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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Who Did It First?: Great Rock and Roll Cover Songs and Their Original Artists
In Who Did It First?: Great Rock and Roll Cover Songs and Their Original Artists, the third volume in Bob Leszczak's excitingWho Did It First? series, readers explore the hidden history of the most famous, indeed legendary, rock and roll classics. As Leszczak points out, the version you purchased, played air guitar to, sang along to, and grew up with is often not the first version recorded. Like wine and cheese, some tunes do get better with age, and behind each there is a story. Little-known facts and amusing anecdotes, often gathered through Leszczak's vast archive of personal interviews with the singers and songwriters, record producers and label owners, who wrote, sang, recorded, and distributed either the original first cut or one of its classic covers.
Book Details
- Publisher: Globe Pequot Publishing Group Inc/Bloomsbury
- Publish Date: Jul 10th, 2014
- Pages: 332
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.18in - 6.27in - 1.14in - 1.39lb
- EAN: 9781442233218
- Categories: • Genres & Styles - Blues• Genres & Styles - Pop Vocal• Genres & Styles - Rock
About the Author
Bob Leszczak, author of Single Season Sitcoms, 1948-1979: A Complete Guide (2012), was also the writer and producer of Solid Gold Scrapbook, a weekly five-hour music trivia radio show for the United Stations Radio Network. A former member of the Duprees, he's been an oldies radio on-air personality for over 30 years and has shared his passion for and knowledge about these classic hit songs and artists on great radio stations in Washington, DC, Boston, Denver, Tampa, Hartford, and Orlando. He is the author of Who Did It First? Great Rhythm and Blues Cover Songs and Their Original Artists (2013) and Who Did It First? Great Pop Cover Songs and Their Original Artists (2014).
Praise for this book
As in the other books, it is easy to find a familiar song just browsing between the covers. What is often surprising, however, is the realization that the hit song you grew up with was minor compared to an earlier hit. Sometimes the situation is reversed - the massive radio hit you grew up with would never have been possible without the relatively obscure, original "unsung" recording to inspire it. This book provides good examples of both situations, as well as various other twists and turns in the life cycles of famous rock songs. . . . This compact hardcover includes also a simple navigational list of songs, a list of illustrations, an integrated index, and a convenient appendix listing select artists heavily referenced in cover songs. . . . Its usefulness to students of popular culture and music will make this reference book an easy addition to any library.
Significantly, Who Did it First? never presents itself as something it is not (say, a scholarly work), and its tone is designed for a casual reader, not a trainspotting boffin who can't help but play gotcha! when reading it. Who Did it First? is a lightweight, fun and informative trip through rock's history.
[Who Did It First: Great Rock and Roll Cover Songs and Their Original Artists, Who Did It First: Great Pop Cover Songs and Their Original Artists, Who Did It First: Great Rhythm and Blues Cover Songs and Their Original Artists] are well organized, and everything is readily accessible. . . .[T]hese are outstanding books from which any lover of popular music, from the neophyte to the most advanced, will gain much knowledge and enjoyment.