By Sean Egan
Askill Publishing, 2004
Its hard to believe in these days of performers who act, dance/do TV commercials /write songs/ play instruments and do everything but clean up after a concert, that some of the greatest songs of the rock era were written by folks who just wrote songs. Back in the beginnings of rock 'n' roll, songwriters were as important to the music industry as the singers and musicians who performed their songs. Even today, many performers use outside writers for their material.
In Sean Egan's excellent and detailed book "The Guys Who Wrote 'Em-Songwriting Geniuses of Rock and Pop" the songwriters responsible for such ubiquitous pop /rock classics as "Leader Of The Pack," Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Wild Thing' are profiled and given a human face beyond the names next to the titles on the CD cover.
Spanning the '50s to the '00s, from "Kansas City" to Kylie Minogue's latest dance hits, Egan profiles the most prolific and talented songwriters in pop music history. Lieber and Stoller, Brill Building songwriters Mann/Weil and Greenwich/Barry,and Holland/Dozier/Holland of the songwriting "assembly line" Berry Gordy pioneered during the heyday of Motown are the most recognizable names. All genres of music through the years are represented, not just Motown and girl groups. From the R&B of Lieber and Stoller to the '60s pop of Chip Taylor and Graham Gouldman, up to Stock/ /Aitken/Waterman's Brit hits of the 1980s for Bananarama and Rick Astley. Even "bubblegum" music is represented in a chapter highlighting Joey Levine, who wrote tunes for the Banana Splits, Crazy Elephant and the Ohio Express. There are also chapters featuring Bobby Hart of Monkees fame, and Chinn/Chapman, who wrote tunes for the Sweet and Suzi Quatro. (Chapman later produced Blondie's "Parallel Lines.")
The songwriters discuss the who, what and where of tunes that have transcended mere radio hits and become classics. Egan's exhaustive research (and his interviews with most of the subjects) pays off with insights into the writers' personal stories and struggles within the framework of the music industry. Not every chapter will be fascinating to every reader, of course, depending on their taste is music, but the writers profiled certainly share similarities as far as the creative process and business machinations of the music industry are concerned The songwriters' mini-bios are presented in chronological order, in a sort of rock and roll timeline from Lieber and Stoller's run-in with Colonel Parker to Chip Taylor's 15 year sabbatical from the music business.
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