POP GOES THE METAL

$15.95 PAPERBACK, $7.95 EBOOK

Pop metal burst onto the scene in 1980s along with Reaganomics, video games, and Apple Computers. You either loved it or you hated it, but it was impossible to avoid. Bands like Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and Poison were all over MTV, vying with Madonna and Michael Jackson for musical supremacy. And then, in a flash, it was gone: as suddenly obsolete in 1992 as disco was in 1980. But there’s a lot more to this music than meets the ear. It didn’t appear out of nowhere, and it didn’t vanish, either.

Pop Goes the Metal traces the musical and cultural phenomenon that came to be known, both derisively and affectionately, as “hair metal.” Musically, it was rooted in the British Invasion, power pop, and early heavy metal. Visually, it began with Bowie and Sweet and T. Rex, and kept right on going through Kiss and Alice Cooper to Poison and Twisted Sister.

Travel to L.A.’s Sunset Strip scene that gave birth to Van Halen, Mötley Crüe, Guns N’ Roses, and halfway around the world to explore the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Revisit the early years of MTV, the era of heavy metal magazines, the “Satanic Panic,” and the PMRC; read about overdoses, car crashes, unscrupulous managers, and concert chaos.

Growing up in the suburbs meant playing air guitar to vinyl and cassettes, or waiting for the DJ to play your favorite songs on album rock radio — which never happened often enough.

Pop Goes the Metal captures an era and a musical movement indelibly impressed, for better or worse, in the souls and memories of millions. It served as the soundtrack to our youth and it’s still playing in our heads. So Cum on Feel the Noize as you relive the memories of this gone-but-not-forgotten time.

Even decades later, it’s still all about the music.

A WHOLE DIFFERENT LEAGUE

$17.95 paperback, $8.95 ebook

Revisit the world of summer football, baseball in skirts, and professional team bowling. Read about sports innovators broke down racial barriers and ushered in the era of free agency. They gave us the three-point shot, which changed the way basketball is played today. With names like the WHA, AAFC and All-American Girls Pro Baseball League, they fielded teams with names like the Chicago Whales and Philadelphia Bell. They were upstarts and outlaws, playing in rundown arenas and without TV contracts but making the kind of memories you don't find in prime time.

You'll read about the basketball star who was so volatile an opposing team once hired five boxers to stand guard at courtside; the Hall of Famer who came out of retirement at age 45 and led his new team to a championship; The first superstar of women’s basketball; George Steinbrenner’s first big signing: the two-time college basketball player of the year; the NBA legend whose poor eyesight led to him to design the ABA’s red-white-and-blue basketball; the man who built Wrigley Field and the team that played there before the Cubs called it home; the hard-partying skater who signed the richest contract in pro sports but wound up sleeping on a park bench after he lost it all; the team that was supposed to bring NFL football to Los Angeles nine years before the Rams moved west from Cleveland; thee team owner who warned Donald Trump he’d have “no regrets whatsoever” punching him “right in the mouth”; and much more.

Illustrated with dozens of photos and filled with statistics, A Whole Different League brings together memories of some two dozen leagues in a single volume that covers everything from bowling to Negro League baseball. It’s a look at the “other” leagues that helped shape the way our favorite sports are played today, even if they themselves are all but forgotten. 8 x 10 format, 340 pages.

The legend of Molly bolin

$14.95 PAPERBACK, 8.95 EBOOK

She was the first player to sign a contract in the first women’s professional basketball league, paving the way for the WNBA. She set records for the most points in a season, in a game, and in a playoff game that still stand four decades later. Yet few people know the story of Molly Bolin. Her shooting stroke evoked comparisons to Stephen Curry and earned her the nickname “Machine Gun Molly.” She appeared in a movie with Pete Maravich and in a poster that made her the sports world’s answer to Farrah Fawcett. But perhaps most impressively, she overcame the odds time and again through hard work and dedication. This is the story of a young girl from a small town in Iowa who had a dream, pursued it and made it come true. This is the legend of Molly Bolin. 237 pages.