{"product_id":"books-the-b-side-by-ben-yagoda","title":"The B-side","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom an acclaimed cultural critic, a narrative and social history of the great American songwriting era.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEverybody 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 'The 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 \u003ci\u003eThe B Side\u003c\/i\u003e, 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, Johnny Mandel 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 schism 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe B Side\u003c\/i\u003eis about taste, and the particular economics and culture of songwriting, and the potential of popular art for greatness and beauty. It is a book destined to become a classic of American musical history.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003ePraise for Ben Yagoda-\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e'A great many books celebrate the pre-rock Great American Songbook. Ben Yagoda's highly original and shrewdly argued \u003ci\u003eThe B-Side\u003c\/i\u003eisn't one of them. It tells how the Songbook emerged, but is more intent on dissecting its meretricious demise, and the way a new songbook emerged from the rubble. It is anecdotal, illuminating, and persuasive.' \u003cb\u003eGary Giddins, author of \u003ci\u003eBing Crosby- A Pocketful of Dreams and Visions of Jazz\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e'Wow, what a piece of work! I love it. The B Side is A PLUS.'\u003ci\u003eDave Frishberg\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e'A provocative, consistently engaging counternarrative to the conventional wisdom that rock 'n' roll killed Tin Pan Alley.' \u003cb\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e'Yagoda . . . is blessed with a genius for apt quotation.' \u003cb\u003eJohn Leonard\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBen Yagoda is always fine company, with just the right word, kindly good judgment, and another great story coming up on the next page.' \u003cb\u003eRichard Ben Cramer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World of Books ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53505518928145,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781594488498.jpg?v=1778098282","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/products\/books-the-b-side-by-ben-yagoda","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}