More: Phil Collins Writing Book, Sonic Youth Trashed

Phil Collins to Write Book on Texas Artifacts
Phil Collins, who recently released the album Going Back, will now focus on writing a book about his collection of Alamo and Texas Revolution artifacts. "It's basically the history of all the things I've collected and putting them in the context of the revolution. It's in progress and it's entertaining," Collins said. The book will be published in 2012. [ Billboard ]

Rihanna Previews 'Loud' in London
Rihanna previewed five tracks from Loud (which is due November 15th) for fans last night in London. [NME]

Steve Albini Trashes Sonic Youth in 'GQ' Interview
In a new interview with GQ, outspoken producer Steve Albini lashes out at Sonic Youth, commenting on their long-ago move to a major label: "They chose to join the mainstream culture and become a foot soldier for that culture's encroachment into my neck of the woods by acting as scouts," he says. "I thought it was crass and I thought it reflected poorly on them." Albinialso told the magazine that "I hope GQ as a magazine fails." [ GQ ]

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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