The White Book: The Beatles, the Bands, the Biz: An Insider's Look at an Era [Paperback]

Ken Mansfield’s “The White Book” is that rare collector’s item that music buffs, and hardcore fans of classic rock and pop will want to and simply have to own to read up on The Beatles, and how utterly influential they were on the artists that succeeded them. The Beatles molded music, and even years after their split, author Mansfield tells their story from a new angle that collectors will be anxious to get into.

Upon receiving an early copy to read and review, I found myself immediately thrown into the prose that Mansfield drops into the book like a how-to manual and yet he very simplistically explains his methods of madness and his hob knobbing with big stars that he almost always adored when working with. All except the Beatles who he loved as friends, but could never really love them as artists until years later.

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Josie and the Pussycats – The Complete Series (1970) (DVD)

josieOut of all the Hanna Barbera series to stem from the sixties and seventies, I’d have to say that “Josie and the Pussycats.” Sure, it was in essence a pure “Scooby Doo” rip off, with a Shaggy character voiced by Casey Kasem, a Freddy character with an ascot, goofy animal sidekicks, and even re-using its chase music on many occasions, but it’s just so much better than “Scooby-Doo” which I’ve always considered an overrated franchise to begin with.

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Our 25 Favorite Music Videos Of All Time

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914&w=420&h=315]

5. Take on Me
Ah-Ha
This innovative music video which paved the way for videos from Incubus’ “Drive”, and Shakira’s “Temptation Tango” features a story within a song about a woman who falls in love with a comic character and is sucked into his world where he attempts to save her from villains. This bittersweet video is set to Ah-Ha’s incredible song “Take on Me” and became one of the best music videos ever made as we watch the hero of the comic book battling the villains, racing and falling love with her panel by panel. Watch for the homage to “Altered States” as the lead singer bounces against the walls of the video heroine’s apartment struggling to remain whole as he switches from drawn to human over and over. Still one of the coolest videos to date.

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Our 25 Favorite Music Videos Of All Time

15. Smashing Pumpkins
Tonight, Tonight
The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the best alternative rock bands to come out of the nineties and couldn’t be lumped in with everyone else simply for their sheer originality and odd appearance, but their music was great from songs like “1979” to “Bullets with Butterfly Wings”, no two songs ever really sounded alike, especially when talking about “Tonight, tonight”. This impressive rock song backed with an orchestra and sometimes sounding like Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”, about growing up and losing your precious youth recalls the classic silent films “From the Earth to the Moon” shot by shot with the young couple being marooned on the moon with aliens as the husband kills the aliens with his umbrella, meanwhile they fall into the sea and are greeted by Poseidon and his mermaids. Meanwhile, Billy Corgan and his band sing atop clouds like angelic ghosts. “Tonight, Tonight” is their best video and an ode to classic silent films with a bittersweet but memorable song.

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Our 25 Favorite Music Videos Of All Time

The best made music videos, The best songs, the coolest of the cream of the crop. Music videos are a tool, a tool that can be used to improve a song, and many times it doesn’t help matters for the artist.  These are videos so chaotic, so beautiful, so cool, so original, so conceptual, and so innovative. This is the best of the best.

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Betty Blowtorch (And Her Amazing True Life Adventures) (2003)

bettyblowtorchI’ve never heard of Betty Blowtorch before–and after hearing their music, I’m sad I haven’t. I should really start seeking out better bands than what the media hands me. Granted, I only listen to classic rock, but you get my point. “Betty Blowtorch” is quite possibly one of the best rock documentaries I’ve ever seen. It’s the classic tale of a rock band starting out, garnering a fan base, forming a friendship, their attempts at stardom, their inevitable grasp for it, and their imminent downfall thanks to outside sources. Most modern music documentaries prefer to profile bands that suck like They Might Be Giants, or All American Rejects, but this film profiles a band–who doesn’t suck like Paris Hilton in a porno–they’re called Betty Blowtorch, four hard rocking bitches that were a hybrid of KISS, The Runaways, and Motley Crue.

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