Books published by Hal Leonard Corporation

A superbly illustrated, in-depth examination of the stories, events, places, and characters that inspired the songs of the Talking Heads, arguably the most significant band to emerge from the late-'70s New York punk scene based around CBGB's club. Led by guitarist-vocalist David Byrne, the band enjoyed major chart success on both sides of the Atlantic with infectious, incendiary singles like "Road to Nowhere " "Psycho Killer " and "Once in a Lifetime." During their influential seventeen-year career, Talking Heads assembled a body of raw yet intellectual rock music second to none. Then in 2002, having vowed to never work together again, the four original Heads reconvened and played live when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.Ian Gittins has written about music and popular culture for fifteen years for such varied publications as Melody Maker, Q, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Time Out, MTV, and the New York Times. He lives in London, England.

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED) (REVISED) ACTOR'S EDITIO

Beyond the Aria provides singers with the tools to develop an inquisitive and analytical mindset about the artistic details found in the scores. Neal Goren takes singers through a careful reading of the clues provided by the librettist and composer informed by performance practice, empowering singers to make their own valid artistic choices.

KEYBOARD PRESENTS THE BEST OF THE 80S

Ushering in a new era of confessional music that spoke openly about experiences of trauma, depression, and self-loathing, Nine Inch Nails' seminal album, The Downward Spiral, changed popular music forever-bringing transgressive themes of heresy, S&M, and body horror to the masses and taking music technology to its limits. Released in 1994, the album resonated across a generation, combining elements of metal, industrial, synth-pop, and ambient electronica, and going on to sell over four million copies. Now, Into the Never explores the creation and cultural impact of The Downward Spiral, one of the most influential and artistically significant albums of the twentieth century.Inspired by David Bowie's Low and Pink Floyd's The Wall, the album recounts one man's disintegration as he descends into nihilism and nothingness. Blurring the lines between autobiography and concept album, creation and decay, it is also the story of Trent Reznor (who is Nine Inch Nails) as he pushed himself to the edge of the abyss, trapped in a cycle of addiction and self-destruction. The Downward Spiral also presents a reflection of America and a wider culture of violence, connecting the Columbine High School shooting, the infamous Manson family murders, and the aftermath of Vietnam and the Gulf War.Featuring new interviews with collaborators and artists inspired by the album, Into the Never sets The Downward Spiral in the context of music of the era and brings the story up to date, from Reznor's recovery to his reinvention as an Oscar-winning soundtrack artist.

"...that rare thing, a piece of careful scholarship that is also superby entertaining...Starr, who is president of Oberlin College and has been associated with the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, is also a professional jazz musician, and his knowledgeable affection for the music shines through the text." - Andrea Lee, New York Times Book Review

A must-read account of the cultural icon and poet laureate of the '60s and '70s. In his 1960s-1970s heyday, Rod McKuen was a phenomenally popular singer-songwriter as well as the bestselling poet in publishing history.

To Alice Cooper, the outlaw quality of rock 'n' roll is little more than theater. "Just because I cut the heads off dolls, doesn't mean I hate babies " he once said. But others have lived by the criminal philosophy espoused in their work. "The only negative thing about murder is that when you kill someone, they...no longer suffer " said Norwegian black-metal rocker Varg Vikernes of Mayhem in 1993, the same year he stabbed musical rival Euronymous to death.His tale is prominently featured in Where You Goin' with That Gun in Your Hand? The True Crime Blotter of Rock 'n' Roll. The book examines a total of 21 fatal crimes tied to the music industry, such as the murders of Marvin Gaye, Biggie Smalls, Tupac Shakur, and Selena. In the case of Vikernes - dubbed the most violent musician in the history of metal - the performer is the perpetrator. In other instances - the deaths of John Lennon or Run DMC's Jam Master Jay, for example - the star is the victim. Other chapters deal with conspiracy theories involving musicians whose lives ended prematurely (e.g., the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones, the Doors' Jim Morrison, and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain).Each story is written as a compelling narrative, in a style the author perfected while writing several true-crime books, as well as December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died and Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: James Dean's Final Hours.

Thomas Edward Harkin''s Woodstock FAQ: All That''s Left to Know About the Fabled Garden cuts through the lofty rhetoric and mythology surrounding the legendary festival. Rather than waxing philosophical about whether or not the Woodstock Music & Art Fair was the defining moment of the 1960s as so many have done before, Harkins places the focus on the music, solo artists, and bands who performed.Thirty-two acts took to the stage in Bethel, New York that weekend, and the book gives the performers and the music their due consideration. Who were they? Where did they come from? What songs did they play? What happened to them afterward? How did the festival impact their careers? Those are the questions explored in these pages. Further, the book attempts to restore the chronological arc of the festival from concept to concert to its aftermath and enduring legacy.Drawing on his experiences as a media scholar, Harkins ponders how the album releases and Michael Wadleigh''s Academy Award-winning 1970 film Woodstock helped shape the narrative of the festival and in the bargain distort people''s memories of the actual event.

Dave Matthews Band celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2016, a milestone few bands achieve. How did the group build and retain an audience so devoted that they stuck with DMB through more than a quarter century? Dave Matthews Band FAQ answers this question and many more, exploring the group''s history in detail from a variety of angles. Natives of the college rock circuit of the southern Atlantic seaboard, DMB became part of a close-knit group of similarly minded jam bands that spread across the USA during the 1990s. Thanks to a grassroots following that eagerly traded tapes of live DMB shows, the band cultivated a dedicated fan base that crossed over into the mainstream.Dave Matthews Band FAQ traces this evolution, documenting the culture of Charlottesville, Virginia, at the dawn of the ''90s, detailing the group''s peers and examining their catalog, both live and studio, in detail. Collectively, these chapters explain everything there is to know about the most popular jam band in history.

25 YEARS OF GRACE: AN ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE TO JEFF BUCKLEY'S CLASSIC ALBUM

The year 1979 was a seminal watershed moment in rock music. The year saw the release of Pink Floyd's The Wall, David Bowie's Lodger, Led Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door, Bob Dylan's Slow Train Coming, Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, Elvis Costello and the Attractions' Armed Forces, Joe Jackson's Look Sharp! and I'm the Man, Stiff Little Fingers' Inflammable Material, Gary Numan/Tubeway Army's Replicas and the Pleasure Principle, Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, the Jam's Setting Sons, the Clash's London Calling, and the UK 2-Tone phenomenon. It also saw a slump in album sales, a resurgence in single sales, and the peak and bloody death of disco. Now, with the help of new and exclusive interviews with artists and producers, New Waves, Old Hands, and Unknown Pleasures tells the varied, vibrant, and often unexamined story of popular music in 1979. It reveals the stories behind key recordings, traces the trajectories of commercial and artistic successes, and explains the musical and socio-political context behind the sounds of the day.

Musician, nightlife impresario, record label executive, photographer, and author, Michael Alago takes readers through this amazing journey that is his life.

Providing a career-spanning view of everyone's favorite geek writer and director, Joss Whedon FAQ offers answers to fans' questions about one of the most significant pop culture auteurs of the past twenty-five years. The book gazes at Whedon's early work in Hollywood as a script doctor on films such The Quick and the Dead (1995) and Waterworld (1995), and follows his career as he became the cult-favorite creator of such sensations as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. In addition to looking at Whedon's ascent to blockbuster superhero filmmaking with titles such as The Avengers, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Justice League, this eminently readable compendium explores Whedon's lesser known but no less fascinating forays into the world of Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing) and even big-screen romantic fantasy (In Your Eyes). The book closes with discussions of Whedon's politics and feminism, as well as a catalog of his (unofficial) repertory company and a list of the most memorable on-screen character deaths in his canon.

Richard Wesley was witness to a revolution. As both a celebrated participant and eager student of the Black Theater Movement in the late 1960s, he became part of a seismic force in American culture, breaking down barriers and helping to disrupt the cultural landscape. It's Always Loud in the Balcony: A Life in Black Theater, from Harlem to Hollywood and Back is both history and memoir, tracing Wesley's roots from riot-torn Newark, New Jersey, across the rocky terrain of Harlem, and finally to Hollywood, where he became partners with Sidney Poitier, writing several successful films before returning to New York and the theater world-a trip that Wesley has wryly characterized as "black power to black establishment." Wesley unfolds the history of black theater with love and precision, from the emergence of Amiri Baraka, and his own debut, the fiercely militant Black Terror-which landed him a deal with the legendary producer Joseph Papp-through his moviemaking experience in Los Angeles, working with Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor, among others. Wesley lands on solid ground in the twenty-first century as an elder statesman, a happy witness to the great success of a new breed of black theater that includes the widespread success of Tyler Perry and Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, which brought hip-hop to Broadway. It's Always Loud in the Balcony is the passionate, firsthand account of a crucial American art movement whose effects will be felt for generations to come.