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2.98 AVERAGE
2.98 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
Nothing new, and I love that this is filed under non-fiction at my local library. True scandalous tales and statistics from the music industry fictionalised as a year in the life of a manufactured boy-band. I think she'd be better off writing these as actual non-fiction exposes, because the fictional prose is crappy.
I was really looking forward to this book, but I was a little disopointed by it. It was just full of lots of pop star "cliches" and the band were horrible. I did learn a few things, however it isn't the best book I have ever read.
Pop Babylon is another book in the Babylon series that includes ‘real-life’ experiences from hotels, hospitals, aeroplanes, resorts and now the world of pop. These books are light reading and somewhat hit and miss for me. I loved Hotel and Hospital, but not Beach as much. Why do I keep reading them? Well, for two reasons: they’re easy to pick up and put down when I’m working extra long hours and I’m nosy – I want to know what’s really going on. Plus, these books have been in abundance recently at $5 sales. Pop was one of these purchases.
Some Babylon books cover a day or a week; this book covers a year in the making of a boy band. A year is an exceptionally long time in pop music, and there are downfalls as well as rampaging success – this book covers it all. The story is told in the first person by an ailing music manager, who decides to get a boy band together to make wads of cash. There’s a lot of science that goes into the creation of a boy band – choosing the right mix of boys (get some that are good looking, some that can sing), the right song (target different populations) and the right kind of promotion (use social media and tour the schools). It’s really interesting, especially the concept of ‘dead mikes’ for some members – i.e. don’t let the audience hear them sing.
The dialogue is somewhat unnatural at times, as characters tell those who are supposedly ‘in the know’ about tour riders, roadies, groupies and backstage tales. However, it does benefit the reader and gives us some alleged tales about Take That, East 17 and Westlife to name a few. Tales about percentages and royalties for the managers, companies etc is also an eye opening experience. The ending is a bit sudden but I can’t think of where else the story could have gone. Overall, it’s not fine literature but a quite interesting tale in the behind the scenes creation of music – sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, warts and all.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
Some Babylon books cover a day or a week; this book covers a year in the making of a boy band. A year is an exceptionally long time in pop music, and there are downfalls as well as rampaging success – this book covers it all. The story is told in the first person by an ailing music manager, who decides to get a boy band together to make wads of cash. There’s a lot of science that goes into the creation of a boy band – choosing the right mix of boys (get some that are good looking, some that can sing), the right song (target different populations) and the right kind of promotion (use social media and tour the schools). It’s really interesting, especially the concept of ‘dead mikes’ for some members – i.e. don’t let the audience hear them sing.
The dialogue is somewhat unnatural at times, as characters tell those who are supposedly ‘in the know’ about tour riders, roadies, groupies and backstage tales. However, it does benefit the reader and gives us some alleged tales about Take That, East 17 and Westlife to name a few. Tales about percentages and royalties for the managers, companies etc is also an eye opening experience. The ending is a bit sudden but I can’t think of where else the story could have gone. Overall, it’s not fine literature but a quite interesting tale in the behind the scenes creation of music – sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, warts and all.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
lighthearted
fast-paced
I have read most of the Babylon series now and they are written pretty much in the same formular but different themes. This one was written from the point of view of a manager putting together a boy band. There is a lot of name dropping which I'm sure went down well with the actual people! And it's also full of the 'I remember when...' stories. The way that the money is divided from album and ticket sales was an eye opener, you really have to be very successful to come out with anything. I think this is a book that may not well age well due the bands/singers mentione, however it was a light entertaing read.
Nothing new, and I love that this is filed under non-fiction at my local library. True scandalous tales and statistics from the music industry fictionalised as a year in the life of a manufactured boy-band. I think she'd be better off writing these as actual non-fiction exposes, because the fictional prose is crappy.