Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time [Paperback]

Tim Morse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 1998

The first time on the open road with Dad's beat-up clunker and a brand-new driver's lecense. That first kiss. Practicing Steve Tyler moves in the garage. Lazy summer days with nothing to do but hang out with a group of friends and the radio. Classic Rock. In Classic Rock Stories, classic rockers reveal the sometimes painful, sometimes accidental, and often hilarious process of creating the songs that you can still sing aloud. In their own words, rockers like Pete Townshend, John Lennon, Stevie Nicks, Elton John, and Keith Richards tell about the drugs, the pain, the love gone bad, and the accidents that resulted in the hits.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The secret elements that spurred musicians to write songs like "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Dust in the Wind" are often, somewhat surprisingly, less than enigmatic. While writing "Sweet Emotion," Aerosmith bad boys Steven Tyler and Tom Hamilton "got into a big fight" over how to end it; Bob Dylan wrote a 20-page story that he then turned into "Like a Rolling Stone"; George Harrison wrote "Here Comes the Sun" while walking around Eric Clapton's garden on a bright day. These tidbits are among the hundreds of anecdotes told by famous musicians--Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, and Grace Slick among them--about their hit songs and compiled in Classic Rock Stories. If you can hum the song, you can likely find its story in this book, which is quite broad in scope. Editor Tim Morse fails to date the artists' comments, so it's occasionally difficult to put the tales in context, but fans of classic rock music should still find this an entertaining read. --Jordana Moskowitz

From School Library Journal

YA-An engaging read that describes the rock scene of the '60s and '70s. Each story reveals insights about favorite songs and the artists who recorded them. A chatty, conversational tone permeates the book, which is divided into chapters such as "Accidents Will Happen," "A Quick One," and "Love and Lust," and varied typeface breaks the text into manageable parts. Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Stevie Nicks, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Jackson Browne, and Alice Cooper tell how they felt about their songs and what they were trying to say. Morse writes with unflinching honesty: "In the sixties and seventies a rock band whose members weren't doing drugs was an exception." A chapter titled "Jurassic Park" gives updates on the rockers. A great choice for reluctant or musically inclined readers.
Jean Johnston, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (July 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312180675
• ISBN-13: 978-0312180676
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Sheet Music & Scores > Forms & Genres > Lieder & Art Songs

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Writen in One Afternoon, August 8, 2000

By 

vonhayek - See all my reviews

This review is from: Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time (Paperback)

Stories? I don't think so. The "story" behind each song is simply a quote or two. The author didn't want to be burdened with the task of actually writing anything. And the quotes are frequently brief. The "story" behind Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," for instance, is all of four lines. This is book is mostly air. And as for "Classic" Rock, I humbly submit that songs like "Substitute," "That Smell," "Treat Me Right" by Pat Benetar have not exactly been labeled "classic" by anyone but Morse.

I think what happened here is that Morse spend an afternoon on Nexus running searches for a bunch of songs and came up with a miscellaneous series of quotes from backdated issues of Rolling Stone. I feel ripped off.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A fun quick read..., March 7, 2002

By 

"does50" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time (Paperback)

...for anyone who likes music. The quotes contained herein are compiled from many different sources, mostly biographies and magazine articles, but I've never seen them all compiled in one place before. Nifty! This book is best read in short bursts, like while on the bus or waiting for the dentist or something. The inexplicable addition of a "Top 25 Classic Rock Album" list in the rear of the book makes for an entertaining read, as all top-XX lists are, though it is inexplicably skewed toward limp boring prog rock. And not one punk album in the top 25? C'mon! There is also a "Jurassic Park" section which is your basic "Where Are They Now" thing, although it already reads a bit dated (AC/DC's latest release is Ballbreaker, George Harrison is still alive...)

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Gathering, July 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time (Paperback)

Someone had to do it.

Tim Morse collects the stories (most of them between one and four paragraphs) behind the music. There are some careless typos, and the dates of those who relate the comments are missing, though much of the info is illuminating. Some of the more familiar stories should probably have been updated or removed outright (Is there anyone who DOESN'T know the origins of "Hey Jude" by now? If there is such a person, he/she wouldn't be reading this book, anyway).

Music researchers will like this book because it's a great reference volume. Now if we can only get Morse to pen a companion piece that includes more black artists--"Classic R&B and Soul Stories," perhaps?