(Guitar Chord Songbook). 80 rock 'n' roll classics in one convenient collection with guitar chords and lyrics for each. Includes: All Shook Up * At the Hop * Barbara Ann * Blue Suede Shoes * Chantilly Lace * Crying * Duke of Earl * Great Balls of Fire * Heartbreak Hotel * I Get Around * In My Room * It's My Party * Kansas City * La Bamba * The Loco-Motion * Lonely Street * My Boyfriend's Back * Peggy Sue * Return to Sender * Rock Around the Clock * Runaway * Sea of Love * Sincerely * Stand by Me * Surfin' U.S.A. * Teen Angel * Willie and the Hand Jive * and more.

Since its release in 1971, Don McLean's song "American Pie" has become an indelible part of U.S. culture. It has sparked countless debates about the references within the lyrics; been celebrated as a chronicle of American life from the late 1950s through the early 1970s; and has become iconic itself as it has been remade, parodied, and referenced within numerous texts and forums. This volume offers a set of new essays that focus on the cultural and historical significance of the song. Representing a variety of perspectives and fields of study, the essays address such topics as historical and literary interpretations of the song's lyrics, its musical qualities, the commentary the song offers on rock and roll history, the continuing significance of the song, and the ways in which the song has been used by various writers and artists. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Rock and roll's death has been forecast nearly since its birth; the country song "The Death of Rock and Roll" appeared in September 1956, showing that the music had already outraged a more conservative listening audience. Is Rock Dead? sets out to explore the varied and sometimes conflicting ways in which the death of rock has been discussed both within the discourse of popular music and American culture. If rock is dead, when did it die? Who killed it? Why do rock journalists lament its passing? Has its academic acceptance stabbed it in the back or resuscitated an otherwise lifeless corpse? Why is rock music the music that conservatives love to hate? On the other side of the coin, how have rock's biggest fans helped nail shut the coffin? Does rock feed on its own death-and-rebirth? Finally, what signs of life are there showing that rock, in fact, is surviving? Is Rock Dead? will appeal to all those who take seriously the notion that rock is a serious musical form. It will appeal to students of popular music and culture, and all those who have ever spun a 45, cranked up the radio, or strummed an air guitar.

Chronicles the history of blues music from its emergence in the early 1900s through the twentieth century, and describes the musical accomplishments of Leadbelly, Bessie Smith, Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, B.B. King, and others. Includes an audio CD.

(Fake Book). This second edition features a top-of-the-charts collection of over 350 early rock classics, including: All Alone Am I * Alley-oop * Alone at Last * Baby, It's You * Barbara Ann * Be-Bop-A-Lula * Big All Alone Am I * All Shook Up * Alley-oop * Baby I Need Your Lovin' * Barbara Ann * Big Girls Don't Cry * Blue Velvet * Calendar Girl * Chains of Love * Crying * Daydream Believer * Diana * Fever * Fun, Fun, Fun * Green Onions * Heartaches by the Number * Hey, Good Lookin' * In My Room * I Fall to Pieces * I Walk the Line * It's Now or Never * It's My Party * Leader of the Pack * Louie, Louie * (You've Got) the Magic Touch * My Prayer * Peggy Sue * (You've Got) Personality * Puppy Love * Put Your Head on My Shoulder * Rebel 'Rouser * Rock Around the Clock * Rockin' Robin * Sixteen Candles * Sixteen Tons * Stand by Me * Surfin' U.S.A. * A Teenager in Love * Tequila * Twist and Shout * Wake up Little Susie * Girls Don't Cry * Blue Velvet * Blueberry Hill * Can't Help Falling in Love * Chains of Love * Chantilly Lace * Crying * Dancing in the Street * Diana * Don't Be Cruel (To a Heart That's True) * Fever * Fun, Fun, Fun * Green Onions * Hard Headed Woman * I Walk the Line * It's My Party * and more.

When rock ‘n’ roll began its ascendancy in the 1950s the older generation saw it as dangerous, renegade, threatening the moral stability of a nation. Young people saw it as freedom, and most importantly, as their music. The teenage revolution was here, This book, first published in 1982, traces the roots of this cultural transformation, its emergence in rock ‘n’ roll and other media, and shows just how violent the confrontation was by looking at contemporary newspaper reports.

In this extensively researched ode to scandal, historian and musician Blecha recounts the travails of the musicians and songs that have dared to push the hot-button topics that polite society has deemed unacceptable.

Elvis Presley and Bill Haley. Sam Cooke and the Shirelles. The Crows and the Chords. American Bandstand and Motown. From its first rumblings in the outland alphabet soup of R&B and C&W, rock & roll music promised to change the world--and did it. Combining social history with a treasure trove of trivia, Richard Aquila unleashes the excitement of rock's first decade and shows how the music reflected American life from the mid-1950s through the dawn of Beatlemania. His year-by-year timelines and a photo essay place the music in historical perspective by linking artists and their hits to the news stories, movies, TV shows, fads, and lifestyles. In addition, he provides a concise biographical dictionary of the performers who made the charts between 1954 and 1963, along with the label and chart position of each of their hit songs.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Movies presents an eclectic look at the many manifestations of rock in motion pictures, from teen-oriented B-movies to Hollywood blockbusters to avant-garde meditations to reverent biopics to animated shorts to performance documentaries. Acclaimed film critic David Sterritt considers the diverse ways that filmmakers have regarded rock ‘n’ roll, some cynically cashing in on its popularity and others responding to the music as sincere fans, some depicting rock as harmless fun and others representing it as an open challenge to mainstream norms.

It's perhaps the relative modernity of rock 'n' roll that makes the genre a minefield of myths and legends accepted as truth. History hasn't had time to dissect the bunk. Until now. Discover the real stories behind rock's biggest crocks, how they came to be but why they have persisted. Did Cass Elliott really asphyxiate herself with a ham sandwich? Did the Beatles spark a spliff in Buckingham? Did Willie Nelson do the same in the White House? Did Keith Richards get a complete "oil change" at a Swiss clinic in 1973 to pass a drug test necessary to embark on an American tour with the Stones? Then there's the freaky (did Michael Jackson own the remains of the Elephant Man?), the quasi-medical (Rod Stewart and that stomach pump?), the culinary (did Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne really do all those things to bats, chickens, etc. onstage?), and the apocryphal (did Robert Johnson sell his soul to the Prince of Darkness in exchange for mastery of the blues?). In all, more than 50 enduring lies are examined, explained, and debunked.