June 12, 2022 · 7:18 pm
I don’t often learn many books about music in such a brief house of time, however I’ve learn some good non-fiction titles on the topic thus far this 12 months, which largely conclude that working within the music trade shouldn’t be excellent on your well being.
A Seat on the Desk: Ladies on the Frontline of Music by Amy Raphael is a group of 18 interviews with ladies who work within the music trade. The interviews had been performed in 2018-19 principally with singers and songwriters throughout totally different genres whereas composer Jessica Curry, producer Catherine Marks and DJ Clara Amfo all replicate on comparable points with sexism and racism inside the trade. In some methods, Alison Moyet and Tracey Thorn’s experiences discovering fame within the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties are a world away from these of the musicians who’re beginning out at present who face the pressures of social media, #MeToo and dwindling album gross sales because of the rise of streaming, but there are additionally some irritating similarities resembling not being taken as critically as their male counterparts. Raphael has clearly put a number of thought into the vary of interviewees on this assortment and it will be fascinating to match this alongside her 1995 companion ebook ‘By no means Thoughts the Bollocks: Ladies Rewrite Rock’ which incorporates interviews with the like of Debbie Harry, Courtney Love and Bjork.
Our bodies: Life and Loss of life in Music by Ian Winwood presents a compelling case concerning how habit and psychological well being points have develop into dangerously normalised within the music trade. Winwood was a music journalist at Kerrang! journal for a number of years and has witnessed first-hand the toll this life-style takes on these concerned and paperwork his personal psychological well being and habit points. With artists extra reliant than ever on relentless touring for a secure revenue, ‘Our bodies’ lays naked how being on the highway is simply concerning the worst attainable atmosphere for anybody feeling remotely fragile. In addition to the various harrowing tales, Winwood rightly celebrates Biffy Clyro for defying the chances and avoiding the trail in the direction of burnout and self-destruction by taking trip from touring once they wanted to. Winwood’s strongly argued central thesis is written with actual candour.
Exit Stage Left: The Curious Afterlife of Popstars by Nick Duerden is one other assortment of snapshot interviews, this time with popstars who’re properly previous the height of their fame, a kind of “the place are they now?” compendium. Duerden covers a reasonably broad vary of pop and rock acts resembling David Grey, The Darkness, Shaun Ryder, Paul from S Membership 7, Chumbawumba, Suzanne Vega and Billy Bragg and profession trajectories embody hit wonders, victims of Troublesome Second Album syndrome, novelty acts and those that merely fell out of vogue in a notoriously fickle trade which is just desirous about chasing after the subsequent large factor. A few of these interviewed look again fondly on their time within the highlight and are content material with engaged on the nostalgia circuit, whereas others are bitter or resentful about how they had been handled on the time or have tried to utterly reinvent themselves since their first flush of fame. With over 30 artists and bands coated right here, the interviews themselves are pretty transient and bittersweet, and I can’t assist however surprise if essentially the most fascinating tales could be advised by those that would by no means comply with be interviewed for a ebook like this.
Shifting away from the excesses of pop music, I’ve been dipping out and in of That Jealous Demon, My Wretched Well being: Illness, Loss of life and Composers by Jonathan Noble which examines the bodily and psychological well being of 70 composers. From Mozart’s quite a few illnesses all through his youth to Beethoven’s deafness and Schumann’s attainable bipolar dysfunction, ‘That Jealous Demon’ is very detailed and in addition filled with the kind of trivia which could be often helpful for answering questions on College Problem. Noble is a retired surgeon and his medical experience permits him to think about how correct a number of the reported diagnoses had been and the way some might need fared with medical therapy at present. Dense however fascinating, this affords a singular perspective on the lives of nice composers and the way the state of their well being impacted their work.
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