The Best Of Smash Hits

* A compilation of all the best bits from Britain's best-loved, much-mourned pop magazine

We are what we listen to. That's the premise of this study of 100 songs that have shaped and defined the American experience, from the Colonial period to the present. Well-known music author James Perone looks at 100 songs that helped tell America's story. He examines why each song became a hit, what cultural and social values it embodies, what issues it touches upon, what audiences it attracted, and what made it such a definitive part of American history and popular culture. The chart-topping singles presented here crossed gender, age, race, and class lines to appeal to the mass American audience. The book discusses patriotic songs, minstrel music, and sacred songs and hymns as well as music in the broad categories of pop, rock, hip hop, jazz, country, and folk. An introduction provides an overview of the history and significant issues raised by the songs as a whole. Individual songs are then presented chronologically, based on when they were written. The revealing commentary for each "hit" is not only interesting and fun, but reveals what it was like to live in the United States at a particular time by unveiling the social, economic, and political issues—as well as the musical tastes—that made life what it was.

Totally Wired is the definitive story of the music press on both sides of the Atlantic, tracing the rise and fall of the creatively fertile media sector which grew from humble beginnings nearly 100 years ago to become a multi-billion business which tested the limits of journalistic endeavour. Covering the music presss evolution from the 1950s to the 2000s, through rock & roll, Mod, the Summer of Love, Glam, Punk, Pop, Reggae, R&B and Hip Hop, Paul Gorman chronicles the development of individual magazines from Tin Pan Alley beginnings and the countercultural foundation of Rolling Stone, the underground press and the 70s heyday of NME, Melody Maker and Sounds. Illuminated by the authors first hand interviews, Gorman paints a complete picture of the scene exploring the role played by such writers as Lester Bangs, Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent in the development of the careers of the likes of David Bowie, The Clash and Led Zeppelin, and tackling head on the entrenched sexism and racism faced by women and people from marginalized backgrounds by shining a spotlight on those publications and individuals whose contributions have often been unfairly overlooked. Evoking the music presss kaleidoscopic visual identities, Totally Wired is illustrated with rare and legendary magazine artwork throughout. What emerges is a compelling narrative containing conflicting stories of unbound talent, blind ambition and sometimes bitter rivalries which make Totally Wired a rollercoaster and riveting read.

The owner of one of the most recognizable faces - not to mention voices - in the entertainment business, Sir Tom Jones is the definition of a national treasure.It has been over fifty years since Jones’s breakthrough single ‘It’s Not Unusual’ reached Number One in the UK, and it seems as if he has been a permanent fixture on our airwaves ever since. Songs like ‘Delilah’ and ‘She’s a Lady’ are by now a part of the nation’s cultural fabric - but this astounding success wasn’t always assured for the legendary Welsh entertainer.Having already overcome a devastating bout of childhood tuberculosis, Tom Jones married his teenage girlfriend at the youthful age of sixteen. With a young family to support, it seemed far more likely that a career as a vacuum salesman was beckoning. However, Jones’s voice was destined for greater things than sales patter, and with thirty-six Top Forty singles to his name, his enduring popularity is a testament to just how talented that voice is.His career hasn’t always been plain-sailing though. Lengthy quiet periods without much professional success, combined with well-documented infidelities in his private life, has meant that Jones has known his fair share of tough times.In An Extraordinary Life, bestselling biographer Gwen Russell charts Jones’s journey from young, unsigned local singer to one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers. With his seventy-fifth birthday behind him, and forging a successful TV career thanks to his work heading The Voice, Jones’s status as a living legend is guaranteed.