Pop Life

For Australian teenagers of the 1980s and 90s, Smash Hits magazine provided a fortnightly fix of fun, glamour and pop. It had more fizz than a sherbet bomb, and hundreds of thousands of Australian teenagers were hooked. Pop Life is an insiders' view of the Australian pop lovers' bible, from its bubbly beginnings to digital demise. Three former Smash Hits writers and editors take an affectionate and irreverent jaunt down memory lane. And reveal how they, Australia and readers have changed along the way.

A major survey of Pop Art from private collections. Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same title, The Pop Object is the most comprehensive survey of Pop Art to be organized by theme and historical precedents, with such classic works as Andy Warhol’s Brillo Soap Pads, Robert Arneson’s Oreo Cookie Jar, Claes Oldenburg’s Pie à la Mode, Roy Lichtenstein’s Black Flowers, and Wayne Thiebaud’s Gumball Machine. With more than ninety color illustrations, this large-format book brings together the most important examples of works by artists Jasper Johns, Jim Dine, Marisol, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, and many others, from the 1960s to the present. The still life has often been the stepchild to landscape, history, and figurative painting. By examining themes like food and drink, household objects, flowers, and body parts, noted art historian John Wilmerding emphasizes Pop’s playfulness and brings the history of the movement right up to date.

"Is music a good enough reason for living? I don't know, but it's a decent start..." A must-read for anybody who treats music as a matter of life and death, Tom Kirkham takes us on an unfiltered, funny and insightful journey of self-discovery and self-annihilation as he goes on a year-long mission into the heart of the live music scene. Burnt-out and depressed, Kirkham is plunged into an existential crisis following the death of his idol Prince. Seeking enlightenment, he begins a quest that will take in three continents, numerous venues and even more gigs, while Brexit, Trump and Terror lurk ominously in the background. Pop Life unpicks the shortcomings of a society too focused on first world problems at the expense of mental wellbeing and celebrates the restorative power of music.

Featuring insights on even more groundbreaking recording sessions, rehearsals, and sound checks, the expanded edition of Duane Tudahl's award-winning book pulls back the paisley curtain to reveal the untold story of Prince’s rise from cult favorite to the biggest rock star on the planet. His journey is meticulously documented through detailed accounts of his time secluded behind the doors of the recording studio as well as his days on tour. With unprecedented access to the musicians, singers, and studio engineers who knew Prince best, including members of the Revolution and the Time, Duane Tudahl weaves an intimate saga of an eccentric genius and the people and events who helped shape the groundbreaking music he created. From Sunset Sound Studios’ daily recording logs and the Warner Bros. vault of information, Tudahl uncovers hidden truths about the origins of songs such as “Purple Rain,” “When Doves Cry,” and “Raspberry Beret” and also reveals never-before-published details about Prince’s unreleased outtakes. This definitive chronicle of Prince’s creative brilliance during 1983 and 1984 provides a new experience of the Purple Rain album as an integral part of Prince’s life and the lives of those closest to him.

"This text is important for any introductory anthropology course, particularly in conveying to students the relevance of anthropology by engaging with the very aspects of popular culture that are significant in their everyday lives." - Kristin L. Dowell, University of Oklahoma

"Good business is the best art" -- Andy Warhol Provocative and entertaining, Pop Life examines how artists since the 1980s have cultivated their public persona as a product, and conjured a dazzling mix of media, commerce, and glamour to build their own "brands." Beginning with the grandfather of Pop, Andy Warhol, who manufactured mass-produced wares in The Factory in the 1960s, the book explores Jeff Koons' infamous Made in Heaven series--showcasing his marriage and sexual relations with Italian porn-star and latter-day politician Illona Staller (aka La Cicciolina)--and his stainless steel Rabbit sculpture; an iconic array of golden spot and butterfly paintings from Damien Hirst's recordbreaking 2008 auction; and a reconstruction of Keith Haring's Pop Shop in New York. Takashi Murakami's designs for Louis Vuitton are also included, along with works by Richard Prince, Martin Kippenberger, Tracey Emin, and many more. Published to accompany an exhibition at Tate Modern, London, and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, this fascinating and extensively illustrated book looks at artists who have not only created but also marketed, promoted, and sold their own work.

Rising out of the American art music movement of the late 1950s and 1960s, minimalism shook the foundations of the traditional constructs of classical music, becoming one of the most important and influential trends of the twentieth century. The emergence of minimalism sparked an active writing culture around the controversies, philosophies, and forms represented in the music’s style and performance, and its defenders faced a relentless struggle within the music establishment and beyond. Focusing on how facts about music are constructed, negotiated, and continually remodeled, We Have Always Been Minimalist retraces the story of these battles that—from pure fiction to proven truth—led to the triumph of minimalism. Christophe Levaux’s critical analysis of literature surrounding the origins and transformations of the stylistic movement offers radical insights and a unique new history.