Pop category: 3054 books

He became famous with Genesis but simply to call Peter Gabriel a pop star would be to sell him very short indeed. Peter Gabriel has pursued several overlapping careers; neither becoming a parody of his past self nor self-consciously seeking new images, he instead took his creativeness and perfectionism...

Sex. Drugs. Loud music. Wild costumes. Dazzling light shows. These words can all describe a great rock concert or a hot dance club, but they were also part and parcel of the ancient cultural phenomenon known as the “Mystery religions.” In this book, author Christopher Knowles shows how the Mystery...

The Ramones' music has influenced nearly every power pop, punk, alternative, and metal band. Monte A. Melnick served as The Ramones tour manager from their early New York club days in the '70s to their farewell gigs in 1996. He was the fifth Ramone and was there through the arrests, the ODs the fights,...

From rank outsiders to pop stardom a decade later, The Damned blazed an anarchic trail through punk rock to achieve massive chart success. A beacon for the Sex Pistols and The Clash to follow, they flung down the musical gauntlet in 1976 with Britain’s first punk single ‘New Rose’. Smashing...

Patti Smith is one of pop culture’s true troubadours. Emerging from the New York punk scene of the mid-seventies whilst mixing poetry, underground theatre, jazz and rock, she has left a rebellious and individual legacy like no other. Arthur Rimbaud, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sam Shepard and Bruce...

In 1963, it was unusual for a pop group to have a monthly magazine devoted exclusively to their career. Only Elvis Presley had been considered important enough to warrant such an honour. But then the Beatles were unusual. Within the space of that pivotal year, the Fab Four became the biggest thing...

Pavement wrapped up at Easley Recording in Memphis. They mixed the tracks and recorded overdubs in New York. They took a step back and assessed the material. It was a wild scene. They had fully fleshed-out songs and whispers and rumors of half-formed ones. They had songs that followed a hard-to-gauge...

Hymns to the Silence is a thoroughly informed and enlightened study of the art of a pop music maverick that will delight fans the world over. In 1991, Van Morrison said, Music is spiritual, the music business isn't. Peter Mills' groundbreaking book investigates the oppositions and harmonies within...

Ween now seems like a permanent fixture on the pop-cultural landscape, but when the band first hit MTV in the early '90s, their longevity wasn't so secure. Nearly two decades on, though, Aaron "Gene Ween" Freeman and Mickey "Dean Ween" Melchiondo preside over one of the most devoted...

Morrissey is arguably the greatest disturbance popular music has ever known. Even more than the choreographed carelessness of punk and the hyperbolic gestures of glam rock and the New Romantics, Morrissey's early bookish ineptitude, his celebration of the ordinary, and his subversive endorsement of...

When it began, punk was an underground revolution that raged against the mainstream; now punk is the mainstream. Tracing the origins of Grammy-winning icons Green Day and the triumphant resurgence of neo-punk legends Bad Religion through MTV's embrace of pop-punk bands like Yellowcard, music journalist...

Dylan Kwabena Mills, better known as Dizzee Rascal, has evolved from cutting-edge pioneer of grime and hip-hop into one of Britain's biggest pop stars. And the East London rapper, songwriter and record producer did it without compromising his startlingly original vision and persona. Paul Lester...

Do you enjoy the music of Cockney rock duo Chas & Dave? Maybe you know the lyrics to all their songs and can name their albums? Then what better way to pay tribute to the ‘Rockney’ singers than with this quiz book?The 100 questions in The Official Chas & Dave Quiz Book are designed to test your memory...

When Feral House first published the award-winning Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, little was known about the "black metal" genre of music, or how many of its members were involved in the murder of citizens, the torching of churches, or its link to Fascist...