{"title":"Bill German","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"under-their-thumb-book-bill-german-9781400066223","title":"Under Their Thumb","description":"German is party to all sort of Stones' doings, many of which are enjoyable, quite a few of which are scandalous. \u003cb\u003eGreat rock 'n' roll Babylon stuff\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e- Booklist (Starred Review) \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe \u003cb\u003eepic tale \u003c\/b\u003eof an obsessive teenager who launched a \u003ci\u003eRolling Stones \u003c\/i\u003efanzine and spent the next two decades capturing the band's whirlwind metamorphosis from behind the scenes....\u003cb\u003eFirst-rate, firsthand account \u003c\/b\u003eof the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band, and a disenchanted chronicle of its increasingly crass commercialization.\u003cbr\u003e- Kirkus Reviews \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs a teenager, Bill German knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life: chronicle the career and adventures of his favorite rock band, the Rolling Stones. And in 1978, on his sixteenth birthday, he set out to make his dream a reality. Feverishly typed in his Brooklyn bedroom, and surreptitiously printed in his high school's mimeograph room German's Stones-only newsletter, Beggars Banquet, was born. His teachers discouraged it, his parents dismissed it as a phase, and his disco-loving classmates preferred the Bee Gees, but, for German, this primitive, pre-Internet fanzine was a labor of love. And a fateful encounter with his idols on the streets of New York soon proved his efforts weren't in vain. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eImpressed with Beggars Banquet, the Stones gave the 'zine instant cred on the rock scene by singing its praises-and by inviting German to hang with the band. At first a fish out of water in the company of rock royalty, German found himself spilling orange juice on a priceless rug in Mick Jagger's house and getting pegged as a narc by pals of Keith Richards and Ron Wood. But before long he became a familiar fixture in the inner sanctum, not just reporting Stones stories but living them. He was a player in the Mick-versus-Keith feud and was an eyewitness to Keith's midlife crisis and Ron's overindulgences. He even had a reluctant role in covering up Mick's peccadilloes. In the span of a few months, German recalls, I'd gone from wanting to know everything about my favorite rock stars to knowing too much. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this warts-and-all book, which includes many never-before-seen photographs, German takes us to the Stones' homes, recording sessions, and concerts around the world. He charts the band's rocky path from the unthinkable depths of a near breakup to the obscenely lucrative heights of their blockbuster tours. And ultimately, German reveals why his childhood dream come true became a passion he finally had to part with. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eUnder Their Thumb\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eis an up-close and extremely personal dispatch from the amazing, exclusive world of the Rolling Stones, by someone who was lucky enough to live it-and sober enough to remember it all.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49522357567761,"sku":"GOR004091324","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50307043262737,"sku":"CIN1400066220VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50662751043857,"sku":"GOR005534992","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50970751566097,"sku":"CIN1400066220G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1400066220.jpg?v=1751051429"},{"product_id":"under-their-thumb-book-bill-german-9781845134754","title":"Under Their Thumb","description":"It's every rock 'n' roll fan's dream - to hang out with the band they love. But for Bill German it wasn't just a dream - it was a job. When 16 year old Bill German, up late in his pj's, put the finishing touches to the first issue of his Rolling Stones fanzine Beggars Banquet, little did he know he'd embarked on a rock odyssey that would take him from his tiny bedroom in Brooklyn into the inner sanctum of the greatest rock band in the world. Shyly pushing his crudely mimeographed newsletter into the hands of band members as they bundled into limos, personally delivering every issue to their New York office, little did he suspect the Stones were actually reading it. Yet they were - it was the only way they could keep tabs on each other - and suddenly the teenager found himself drawn into a heady world of after show parties, impromptu jam sessions, world tours, drug smuggling and late night heart-to-hearts. And there - between stops at Clapton's pad and the White House - he found a band profoundly uncertain of its future and constantly on the verge of break-up. Bill's memoir is a touching, naive, raucous, bittersweet journey from adolescence to mid-life crisis, but also the story of a band in transition. The 1980s saw the death of founder Stone Ian Stewart; the strains and rivalries of their burgeoning solo careers; and, with the launch of Steel Wheels in 1989, The Rolling Stones' final apotheosis from devil may care enfants terribles, to mature stadium rockers. Bill German saw it all and in Under Their Thumb he describes how he, Mick, Keith, Ron, Bill and Charlie finally came of age. And how a nice boy from Brooklyn played with fire and lived to tell the tale. www.BeggarsBanquetOnline.com","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49578136404241,"sku":"GOR003187266","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49901591658769,"sku":"CIN1845134753G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50485643247889,"sku":"GOR011090350","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1845134753.jpg?v=1750833259"},{"product_id":"under-their-thumb-book-bill-german-9781493065080","title":"Under Their Thumb","description":"Under Their Thumb:How a Nice Boy from Brooklyn Got Mixed Up with the Rolling Stones (and Lived to Tell About It) tells the story of Bill German's unlikely friendship with the Rolling Stones. He first met them on the streets of New York when he was a seventeen-year-old aspiring journalist. After handing them a copy of his amateur fanzine, they took the author under their wing and hired him as their official historian. They turned his little rag into their official newsletter and advertised it in one of their albums.  Soon after, he began traveling the world with them and staying at their homes. German went from being a teenage fan who wanted to know everything about his favorite band to suddenly knowing too much! He was privy to their private jams and recording sessions as well as to their parties, peccadilloes, and in-fights. Yet, through it all, he maintained his identity as that nice boy from Brooklyn. Despite Keith's observation—or edict?—that \"people only leave the Stones in a casket or handcuffs,\" he was one of the few to leave their orbit on his own terms.  This updated edition of Under Their Thumb includes new stories about German's relationship to the Stones and twenty never-before-seen images.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49961166209297,"sku":"CIN1493065084G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50740931330321,"sku":"CIN1493065084VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52340482900241,"sku":"NLS9781493065080","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53054312775953,"sku":"GOR014718058","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53491916800273,"sku":"NIN9781493065080","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1493065084.jpg?v=1751148388"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-bill-german.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}