Music

Explosive, uncensored and always revelatory, Red Hot Chili Peppers is the long-awaited, never-before-told history of the globe's most worshipped rock band. Loaded with rare and unpublished photographs and memorabilia from their own archives, the band finally reveal all, allowing unprecedented access into their wild inner world. Few '80s groups smashed as many musical barriers as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They created an intoxicating new musical style by mixing punk with funk and a dose of hard rock, topping it off with front-man ... read more

Whether you want to make a living from music or play for fun, this is the essential guide to the New Zealand music industry. I'm With The Band explains everything you need to know from recording demos to signing contracts, from hiring a manager to protecting your music. Key figures in the New Zealand industry - names like Neil Finn - share their inside knowledge and experiences to help everyone from the hobby band to the performer on the brink of discovery. The talented Chunn family, led by Split Enz founding member Mike, combines... read more

One of the key bands of the Seattle-based grunge movement of the 1990s, Pearl Jam broke on to the world stage with their album, Ten, which went on to become an alternative rock classic. For over two decades Pearl Jam have been one of the most influential and popular bands on the planet, but have maintained their personal integrity by refusing the traditional trappings of rock fame. Praised for their rejection of rock star excesses and their fearless advocacy of causes they believe in, even when they risked losing their popularity.... read more

The long-awaited, never-before-told, no-holds-barred memoir from the legendary Aerosmith frontman.
Finally, all the lurid tales of debauchery, sex, drugs and rock n' roll are told straight from the horse's lips as The Demon of Screamin' describes his unimaginable highs and unbelievable lows as lead singer of the biggest rock band in the world. Prolific frontman, rock icon and sex symbol, Steven Tyler is a living legend. With his raw, sharp-edged vocals, musical versatility and unprecedented song writing skills, Tyler has, as... read more

Drawing on George Harrison's personal archive of photographs, letters, diaries, and memorabilia, Olivia Harrison reveals the arc of his life, from his guitar-obsessed boyhood in Liverpool, to the astonishment of the Beatles years, to his days as an independent musician and bohemian squire. Here too is the record of Harrison's lifelong commitment to Indian music, and his adventures as a movie producer, Travelling Wilbury, and Formula One racing fan. This book is filled with stories and reminiscences from Harrison's friends, includin... read more

Not a single sub-genre or band goes uncovered. The witty text befits the raucous bands that push musical-& all other-boundaries. This encyclopedia includes such influential singers & bands as Queen, Motley Crue, Black Sabbath, Twisted Sister, right up-to Rage Against the Machine, Alice Cooper, Fainth No More & Marilyn Manson. It is fantastically illustrated, well researched & fact-filled!Headbangers rejoice - this fantastically illustrated encyclopedia includes all things Metal, from influential bands such as Led Ze... read more

Be Mine Tonight, Outlook for Thursday, Loyal, Whaling, Slice of Heaven, Welcome Home - these are only some of the remarkable songs that have framed Dave Dobbyn's long career and made him one of New Zealand's most enduring and best-loved musicians. While generations of New Zealanders have grown up with his music, his songs have never been collected together and published in written form before. Produced to coincide with his new album of greatest hits (to be released in November by Sony Music), Dave Dobbyn: The Songbook will contain ... read more

Greil Marcus weaves individual moods and moments into a brilliant history of their changing times. This book begins in Berkeley in 1968, and ends with a piece on Dylan's show at the University of Minnesota on election night 2008. In between are moments of euphoric discovery: from Marcus' sleeve notes for the 1967 Basement Tapes to his exploration of Dylan's reimagining of the American experience in 1997's Time Out of Mind. And rejection; Marcus' Rolling Stone piece on Dylan's album Self Portrait - often referred to as the most famo... read more

For the first time in 15 years, comes a comprehensive, definitive collection of the lyrics of music legend and poet, Bob Dylan. From his early days of protest songs, like "Blowing in the Wind", "The Times They Are A Changing", to his revolutionary Subterranean "Homesick Blues", and "Like a Rolling Stone", "Lay Lady Lay", his songs have spoken to generations, had a huge influence on such artists as John Lennon, Lou Reed and Mark Knopfler. This book also contains all of his most recent writing in addition to the beloved songs of the ... read more

Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award A sweeping musical history that goes from the salons of pre-war Vienna to Velvet Underground shows in the sixties. In 'The Rest is Noise', Alex Ross, music critic of the New Yorker, gives us a riveting tour of the wild landscape of twentieth-century classical music: portraits of individuals, cultures, and nations reveal the predicament of the composer in a noisy, chaotic century. Taking as his starting point a production of Richard Strauss's Salome, conducted by the composer on 16 May... read more

This electrifying biography explores Stefani Germanotta's rapid rise to global stardom in the guise of the outrageous Lady Gaga. Hers has been a triumph achieved with the help of wild image-making, infectious pop hits and a teasing strand of ambiguous sexuality that has turned her into a gay icon. At heart it's the story of a unique self-made phenomenon - a Madonna for today. As an adoring fan of Freddie Mercury and David Bowie, Lady Gaga took the essence of 80s glam an reinvented it for the digital age. Commercially successful and... read more

It's another Saturday night in 1950s Auckland. Downtown, nightclubs are banning the jive because the exuberant couples disturb the cautious fox-trotters. Over in Freeman's Bay, the Maori Community centre is the 'jazziest, jumpingest place in the city' where sweaty men in zoot suits feed on Maori bread and huge tubs of potatoes. In Blue Smoke, Chris Bourke recovers the lost dawn of New Zealand popular music in the 20th Century. Bourke brings to life the musical worlds of New Zealanders at home (buying sheet music from Beggs, listeni... read more

Rob Young investigates how the idea of folk has been handed down and transformed by successive generations - song collectors, composers, Marxist revivalists, folk-rockers, psychedelic voyagers, free festival-goers, experimental pop stars and electronic innovators. In a sweeping panorama of Albion's soundscape that takes in the pioneer spirit of Cecil Sharp; the pastoral classicism of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Peter Warlock; the industrial folk revival of Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd; the folk-rock of Fairport Convention, Sandy Den... read more

Learning to play the 5-string banjo is a highly rewarding experience... but getting started can be a challenge! Here at last is a book that helps you choose the right instrument and accessories and then gets you playing – fast. Full colour pictures, clear diagrams and genuinely practical advice combine to make Start-Up 5 String Banjo do exactly what it says on the cover. You'll start off on the right track and that makes everything else come more easily. Contents include: - Tuning your banjo - Chord shapes - Reading tab... read more