Celebrate rock music with Taschen
Books

14 July 2021

Celebrate rock music with Taschen

Celebrate rock music with Taschen



World rock day was celebrated yesterday, but we're still lulled by the rhythm that emerged in the 1950s of the 20th century. The celebration that was born with the 1985 Live Aid concert got us thinking about rock icons in ways to find out more about them. The answer came in the form of books with Taschen.


Taschen is a book publisher founded in 1980. Although it started out as a comic book publisher created by founder Benedikt Taschen, Taschen specialises in art books, be they painting, music, architecture, photography, film, footwear and more.


In our Taschen collection we find two iconic names in rock music: The Rolling Stones and David Bowie. Despite being quite different and occupying different positions in the rock music spectrum, we decided to highlight these artists who have marked so many generations.





It was in 1962 that The Rolling Stones burst onto the music scene after Mick Jagger and Keith Richards discovered their shared passion for rock n' roll. Hailing from London, the musicians with Chicago blues influences created an original vision of the counter-culture of the time. Together with Ron Wood and Charlie Watts, Jagger and Richards rivalled the Beatles. In contrast to the more angelic image of the Liverpool group, The Rolling Stones were more irreverent and rebellious, having had several problems with law enforcement and drug use.


The band released their first album in 1964. At the time, their repertoire was not original. This changed when Jagger and Richards, following the example of Lennon and McCartney from the Beatles, started writing their own songs. This was a turning point in the career of The Rolling Stones, one that secured them iconic status years later.


You can find out this and much more in Reuel Golden's book 'The Rolling Stones'. The writer specialising in photography, history and popular culture wrote the work in collaboration with the band. It is a 400-page archive of images, illustrations and stories of the group, on and off stage. Keith Richards referred to the book as being "more than rock 'n' roll. It's a rollercoaster ride through 50 years of memories".





A year after The Rolling Stones were formed, 16-year-old David Robert Jones saw them for the first time at a live concert. At the time, impressed by their irreverence, the future artist known as David Bowie saw the future of music. Nicknamed the cameleon of rock, Bowie was a different kind of artist. He embodied characters such as the androgynous Ziggy Stardust and expressed himself through fashion and alternative settings, giving glamour to art rock.


It was at the age of 22 that David Bowie released 'Space Oddity', his first hit. From then on he explored experimental heavy rock, pop and electronic music. Considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Bowie died in New York in 2016 from liver cancer. Despite his great career as a musician, the singer also made an interesting path through the world of cinema. With more than 20 titles on his CV, Bowie has also inspired the creation of films about him, such as 'Stardust- the birth of a star', which premiered earlier this month.


In 'David Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth' by Paul Duncan, you can find out more about the role that marked Bowie's debut as a major character on the big screen. In the 1976 film, Bowie plays Thomas Jerome Newton, a humanoid alien who gets rich by selling his advanced technology. In Taschen's book you can find behind-the-scenes looks at the cult sci-fi film, accompanied by photographs by David James.


If as Bowie says in the song 'Heroes' we can be heroes for just one day, then we can also be inspired by the stories of the stars. Explore the rock artists' books and take the opportunity to check out the other Taschen books we have available.




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