“This is the cutest thing, but I was interviewing Ihsahn from [Norwegian death metal band] Emperor and I thought I’d recorded it,” Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor author Kim Kelly says with a laugh, “I realized halfway through — he was in Norway and this is in the early 2000s — […]
We are rarely permitted a visual glimpse into a rock icon’s psyche the way we are with Shane MacGowan’s new book, The Eternal Buzz and The Crock of Gold. To be released on April 29, it showcases six decades of the English-born Irish singer’s unpublished writing, unseen handwritten lyrics, and drawings and sketches from MacGowan’s […]
For music journalist Dan Charnas, telling J Dilla’s story was a personal quest. Dilla, the highly influential rap producer, died in 2006. “In the 15 years since his death, journalists and academics have written about him, and musicians have extolled his work,” Charnas says. “But no one had put it all together in a definitive […]
Darryl “DMC” McDaniels is 57, but he still speaks with the boundless energy and commanding voice that he changed the music world with as a teenager. Whether he’s talking about the MCs that made him want to rap in the early ‘80s, his youth outreach work, or his upcoming single with Sebastian Bach, Travis Barker, […]
Will Sergeant never considered himself a writer. “I was rubbish at school. I wasn’t interested in English at all or anything like that. I’m rubbish at writing. When at school, I used to just write any old crap just to get through. It would just be scribble. They’d be like, ‘What the hell’s this?’” he […]
Thirty years ago, Raekwon (or Corey Woods, as the government knows him) was just a young man from Staten Island with a passion for rapping. A year later, he and his childhood friend, now known as Ghostface Killah, joined seven other kids from New York City’s fifth borough to form Wu-Tang Clan. The rest is […]
Sparked by the 50th anniversary of Led Zeppelin IV and “Stairway to Heaven,” seasoned, deep-dive journalist and book author Bob Spitz set out to write the ultimate account of one of the most legendary bands of rock ‘n roll. The author of previous bestsellers The Beatles: The Biography, and Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia […]