21-Hit Wonder
Flopping My Way to the Top of the Charts
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Narrated by:
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Sam Hollander
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By:
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Sam Hollander
About this listen
As one of the most renowned songwriters and producers in the game, Sam Hollander has had multi-platinum success writing and producing for the likes of Panic! At The Disco, Fitz and the Tantrums, Weezer, Katy Perry, Train, One Direction, Blink-182, Daughtry, Ringo Starr, Carole King, Gym Class Heroes, and many others.
But rising up the charts seemed, at many points in his career, highly unlikely. This is his story of failing his way to the top.
Sam Hollander has spent 30 years trudging through the peaks and valleys of a songwriting career. Before he was stacking Billboard hits, he was piling up bad luck, calamitous flops, false starts, and feeling like the world was moving on and up without him while he spun in place. Now he wears his failures like a badge of honor.
In 21-Hit Wonder, he’s collected anecdotes from his weird waltzes around the banquet of pop to help aspiring songwriters and other creatives learn about survival, endurance, scheming, hustle, and the importance of laughing even on the worst days of the journey. Music lovers spanning generations and genres will find stories about many of their heroes and industry icons.
21-Hit Wonder is one part chronicle of a songwriter’s storied career and another part love letter to anyone who has been counted out—from no-hit wonders and one-hit wonders to the novelties and the never-beens—and just needs a bit of inspiration to persevere. Sam’s inspiring story is proof that setbacks are just steps on the road to success.
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In this incisive memoir, Steve Lukather tells the complete Toto story. He also lifts the lid on what went on behind the closed studio doors, shedding light on the unique creative processes of some of the most legendary names in music: from Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, and Elton John to Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, and Aretha Franklin. Lukather’s extraordinary tale also encompasses the dark side of stardom and the American Dream. Frank, engaging, and often hilarious, The Gospel According to Luke is no ordinary rock memoir.
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Wow Best Rock Biography Ever
- By Hercules on 09-29-18
By: Steve Lukather
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Goodnight, L.A.
- Untold Tales from Inside Classic Rock’s Legendary Recording Studios
- By: Kent Hartman
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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From behind the walls of a handful of well-hidden, unlikely recording studios in the Los Angeles area, legends-in-waiting created masterpiece albums. It was a time of astonishing creativity and unprecedented fame and fortune. It was also a time of unfettered excess that threatened to unravel everything along the way. With access that only a longtime music business insider can provide, Kent Hartman packs Goodnight, L.A. with never-before-told stories about the most prolific time and iconic place in rock 'n' roll history.
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great stories and insight into a miraculous time
- By RWM on 05-27-22
By: Kent Hartman
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The Wrecking Crew
- The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret
- By: Kent Hartman
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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If you were a fan of popular music in the 1960s and early '70s, you were a fan of the Wrecking Crew - whether you knew it or not. On hit record after hit record by everyone from the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Monkees to the Grass Roots, the 5th Dimension, Sonny & Cher, and Simon & Garfunkel, this collection of West Coast studio musicians from diverse backgrounds established themselves as the driving sound of pop music - sometimes over the objection of actual band members....
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Left Guessing
- By Patrick King on 04-29-14
By: Kent Hartman
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Unchained
- The Eddie Van Halen Story
- By: Paul Brannigan
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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From the moment their hugely influential 1978 debut landed, Van Halen set a high bar for the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, creating an entirely new style of post-'60s hard rock and becoming the quintessential rock band of the 1980s. But the high-flying success was fraught with difficulty, as Eddie struggled with alcohol and drug addiction while simultaneously battling David Lee Roth over the musical direction of the band, eventually taking the band in an entirely new direction with Sammy Hagar and scaling new heights, before that iteration of Van Halen disintegrated.
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Please don't read other audible books
- By Mike on 02-01-22
By: Paul Brannigan
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Elton John
- The Biography
- By: David Buckley
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
- Length: 16 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Elton John is as much loved for his outrageous personality and witty outspokenness as for his music. Such shamelessness and sheer silliness rivals anything uttered by punk rockers, yet it is so typically Elton: honest and intemperate. Tragedy and heartbreak have played a large part in his life. Behind the parties, the hedonism, the lavish stage costumes, and silly glasses lies a more somber story. Between disputes with managers, legal wranglings, public breakups, and divorce, John has been faced with serious health problems and drug addictions.
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Trite!
- By michael mckone on 08-04-22
By: David Buckley
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Power Chord
- One Man's Ear-Splitting Quest to Find His Guitar Heroes
- By: Thomas Scott McKenzie
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Power Chord is the story of one man’s epic pilgrimage to gain rock enlightenment from the gods and guitar heroes of the Golden Age of heavy metal. Author Scott McKenzie set off to make contact with the legendary metal superstars he worshipped in his rural Kentucky youth - men like George Lynch of Dokken, Glen Tipton of Judas Priest, and Ace Frehley of KISS - hoping to gain wisdom and a better understanding of the electric guitar mystique.
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Such a fun read, especially for metal-heads
- By Jack on 04-01-23
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Wild Tales
- A Rock & Roll Life
- By: Graham Nash
- Narrated by: Graham Nash
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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From Graham Nash - the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies - comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan.
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The Best of the Recent Rock Biographies
- By Steven Schuster on 10-28-13
By: Graham Nash
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Iggy Pop
- Open Up and Bleed
- By: Paul Trynka
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Iggy Pop's legendary career has been tumultuous, reaching great heights with mega-hits and then hitting rock-bottom lows in jail and mental institutions. Along the way, he's become a cult-rock hero, an inspiration for dozens of other famous rockers, and has had a pretty good time of it, too. But the image of Iggy Pop versus the man behind that image, James Newell Osterberg, Jr., is surprisingly contradictory.
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Banal and Boring
- By Michael on 12-03-08
By: Paul Trynka
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Let’s Go Crazy
- Prince and the Making of Purple Rain
- By: Alan Light
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Purple Rain is a song, an album, and a film - each one a commercial success and cultural milestone. How did this semiautobiographical musical masterpiece that blurred R&B, pop, dance, and rock sounds come to alter the recording landscape and become an enduring touchstone for successive generations of fans?
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A Must-Read For Any PRINCE Fan
- By Bryan K. Chavez on 05-06-16
By: Alan Light
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Your Band Sucks
- What I Saw at Indie Rock's Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear)
- By: Jon Fine
- Narrated by: Jon Fine
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Jon Fine spent nearly 30 years performing and recording with bands that played various forms of aggressive and challenging underground rock music. And, as he writes in this memoir, at no point were any of those bands "ever threatened, even distantly, by actual fame". Yet when members of his first band, Bitch Magnet, reunited after 21 years to tour Europe, Asia, and America, diehard longtime fans traveled from far and wide to attend those shows.
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Life in a band-the ups, downs and truth!
- By C Christopher Taylor on 07-10-18
By: Jon Fine
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Chairman at the Board
- Recording the Soundtrack of a Generation
- By: Bill Schnee
- Narrated by: Bill Schnee
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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With over 125 gold and platinum records, and two Grammys for Steely Dan's Aja and Gaucho, Schnee has been called a living legend - recognized and respected in the industry as the consummate music man with an incomparable career that he lovingly shares with listeners in humorous detail.
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Worst narration ever!
- By Anonymous User on 01-26-23
By: Bill Schnee
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Meet Me in the Bathroom
- Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011
- By: Lizzy Goodman
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston, Nicol Zanzarella
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In the second half of the 20th century New York was the source of new sounds, including the Greenwich Village folk scene, punk and new wave, and hip-hop. But as the end of the millennium neared, cutting-edge bands began emerging from Seattle, Austin, and London, pushing New York further from the epicenter. The behemoth music industry, too, found itself in free fall, under siege from technology. Then 9/11/2001 plunged the country into a state of uncertainty and war.
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Deeply disappointing.
- By ChicagoRob on 01-18-20
By: Lizzy Goodman
What listeners say about 21-Hit Wonder
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- David S Nixon
- 11-06-23
An open and honest look at the industry from inside.
This book touched my soul on so many levels. A truly open and honest account of the music industry from the inside up. Sam Hollander may be the greatest fanboy, who ever lived!
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- R. Ellis
- 12-06-22
GREAT LISTEN! Fun Surprise in the Intro
This is an easy listen with entertaining storytelling! It’s a really fascinating peak inside the music industry. There’s so much information to learn and take away. This book isn’t just for people interested in the music business. It’s an inspiring tale that if you fall down, pick yourself up and keep going. Stay motivated. Stay optimistic. Highly recommend!!!
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1 person found this helpful
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- C. LeBlanc
- 12-03-22
Entertaining, insightful, and inspiring!
I enjoyed Sam’s story, and there simply aren’t enough books out there that focus on the journey of the writers behind all of the great songs that we love. His overall story of triumph after years of struggle and flashes of success show that achieving instant overnight fame isn’t the only route to the top, it Also shows that you never have to be complacent when you’re successful. This is a story that confronts failure, and let’s you know that failure is okay, and failure isn’t forever. When you’re working without a net, the only way you truly fail is when you quit.
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- Bridge C.
- 01-28-23
Wow
Amazing stories, amazing author, amazing mission. Don’t sleep on this one. Sam is a one of a kind
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- Chambers Stevens
- 12-18-22
The Best of the Best!
This is hands down one of the best non-fiction books I have listened to on audible. Not only is it hilarious but it is also inspiring! What a great journey the writer takes you on. I didn't know much about pop songwriting but you don't have to love this book. I am currently listening to it again with my 15 year old son. It so full of wisdom that I just had to share it with him.
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- MissXeni
- 11-15-22
honest, funny, inspiring.
After a lengthy career, Sam still has the sparkle and wonder of a kid on Christmas morning. But it's Sam's humility that shines the brightest of all the stars mentioned on his journey.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Christie
- 01-08-23
An insightful, inspiring must read (listen)!
As an artist/songwriter who came up in the same early 2000’s era (with the same misfortune of having an album drop right around 9/11) I too often identified with the ups and downs of the fickle (yet enticing) music business that is dissected here. That also means I can hold on to the “high hopes” of making more dreams become reality, the same way Sam did. With this book comes the added bonus of learning directly from Sam, what to focus on and what to avoid, and as I reassess where I’ve been and how far I have yet to go,I remain humble and joyful at the opportunity to continue doing what I love and have always been meant to do. I am eternally grateful for this book at this time in my journey, which has inspired me to keep reaching for what others may call lofty goals, so I too can someday say, “ hey look ma I made it!” ❤️❤️❤️
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- Oakley Goldman
- 12-12-22
An amazing listen for any music nerd.
Really cool listen. Fun stories from the studio, how Sam made it into the music business and other stories with everyone from Ringo to Uncle Kracker.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-22-22
Fun and Inspirational
If you're looking to be inspired and have fun doing it, read this! Finding good music business biographies isn't easy, so this is a real gem
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- D. Gainor
- 01-13-23
My Hands are Clapping!
What a fun read and a beautiful reminder that to our kids that for every bump in the road, there are smooth corners waiting for you to make that right turn. You know it’s a good read when you can listen to it while doing restorative yoga. Looking forward to the sequel.
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