Whenever a friend asks me for a good reading suggestion, the first thing I do is scan my brain for anything great I’ve read recently. More often than not, the second thing I’ll do is stop scanning and say, “Have you ever read So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star?” The conversation proceeds as follows:
Friend: No, is it good?
Me: It’s great. It was written by Jacob Slichter, the drummer from Semisonic.
Friend: (Trying to remember who Semisonic was) Oh, ok.
Me: Remember that song, “Closing Time?”
Friend: (More confidently) Oooh, ok!
So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star was the first book I ever read about the music industry and is actually one of my favorite books in general. (Truth be told, I came up with the idea for the Sonicbids summer reading because I wanted to tell people about this book. Honest.) It was introduced to me in a very similar dialogue when I met a distant cousin who teaches in the Music Industry department at Drexel University. I was younger and developing my professional interests in this business, and he recommended this book for the same reasons I still recommend it to my friends. It’s extremely entertaining, easy to read, and the most informative book I know of that explains the ins and outs of the biz.
It was written in 2004, so Slichter doesn’t talk about Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media. Simply put, this book just isn’t about that. 7 years later, Slichter provides incredibly relevant information by giving us a birds-eye view into the life of a true one-hit-wonder and an honest portrayal of what it takes to make the songs that we all know and love (I know, they had a few hits other than just “Closing Time” but if you can think of what any of them were off the top of your head, I’ll rewrite this without calling them a one-hit-wonder).
Slichter provides brilliant insight into what it’s like to get picked up (and dropped) by record labels, impressing A&R executives in seedy hole-in-the-wall clubs, the daily bribes that take place in radio stations, the true meaning of recoupable debt and why nothing is actually free, and just about every other detail that goes into selling over a million copies of an album and playing a show in front of 100,000 fans in Glastonbury, England. After reading this book, you’ll never again look at record executives the same way and will hopefully understand what it truly takes to make a hit song…and why so many artists don’t make it past that one hit. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in starting a (serious) band or even working in the industry - USA Today agrees with that statement.
We all know that starting a band or working in the music industry is anything but a walk in the park. Consider this book a bit of a guide (or maybe even an owners manual) to an artist career. If I can promise you one thing, you’ll learn a ton you never knew about the music biz. Who knows, maybe you'll even laugh a little along the way.