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Rick Beyer

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The Greatest Music Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from Music History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy (The Greatest Stories Never Told) Kindle Edition

by Rick Beyer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 228 ratings

Part of: The Greatest Stories Never Told (6 books)

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This collection of little-known stories from music history is “an effortless summer read for the music lover” (Houston Chronicle).

The author of the highly successful History Channel series The Greatest Stories Never Told returns with new historic tales, this time focusing on amazing music stories that aren’t taught in the average classroom

Rick Beyer plums the vast archives of the History Channel to deliver a treasure trove of obscure and fascinating stories to delight and entertain. The Greatest Music Stories Never Told continues the series tradition with short, fascinating tales accompanied by an array of stunning and diverse photographs from around the globe.

The Greatest Music Stories Never Told illuminates the origins of a fascinating range of music topics, from instruments and styles to composers and technological advances—all which show us how little we really know. Guaranteed to astonish, bewilder, and stupefy, this all new volume will appeal not only to history buffs but to pop culture audiences and music fans of all ages and stripes.

“We picked up the book expecting to inflate our egos, reinforcing the myth that we know everything there is to know about music history. Short answer--we were wrong, very wrong.” —LA Weekly

“A little book you won’t be able to put down.” —Florida Times-Union

“History like you’ve never read it before . . . Amusing.” —The Tennessean

“Lively, offbeat and surprising.” —Denver Rocky Mountain News

“Fascinating.” —Dallas Morning News

“Full of tasty morsels . . . A delightful book to arm one for the next dull cocktail party.” —Chicago Tribune

Editorial Reviews

Review

“History doesn’t have to be boring and author Rick Beyer proves it with this fun look at music.” (Rock Book Show )

“An effortless summer read for the music lover.” (Houston Chronicle )

“A little book you won’t be able to put down.” (Florida Times-Union )

“Surprising…the essentials of fascinating stories are here.” (Dallas Morning News )

“100 stories you haven’t heard will delight in knowing.…Lively, offbeat and surprising in quick-hit snippets.” (Denver Rocky Mountain News )

“History like you’ve never read it before…Amusing.” (The Tennessean )

“We picked up the book expecting to inflate our egos, reinforcing the myth that we know everything there is to know about music history. Short answer- we were wrong, very wrong.” (LA Weekly )

“Full of tasty morsels…A delightful book to arm one for the next dull cocktail party.” (Chicago Tribune )

From the Back Cover

Did you know about:

The ballet that sparked a riot?
The rock star who became an astrophysicist?
The song that saved Wheaties?
The man killed by his own conducting?
The controversy behind "Mary Had a Little Lamb"?

Prepare to be astonished, bewildered, and stupefied by the tantalizing tidbits of music history collected here: amazing stories about jazz, classical, country, rock 'n' roll, hip-hop, show tunes, composers, band names, song lyrics, instruments, technology, controversies, and more.

Learn how the FBI spent years trying to decode the lyrics of one rock song. Discover how Watergate provided the inspiration for A Chorus Line. Find out how one megahit was born in a history class, while another was dashed off in a fit of anger at actor Robert De Niro. Meet the monk behind solfège, the aviation pioneer who created Muzak, and the prisoner who literally sang himself out of jail. Then there's the most important person in rock 'n' roll history—chances are you've never heard of him!

Continuing the successful Greatest Stories Never Told series, Rick Beyer has delivered another classic volume for history and music buffs alike.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00D185Z30
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper; Illustrated edition (July 30, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 30, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 8991 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 229 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #320,232 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #85 in Historical Study Reference (Kindle Store)
- #153 in Music History & Criticism (Kindle Store)
- #225 in Rock Music (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 228 ratings

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About the author

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Rick Beyer

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Rick Beyer is a best-selling author, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and a long-time history enthusiast.

He is the co-author (with Liz Sayles) of the New York Times bestseller The Ghost Army of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and Other Audacious Fakery. The book originally came out in 2013, and a new updated edition comes out October 10, 2023

The book details the story of a top-secret group of World War II GIs who staged a traveling roadshow of deception on the battlefields of Europe. Beyer also made an award-winning documentary film about the unit, The Ghost Army, which premiered on PBS in 2013. The San Francisco Chronicle called the film “mesmerizing,” while TV Guide called it “entrancing.”

He has also produced documentary films for The History Channel, A&E, National Geographic, the Smithsonian and others. He is the author of the popular Greatest Stories Never Told series of history books published by Harper Collins, and described by the Chicago Tribune as “an old-fashioned sweetshop full of tasty morsels.” His most recent book, RIVALS UNTO DEATH, traces the thirty-year rivalry between Hamilton and Burr that ended with their duel in Weehawken NJ. He has also worked as a radio reporter, a TV news producer, an ad agency creative director, and a janitor (not in that order).

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Beyer lives in Chicago, with his wife, Marilyn Rea Beyer.

"I am a lifelong student of history, I have been interested in it as long as I can remember--probably thanks to my dad, who is also a long time history enthusiast. When I was a boy my parents bought me a set of those Time-Lie history books loaded with heroic color illustrations. They captured my imagination and never let go."

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

228 global ratings

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Grace Monet

No plot to remember, just neat anecdotes

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2015

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This is a fun book. Rick Beyer has written of series of these specialty anecdotal books. They were done with collaboration with The History Channel. You can pick up this book and read one or two stories, then put it down.

There's just one thing: because the books are so similar, it's likely that one or two pieces will be repeated in another book. There are only so many stories surrounding the same topic, and I'm sure it depends on the subject matter. It's still okay. 85% of the pieces are specific to each book.

5 people found this helpful

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Dodge ball Dan

Great stories

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2020

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This is a wonderful collection of seldom heard stories about musicians, composers. and music.

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afrorazz

Great gift for music lovers

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2021

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Got this as a Christmas gift for my husband and he absolutely loves it.

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JDub

great gift for music lover

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2017

Verified Purchase

Really interesting stories here...great gift for music lover.

One person found this helpful

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Rebecca Mullins

Excellent shape

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2022

Verified Purchase

Nice book...will order from this seller again. Thanks!

Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2017

Verified Purchase

We are big fans of this series and the music edition did not fail us. The stories are entertaining and educational, and they make for great conversation! These books are the perfect little gems for the curious minded and the trivia lover.

4 people found this helpful

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Lisa W

Great for big history buffs- not as many contemporary stories as I'd hoped

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2024

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I got this for a teen son thinking it would be a mix of stories and hopefully more contemporary stories of musicians or songs he might know or enjoy looking up but when I got it I knew he'd be turned off by the ancient history stories in the beginning and older stories generally so I returned it.... this book is great for history buffs who are interested in going way back. I wish there was a table of contents preview it would have helped me.
(if anyone looking for something focusing on more recent, he did enjoy the 500 greatest albums of all time book from Rolling Stone).

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Renaissance Monkey

If you love music and you love trivia, this is the book for you.

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2014

Verified Purchase

I love the books in this series, they are full of very interesting and, for the most part, very little known details about history. This is ideal for music lovers; it even includes links to the songs it talks about so you can listen to them!

3 people found this helpful

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