The Sonic Boom

From journalist Peter Ames Carlin, Sonic Boom captures the rollicking story of the most successful record label in the history of popular music, Warner Bros. Records, and the remarkable secret to its meteoric rise. The roster of Warner Brothers Records and its subsidiary labels reads like the roster of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, Prince, Van Halen, Madonna, Tom Petty, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, and dozens of others. But the most compelling figures in the Warner Bros. story are the sagacious Mo Ostin and the unlikely crew of hippies, eccentrics, and enlightened execs. Ostin and his staff transformed an out-of-touch company, revolutionized the industry, and, within just a few years, created the most successful record label in the history of the American music industry. How did they do it? One day in 1967, the newly tapped label president Mo Ostin called his team together to share his grand strategy: he told them to stop trying to make hit records/ "Let’s just make good records and turn those into hits.” With that, Ostin ushered in a counterintuitive model that matched the counterculture. His offbeat crew recruited outsider artists and gave them free rein, while rejecting out-of-date methods of advertising, promotion, and distribution. And even as they set new standards for in-house weirdness, the upstarts’ experiments and innovations paid off, to the tune of hundreds of legendary hit albums. Warner Bros Records conquered the music business by focusing on the music rather than the business. Their story is as raucous as it is inspiring—pure entertainment that also maps a route to that holy grail: love and money. Includes black-and-white photographs

A guide to the effective use of sound in marketing, revealing the surprising ways sound can influence our emotions, opinions, and preferences

Here comes the BOOM! FIRST ISSUE in an ALL-NEW ONGOING SONIC COMIC BOOK SERIES! Based on the new hit TV and video game comes SONIC BOOM #1—a new Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series from Archie Comics! Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends are back and ready to do battle with the evil DR. EGGMAN and his diabolical death-machines! This ground-breaking new chapter in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise puts a new "spin" on all your favorite heroes and villains—plus new faces and hilarious new stories chock-full of action—and it's all brought to you by the folks that bring the hit series Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Universe to you each and every month! Featuring a stunning first issue cover by Sonic art legend Patrick "SPAZ" Spaziante! Get ready for the BOOM, baby!

"There are rappers who everyone loves and there are rappers who every rapper loves, and Corey Woods, a.k.a. Raekwon the Chef, is one of the few who is both. His versatile flow, natural storytelling, and evocative imagery have inspired legions of fans and a new generation of rappers. Raekwon is one of the founding members of Wu-Tang Clan, and his voice and cadence are synonymous with the sound that has made the group iconic since 1991. Now, for the first time, Raekwon tells his whole story, from struggling through poverty in order to make ends meet to turning a hobby into a legacy. The Wu-Tang tale is dense, complex, and full of drama, and here nothing is off-limits: the group's origins, secrets behind songs like "C.R.E.A.M." and "Protect Ya Neck," and what it took to be one of the first hip-hop groups to go from the underground to the mainstream. Raekwon also delves deep into the making of his meticulous solo albums--particularly the classic Only Built 4 Cuban Linx--and talks about how spirituality and fatherhood continue to inspire his unstoppable creative process." --

ARE YOU READY FOR THE BOOM?!The NEW ONGOING SONIC COMIC BOOK SERIES from Archie Comics continues its frantic fun with Sonic Boom #3: Hammer Spaced! Amy’s most precious possession, her piko hammer, has gone missing! And if she can’t find it, her hammer won’t be the only thing she’ll lose! While the boys are on a hammer-hunting quest, Sticks tries to show Amy a new arsenal—but will she survive the experience?! Don’t miss the exclusive tie-in comic to the new TV Show and Video Games from Sega, featuring cover art from Sonic comics legend Tracy Yardley!

BOOM SHAKA-LAKA! Brace yourself for the SONIC BOOM! The hit multimedia Sonic experience comes to you in the action-packed, laugh-a-minute comic book series! Sonic and his friends Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Sticks find themselves caught up in more zany adventures! Dr. Eggman asks the question: "Where does a one ton, fearsome gorilla sit?" The answer: "Wherever he politely asks to!"--wait, what?! Dr. Eggman has a problem--how can he betray the trust of the villagers when they don't trust him to begin with? The mad mechanic pulls out all the stops to woo the wary would-be victims, but he gets more than he counted for when Sonic and his pals decide to become his staff! Then it's off to the races as Dr. Eggman goads Sonic into competing in a go-kart race! Sonic puts the pedal to the metal--because if he put his feet to the track, he'd win without question! But there's no way Dr. Eggman will run a clean race! This volume collects SONIC BOOM #5-7 and SONIC BOOM #11. From the Trade Paperback edition.

It's hard to think of a solo female recording artist who has been as revered or as reviled over the course of her career as Tori Amos. Amy Gentry argues that these violent aesthetic responses to Amos's performance, both positive and negative, are organized around disgust-the disgust that women are taught to feel, not only for their own bodies, but for their taste in music. Released in 1996, Amos's third album, Boys for Pele, represents the height of Amos's willingness to explore the ugly qualities that make all of her music, even her more conventionally beautiful albums, so uncomfortably, and so wonderfully, strange. Using a blend of memoir, criticism, and aesthetic theory, Gentry argues that the aesthetics of disgust are useful for thinking in a broader way about women's experience of all art forms.