The B Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song

By Ben Yagoda

Book Overview

From an acclaimed cultural critic, a narrative and social history of the Great American Songwriting era. Everybody knows and loves the American Songbook. But it's a bit less widely understood that in about 1950, this stream of great songs more or less dried up. All of a sudden, what came over the radio wasn't Gershwin, Porter, and Berlin, but "Come on-a My House" and "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?" Elvis and rock and roll arrived a few years later, and at that point the game was truly up. What happened, and why? In The B Side , acclaimed cultural historian Ben Yagoda answers those questions in a fascinating piece of detective work. Drawing on previously untapped archival sources and on scores of interviews--the voices include Randy Newman, Jimmy Webb, Linda Ronstadt, and Herb Alpert--the book illuminates broad musical trends through a series of intertwined stories. Among them are the battle between ASCAP and Broadcast Music, Inc.; the revolution in jazz after World War II; the impact of radio and then television; and the bitter, decades-long feud between Mitch Miller and Frank Sinatra. The B Side is about taste, and the particular economics and culture of songwriting, and the potential of popular art for greatness and beauty. It's destined to become a classic of American musical history.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594634092
• ISBN13: 9781594634093
• Release Date: December 2015
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher