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Bumping Into Geniuses: My Life Inside the Rock and Roll Business | 
| Author: Danny Goldberg
Publisher: Gotham
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $14.29
You Save: $11.71 (45%)
New (42) Used (10) from $14.29
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 5127
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 1592403700
Dewey Decimal Number: 781.660973
EAN: 9781592403707
ASIN: 1592403700
Publication Date: September 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A giant of the music industry grants an all-access pass to the world of rock and roll, with mesmerizing stories of thirty-five years spent working with legends from Led Zeppelin, to Stevie Nicks, to Nirvana.
Danny Goldberg has been a hugely influential figure in the world of rock and roll. He did PR for Led Zeppelin; he managed the career of Nirvana; he ran Atlantic Records, Mercury Records, and Warner Bros. Records; he launched Stevie Nickss solo career. In Bumping into Geniuses, Goldberg shares his stories about performers who represent a broad and powerful portion of the psychic real estate of the rock and roll kingdom: Patti Smith, Warren Zevon, Bruce Springsteen, KISS, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, Hole, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Earle, Led Zeppelin, and more.
But theres more to this story than just Goldbergs varied career. Its also a look at the industry itself: a business that was neither the romantic vehicle for self-expression that its most naive fans imagined, nor the purely crass money machine depicted by its most cynical critics. It was complex and chaotica mixture of art and commerce, idealism and selfishnessand sometimes, rocks most gifted and influential musicians were able to transcend it all.
For anyone interested in the rock and roll industry, or simply the mores and temperaments of the musicians themselves, Bumping into Geniuses is an incredible insiders tale that only Goldberg could tell.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
A brilliant take on the music business, from the inside out. November 19, 2008
Michael Conners (Staten Island NY)
Dan Goldberg's tome spanning over forty years of rock and roll manages to show the underbelly of the industry, while still coming off as someone who truly is a fan of the music he supports.
My husband liked it! October 30, 2008
J. Ward (Shepherdstown, WV United States)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I heard about this book on Elliot in the Morning and it sounded like something my husband might like for his birthday. He's a big music buff and gifts like this could be hit or miss. He really enjoyed reading it and has let other friends borrow it and read it too.
Bumping Into Geniuses October 9, 2008
Misti Beirne (Oahu)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Very interesting and thought provoking....
Love the intimate, detailed stories of behind the scenes rock and roll!
 shooflymam's is NOT a review of the book at all October 9, 2008
Mossman (Nashville, TN)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
The review of Oct. 3 by shooflymama is NOT a review of the book at all, rather one person's opinion/thoughts on one small portion of Goldberg's life as expressed in the book, and this person's commentary on that one aspect. The opinion of the reviewer, shooflymama, seems to be obviously that of a person with an axe to grind or their own agenda and nothing else, but does not speak to the quality or the readability of the book (they seem to actually recommend reading the book, just not buying it), thus making it not worthy of space in a review section and completely inappropriate. This review seems to paint a far more negative portrait of the reviewer than it does of the author. I will admit that I have not read the book, and only gave it a rating in order to get my review in and point out the inappropriateness of the other one mentioned. I gave it 5 stars simply to help even out the lower rating of the inappropriate review.
 Check this out of the library, don't buy it October 3, 2008
shooflymama
11 out of 18 found this review helpful
I was really looking forward to the publication of this book, having read some advanced press. But as I started to read it, I started to feel like Goldberg was being exploitative of the artists about whom he wrote. Nowhere did I feel this more than in the chapter about Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. I remember at the time of Kurt Cobain's death wondering where the people had been who were supposed to be looking out for him and caring about him, professionally and personally. This book helped to answer my question - Goldberg, his manager, was supplying him with $5,000 in cash to buy heroin, resolving to talk to Kurt about his problems but apparently never doing it (gee, I wonder why), allowing MTV to call Kurt in rehab to schedule an awards show performance even though he realized this wasn't a great idea (he makes excuses about the power of MTV - but come on, this was Nirvana we're talking about), attending an intervention for Cobain with a bad attitude because he was anxious to get back to his family in LA (let it be pointed out that he was commuting to NY on a regular basis, so being away from family was not uncommon), and finally giving a eulogy that made Kurt's older friends upset and showed that Goldberg perhaps didn't know or understand the singer as well as he'd thought. Goldberg writes that as a manager he did pretty well by Kurt, and as a friend he failed. Goldberg, judging by what your actions, you were never his friend, and writing this chapter about him in this new book is just further exploitation and a weak attempt by you to absolve some of your well-deserved guilt. Don't buy this book - just check it out of the library like I did.
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