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Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age
For the first time, Appetite for Self-Destruction recounts the epic story of the precipitous rise and fall of the recording industry over the past three decades, when the incredible success of the CD turned the music business into one of the most glamorous, high-profile industries in the world -- and the advent of file sharing brought it to its knees. In a comprehensive, fast-paced account full of larger-than-life personalities, Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper shows that, after the incredible wealth and excess of the '80s and '90s, Sony, Warner, and the other big players brought about their own downfall through years of denial and bad decisions in the face of dramatic advances in technology. Big Music has been asleep at the wheel ever since Napster revolutionized the way music was distributed in the 1990s. Now, because powerful people like Doug Morris and Tommy Mottola failed to recognize the incredible potential of file-sharing technology, the labels are in danger of becoming completely obsolete. Knopper, who has been writing about the industry for more than ten years, has unparalleled access to those intimately involved in the music world's highs and lows. Based on interviews with more than two hundred music industry sources -- from Warner Music chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr. to renegade Napster creator Shawn Fanning -- Knopper is the first to offer such a detailed and sweeping contemporary history of the industry's wild ride through the past three decades. From the birth of the compact disc, through the explosion of CD sales in the '80s and '90s, the emergence of Napster, and the secret talks that led to iTunes, to the current collapse of the industry as CD sales plummet, Knopper takes us inside the boardrooms, recording studios, private estates, garage computer labs, company jets, corporate infighting, and secret deals of the big names and behind-the-scenes players who made it all happen. With unforgettable portraits of the music world's mighty and formerly mighty; detailed accounts of both brilliant and stupid ideas brought to fruition or left on the cutting-room floor; the dish on backroom schemes, negotiations, and brawls; and several previously unreported stories, Appetite for Self-Destruction is a riveting, informative, and highly entertaining read. It offers a broad perspective on the current state of Big Music, how it got into these dire straits, and where it's going from here -- and a cautionary tale for the digital age..
Price: $17.16
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Monstrous Bodies/Political Monstrosities in Early Modern Europe
Multi-disciplinary in approach and cross-European in scope, this richly illustrated book features new links between the political and the monstrous in the early modern period. Emphasizing the importance of the visual in the culture of the monstrous, the book presents a range of striking engravings, woodcuts, broadsides, and anatomical works. Some of the most respected scholars of early modern Europe explore monstrous bodies in descriptions of aberrant births and grotesque anatomies, appropriations of classical or biblical beasts and harlots, satire, myth, and science fiction. Canonical writings on monstrosity by Aristotle, Ambroise Paré, Rabelais, Montaigne, and Mary Shelley are juxtaposed to less familiar treatments by Calvin, Luther, and Andrew Marvell, among others. This volume challenges established narratives in which modern science and medicine, sustained by enlightened reason and secularization, progressively contain and even "normalize" all monsters. Instead, these essays stress the continual reinvention and polemical applications of the monstrous in the early modern period. Monsters emerge as a rich subject for not only the history of science, but also political and religious history, literary studies, visual studies, and the history of popular culture..
Price: $2.26
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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Band
Take your sound from the garage to the studio. Expert authors Mark Bliesener and Steve Knopper show musicians how to start a band, keep it together, get gigs and promote them, afford equipment, avoid scams, deal with alcohol and drugs, and even make a CD and video. The book will help readers choose their look, their sound...and even a name! € Written by music industry insiders € Excellent complement to The Complete Idiot's Guide(r) to Songwriting € A unique source for the wisdom that bands usually gain only through painful experience.
Price: $34.57
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Moon Colorado (Moon Handbooks)
With rugged scenery and warm hospitality, Colorado boasts world-class skiing, hiking, dining, music and film festivals, and whitewater rafting. Expert travel writer Steve Knopper helps you have a truly personal experience in this beautiful country. Suggested travel strategies and lists of must-see sights provide you with real insights so you can decide where you should go, stay, and eat—without hassles or regrets. Steve's travel strategies include: The 10-day Ski Bum's Tour, 10 Days in the Rocky Mountains (without skiing), Outdoor Adventure, and The Music Lover's Tour of Colorado. Steve details where to hike, climb, mountain bike, raft, ski, and snowshoe. Complete with maps, photographs, illustrations, and special emphasis on leading destinations such as Coors Field, Gunnison National Park, Telluride, Aspen, Vail, Rocky Mountain National Park, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and Denver. Moon Colorado has all the tools for you to create your own unique trip. .
Price: $7.12
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Milton in Popular Culture
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