The Mammoth Book Of The Rolling Stones

'The greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world!' This vainglorious introduction given to The Rolling Stones on stage by an excitable roadie was almost immediately accepted as a simple statement of fact. It was already evident that Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Co. were, as their first manager Andrew Loog Oldham had claimed, 'a way of life'. The Stones' defiance of convention made them the figureheads of a questioning new generation, and drove the Establishment to imprison them. This enduring rebel aura and the unmistakeable craft evident in classic records such as Satisfaction, Honky Tonk Women and Brown Sugar ensured subsequent generations of diehard fans, establishing the band as the biggest box office attraction the world has ever seen. The Mammoth Book of The Rolling Stones provides a comprehensive collection of reviews, analysis, interviews and exposés - both archive and contemporary, favourable and critical, concise and epic - of these extraordinary cultural icons as they pass the astonishing milestone of 50 years as rock's pre-eminent band.

'The greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world!' This vainglorious introduction given to The Rolling Stones on stage by an excitable roadie was almost immediately accepted as a simple statement of fact. It was already evident that Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Co. were, as their first manager Andrew Loog Oldham had claimed, 'a way of life'. The Stones' defiance of convention made them the figureheads of a questioning new generation, and drove the Establishment to imprison them. This enduring rebel aura and the unmistakeable craft evident in classic records such as Satisfaction, Honky Tonk Women and Brown Sugar ensured subsequent generations of diehard fans, establishing the band as the biggest box office attraction the world has ever seen. The Mammoth Book of The Rolling Stones provides a comprehensive collection of reviews, analysis, interviews and exposés - both archive and contemporary, favourable and critical, concise and epic - of these extraordinary cultural icons as they pass the astonishing milestone of 50 years as rock's pre-eminent band.

No band has ever been able to demonstrate the enduring power of rock and roll quite like The Rolling Stones, who continue to enthrall, provoke, and invigorate their legions of fans more than fifty years since they began. In Counting Down the Rolling Stones: Their Finest 100 Songs, rock writer Jim Beviglia dares to rank the band’s finest songs in descending order from the 100th to their number 1 greatest song. Counting Down the Rolling Stones is the perfect playlist builder, whether it is for the diehard fan or the newbie just getting acquainted with the work of Mick, Keith, and the boys!

Over 60 gripping accounts tracking the dark side of rock 'n' roll from the early days of the drugs-and-drink culture, and the birth of rock 'n' roll, through The Beatles, Stones, Sex Pistols, Madonna, Kurt Cobain and Oasis, to Amy Winehouse, Pete Doherty and other stars of the current rock-music scene. From trashed hotel rooms to cars in swimming pools, all rock 'n' roll's excesses are here, including murder and sexual deviancy, surprising brushes with the law that the stars thought they'd kept quiet, early and tragic deaths, drug overdoses, robbery, mis-marriages and groupies by the truckload

More than fifty years after their founding, the Rolling Stones still tour and create new music as the world’s quintessential rock band. David Malvinni’s Experiencing the Rolling Stones: A Listener’s Companion looks at the Stones’ music from the inside out. Along the journey, Malvinni places individual songs and entire albums within the transformative era of the ’60s, focusing on how the Rolling Stones integrated African American R&B, blues, and rock and roll into a uniquely British style. Vignettes describing what it was like to hear the Stones’ music at the time of its release thread their way through the book as Malvinni goes beyond the usual stories surrounding the Stone’s most significant songs. Tracing the distinctive sound that runs through their catalog, from chord progressions and open guitar tuning, to polyrhythmic Afro-Caribbean beats and their innovative use of nontraditional instruments, Malvinni shows how the Stones have retained their unmistakable identity through the decades. Experiencing the Rolling Stones draws together a broad swath of postwar history as it covers the band’s origins in Swinging London, their interest in the Beat generation, the powerful attraction of Morocco on their lives and music, the infamous drug busts that nearly destroyed the band, the female muses who inspired them, the disaster at Altamont, their flight from England as tax exiles, and the recording sessions outside of England. Malvinni takes an especially close look at Keith Richards’ guitar work and its effect on the band’s music, as well as the multiple changes in the band’s members, such as the addition of guitarists Mick Taylor and Ron Wood. Experiencing the Rolling Stones delivers a musical adventure for both the lifelong fan and the first-time listener just discovering the magnitude and magnificence of the Stones’ music, stardom, and legacy.

A miracle of still-plentiful hair, raw sex appeal, and strutting talent. The frontman of one of the most influential and controversial groups of all time. A brilliant musician with a career spanning over four decades. A testament at once to British glamour and sensual decline. The ultimate demigod of rock. Bestselling biographer Philip Norman offers an unparalleled account of the life of a living legend, Mick Jagger. From middle-class schoolboy to rebel without a cause to Sixties rock sensation and global idol, the myth of the inimitable frontman of the Rolling Stones is unravelled by Norman with astonishing intimacy. Jagger charts his extraordinary journey through scandal-ridden conspiracy, infamous prison spell, hordes of female admirers and a knighthood while stripping away the colossal fame, wealth and idolatry to reveal a story of talent and promise unfulfilled. Jagger is shown in all his paradoxical glory: understated yet ostentatious; the ultimate incarnation of modern man's favourite fantasy--"sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll"--yet blessed with taste and intelligence; a social chameleon who couldn't blend in if he tried; always moving with the Jagger swagger, yet modest enough to be self-deprecating. This revelatory tour de force is ample tribute to a flawed genius who reconfigured the musical landscape.

Rich Cohen enters the Stones epic as a young journalist on the road with the band and quickly falls under their sway—privy to the jokes, the camaraderie, the bitchiness, the hard living. Inspired by a lifelong appreciation of the music that borders on obsession, Cohen’s chronicle of the band is informed by the rigorous views of a kid who grew up on the music and for whom the Stones will always be the greatest rock ’n’ roll band of all time.

The biggest-ever selection of first-hand accounts and news reports of shark attacks, both recent and historical, shows how sharks are masters of the ocean and how we enter their domain at our own risk. Think you're safe in the Med? Read about the Great Whites that thrive near holiday beaches. Think you're safe in large groups? Read about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945 when hundreds of sailors floated for days in shark-infested waters, being picked off one-by-one. Think you're safe at home? Read about the 69-year-old man, taking his regular evening swim, jumping off his backyard dock straight into the mouth of a bull shark. Many more extraordinary and gruesome accounts, including the shark-boat skipper who slit open the belly of a 360-kg tiger shark only to have a human head, pelvis, and arm come tumbling out, provide horrific and moving tales of shark encounters. The courage of survivors and those who have risked their lives to save shark attack victims is truly inspirational. Where can you find sharks? Features on different shark species with illustrations, fact boxes and maps show where they lurk around the world. Also included are a selection of full-colour photographs and special sections on the life cycle of a shark, how to avoid a shark attack and how to survive one.