Tragedy

Metallica, the seventh-biggest recording act in American history, are consummate musicians-but it wasn't always that way. A significant proportion of their playing expertise was acquired from a pivotal three-year period in their history-1983 to 1986- during which their music, a potent variant of thrash metal, evolved from garage level to sophisticated, progressive heights thanks to the teachings of their bass player, Cliff Burton. The rise and fall of the brothers Gibb-Barry, Robin, Maurice, and younger brother Andy-is perhaps the greatest saga in Australian music history. Although the Bee Gees enjoyed several rebirths in a career that spanned many decades, it seemed that tragedy followed the Gibbs like a curse. For every incredible career high there was a hefty personal downside: divorce, drunkenness, and death seemed as synonymous with the Gibbs as falsetto harmonies, flares, and multi-platinum record sales. This is the revised and updated new edition.