NPR Great Read of 2016From the acclaimed author of Rip It Up and Start Again and Retromania—“the foremost popular music critic of this era (Times Literary Supplement)—comes the definitive cultural history of glam and glitter rock, celebrating its...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • David Byrne’s incisive and enthusiastic look at the musical art form, from its very inceptions to the influences that shape it, whether acoustical, economic, social, or technological—now updated with a new chapter on digital...

What does it mean to listen in the digital era? Today, new technologies make it possible to roam instantly and experimentally across musical languages and generations, from Detroit techno to jam bands to baroque opera—or to dive deeper into the set of...

“[Beethoven’s] music never grows old― and, enjoyed alongside Mr. Lockwood’s expert commentary, it sparkles with fresh magic.”―Wall Street JournalMore than any other composer, Beethoven left to posterity a vast body of material that documents the early...

As the 1970s gave way to the 80s, New York's party scene entered a ferociously inventive period characterized by its creativity, intensity, and hybridity. Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor chronicles this tumultuous time, charting the sonic and...

By the time Jimi Hendrix died in 1970, the idea of a black man playing lead guitar in a rock band seemed exotic. Yet a mere ten years earlier, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley had stood among the most influential rock and roll performers. Why did rock and roll...

From the author of The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs comes his "Basement Tapes": the complete "Real Life Rock Top 10" columns For nearly thirty years, Greil Marcus has written a remarkable column called "Real Life Rock Top Ten." It has been a...

The perfect gift for music lovers and Elvis Costello fans, telling the story behind Elvis Costello’s legendary career and his iconic, beloved songs.  Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink provides readers with a master’s catalogue of a lifetime of great...

From the guitarist of the pioneering band Sleater-Kinney, the book Kim Gordon says "everyone has been waiting for" and a New York Times Notable Book of 2015-- a candid, funny, and deeply personal look at making a life--and finding yourself--in music...

"An utterly satisfying examination of the business of popular music." ―Nathaniel Rich, The AtlanticThere’s a reason today’s ubiquitous pop hits are so hard to ignore―they’re designed that way. The Song Machine goes behind the scenes to offer an insider’s...

Now a Paramount+ docuseries narrated by Method Man and produced by Marshall "Eminem" Mathers, LeBron James, and moreOne of Billboard’s 100 Greatest Music Books of All TimeWhat happens when an entire generation commits the same crime?How Music Got Free is...

The life of blues legend Robert Johnson becomes the centerpiece for this innovative look at what many consider to be America's deepest and most influential music genre. Pivotal are the questions surrounding why Johnson was ignored by the core black...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award–winning author of Just Kids: a “sublime collection of true stories … and wild imaginings that take us to the very heart of who Patti Smith is” (Vanity Fair), told through the cafés and haunts she has...

“Astonishing and absorbing…from glam rock, minimalism and punk, to radical left-wing politics, music video, and a mass of other subjects that helped shape the ideas behind Bowie’s songs.”—Sunday Times (London) The Man Who Sold the World by Peter...

An expansive biography of David Bowie, one of the twentieth century’s greatest music and cultural icons.From noted author and rock ’n’ roll journalist Marc Spitz comes a major David Bowie biography to rival any other. Following Bowie’s life from his...

A vital tool in understanding and appreciating jazz -- introducing the key figures, theory, and the controversies that shaped it development -- that explores how it became North America's most popular music in less than fifty years.Often called America's...

A comparative study of the music cultures of four radical groupsRadicalism and Music offers a convincing argument for music's transformational impact on the radicalization, reinforcement, and motivational techniques of violent political activists. It...

The perfect gift for music fans and anyone who loves artists like Elvis Presley, Randy Newman, Sly Stone, Robert Johnson, and Harmonica Frank.In 1975, Greil Marcus’s Mystery Train changed the way readers thought about rock ’n’ roll and continues to be...

A ROCK AND ROLL MEMOIR FROM GLYN JOHNS, THE LEGENDARY PRODUCER FEATURED IN THE NEW DOCUMENTARY SERIES The Beatles: Get Back“Few figures in rock history have a more impressive résumé than Glyn Johns...[Sound Man] is full of amazing anecdotes from his...

Jimi Hendrix, one of the great instrumentalists in rock history, pioneered amplified sound that extended the scope of the guitar into the urban landscape. In this book, Marie-Paule Macdonald situates Hendrix’s trajectory through the places he made music,...