San Antonio College Library

In his outrageous memoir, McSweeney's contributor Kennedy chronicles his misadventures at a major record label. Whether he's directing a gangsta rapper's commercial or battling his punk roots to create an ad campaign celebrating the love songs of Phil Collins, Kennedy's in way over his head. And from the looks of those sitting around the boardroom, he's not alone. Egomaniacs, wackos, incompetents, and executive assistants who know more than their...

"When eighteen-year-old Danny Goldberg wrote his first music review for Billboard, he couldn't have imagined that he would go on to enjoy one of the most varied and influential careers in the world of rock and roll. He went on to do PR for Led Zeppelin and KISS, launched Stevie Nick's solo career, was Bonnie Raitt's manager when she won four Grammys for Nick of Time, managed the career of Nirvana, signed Warren Zevon to his label for the artist's...

The CEO and president of CBS Records documents his career from 1975 to 1990, a period of significance for the pop music genre and unprecedented profit for CBS. During the 1970s and '80s the music business was dominated by a few major labels and artists such as Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Barbra Streisand and James Taylor. They were all under contract to CBS Records, making it the most...

"Co-founder of Rhino Records label, which he ran with his partner for twenty-four years, charts the course of the company started by two music fans in the back of their record store and has frequently won the award for label of the year. Author profiles many of the label's artists, including the Monkees, Turtles, and Tommy James"--Provided by publisher.

Songwriter and record producer Bert Berns' meteoric career was fueled by his pending doom. His heart damaged by rheumatic fever as a youth, Berns was not expected to live to see 21. Although his name is little remembered today, Berns went from nobody to the top of the pops, producer of monumental r & b classics, songwriter of "Twist and Shout," "My Girl Sloopy," "Piece of My Heart," and others. His fury to succeed led Berns to use his Mafia associations...

As the founder and head of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun signed and/or recorded many of the greatest musical artists of all time, from Ray Charles to Kid Rock. Working alongside his older brother, Nesuhi, one of the preeminent jazz producers of all time, and the legendary Jerry Wexler, Ertegun transformed Atlantic Records from a small independent record label into a hugely profitable multinational corporation. In successive generations, he also...

Despite having created one of the most important musical cultures of the last fifty years, hip-hop composers who use digital sampling are rarely taken seriously as artists. But hip-hop deejays and producers have collectively developed an artistic system that features a complex aesthetic, a detailed array of social protocols, a rigorous set of ethical expectations and a rich historical consciousness. Based on ten years of research among hip-hop producers,...

In this star-studded autobiography, Clive Davis shares a personal, candid look into his remarkable life and the last fifty years of popular music as only a true insider can. Davis' career has spanned more than forty years, and he has discovered, signed, or worked with a staggering array of artists: Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Simon and Garfunkel, Barry Manilow, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Dionne Warwick, Carlos Santana, The Grateful Dead, Alicia Keys,...