Wake Me, Shake Me: New York City, the '60s and the Pop-rock Youthquake

"New York City in the 1960s was a musical melting pot, in which folk, R&B, rock and roll, blues, girl groups and Brill Building pop produced a wealth of great artists and records: this book tells their story. Using many new interviews with major figures from that time as well as contemporaneous trade magazines and other journalism sources, Mitchell Cohen captures this rich musical era's history and sounds in "real time." He follows the development of new sounds through the arrival of new artists on the scene -- bands like the Lovin' Spoonful, the Young Rascals, the Vagrants and the Blues Project -- as well as solo artists like Bob Dylan, Dion and Bobby Darin and the producers, label executives and songwriters who all helped shaped the music, much of which is still out there today. He also focuses on the involvement of TV, radio and the press to show not only what was going on, but how it was being promoted, exploited and attacked. An acclaimed music journalist and former record company talent scout, Cohen lived in New York when all this was happening, and adds his own memories to those he interviewed. The result is illuminating, entertaining and sure to be nostalgic for anyone who remembers songs like "Do You Believe in Magic," "Groovin'," "Like a Rolling Stone," "Summer in the City," "Chapel of Love" and "In the Midnight Hour." Older music fans will find that this book details a lot of what they might have long forgotten about one of the most vibrant and influential eras in American rock and roll. It adds to the scholarship regarding New York culture and will send readers scurrying to play these old songs"--