a determined young man who starts with little, aims to earn a little more and has to decide whether success, or even clinging to his dream, is worth the sacrifice.

In the first collection of his essays, outspoken critic Tim Sommer challenges some conventional beliefs about rock and explains how left-of-the-dial music in the '80s turned a generation of awkward loners into a cultural community.Sommer is a musician, journalist, record producer and radio DJ. He was an on-air news correspondent for MTV and VH1 and later worked for Atlantic Records, where he signed, among others, Hootie & the Blowfish.Dispatches From the Kingdom of Outsiders contains dozens of fervent and often surprising takes on music, culture and politics, offering a powerful and entertaining corrective to the timidity of so much modern music journalism.From his precocious emergence as a teenaged rock writer, Sommer describes the Zelig-like experiences of his life, mounts controversial arguments about well-known artists, connects music and politics in unexpected ways and reflects on a handful artists whose deaths affected him.Grouped into seven themed sections, the book covers U2 and R.E.M. to the Beatles and Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan to Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen. It also includes in-depth interviews with Dave Davies of the Kinks and a previously unpublished interview with Mark E. Smith of the Fall.Sample chapter titles: I Was Almost a Temporary Beastie BoyMeet the Beatles’ First Left-Handed BassistWhat Was the First Punk Rock Record?Weezer’s cover of Toto's “Africa” Is the Most Repugnant Pop Recording of All TimeHow Kent State Helped Create the Template for American Indie RockWith its diverse collection of subjects and entertaining opinions, this colorful, rollicking collection of writing will appeal to (and perhaps infuriate) a wide variety of music fans.Billy Idol: "Tim Sommer goes deep on a whole century of rock and pop culture, from Bowie to Buddy Bolden, Spike Milligan to Taylor Swift, and everything in between. Punk was always a state of mind, as much as a sound or a look, and this book is punk AF."Thurston Moore, co-founder of Sonic Youth: "It was the pleasure of noise, be it from the margins or from the mainstream, that inspired Tim to pontificate so excitedly. While his “dispatches” are modestly critical and discerning, they are essentially informed by joy, an aspect of shared dialogue utterly welcoming -- and one the world necessitates now more than ever."Geoff Edgers, national arts reporter, The Washington Post and author of Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever: "Sommer is a throwback to when people writing about music wrote whatever they wanted, took shocking takes not to garner social media attention but because they really believed in them, and did not worry about industry repercussions. He's also a little insane. This is a truly original document of the kind of smart, free, joyous writing we so rarely find anywhere today. Tim Sommer writes because he has to, not because he's trying to impress anyone, and his takes -- on the Beatles, Glenn Branca, Kent State and just about anything that pops into his brain -- are refreshingly disinterested in scoring social media points."

New York City in the 1960s was a musical melting pot, in which folk, R&B, rock and roll, blues, girl groups and Brill Building pop produced a wealth of great artists and records. This book tells their story.Using numerous new interviews with major figures from the time as well as contemporaneous trade magazines and other sources, author Mitchell Cohen captures this rich (but often underestimated) musical era's history and sounds. He chronicles the arrival of new artists on the scene — bands like the Lovin' Spoonful, the Young Rascals, the Blues Project, the Shangri-Las and the Vagrants — as well as solo artists from Dion to Darin to Dylan and the local producers, songwriters and label executives who all helped shape the music. He also explores the role TV, radio and the press all played to show not only what was going on, but how it was being promoted, exploited and attacked.An acclaimed music journalist and former record company talent scout, Cohen lived in New York when all this was happening and adds his own memories to those he interviewed. The result is illuminating, entertaining and sure to be both informative and nostalgic for anyone who remembers songs like “Do You Believe in Magic,” “Groovin’,” “Good Lovin’,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Summer in the City,” “Chapel of Love” and “In the Midnight Hour.”Includes an extensive, annotated discography of albums and 45s and a bibliography.Fans will find that this book details a lot of what they might have long forgotten about one of the most vibrant and influential eras in American rock and roll. It adds to the scholarship regarding New York culture and will send readers scurrying to play these old songs.“It was such an exciting time for music, and Mitchell brings it vividly to life.” —Clive Davis. author of The Soundtrack of My Life“Mitchell Cohen, as always, connects the dots from the perspective of a true believer in rock and roll … Wake Me, Shake Me is music history told with much insight and detail.” —Dion DiMucci, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and author of Dion: The Rock and Roll Philosopher“Cohen puts a decade of profound musical change into celebratory perspective … A bravura accomplishment.” —Lenny Kaye, rock guitarist, author of Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments in Rock & Roll“Cohen writes about the breadth of New York’s music with all the noise, animation and attitude of the city itself.” —Jim Farber, music journalist (New York Times, The Guardian)“Cohen conjures the hustle, magic and ecstasy of Gotham’s groove during one of its most happening eras with a helping of context that makes it all come alive.” —Dennis Diken of the Smithereens“A wonderful love letter to the chaos, craft and blind faith behind the music of ‘60s New York.” —Sam Hollander, songwriter, author of 21 Hit Wonder: Flopping My Way to the Top of the Charts