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DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS OF THE RECORD BUSINESS

WHY SO MUCH MUSIC YOU HEAR SUCKS

Not as witty or breezy as the title would lead you to believe, but still a solid primer to today’s Byzantine music industry.

If you don’t like what you’re seeing in your record store or hearing on your radio, don’t blame the musicians—blame the suits.

Recent studies have shown that in any given year, as many as 50 percent of the CDs purchased in the U.S. are not the product of contemporary artists, but rather classic albums from classic rockers, or reissues from old-school jazzers, or repackaged “best of” collections. Some fans claim the reason for the apathy toward newer releases is that rock-’n’-roll, R&B and hip-hop have been co-opted by record label numbers-crunchers, while others feel the current generation of musicians has simply run out of original ideas. A journalist/musician who’s written biographies of Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, Bordowitz accuses everybody, maintaining that the entire music industry has shot itself in the collective foot. In his rambling, somewhat didactic treatise, Bordowitz points the finger at red-tape-wrapped record labels, ethically questionable radio stations and greedy retail conglomerates. He places the blame for the multi-platinum success of such dubious talents as Kanye West and Avril Lavigne on everybody from the sales-obsessed trade magazine Billboard to the manager at the local Sam Goody’s. If you’re already even the remotest bit familiar with the music industry’s ins and outs, few of Bordowitz’s revelations or assertions will come as a surprise, but for music-business newcomers, the thumbnail profiles of various musicians, producers and executives—not to mention the user-friendly descriptions of how record labels and radio stations are run—are engaging and enlightening. He doesn’t offer much in the way of new firsthand reportage, but his research is first-rate, and he is consistently able to support his arguments. The downside is that Bordowitz’s prose is relatively academic, his jokes feel forced and the so-called “dirty little secrets” aren’t particularly dirty—or secret.

Not as witty or breezy as the title would lead you to believe, but still a solid primer to today’s Byzantine music industry.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2007

ISBN: 1-55652-643-1

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

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NUTCRACKER

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

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