newjerseyrocks

If you’re stuck home for whatever reason and can’t get out to hear your favorite local band you might consider one of the following books that’ll bring you as close to the New Jersey scene as possible without actually being there. At the very most they’ll be entertaining. At the very least they’ll amp up your knowledge base!Local Heroes: The Asbury Park Music Scene (Anders Martensson) pays tribute to musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Steven van Zandt, and Southside Johnny Lyon alongside the many other talents who played in local clubs, helping to forge what became known as the “Jersey Shore sound.” In a series of original interviews, readers will hear first-hand from the people who wrote, performed, and lived the music. Reviewers comment that the book “best captures the live music scene that emerged in the 1960s and ’70s as musicians tried to define a rock-and-roll sound.”Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning Among Springsteen Fans (Daniel Cavicchi) is based on three years of research with Springsteen fans and provides an interdisciplinary study of the ways in which ordinary people form special, sustained attachments to Springsteen and his music and how those attachments function in people’s daily lives — who they are, what they do, and why they do it. The author explores fandom as a normal cultural and social phenomenon.Runaway Dream: Born to Run and Bruce Springsteen’s American Vision (Louis P. Masur) dissects the making of the album and the legacy it has left behind with the meticulous eye of a scholar and the unabashed affection of a true fan. One reviewer of the book commented that “it’s a real treat to read something written by both a passionate fan and a dedicated scholar.”Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful (Bon Jovi) stretches back to the early days of Jersey, through the successes and struggles and captures Jon, Richie, Dave, and Tico at both intimate moments and under the limelight in all aspects of their lives, from the private times backstage and on the road to their stunning and unforgettable live performances.