08/10/2015
Traveling from Sweden and South Korea to Los Angeles and New York for interviews with a wide array of songwriters, producers, and artists, New Yorker writer Seabrook tunefully delivers a soulful refrain on the multilayered process of building hit songs today. He profiles Soo-Man Lee, founder of SM Entertainment and architect of K-pop, who created a manual detailing steps necessary to establish a winning artist: which chord progressions to use in songs, which camera angles for videos, and when to import foreign producers or choreographers. Denniz Pop’s vision of making the hits involves using a factory of Swedish songwriters who would create hits for British and American acts, combining the beat-driven music people danced to in clubs with the pop music people listened to on the radio. Seabrook also profiles Lou Pearlman, who engineered the Backstreet Boys and mismanaged their careers, and Britney Spears and Rhianna, examining the formulas for their pop successes. Seabrook almost giddily explores the ways that hit songs hook the listener when the “rhythm, sound, melody, and harmony converge to create a single ecstatic moment, felt more in the body than in the head.” (Oct.)
The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory
Narrated by Dion Graham
John SeabrookUnabridged — 9 hours, 23 minutes
The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory
Narrated by Dion Graham
John SeabrookUnabridged — 9 hours, 23 minutes
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Overview
Over the last two decades a new type of song has emerged. Today's hits bristle with "hooks," musical burrs designed to snag your ear every seven seconds. Painstakingly crafted to tweak the brain's delight in melody, rhythm, and repetition, these songs are industrial-strength products made for malls, casinos, the gym, and the Super Bowl halftime show. The tracks are so catchy, and so potent, that you can't not listen to them.
Traveling from New York to Los Angeles, Stockholm to Korea, John Seabrook visits specialized teams composing songs in digital labs with novel techniques, and he traces the growth of these contagious hits from their origins in early '90s Sweden to their ubiquity on today's charts.
Featuring the stories of artists like Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Rihanna, as well as expert songsmiths like Max Martin, Ester Dean, and Dr. Luke,*The Song Machine*will change the way you listen to music.
Editorial Reviews
"Eminently readable and important…. Seabrook's in-depth interviews with an army of songwriters, producers, performers and others make for series of profiles that document a revolution in the music business."
"Invaluable."
"A fascinating look at how the catchiest pop hits are manufactured…You’ll never hear Katy Perry the same way again."
"Brilliant."
"An immersive, reflective, and utterly satisfying examination of the business of popular music."
"Fascinating…. Copy editors will rejoice at Seabrook’s well-written and deeply researched book. He is a staff writer for The New Yorker and his book fits into that magazine’s penchant for telling very detailed stories about things you might not notice about pop culture."
"Fascinating…lively, entertaining and often insightful, of interest both to pop mavens and to those who couldn’t imagine caring about the latest hits."
"Well researched…[Seabrook] takes us inside the troubled modern music business."
"Revelatory. This thorough dissection of the anatomy of a hit belongs on any listener’s bookshelf."
"Through immersive anecdotes and witty observations, Seabrook explores questions of ownership and taste, and about the music business as a whole, as we learn it’s not just the ‘song machine’ that’s brilliant but also the people churning the gears."
"Seabrook spins a fascinating history, one that encompasses everything from the Brill Building and Phil Spector to Afrika Bambaataa to ‘American Idol.’ Running underneath the human stories like a bassline is the inexorable flow of technology."
★ 12/01/2015
Seabrook (Flash of Genius) takes music fans behind the scenes of the pop-music industry as he reveals the machinations of making modern youth-oriented pop and R & B hit songs. He also shares the stories of a series of successful executives, producers, songwriters, and artists who have been responsible for some of the most recognizable and best-selling singles of the past few decades. Seabrook's enlightening exploration of the creative and commercial aspects of the music business also includes thoughtful personal commentary on and in-depth research into technological advances and changing business models, but the book is centered on industry leaders who create and market songs that are considered mostly as consumable product rather than artistic contributions to popular culture. The book features a well-crafted balance of detail and narrative drive that is easy to follow and contains a wealth of fascinating insight. Dion Graham provides clear and enthusiastic narration. VERDICT This fun and informative book is a solid choice for popular music fans interested in what goes into making and marketing hit records within changing business and technology landscapes. ["This clever, lively, and well-researched book is essential for pop fans": LJ 9/15/15 starred review of the Norton hc; one of LJ's Top Ten Best Books of 2015: ow.ly/UCvAc.—Ed.]—Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia
★ 09/15/2015
New Yorker staff writer Seabrook (Nobrow) presents an engaging narrative of modern pop music, documenting the highs and lows of the industry, its artists, and how hits become hits. With a focus on the American charts, he delves into songwriting teams and the way they—rather than artists—have driven creative vision. These hitmakers include Cheiron, Stargate, and Dr. Luke, as well as Swedish songwriter and producer Max Martin, whose impact on the last two decades of pop music is indisputable (with over 20 U.S. Billboard No. 1 songs to his name). Seabrook also documents the rise of specific artists, such as Rihanna and Katy Perry, in fantastic detail. The scandals are there, too, including Lou Pearlman's troubles with the Backstreet Boys (their contract named him as manager and sixth member), the conflict between Kelly Clarkson and Clive Davis over her songwriting, and Ke$ha and Dr. Luke's falling-out (she accused him of sexual assault). It's big business as well—Seabrook notes that "ninety percent of the revenues in the record business come from ten percent of the songs." He further examines the evolving nature of singles artists as songs replace albums in importance; the still-important place of radio in hit making; and the future with streaming music. VERDICT This clever, lively, and well-researched book is essential for pop fans. [See Prepub Alert, 5/4/15; also featured in "Editors' Fall Picks," LJ 9/1/15, p. 32]—Amanda Mastrull, Library Journal
One might not think of the wondrous deep voice of Dion Graham in the context of the shiny pop world of Britney Spears, Katy Perry, the Backstreet Boys, and The Weeknd. However, he IS the perfect guide for an exposition of an industry that is under fire from several fronts: the digital world, consolidation into a few labels, and automated instruments that have made session musicians obsolete. The most startling revelation is that the Billboard pop charts are littered with songs written and produced by a few middle-aged Swedes! Graham is always enthusiastic and stylish as he introduces a diverse cast of characters, including Swedish pop-maker extraordinaire Max Martin, the legendary Clive Davis, and corrupt manager Lou Pearlman. It might be dispiriting if it weren’t for the brisk pacing and sly amusement of Graham. A.B. 2016 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
★ 2015-06-17
New Yorker staff writer Seabrook (Flash of Genius: And Other True Stories of Invention, 2008, etc.) examines the seismic shifts in the music industry. There are plenty of good books that have shown how "hits are the source of hard dealings and dark deeds." If it's no surprise that the music industry can be a dirty business, the author shows just how radically the business has changed, with power shifting from the American-British axis to Sweden (and Korea and China on the horizon), with album-oriented rock eclipsed by contemporary hit pop and with streaming undermining not only the sales of CDs and downloads, but the future of the music business as we know it. Even those well-versed in the trade might be surprised to learn that a South African native named Clive Calder, through his Jive label, "is and for the foreseeable future will be the single richest man the music business ever produced." Those riches accrued from his involvement with the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, and Britney Spears but even more from his visionary focus on producers rather than performers and publishing rights rather than record sales. His story intersects with that of the notorious Lou Pearlman, now imprisoned for "a giant Ponzi scheme" but formerly involved in manufacturing those acts and more. But some of the freshest and most fascinating material concerns the way that Swedish musical masterminds whose names are little-known to American music consumers have been able to dominate over decades and genres by bridging pop hooks and dance-floor beats. Max Martin, for one, has enjoyed a string of Billboard chart-toppers extending from Spears' breakthrough and Bon Jovi's comeback through recent work with Taylor Swift. Seabrook goes deeper into the career developments of Rihanna and Katy Perry, but most of the artists hold insignificant power within the international behemoth that this industry has become and even less control over their own musical progression. A revelatory ear-opener, as the music business remains in a state of significant flux.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170069934 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HighBridge Company |
| Publication date: | 10/05/2015 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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