The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, and Springsteen and the Head-On Collision of Rock and Comm Erce

Goodman, a former editor at Rolling Stone, follows the transformation of rock from music with a conscience to a multi-billion-dollar business dominated by opportunistic men. Early rockers, Goodman says, ""aspired to show business careers, not to creating lasting art."" It was the folk artists like Bob Dylan who ""brought a new artistic, social , and political intention to the music."" In the 1960s, entrepreneurs like Ray Riepen thought that the underground folk-rock movement could coexist with enlightened capitalists who believed in the new culture. This vision faded, however, as greed took over, and men like Jon Landau, the critic who became Bruce Springsteen's manager, and David Geffen, ""the great robber baron of pop culture,"" used the music industry to accumulate enormous wealth. Goodman's discussion of how the moguls who dominate the music world rose to power is lively and succinct, but he loses focus when he unconvincingly contrasts Bruce Springsteen, whom he sees as lacking the convictions professed in his music, with Neil Young, whom he thinks has remained truer to artistic values. The title, from a Hank Williams ballad, refers to the houses of privilege constructed by those who reap huge profits from rock. Photos not seen by PW. (Feb.)