This is a cool book that looks behind the scenes of some of the best rock songs of the 1970s. Its like having a backstage pass to the best artists of that time. Explore the secrets of these songs from how they came to be to where the inspiration came from
The music for The Rolling Stones song "Brown Sugar" was written in a large field in Australia while Mick Jagger was filming the movie Ned Kelly. He had messed up his hand and was trying to rehabilitate it. He took a brand new kind of electric guitar and took it into the Outback and came up with the music. The song was recorded at Alabama's Muscle Shoals studio. It took him 45 minutes to write three sheets of lyrics. Because of a dispute with their manager, the song was not released until the album Sticky Fingers. However they first debuted it at the famous concert at Altamont. The song covers such controversial topics like drugs, rape, slavery, and interracial sex. Mick said in an interview that "God knows what I'm on about in that song. It's such a mishmash. All the nasty subjects in one go. I never would write that song today. I can't just write raw like that."
"Can't You See" by South Carolina's Marshall Tucker Band was not a hit and Marshall Tucker wasn't even in the band. He was a piano tuner who worked in the practice space of the band. Then Waylon Jennings did a cover of the song that only charted to 75 for the band, but charted high on the country charts. Hank Jr., Alabama, and about 40 different bands have done a cover of the song. You can still hear it on the radio 54 years later. It has become a Southern classic.
"Heart of Glass" was written by Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein and was a number one hit for Blondie in 1979. It was written in 1974 but the band had a hard time figuring out how it should go. The tried it as a ballad and as a reggae song, but nothing seemed to work. In 1978 they got producer Mike Chapman asked Harry what was influencing her at the moment and she replied Donner Summer. The band had just gotten a Roland drum machine and were playing around with it. Using a computerized was unusual for a guitar band. People got mad at them for "going disco". Clem Burke, the drummer refused to play it at first, until it became a hit and he was then forced to. The lyrics weren't about anyone particular, just lost love. For a while they played it with the chorus going "Once I had love and it was a gas. Soon turned out it was a pain in the ass." It was too repetitive so they changed it to "had a heart of glass." The BBC bleeped out the one "ass" they kept in the song.
This book also includes the stories behind such songs as: It Don't Come Easy, Hotel California, I'll Take You There, I Wanna Be Sedated, London Calling, and Long Train Running. Mastropolo also included sections on singers and musicians who made the songs come alive, like Bobby Whitlock, the keyboard player , for Derek and the Dominoes and Harry Wayne "KC" Casey and the Sunshine Band. It crosses many different genres of music and is incredibly interesting and informative.
Quotes
Kind of like a cross between a housewife and an evangelical preacher, is kind of what I do.
Iggy Pop
I don’t like the Eagles. There’re about as exciting as watching paint dry. Their albums are good for keeping the dust off your turntable and that’s about all.
John Wait
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