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One of the mostentertaining recent rock books goes behind the music into the courtrooms wherestars bright and small battled with agents, publishers, parents of suicidalfans and each other. Pop Goes to Courtis an addictively readable summation of legal contests involving the Beatles,U2, Ozzy Osbourne, the Smiths, the Jimi Hendrix estate and even Liberace.During the ’50s, the campy star sued a British columnist for casting doubt onhis heterosexualityand won his case! Perhaps the most pertinent chapterconcerns the suit by Metallica, Dr. Dre and the Recording Industry Associationof America against Napster, the program that inaugurated the age of Internetmusic file-sharing. Although Napster was essentially found guilty of stealingthe property of artists and labels, the technology it innovated has sincebecome a mainstay of the music industry.
