The Hitmen: The Shocking True Story of a Family of Killers for Hire

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With the rise of music streaming this book may not be as relevant as it used to be, but if you're interested in how the music business worked in the old days, it's a sobering read. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. I'm not sure how accurate all of the information is, but it was very interesting to understand how the behind the scenes of the music industry works.

Dannen reserves his sharpest barbs for ’80s CBS Records head Irving Azoff, who here seems like the ultimate gladhanding sleazebag. amazing' Pat Kenny, Newstalk 'Riveting' Irish TimesMeet the Wilsons - the deadliest family in crimeBrothers Eric, Keith and John Wilson, their cousin Alan, and nephew Luke shared a trade - assassination. Fredric Dannen's Hit Men chronicles the music business in America from the invention of the phonograph all the way to the introduction of the CD. The book examines a system in which contract killings have become the norm, looking at who arranges hits, where to find a hitman, and even what it is like to be a hitman – or woman. Though not everything is right; Dannen gets wrong the date of the Beach Boys' signing with Columbia, for instance.In fact, the juiciest "rock star" story here involves an irate Paul Simon tersely suggesting Clive Davis should read a particular book. Combined with a rare inside look at how the corporate conglomerates dealt with goings on makes this an important book for true music nuts like myself. A legendary book, I suppose, and the first half or so lives up to it--yeasty, contentious, endlessly quotable shtick from a legion of record execs, all variously self-justifying, crap-talking, defending themselves, lying, and constantly deploying abundant traditional Yiddish invective to explain why the opponent at hand is a goniff, shlemiel, causes shpilkes, etc. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Stephen Breen (Author) Stephen Breen is currently crime editor of the Irish Sun and has made regular appearances on Irish TV to discuss crime issues.

A super interesting read about the importance of record promoters in the 70s and 80s to drive album and singles sales.As author Mark Shaw reveals in this highly original and informative book, the ‘upper world’ sails perilously close to the underworld. It primarily focuses on CBS records and its subsidiaries, including direct quotes and interviews with a lot of those executives. But in 2017, Alan and Luke were both jailed over a ­Kinahan plot to murder Hutch figure Gary Hanley. The narrative hook for that section is about the growth of, and subsequent occasional fumbling attempts to rein in, what was essentially Payola 2.