Music Icons that Baby Boomers Will Remember

    Here is a selection of books about several of yesteryear’s music idols that all self-respecting members of the over-fifty generation can identify. They are all available at our library.

    The Bee Gees: the Biography, written by David N. Meyer, is a comprehensive life story about the four Gibb brothers – Maurice, Robin, Barry and Andy, who sold 250 million records over a forty year-career. It includes detailed information about their poverty-ridden childhoods, their musical successes beginning in the 1960s, their interactions with other music personalities, their battles with one another, and their drug addictions. A small selection of black-and-white photos is included in the book.

    Days that I’ll Remember: Spending Time with John Lennon and Yoko Ono is written by Jonathan Cott, who first got to know John and Yoko when he interviewed them when he was the London correspondent for Rolling Stone magazine. This expanded from a professional relationship to one of friendship. Cott is able to provide personal details about the couple as well as his own recollections of the era’s music, politics and culture. A few black-and-white photos are scattered among the text.

    I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon, is written by Toure, a journalist and television personality. Toure uses interviews with Prince’s band members, former girlfriends and music scholars to describe Prince’s unique brand of music based on his perceptions of God and religion.

    Led Zeppelin: the Oral History of the World’s Greatest Rock Band is written by Barney Hoskyns, a prolific music writer whose interviews with some of rock’s most famous musicians, record company executives and recording engineers provide insight into the band’s twelve-year duration. Several black-and-white photos are interspersed throughout the book, along with a small section of color photos.

    Rocks Off: 50 Tracks that tell the Story of the Rolling Stones, written by Bill Janovitz, who himself is a musician as well as a Rolling Stones aficionado. Janovitz’s technique is to use fifty of the Stones songs to relate aspects of their music and their personal lives, over the course of their fifty-year career.