M Train is a journey through eighteen "stations." It begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes every morning for black coffee, ruminates on the world as it is and the world as it was, and writes in her notebook. We then travel across a landscape of creative aspirations and inspirations: from Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul in Mexico, to a meeting of an Arctic explorer's society in Berlin; from the ramshackle seaside bungalow in New York's...

Zanes provides an honest and evocative examination of Petty's music, and the remarkable rock and roll history he and his band helped to write. Petty was a kid without a whole lot of promise; rock and roll made it otherwise. His story has all the drama of a rock and roll epic. Dark and mysterious, Petty manages to come back, again and again, showing us what the music can do and where it can take us.

Retenders singer/songwriter Chrissie Hynde tells exactly where she came from and what her crooked, winding path to stardom entailed. Her All-American upbringing in Akron, Ohio, a child of postwar power and prosperity. Her soul's capture, along with tens of millions of her generation, by the gods of sixties rock who came through Cleveland -- Mitch Ryder, David Bowie, Jeff Beck, Paul Butterfield, and Iggy Pop among them. Her shocked witness in 1970...

The Ramones cut an unforgettable swathe through decades of popular music. With politically charged anger, raw sounds and ferocious 20 minute sets they undercut the glamour of the mainstream music industry and gave the punk movement an authentic voice – A voice which can still be heard echoing through the decades. Seen through the eyes of the people who were there - musicians, managers, producers, publicists - this insightful biography depicts...

"In four years the teenage members of the Runaways did what no other group of female rock musicians before them could: they released four albums for a major label and toured the world. The Runaways busted down doors for every girl band that followed. Joan Jett, Sandy West, Cherrie Currie, lead guitarist Lita Ford, and bassists Jackie Fox and Vicky Blue were pre-punk bandits, fostering revolution girl style decades before that became a riot grrrl catchphrase....

An idiosyncratic memoir by the Monkees icon, songwriter, and music video innovator traces his experiences as a wild youth and celebrity before finding peace and creative wholeness through the teachings of Christian Science and his collaborations with like-minded fellow artists. "Michael Nesmith's eclectic, electric life spans his star-making role on The Monkees, his invention of the music video, and his critical contributions to movies, comedy, and...

Schruers provides an unfettered look at into Billy Joel's journey from a pint-sized kid growing up in a cookie-cutter Long Island suburb to a rockstar of monumental success, and the person that remains behind his iconic status.

"The manager who shepherded Van Halen from obscurity to rock stardom goes behind the scenes to tell the complete, unadulterated story of David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, and the legendary band that changed rock music." -- "Beginning in 1978, Van Halen's rise was one of the most thrilling the rock world had ever seen--their mythos an epic party with a sweaty, sexy, finger-tapping guitar solo as an encore. During this infamous run of success, debauchery,...

"The memoirs of the legendary co-founder of the Beach Boys offer insights into his difficult relationship with his father, the women in his life, his parenting experiences, and the events that inspired his music,"--NoveList. "As a cofounding member of the Beach Boys in the 1960s, Brian Wilson created some of the most groundbreaking and timeless popular music ever recorded. With intricate harmonies, symphonic structures, and wide-eyed lyrics that...

"The essential biography of one of music's most influential icons: Lou Reed As lead singer and songwriter for the Velvet Underground and a renowned solo artist, Lou Reed invented alternative rock. His music, at once a source of transcendent beauty and coruscating noise, violated all definitions of genre while speaking to millions of fans and inspiring generations of musicians. But while his iconic status may be fixed, the man himself was anything...