The Worst Songs in the World

The Worst Songs in the World PDF Author: David Pate
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459754581
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
The best-known songs in the world are violent, sexist, and religious — so why do we celebrate national anthems when we should be rewriting them? The story begins in a London theatre in 1745, where the modern idea of anthems started out as triumphant expressions of national superiority. They glorified violence, claimed the support of God for their country, and mostly ignored women. David Pate says it’s time to dump lyrics about cutting throats, watering fields with blood, building walls with the bodies of enemies, and celebrating the sound of machine guns. From the author’s own youth as a schoolboy in Scotland when he was caned for refusing to sing “God Save the Queen” to the ubiquity of anthems in sports and as weapons for extreme patriotism, The Worst Songs in the World looks at the origins of many of the world’s anthems, including the movie theme song that became China’s national anthem and the English tune used for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” This wide-ranging, deeply researched narrative combines politics, personalities, humour, and vivid storytelling to argue for what we should all want: better national songs.

The Worst Songs in the World

The Worst Songs in the World PDF Author: David Pate
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459754581
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
The best-known songs in the world are violent, sexist, and religious — so why do we celebrate national anthems when we should be rewriting them? The story begins in a London theatre in 1745, where the modern idea of anthems started out as triumphant expressions of national superiority. They glorified violence, claimed the support of God for their country, and mostly ignored women. David Pate says it’s time to dump lyrics about cutting throats, watering fields with blood, building walls with the bodies of enemies, and celebrating the sound of machine guns. From the author’s own youth as a schoolboy in Scotland when he was caned for refusing to sing “God Save the Queen” to the ubiquity of anthems in sports and as weapons for extreme patriotism, The Worst Songs in the World looks at the origins of many of the world’s anthems, including the movie theme song that became China’s national anthem and the English tune used for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” This wide-ranging, deeply researched narrative combines politics, personalities, humour, and vivid storytelling to argue for what we should all want: better national songs.

Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs

Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs PDF Author: Dave Barry
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ISBN: 1449437583
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 69

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Book Description
The humorist asked his readers to share their least favorite tunes and chronicles the hilarious responses. When funnyman Dave Barry asked readers about their least favorite tunes, he thought he was penning just another installment of his weekly syndicated humor column. But the witty writer was flabbergasted by the response when over 10,000 readers voted. “I have never written a column that got a bigger response than the one announcing the Bad Song Survey,” Barry wrote. Based on the results of the survey, Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs is a compilation of some of the worst songs ever written. Dave Barry fans will relish his quirky take. Music buffs too will appreciate this humorous stroll through the world’s worst lyrics. The only thing wrong with this book is that readers will find themselves unable to stop mentally singing the greatest hits of Gary Puckett. Praise for Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs “Barry is his usual puckish self, but the real surprise here is how funny many of the survey respondents are.” —Kirkus Reviews “Who can resist such a book?” —Publishers Weekly

The World's Worst Records: Volume One

The World's Worst Records: Volume One PDF Author: Darryl W Bullock
Publisher: Bristol Green Publishing
ISBN: 148262446X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
An affectionate look at some of the worst recordings ever made, The World’s Worst Records tells the extraordinary but true stories behind some of the most appalling audio crimes ever committed. Extensively researched, and featuring music by major stars, ‘outsider’ artists and almost forgotten singers and songwriters, read about how Elvis Presley came to record a rock ‘n’ roll version of the nursery rhyme Old Macdonald; discover the truth behind actor Peter Wyngarde’s one attempt at pop immortality; meet the beautifully bonkers Florence Foster Jenkins – possibly the most deluded singer in history; fi nd out which Paul McCartney record is most hated world over. Puzzle over why 60’s flower-power icon Donovan would record a song about the toilet habits of astronauts.

The Worst Band in the World

The Worst Band in the World PDF Author: Liam Newton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780754103110
Category : Rock musicians
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
10cc chalked up more Top 10 singles and albums in the UK than virtually any other band of their generation: their most famous creation, 'I'm Not In Love', is a pop classic that has been played more than 3 million times on American radio; their records have been covered by everyone from The Pretenders to the Fun Lovin' Criminals; and their admirers include REM. Yet 10cc's enormous contribution to pop music consistently gets overlooked.

The Worst Band in the Universe

The Worst Band in the Universe PDF Author: Graeme Base
Publisher: Picture Puffin
ISBN: 9780140565874
Category : Bands (Music)
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
On Planet Blipp, beyond the stars, beyond the sun and moon, The world was ruled by music - but tradition called the tune. The Ancient Songs of ages past were all that could be heard, And no one was allowed to change a single note or word...

A Salty Piece of Land

A Salty Piece of Land PDF Author: Jimmy Buffett
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0759512922
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
Wander to "where the song of the ocean / Meets the salty piece of land" with Tully Mars, washed up from Margaritaville and in the mood for monkeyshines, in a shimmering Caribbean epic by the late king of tropical rock, Jimmy Buffett. It's not on any chart, but the tropical island of Cayo Loco is the perfect place to run away from all your problems. Waking from a ganja buzz on the beach in Tulum, Tully can't believe his eyes when a 142-foot schooner emerges out of the ocean mist. At its helm is Cleopatra Highbourne, the eccentric 101-year-old sea captain who will take him to a lighthouse on a salty piece of land that will change his life forever. From a lovely sunset sail in Punta Margarita to a wild spring-break foam party in San Pedro, Tully encounters an assortment of treasure hunters, rock stars, sailors, seaplane pilots, pirates, and even a ghost or two.

New Book of Rock Lists

New Book of Rock Lists PDF Author: Dave Marsh
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671787004
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 626

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Book Description
Dave Marsh has been an editor and columnist at Creem and Rolling Stone. His books include Born to Run, Behind Blue Eyes: The Story of the Who, Glory Days, and Louie Louie. This virtual Methusaleh of rock critics currently serves as a music critic at Playboy and as editor of Rock and Rap Confidential.

Top 40 Democracy

Top 40 Democracy PDF Author: Eric Weisbard
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226896188
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
A capacious and stimulating tour de force of the mainstream music industry that reveals the cultural import of even the most deliberately banal performers and songs. Weisbard finds depths in our culture s shallows as he investigates and articulates the cultural construction of such phenomena as Dolly Parton, Elton John, the Isley Brothers, A&M Records, and the rise of radio populism. He further sheds new light on the upheavals in the music industry over the last fifteen years and the implications of them for the audiences the industry has shaped. Each chapter brings us to see afresh precisely that music and those musicians that have become the most familiar and overexposed, by delving into the minutiae of how pop stars and their music were made and framed for repeated consumption in the era dominated by radio."

The Worst Gig

The Worst Gig PDF Author: Jon Niccum
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1402284969
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
"WORST GIG is Music Appreciation 225, taught by that cool professor everyone wanted to have beers with after class. One fun nugget after another. It was harder to close than my Twitter app."—Matthew James, McSweeney's "Tawdry tales of concert catastrophes!"—Buzzfeed "Musicians' 'Worst Gig' makes for best read ever."—Salon What is the worst show you've ever played? Sometimes the worst shows inspire the best stories. After hundreds of interviews with national headliners and beloved indie acts alike, entertainment journalist Jon Niccum has crafted a collection that chronicles the most embarrassing, most hilarious and most insane live show moments ever. THE WORST GIG features outrageous stories from stars such as Wilco, Def Leppard, Tenacious D, Rush, John Mayer, and The Sex Pistols. Be it nature's wrath, equipment breakdowns or even military intervention, get the wild scoop on what really happened, straight from the artists themselves.

Cool Town

Cool Town PDF Author: Grace Elizabeth Hale
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469654881
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
In the summer of 1978, the B-52's conquered the New York underground. A year later, the band's self-titled debut album burst onto the Billboard charts, capturing the imagination of fans and music critics worldwide. The fact that the group had formed in the sleepy southern college town of Athens, Georgia, only increased the fascination. Soon, more Athens bands followed the B-52's into the vanguard of the new American music that would come to be known as "alternative," including R.E.M., who catapulted over the course of the 1980s to the top of the musical mainstream. As acts like the B-52's, R.E.M., and Pylon drew the eyes of New York tastemakers southward, they discovered in Athens an unexpected mecca of music, experimental art, DIY spirit, and progressive politics--a creative underground as vibrant as any to be found in the country's major cities. In Athens in the eighties, if you were young and willing to live without much money, anything seemed possible. Cool Town reveals the passion, vitality, and enduring significance of a bohemian scene that became a model for others to follow. Grace Elizabeth Hale experienced the Athens scene as a student, small-business owner, and band member. Blending personal recollection with a historian's eye, she reconstructs the networks of bands, artists, and friends that drew on the things at hand to make a new art of the possible, transforming American culture along the way. In a story full of music and brimming with hope, Hale shows how an unlikely cast of characters in an unlikely place made a surprising and beautiful new world.