A nonfiction book...

Ha, at least in a manner of speaking...

"The Mixerman Diaries" as they were called when being published monthly in an industry periodical called Tape-Op, are about a freelance recording engineer who gets "chosen" to record the debut album for a major label bidding-war* band. The label insists the band work with a big name producer, and the band consents but insists that our hero be their engineer... Two members of the band know him and they expect him to act as sort of their ally in the recording process.

He essentially documents the daily nightmare that it was to work on this record with the band and the label, and shows along the way just why so much of popular music is total crap. The band is a nightmare. They hate each other's guts and they haven't even toured yet. "The singer is vain and pretentious. The guitarist is a chronic depressive. The drummer is 'dumb as cotton' and the bassist is merely mean and petty, making him the only one that Mixerman can stand."

While it's uber-entertaining to a recording engineer it's widely readable and a fascinating behind the scenes of the bad, the worse, and the ugly of the record industry.

*= In the days when the labels ruled the record industry (with an iron fist), top prospects were often fought over by different labels. Ironically, the lion's share of the bidding was actually the size of the loan the band was to be fronted upon signing. Which is actually to say, the biggest dollar amount was actually what the band had to recoup in sales before they made even a dime. Musician's were courted with debt... Amazing.