Kirjahaku

Back in print, Moon is the brilliant and heralded biography of one of rock & roll's most notorious and beloved figures: The Who's legendary drummer Keith Moon.Moon was the bad boy of rock & roll, the most manic member of an aggressive and fabulously successful band, a full-throttle hedonist who lived at the center of an unending party. He was also a musical genius who inspired whole generations of artists, a generous friend to nearly everyone who crossed his path, a guileless man of immense personal charm to whom the sweetest sound on earth was surf music. A generation after his death, Moon is still revered as the greatest drummer in rock history and the single wildest personality in an age of pop excess. Here is the truth behind the legend, the result of years of research in which music journalist Tony Fletcher interviewed dozens of Moon's friends, colleagues, and associates. An instant classic that brilliantly illuminates both the tender and self-destructive sides of this singular personality, Moon is the story of one of the most outrageous rock stars ever born.

Tony Fletcherâ??s A Light That Never Goes Out â?? part celebration, part paean â?? moves from Manchester in the nineteenth-century to the present day to tell the complete story of The Smiths.

'I was no longer fitting in at school. I was unsure of my friends, and they were increasingly unsure of me. I wanted to be a rock star. But while all around, voices were starting to break, acne beginning to appear, facial hair sprouting, I remained all flabby flesh and innate scruff, with a high-pitched whine and not a muscle to my name. I was the runt of the class and rarely allowed to forget it. I had no father at home to help me out, and could hardly talk to my mum. So I took solace in The Jam.'As a boy, Tony Fletcher frequently felt out of place. Yet somehow he secured a ringside seat for one of the most creative periods in British cultural history. Boy About Town tells the story of the bestselling author’s formative years in the pre- and post-punk music scenes of London, counting down, from fifty to number one: attendance at seminal gigs and encounters with musical heroes; schoolboy projects that became national success stories; the style culture of punks, mods and skinheads and the tribal violence that enveloped them; life as a latchkey kid in a single-parent household; weekends on the football terraces in a quest for street credibility; and the teenage boy’s unending obsession with losing his virginity.Boy About Town is an evocative, bittersweet, amusing and wholly original account of growing up and coming of age in the glory days of the 1970s.

He was the Wicked Wilson Pickett, the legendary soul man whose forty-plus hits included "In the Midnight Hour," "634-5789," "Land of 1000 Dances," "Mustang Sally," and "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You." Remarkably handsome and with the charisma to match, Wilson Pickett was considered by many to be the greatest, the most visceral and sensual of the classic 1960s soul singers, and as a man who turned screaming into an art form, the most forceful of them all. He was the living embodiment of soul. More than that, Wilson Pickett's journey reads like a guide to popular black American music in the late 20th century. From the gospel-rich cotton fields of Alabama to the pre-Motown metropolis of Detroit, and throughout his career at Atlantic Records--he was the first artist on that label to record at Stax in Memphis, Fame in Muscle Shoals, and Sigma in Philadelphia, and rehabilitated an exiled Bobby Womack and introduced Duane Allman along the way--Wilson Pickett led the shifts in Rhythm and Blues and soul music. Pickett's downfall, precipitated by the move towards softer soul and then disco in the 1970s, proved equally dramatic, leading to a heavy alcohol and drug addiction, a reputation for violence and gun use, a no-show for his induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, and two jail terms later in the decade. Nonetheless, the "Wicked" Pickett climbed out of these depths to end his career with a Grammy-nominated album before his death in 2006. For this first-ever accounting of Wilson Pickett's life, bestselling biographer Tony Fletcher interviewed members of the singer's family, friends and partners, along with dozens of his studio and touring musicians. Offering equal attention to Pickett's personal and professional life, with detailed insight into his legendary studio sessions and his combative road style, In the Midnight Hour: The Life and Soul of Wilson Pickett is the essential telling of an epic life.

The definitive book about The Smiths, one of the most beloved, respected, and storied indie rock bands in music history.They were, their fans believe, the best band in the world. Hailing from Manchester, England, The Smiths--Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke, and Mike Joyce--were critical and popular favorites throughout their mid-1980s heyday and beyond. To this day, due to their unforgettable songs and lyrics, they are considered one of the greatest British rock groups of all time--up there with the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, and the Clash. Tony Fletcher paints a vivid portrait of the fascinating personalities within the group: Morrissey, the witty, literate lead singer whose loner personality and complex lyrics made him an icon for teenagers who felt forlorn and forgotten; his songwriting partner Marr, the gregarious guitarist who became a rock god for a generation of indie kids; and the talented, good-looking rhythm section duo of bassist Rourke and drummer Joyce. Despite the band's tragic breakup at the height of their success, A Light That Never Goes Out is a celebration: the saga of four working-class kids from a northern English city who come together despite contrasting personalities, find a musical bond, inspire a fanatical following, and leave a legacy that changed the music world--and the lives of their fans.

Tony Fletcher's biography of the enigmatic quartet from Athens, Georgia, benefits not only from Tony's long association with the band but also by the co-operation of the band itself. However, R.E.M. - being R.E.M. - were disinclined to reveal this at the time the book was first published in 1989 and Tony was thus obliged to keep this under his hat. All such restrictions have since been lifted for newer editions, of which there have been several, and this latest incarnation of the book - now retitled Perfect Circle - brings the story to its natural conclusion with R.E.M.'s decision to disband in September, 2011. Discussing fame, fortune and sexuality with the same keen eye he casts on the group's astonishing musical catalogue, Perfect Circle is neither blind fan worship nor jaundiced critical cynicism, but a balanced and thorough telling of one of the most compelling rock stories of our time. Drawing on dozens of interviews with friends, associates and the band members themselves, this is not just the story of one group's rise through cult status, but the story of American rock.

Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980, R.E.M. released their first single, Radio Free Europe, in 1981. By the time the band broke up they had recorded fifteen studio albums, 63 singles, sold more than 85 million records, signed the biggest recording contract in music history, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.

Keith Moon was more than just rock's greatest drummer, he was a phenomenal character and an extravagant hell raiser who - in a final, uncharacteristic act of grace - actually did die before he got old. This new edition includes a newly written After word that consiers Moon's lasting legacy, the death of John Entwistle and The Who's ongoing career in the new millennium. In this astonishing biography, Tony Fletcher questions the myths, avoids the time-honoured anecdotes and talks afresh to those who where closest to Moon including Kim, his wife of eight years, and Linda, his sister and Annette Walter-Lax, his main girlfriend of the final years. Also interviewed are Oliver Reed, Larry Hagman, David Putnam, Alice Cooper, Dave Edmunds, Jeff Beck, John Entwistle and many others who worked and partied with him. In interviewing over 100 people who knew Moon, Fletcher reveals the truth behind the 'famous' stunts that never occured - and the more outrageous ones that did! He also uncovers astonishing details about Moon's outrageous extravagance which was financed by The Who's American success.

From the acclaimed biographer of Keith Moon comes an incisive history of New York's seminal music scenes, encompassing the ways in which the city's indigenous art, literature, theatre and political movements converged to create such unique sounds, as well as the music's vast contributions to our culture. With great attention to the characters, from trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie to Tito Puente, Bob Dylan to the Ramones, "All Hopped Up and Ready to Go" takes us through bebop, the Latin music scene, the folk revival, glitter music, disco, punk and hip-hop, as they emerged from the neighbourhood streets of Harlem, the Village, Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens.

Dear Boy is the best-selling biography of Keith Moon, rock's greatest drummer and wildest character. Hailed by critics as one of the most compelling rock stories ever told, the book traces with striking accuracy Moon's remarkable journey from his working-class North West London childhood, through The Who's glory years, to his California high life, and his tragic, premature death in 1978 at the age of just 32. In researching a life now distorted by myths of debauchery and comic anarchy, Tony Fletcher compiled poignant interviews with over 120 of Moon's friends, family and musical associates. The result is a searingly personal portrait of a boy who never grew up, and who changed the lives of all who knew him. This remastered edition features many photographs from personal and Who archives, as well as a new foreword from Keith's daughter, Mandy Moon.