Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: Well written and researched, but frankly, why write about men who weren't executives for the best and phenomenons?! It's my own personal bias, but I was let down there's nothing about the Beatles in here, a few pages about the Stones, nothing about the Doors. Even Michael Jackson and Elvis. I happened to eat at Le Bernardin near Clive Davis last year, and that was enough for me to want to read the Davis bits (my fellow dinner guest is kind of a rotten egomaniac, it turns out. Ahh, the double-edged sword of fame!) But even so, I'm disappointed at who and what companies the author chose to profile. But you may not be.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good!
Review: What a great book! It is a very fast and extremely interesting read! But, it is also very depressing because now you know that most everything on the radio is there because of bribes and not on the merit of the song itself. It is still very interesting so don't pass it up.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for anyone in the music industry
Review: What Fredric Dannen has accomplished here is a concise history of the rock music genre that focuses on what the music industry has done. Even though the present industry is slightly different, payola still happens, but it is called consulting. It answers the questions why a band on one album can have a number one hit, and then, when their next album comes out, there are no singles released on radio even though the album is good or better than the initial release. One part of the book describes how Pink Floyd's single "Another Brick in the Wall" that was number one on the singles charts and played in every city except Los Angeles because CBS Records wouldn't pay the bribe to the local organization to have them play it. The book discusses the quick rise and fall of Casablanca Records which mirrored the rise and fall of disco. The book discusses the politics inside each record company where A&R departments fight with Marketing at the demise of the artist. The rise and fall and rise again of Dick Asher is discussed in detail Presidents are replaced at a whim, only to be rehired years later. The music industry and the mob connections in this book are entertaining and incredulous. This book should be a movie, it is like Almost Famous from the record industry point of view.
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