It may seem counterintuitive to read about music—why not just listen to your favorite song for the thousandth time? However, by learning about the people behind the instruments, you can understand not only what impacted you but also why it stirred such emotions. These books will make you want to put on a record and experience your favorite song for the first time (again).
How Women Made Music
In the introduction to How Women Made Music, journalist Alison Fenterstock declares a mission to “make a mark and ensure that it’s heard, discussed, recorded. Change the way people think about the sounds and stories they’ve taken for granted.” She urges readers to actively listen to every note so that we may rethink, reshape and rewrite our history.
Fenterstock is a main contributor to the Turning the Tables project, a multimedia and multiplatform seven-season series from NPR with a goal of changing the narrative of music history. Since 2017, the project has sought to celebrate the work of foundational yet undersung female artists through advocacy, essays, interviews and playlists such as “150 Greatest Albums Made by Women.”
In How Women Made Music, that project is seen as never before with pictures, illustrations, behind-the-scenes interviews, transcripts from 50 years of NPR coverage and essays that sing truth to power. The book is divided into thematic sections such as “Teenage Kicks,” Storytellers” and “Empaths” which can feel slightly disjointed in the way that listening to one song off of an album can; however, each piece is lovingly selected and incorporated into the greater tapestry. Ultimately, How Women Made Music encourages you to read so that you may hear.
★ Disco
Last year, my friend and I had a heated debate over the topic of disco. I was stunned at his impassioned defense of the genre through his detailed recounting of its impact on our nation’s culture, music and fashion. Yet, I remained unconvinced.
With Disco: Music, Movies, and Mania Under the Mirror Ball, Frank DeCaro has crafted a visual and written love letter to everything disco. Starting by depicting how disco was viewed as a counterculture threat to mainstream rock-and-roll (using the true story of a literal disco disc-burning riot), this compendium proceeds to not just defend disco but also encourage us to recognize how music both creates and reflects our culture. Disco became a safe haven and outlet for those unrecognized by the mainstream, such as the gay and Black communities, before eventually becoming infused into mainstream culture such as movies and even comic books (please Google “Nightwing original costume,” if you dare).
DeCaro champions the history of the discotheque through a smorgasbord of pictures, Q&As and must-hear playlists (from 1970 to today) that will make you want to bop and boogie. Disco is for the disco king or queen in your life: All I’ll say is, I know exactly what I’m getting my friend for his next birthday.
We Found LOVE, Song by Song
Who doesn’t love a good love song? In We Found LOVE, Song by Song, Annie Zaleski takes a charming chronological journey through 100 of our most cherished love songs, such as the soulful “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole and even the ruminative “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie. Each short section is often accompanied by delightful illustrations by Darling Clementine. The selections are interspersed with snappily themed top 10 playlists ranging from romantic power ballads to misunderstood love songs. This book offers a nostalgic trip for music lovers that will make you want to cuddle up and ponder love, song by song.