In 1974, at the age of seventeen, author Glenn Berger served as "Schlepper" and apprentice to the legendary recording engineer Phil Ramone at New York City's A&R Studios, and was witness to music history on an almost daily and nightly basis as pop and rock icons such as Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, Bette Midler, and James Brown performed their hit-making magic, honed their sound, strutted their stuff, bared their souls, and threw epic tantrums. In this memoir, full of revelatory and previously unknown anecdotal observations of these musical giants, Glenn recounts how he quickly learned the ropes to move up from schlepperhood to assistant to the tyrannical Ramone, and eventually, to become a recording engineer superstar himself. Not only is Never Say No to A Rock Star a fascinating, hilarious and poignant behind-the-scenes look of this musical Mecca, but Berger, now a prominent psychologist, looking back through the prism of his youthful experience and his years working as a counselor and therapist, provides a telling and honest examination of the nature of fame and success and the corollaries between creativity, madness and self-destruction.

"Funny, tender, edgy. I wanted the love story to go on forever."—Joan Johnston, bestselling author of No Longer a Stranger Written in the wonderfully honest, edgy, and hilarious voice she perfected in God-Shaped Hole, Tiffanie DeBartolo shines in a passionate new story of music, love, and sacrifice. Eliza Caelum, a young music journalist, is finally getting her footing in New York when she meets Paul Hudson, a talented songwriter and lead singer of the band Bananafish. They soon realize they share more than a reverence for rock music and plunge headlong into love. When Bananafish is signed by a big corporate label, and Paul is on his way to becoming a major rock star, Eliza's past forces her to make a heartbreaking decision that might be the key to Paul's sudden disappearance. A layered and emotional look into the world of music, this raw summer read will resonate with readers who loved Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Praise for Tiffanie DeBartolo's God-Shaped Hole: "From highs to heartbreak, DeBartolo conjures an affair to remember."—People "Honest, raw, and engaging."—Booklist "This generation's Love Story."—Kirkus Reviews

Documenting Danny Marianino's days as a metalhead from childhood into adulthood, Don't Ever Punch a Rockstar somehow rationalizes playing in a few hardcore/punk bands, touring, fighting, drinking, internet bullying, celebrity encounters, satanic curses, house fires, harassment and collecting an immeasurable amount of hate mail from some of the most illiterate human beings the world has to offer. Though Oprah will never add this into her book club, it's still a good lesson in accepting the negative with a laugh and gaining a new sense of temperance and humility. At the very least I will entertain you with a campy memoir and a detailed eye-opening account of the chaos that followed the infamous event that VH1 called one of the Most Shocking Moments in Rock and Roll. This is by no means the same old autobiography that you have read before. Don't Ever Punch a Rockstar combine elements of Get in The Van, Emails from and Asshole and Shit My Dad Says all in one hot mess of a story. Praise for the book - "Danny Marianino's Never Punch A Rockstar is a sock in the jaw to punk/metal scene conformity, and it hurts so good! Final score: North Side Kings 2, Danzig, 0." - STEVEN BLUSH, author/filmmaker, American Hardcore "As trenchant, sometimes funny, insightful and shocking as a punch in the face. WHICH is incidentally what started this whole ball rolling. A pretty potent look into the power of image and the punching of the face of arguably a legend of, well, face punching, Glenn Danzig, and the ensuing firestorm that followed. I'd give it 5 black eyes." -- EUGENE S. ROBINSON, singer for Oxbow & author of FIGHT: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass Kicking But Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked For Asking "With Don't Ever Punch a Rock Star author Danny Marianino has written an entertaining, humorous and humble autobiography. The often times laugh-out-loud recollections of Danny's life up to and following the infamous run-in with the drama-queen of dark metal is more than engaging and, with the inclusion of hate mail, zany rumors, message board threats and internet tough guys, you're sure to get a good giggle while learning what truly transpired that fateful night in Tuba City." - DUSTIN LAVALLEY, author of Spinner "As we have always said on the streets of NY - don't start none -there wont be none - and if you do, at least keep your hands up and guard your grill. Way to K.O. rock star attitudes Danny Boy!" - John Joseph author of The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon and Meat is For Pussies

Named one of the best music books of 2017 by The Wall Street Journal An elegy to the age of the Rock Star, featuring Chuck Berry, Elvis, Madonna, Bowie, Prince, and more, uncommon people whose lives were transformed by rock and who, in turn, shaped our culture Recklessness, thy name is rock. The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn’t stay the course. In Uncommon People, David Hepworth zeroes in on defining moments and turning points in the lives of forty rock stars from 1955 to 1995, taking us on a journey to burst a hundred myths and create a hundred more. As this tribe of uniquely motivated nobodies went about turning themselves into the ultimate somebodies, they also shaped us, our real lives and our fantasies. Uncommon People isn’t just their story. It’s ours as well.

"Fast music, powerful beats, and wild reputations-on and off stage-have made virtuoso guitarist Fitzwilliam Darcy's band into rock's newest bad boys. But they've lost their latest opening act, and their red-hot summer tour is on the fast track to disaster. Now Darcy and bandmates Charles Bingley and Richard Fitzwilliam are about to meet their match. Enter Elizabeth Bennet, fiercely independent star of girl-band Long Borne Suffering. Elizabeth, her sister Jane, and friend Charlotte Lucas have talent to spare and jump at the opening band slot. Elizabeth is sure she's seen the worst the music industry has to offer. But as the days and nights heat up, it becomes clear that everyone is in for a summer to remember"-- Cover verso.

Struggling at home and at school, Duncan decides to try out for a local rock band. He plays the bass in the school orchestra, but it is a long way from band camp to rock star. Joining a heavy-metal band, he tries to fit in, dumping his old friends and trying to walk the walk. When his dad's new girlfriend starts to teach him about real rock music and introduces him to her musician brother, Duncan discovers that there is more to being a guitar hero than playing in a heavy-metal band.

A story for music lovers about true friendship and finding your own beat. Without music, the world is just blah. That’s Mac’s take on life, anyway. His mum thinks rock is the only music worth listening to, but Mac is a secret musical lover. When he discovers an underground society for students who love musicals, he can finally be himself and make real friends. When he overhears the arts programme at Watterson Primary school is being closed down, Mac and his new friends decide they can’t let that happen. It's time for Watterson: The Musical!

Drooling fanatic, n. 1. One who drools in the presence of beloved rock stars. 2. Any of a genus of rock-and-roll wannabes/geeks who walk around with songs constantly ringing in their ears, own more than 3,000 albums, and fall in love with at least one record per week. With a life that’s spanned the phonographic era and the digital age, Steve Almond lives to Rawk. Like you, he’s secretly longed to live the life of a rock star, complete with insane talent, famous friends, and hotel rooms to be trashed. Also like you, he’s content (sort of) to live the life of a rabid fan, one who has converted his unrequited desires into a (sort of) noble obsession. Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life traces Almond’s passion from his earliest (and most wretched) rock criticism to his eventual discovery of a music-crazed soul mate and their subsequent production of two little superfans. Along the way, Almond reflects on the delusional power of songs, the awkward mating habits of drooling fanatics, and why Depression Songs actually make us feel so much better. The book also includes: • sometimes drunken interviews with America’s finest songwriters • a recap of the author’s terrifying visit to Graceland while stoned • a vigorous and credibility-shattering endorsement of Styx’s Paradise Theater • recommendations you will often choose to ignore • a reluctant exegesis of the Toto song “Africa” • obnoxious lists sure to piss off rock critics But wait, there’s more. Readers will also be able to listen to a special free mix designed by the author, available online at www.stevenalmond.com, for the express purpose of eliciting your drool. For those about to rock—we salute you!

Acclaimed music writer Robert Hilburn’s “epic” and “definitive” (Rolling Stone) biography of music icon Paul Simon, written with Simon’s full participation—but without his editorial control—that “reminds us how titanic this musician is” (The Washington Post). For more than fifty years, Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most beloved artists in American pop music history. Songs like “The Sound of Silence,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Still Crazy After All These Years,” and “Graceland” have moved beyond the sales charts and into our cultural consciousness. But Simon is a deeply private person who has said he will not write an autobiography or talk to biographers. Finally, however, he has opened up for Robert Hilburn—for more than one hundred hours of interviews—in this “brilliant and entertaining portrait of Simon that will likely be the definitive biography” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Over the course of three years, Hilburn conducted in-depth interviews with scores of Paul Simon’s friends, family, colleagues, and others—including ex-wives Carrie Fisher and Peggy Harper, who spoke for the first time—and even penetrated the inner circle of Simon’s long-reclusive muse, Kathy Chitty. The result is a deeply human account of the challenges and sacrifices of a life in music at the highest level. In the process, Hilburn documents Simon’s search for artistry and his constant struggle to protect that artistry against distractions—fame, marriage, divorce, drugs, record company interference, rejection, and insecurity—that have derailed so many great pop figures. “As engaging as a lively American tune” (People), Paul Simon is a “straight-shooting tour de force…that does thorough justice to this American prophet and pop star” (USA TODAY, four out of four stars). “Read it if you like Simon; read it if you want to discover how talent unfolds itself” (Stephen King).