Best Music Books

Our Band Could Be Your Life, Michael Azzerrad
Heavier Than Heaven....I forgot who wrote that one...

Scar Tissue, Anthony Keidis (RHCP)
Slash, Slash (GnR)
The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue)
Inside Out, Nick Mason (Pink Floyd)

Unknown Legends of Rock And Roll - Ritchie Unterberger
Urban Spacemen and Wayfaring Strangers - Ritchie Unterberger
The Dark Stuff - Nick Kent
Anything by Peter Guralnick Feel Like Going Home, Sweet Soul Music, The Two Volume Elvis bio (Last Train To Memphis/Careless Love), Searching For Robert Johnson, It Came From Memphis, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke.
Walk This Way (Aerosmith)
Anything by Greil Marcus or Nick Tosches.
Louisiana Hayride Years.
In the Country of Country.
Texas Music.

Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley/Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis-Peter Guralnick

Revolution In The Head: The Beatles' Records and the 60's-Ian MacDonald

The Beatles-Hunter Davies

Shout! The Beatles In Their Generation-Philip Norman

The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones-Stanley Booth

No Direction Home: the Life and Music of Bob Dylan-Bob Shelton

Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists-Staff

The Men Behind Def Jam: The Radical Rise of Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin

Johnny Cash: The Autobiography

Twenty Thousand Roads: the Ballad of Gram Parsons And His Cosmic American Music- Dave Meyer (almost too much info)

It would be nice if you could wich of these are good. I've read Please Kill Me and it's great.

Devildoubt suggested Heavier Than Heaven and I also highly recommend it. I doubt there's a better book on Cobain.

I got to disagree with Chris Miller on Slash. It's complete crap. Terrible wirting, the stories go nowhere and worst of all, they're boring.

I haven't read Johnny Cash: The Autobiography but I did read Johnny Cash: The Biography by Michael Streissguth and recommend it. Lots of information and an entertaining read even though I feel the author got a little to close to his subject and his interpration of the Rubin years suffer from it.

I'm glad you started this thread Jake, I've been meaning to start a similar one for a long while but never got around to actually doing it.

Chalk up another one for the two Guralnick Elvis books - the thing about those is that they can quite often make you a fan of the guy's work, but even if you're not they're still fascinating, often bizarre reading experiences. The pink shirts! The karate documentary! Stalin's face in the clouds!

Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King, Lloyd Bradley (but take the pessimistic last chapter with a grain of salt)
The Latin Tinge, John Storm Roberts (very readable if occasionally academic history of a huge musical legacy that gets little play in rock-crit)
Can't Stop, Won't Stop, Jeff Chang
Rap Attack, David Toop (mainly for the old skool stuff)
Sweet Soul Music, Peter Guralnick
Chronicles, Bob Dylan (as enigmatic and stirring as his music)
Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton (the history of dance music and the DJ, great entry point for people wanting to learn about electronic music)
The Heart Of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Best Singles Ever Recorded, Dave Marsh (if you need a fresh look at all those oldies that we take for granted. Obsessive compulsive readers might also enjoy The New Book Of Rock Lists.)
Heartaches By The Number, David Cantwell & Bill Friskics-Warren
Are You Ready For The Country?, Pete Doggett (ignore the dodgy lecturing and enjoy the biographical details and anecdotes)
England's Dreaming, Jon Savage (not an easy read, but a great corrective to the idea that Punk 1- came out of nowhere and 2- was dreamt up solely as a reaction to one particular movement)
Live At The Appolo, Douglas Wolk (awesome treatise on the James Brown classic)
Psychotic Reactions & Carbouteur Dung, Lester Bangs

Yeah, Our Band Could Be Your Life is fantastic.

I'm not going to pretend Slash has Hemingway comparable narrative, I mean, it was written by Slash. It was a pretty interesting peak behind the curtain of one of the biggest bands of late 80's and 90's from a guy who was (mostly) there though.

Good calls.

I was a SPIN kid who worshipped Lester Bangs. Now find I've drifted towards Dave Marsh.

Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century

It will eat your soul.

'Run to the Hills', about Iron Maiden, is an interesting read if you're into the band and the NWOBHM scene.

'Live from New York', a biography of SNL, goes into some entertaining detail about some of the bands that have been on the show.

I came in here to recommend these very books. I'll also add:

"Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock'n'Roll, 1947-1977" by James Miller. Each chapter details one major event in the history of rock and roll, beginning with the story of Robert Johnson and ending with the Sex Pistols' tour of America. Speaking of which...

"12 Days on the Road: the Sex Pistols and America" by Noel Monk. Monk was the Pistols' American tour manager for their one and only tour of the States. This book follows the bands' exploits and final implosion as they play one inappropriate venue after another. Side bar: if you have any interest in the band, "Live at Winterland" (being their final, exhausted show) is greatness.

"In the Fascist Bathroom: Punk in Pop Music, 1977-1992" by Greil Marcus. In-the-moment vignettes about the early punk movement. It's priceless for the insight it gives into some of the forgotten: the Mekons, Au Pairs, Gang of Four, etc.

and

"Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984" by Simon Reynolds. A nice retelling of the rise of New Wave music from the ashes of punk's first wave. It's priceless for its depiction of PiL.

There's a second Led Zep book (the name escapes me and Amazon is blocked) by their tour manager, Richard Cole, that's just as good as 'Hammer of the Gods'.

Marsh used to be my favourite music critic. Over the years I've become less keen on his prejudices (against british acts, against "album artists", against artsyness); he's better at keeping abreast of black music developments than their white equivalents (no problem in transitioning from R&B to Motown to Philly Soul to Disco to Hip-Hop, but his view of Rock in the 80's still has, like, John Mellencamp as one of the most major figures), and some of his recent behaviour (writing cover blurbs for artists on his wife's label) has been sorta embarassing, but I'll always value him for being able to wrench well known songs back into relevance and away from oldies radio clichés, as well as his appreciation of the single as an artform as worthy of celebrating as the album.

Yes, yes, yes. Two of my favorites (although I own In the Fascist Bathroom under its other edition, Ranters and Crowd Pleasers - I think the differences are negligible). Reynolds' collaboration with Joy Press (his wife), The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock'n'Roll, is also great.

This could be a handy thread for me. I'm about to do a project in collection development and I'm planning on working with books and videos on rock'n'roll history and criticism (I'm currently trying to narrow it down to a manageable subsection, like "criticism on American rock from 1970-present" or something - the library collection I'm working with is pretty well-stocked, so going international or too early or including basic histories/bios and stuff would be a massive undertaking).

Oh, yeah - another good recent one is Greg Kot's Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music.

Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored.

The Dirt by Motley Crue

The Long Hard Road out of Hell by Marilyn Manson

Long Hard Road is a little frustrating because it ends right when Antichrist Superstar is released and feels like its only the beginning of something bigger but still good.

Thank you.

Unsung Heroes of Rock n Roll: The Birth of Rock In The Wild Years Before Elvis-Nick Tosches

Good Rockin'Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock n Roll-Colen Escott

Shakey: Neil Young-Jimmy McDonough

Lynyrd Skynyrd: An Oral History-Lee Ballinger

Rock n Roll 39-59-Greil Marcus

Tougher Than Leather: the Rise of RUN DMC-Bill Adler

King of Rock: Respect, Responsibility, and My Life with Run-DMC -Darryl McDaniels

Words of Wisdom: Daily Affirmations of Faith from Run's House to Yours -Rev Run (change your life!)

The Skills To Pay The Bills: Story of the Beastie Boys-Alan Light

The Facts of Life & Other Dirty Jokes--Willie Nelson & Larry McMurtry

Willie: An Autobiography

The Walrus Was Paul: The Great Beatle Death Clues -Gary Patterson

For Dylan fans I'm tempted to recommend Clinton Heylin's 'Behind The Shades' as it's an incredibly detailed and comprehensive look at the man's entire career, and I learned a lot about the guy and how he works that I never knew. But then I'm also tempted *not* to recommend it because the author is a fanboy of the worst kind, constantly colouring everything with his own stridant opinions and petty biases, and generally coming across as a self-important fuckwit throughout.

DaveB -- Thanks for reminding m about Kot. He wrote a pretty good book about Wilco called I am Trying to Break Your Heart. It was fairly heavy on the Jeff Tweedy worship (the scene where he fires Jay Bennett was particularly over-written), but the beginning chapters give a great history on Uncle Tupelo.

The book on the Sex Pistols tour by Noel Monk is a also a great read. None of the band members endorsed it, but I believe every word of it.

The 33 1/3 book on Reign in Blood is excellent, as is the one on Doolittle.

Can't believe I forgot:

Lennon and McCartney together alone-John Blaney

A fresh perspective on the solo years

Heroes and Villains: True Story of the Beach Boys-Steve Gaines

The Beach Boys and the California Myth-Dave Leafe

THE NEAREST FARAWAY EXPERIENCE: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience -Timothy White

Elvis: What Happened? Red & Sonny West

Kill Your Idols, edited by Jim Derogatis.

Not the BEST book, but an interesting experiment in slaughtering sacred cows.

I read it when it came out so my opnion could be different if I read it now but I really liked Long Hard Road. I'm not really a Manson fan but the book is surprisingly funny. I bet if he wrote another autobiography today it would be absolutely serious and completely boring.

I haven't read it since college (though the recent release of the remasters has tempted me to get it off the shelf), but I remember A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles by Mark Hertsgaard as a great exploration of the music of the band, only bringing in biography when necessary.

Yeah, that's a good read, from the pervy grampa on down. Also introduced me to LaVey and modern satanism (even got myself a copy of the Satanic Bible, more out of curiosity than anything else, and quickly realised that 1- this shit is sorta stupid and 2- it's clearly written for people who've had some sort of christian upbringing.)

These are my favorites of the ones mentioned that aren't big duhs like the Greil Marcus stuff (Mystery Train is probably the best one to start with) and the Guralnick books (his epic biography of Elvis is also essential).

In terms of artist biographies, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" is a great biography of Warren Zevon with a lot of participation from his contemporaries and fans.

Thanks for mentioning this, I've been looking for a great book about this genre -- I really enjoyed "Love Saves the Day," which is more disco based than anything. Was curious as to where to go next.

It was recommended by our main page writers, but "Love Is A Mixtape" is painful and funny and shattering and a must-read.

I'm not saying "well, obviously" when it comes to the big duhs, such as it were, I just meant -- these are must-reads, and these are others I enjoy.

I went on a music book buying spree a while back for a project that will probably take a number of years, but most of them are in storage now. Will have to think about this and write more.

Slonimsky's Lexicon of Musical Invective.

Another nod for Azzerad's Our Band Could Be Your Life. Great book.

I also dug Rock On: An Office Power Ballad by Dan Kennedy. It's a fun memoir of the beginning of the end of the record industry.

This! That book was fun as hell. Things won't get classier than knowing the band, at their beginnings, had to start the oven 15 minutes before cooking shit in it so they could kill the cockraches inside.

EDIT:Will check the Maiden book and Lipstick Traces, and I have heard a lot about the SNL one, so it's on my list now.

The SNL book is very good until you get the last part, where it's about the casts with Oratio Santz, Maya Rudolph, etc. The history about those casts is as boring as the shows were.

I second Our Band... and Get in the Van.

Moon is pretty interesting (and long!) book about Keith Moon.

Current reading - How the Beatles Destroyed Rock'n'Roll

Title's a bit of a misnomer, as I'm about halfway in and there's no damn Beatles or rock'n'roll ANYWHERE!

Yeah, I was tempted to skip ahead when reading that one, too, but it's seriously worth reading cover to cover; even the chapters about bands that you may not be all that interested in really pull you in and become fascinating. Aside from the awesome Minutemen chapter you mentioned, I thought that the Big Black and Minor Threat ones were pretty exceptional, too. Just a great book.

I really enjoyed reading Innocent When You Dream, a collection of Tom Waits interviews between the years 1974 and 2004. The man's powers of self-mythology are unrivalled.

I hope I'm not hijacking the thread here, but could anyone point me in the direction of a good, comprehensive book on Frank Zappa? Thanks.

Seriously, you could fucking HATE Motley Crue and still find The Dirt to be an incredible read. The stories of excess are stunningly over the top. I also really liked the juxtaposition of the band members remembering events differently. It's a rock n roll Rashoman.

Cocaine is a hell of a drug.

Doesn't everything make you want to fight something?

Currently, I'm reading Let's Talk about Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, one of the slim little numbers in the 33 1/3 series from Continuum. The author struggles to understand and even appreciate the cultural head-scratcher that is Celine Dion. It is alternately compelling and, to be all midwestern about it for a moment, a hoot. I'm not through it yet, so I can't say with absolute certainty that I'd recommend it, but, so far, it seems worth a read.

Big yes on the first one. I've never listened to RHCP (as far as I know, I may have heard a single on the radio and not realized it) and couldn't put Scar Tissue down. Really well-written, very absorbing. I dug it.

Read Slash's book a long time ago and remember liking it, although the voices of dissent in this thread make me want to give it another try and see if it holds up.

Bought the third one, lent it out to a friend while I was finishing another book and she hasn't returned it. I'll be getting that back shortly.

A couple I've read recently:

I am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne: Good. Very clearly his voice, one of the only times it didn't feel like the ghost writer (and there had to be a skilled one here) really altered it.
The Paths We Choose by Sully Erna: A friend made me read this. Not really a fan of Godsmack, which is okay, cause the book ends essentially with the formation of Godsmack and their signing to a major label. It's more about the author's childhood than the band, and that stuff isn't bad, but it stretches the titel of "Music book".

Hoping to read Cherie Currie's Neon Angel (unfortunately not before I see The Runaways but that may help the film) soon, any thoughts on that book?