Three anniversary books

Ozzy, Cooper, Springsteen: 75 years of rock history

No longer young, but still very relevant: Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne and Bruce Springsteen are available in anniversary book form.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Hannibal Verlag)

They have shaped rock history and entire generations of young musicians. On their 75th (or a little after), the legends Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne and Bruce Springsteen are each honored with a large-format glossy book (Hannibal Verlag). The quintessence: a retrospective of three unique careers.

The passage of time is inexorable. This is a statement that everyone inevitably experiences first-hand. Whether rich or poor, black or white, woman or man. However, it's no longer a secret that rock'n'roll is ageing. While social media memes startle us by telling us that the 80s will soon be 50 years ago, the great heroes of the past and present are also slowly losing their edge. Not everyone at 80 can still move as gracefully as Mick Jagger or outwit all the usual rules of evolution, as Keith Richards is wont to do. Some others have to slowly pay tribute to their age. Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain, for example, is going into voluntary live retirement due to a lack of stamina, British hard rock legends Uriah Heep want to focus more on one-off gigs and festival appearances after a lavish farewell tour and Ozzy Osbourne has to do without the stage as the elixir of life due to ill health.

Beautiful collector's items
Hannibal Verlag, a publisher active in the rock and pop world, has chosen the fall of 2024 to congratulate three greats on their 75th birthdays in book form. Timing is a bit of a problem, of course, as only 'boss' Bruce Springsteen celebrated the anniversary last year. Creepy pope Alice Cooper and bat-biter Ozzy Osbourne have long since overshot the mark. Those who don't mind such inaccuracies will be perfectly served, especially visually. All three copies come around the corner in an unwieldy large format, but are also not intended for casual browsing on the subway, but look particularly nice in the living room bookcase or next to the matching records. As you would expect from such anniversary projects, the authors are knowledgeable people who know the artists and their lives well and, in the best case, have been their companions and therefore have a deeper insight into the nature and work of the respective person.

The storyline is divided into 75 different chapters from each artist's life, which is not very creative but makes sense. These include milestones that apply equally to everyone, such as important albums, live performances or career steps, but it naturally becomes more interesting when it comes to individualization. For example, you get a deeper insight into Alice Cooper's repeated drunkenness, which he kicked forever and ever more than 40 years ago, or the wild life of Ozzy Osbourne, which was characterized by tons of cocaine consumption, ants with their nostrils up and bitten-off bat heads. The CV of American folk hero Bruce Springsteen is, of course, comparatively normal, but musically he reached completely different spheres than would have been possible for the other two due to their edgier orientation.

Insight into the old days
What all three works have in common is that they represent a well-founded and coherent life story, with background stories and affectionate details to fill in the most important key dates. In addition, there is a wealth of glossy pictures from the most diverse periods of the artists' lives, which provide plenty of nostalgia and invite you to put the matching soundtrack on the turntable. In addition to the successes, scandals and brilliant achievements of the three formative figures in British and American rock history, you get a wonderful insight into a time when the music industry and the creation of contemporary superstars followed completely different rules. Connoisseurs and companions of the musicians are not given much in these - admittedly not inexpensive - compendiums that they don't already know. However, as a comprehensive retrospective and collector's item, the three pound jubilee arias are ideal for adding to your own collection. It is also a reminder that such caliber will never exist in this form again.