Our Favorite Rock Music Books, Biographies, and Autobiographies (w/Martin Popoff)
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- Опубликовано: 6 авг 2024
- Join Pete Pardo & Martin Popoff for a look at their favorite music books.
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Развлечения
15 from me…
1. Charles Shaar Murray - *Shots from the Hip*
2. Lester Bangs - *Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung*
3. Nick Kent - *The Dark Stuff*
4. David Hepworth - *1971: Never a Dull Moment*
5. Bob Dylan - *Chronicles Vol.1*
6. Tony Fletcher - *Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon*
7. Victor Bockris - *Keith Richards*
8. Charlie Gillett - *The Sound of the City*
9. George Melly - *Revolt into Style*
10. Simon Napier-Bell - *Black Vinyl White Powder*
11. Peter Guralnick - *Lost Highway*
12. Greil Marcus - *Mystery Train*
13. Dave Marsh - *The Heart of Rock and Soul*
14. LeRoi Jones - *Blues People*
15. Ian MacDonald - *The People’s Music*
I bought the audiobook of "Who I Am", which was read by Pete Townshend himself! I was hooked on it for weeks, it was the only thing I listened to in the car driving to and from work. It was so great to hear Pete Townshend read it because I was able to tell by the sound of his voice when he was trying to be very serious, and when he was trying to be more humorous. It took the book to a whole new level.
“Life” - K. Richards
“The Hammer of the Gods” - Stephen Davis
“White Line Fever” - Lemmy
“Lou Reed” - Anthony DeCurtis
“Arrogante Rock : Babasonicos” - Roque Casciero
“Inside Out: A Personal History Of Pink Floyd” - Nick Mason
"Shock and Awe "- Simon Reynolds
“Sticky Fingers” - Joe Hagan
S.t.p.: A Journey Through America With The Rolling Stones - Robert Greenfield
“So Much Things to Says” - Roger Steffens
Steve Gorman, the former drummer for the Black Crowes, did an excellent memoir of his time with the battling Robinson brothers called “Hard to Handle”. He reads the audiobook, which adds a lot to experiencing his work. You can see Gorman’s jaw drop when he tells about Rich Robinson rebuffing Jimmy Page’s offer to write some songs together.
Yep, great book!
Yeah I really enjoyed that book
I read it recently, and I wasn’t totally blown away. It was good, but not on the level I was hoping. That and the fact that the dude literally walked into a band on his first try that conquered the world, made me a bit suspicious. Some good stories, and funny parts, but not great.
Thank you for this show. I love to learn the stories behind the music. You have given me some new ideas to add to my wish list. Along with rock biographies and memoirs, I also love reading about rock history, especially the birth of British rock. The book I found most helpful on that subject was "London, Reign Over Me' by Stephen Tow. I also enjoy David Hepworth's rock history books. I have enjoyed too many rock biographies that I loved to list, but a couple worth mentioning IMO are "Working Class Boy" by Jimmy Barnes - such a brutal upbringing, sad but also inspiring. There is a sequel called "Working Class Man", but I haven't had the chance to read it yet.
Andrew Loog Oldham has written a series of memoirs, but so far I have only read the first two - "Stoned" and "2 Stoned". Good Lord, what an interesting man. He lived right in the middle of swinging 60's London and had his fingers in all sort of pies.
My favorite rock and roll story though has to be the roller coaster ride of the late, great Steve Marriott of Small Faces and Humble Pie. I have read 3 biographies on the man, plus the memoirs of his bandmates - Peter Frampton, Jerry Shirley (My favorite book of the bunch), Kenney Jones and IanMcLagan. Steve also plays a role in the memoirs of his manager Andrew Oldham. Steve's story would make a great movie as it encompasses all the elements of a rock and roll life - Child prodigy, the massive successes of Small Faces and Humble Pie, the greed and fraud of the managers, promoters and record execs, the excesses of substance abuse, mental illness, the threats on his life by the mafia, poverty, and finally the slide into near obscurity and horrible death by fire at the age of 44. Steve was a fascinating enigma of a man, very challenging to try to understand as he had the talent to be a huge star and live comfortably, but was his own worst enemy. He was so talented, yet insecure, self destructive and according to Frampton just had some flaw in his psyche that did everything he could to destroy success. Yet, he never gave up or lost hope and just kept rocking and performing, even if it was in little podunk clubs, until the day he died. My hero ❤
Thankful that Pete and Martin are expanding to books on bands. I am a huge bibliophile and always glean fun insights from them and the other good authors. I am currently reading the Mac OS kindle version of the Van der Graaf Generator Pawn Hearts - History Images Words Music book from Italian author Paolo Carnelli and gleaning the cool insights and quotes from the band members. ... “We were all buzzing with things we wanted to do. PAWN HEARTS is full of some pretty mad stuff: psychedelic razors, sound effects, backwards tapes... we wanted to try everything. Every time someone had an idea, it was like “yeah, let's do it”. There wouldn't be five minutes gone by without someone coming up with something insane to do, and John Anthony would find a way to do it (The Book, pg. 124) - Hugh Banton. Carnelli, Paolo. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts: History Images Words Music (p. 24). Kindle Edition. A few of my favorite rock music books include Peter Hammill ... On Track that list all of his songs and albums with insights from Richard Rees Jones, Italian Prog - The Comprehensive Guide to the Italian Progressive Music of the 70’s by Augusto Croce and Goblin, Seven Notes in Red by Fabio Capuzzo.
Gotta include the Bill Bruford book in this list. He has worked with some of the best prog rock musicians and answers all his fans’ burning questions.
Two of the best books I've read were both autobiographical works. One was of Glenn Hughes, the other was of Mark Lanegan. Superbly tremendous reads. Lots of drugs and debauchery in each.
I'm currently reading "Cowboy Song: The Authorized Biography of Thin Lizzy's Philip Lynott". I just bought "Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of the Black Crowes--A Memoir" and was just given "KISS: Behind the Mask - The Official Authorized Biography". If I had to pick some of my favorites (no preference):
Clapton: The Autobiography
For Facts Sake by Bob Daisley
Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001) by Don Felder
Old Gods Almost Dead: The 40-Year Odyssey of the Rolling Stones
Rod: The Autobiography
Best music book I’ve read is “KISS & Sell” by Chris Lendt. Even if you hate KISS, you’ll like this book. It’s a look behind the scenes of the music business, during a time when things were done the old fashioned way. A very precise accounting of the highs and lows of the music business through the lens of KISS and the 70’s and 80’s music scene. Highly recommended!
Another that came highly recommended to me was Nile Rodgers’ autobiography. A truly remarkable story.
Great show! You mentioned two of my favourite rock biographies : Who I Am and The Gospel of Luke.
I really like Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman, even though it is not strictly about rock music in the way that the other books you mention are about rock music.
Great show and idea!
A few of my favorites:
- Nothin' to Lose: The Making of Kiss 1972-1975 by Ken Sharp
- Spinning Blues into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records by Nadine Cohodas
- Touched by Magic: The Tommy Bolin Story by Greg Prato
- Crazy Train: The High Life and Tragic Death of Randy Rhoads by Joel McIver
Loved this topic!. I love reading rock bios and you've given me some to check out. I especially like to read the stories about bands and artists paying their dues before fame and fortune hits. Here are a few of my favorites (that aren't by Martin):
Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits - Barney Hoskyns
See A Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody - Bob Mould, with Michael Azerrad (autobiography)
Hammer of the Gods - Stephen Davis (Led Zeppelin bio)
Miles: The Autobiography - Miles Davis, with Quincy Troupe
Great episode guys! I've been meaning to get back into reading music books, so I better get on it!
I've got that Tosches Dean Martin book. Very good, very thorough!
I loved Pete Townsend book and I have read Claptons book at least 7 times since published. Fascinating read!
My favorite music book wasn't even mentioned, I'm sure Martin at least knows it: "KATE BUSH - Under the ivy" by Graeme Thomson was such a fascinating read I don't forget (and I am not even a Kate Bush fan!) - well ok, she's not "ROCK" (isn't she?) but surely has lots of open-minded Crossover-fans. What a wonderful work of art! Another one not mentioned is Francis Rossi "I talk too much - My autobiography" - very entertaining read, I couldnt put it down. And two others not mentioned (but have two comments here, I read all comments before I post) are Nick Mason - Inside Out, very cool and Chuck Klosterman "Fargo Rock City".
My favourite book is Ghost Rider by Neil Peart. ‘The point of a journey is not to arrive’ magnificent autobiography. That guy left behind some fantastic lyrics and memoirs.
“Moon” by Tony Fletcher is great. “You Never Give Your Your Money” by Peter Doggett, “Across the Great Divide: The Band and America” by Barney Hoskins, Neil Peart’s “Roadshow”, Robbie Robertson’s “Testimony”, “Deal” by Bill Kreutzmann, there are many others too.
Someone I’ve always wanted to write a book is Joe Walsh. It would be an amazing read.
My favorite music bio is “Making Rumours” by Ken Callet.
The two best ones I've read in recent years have been "Trouble Boys: The True Story of The Replacements" by Bob Mehr and "Born to Run" Springsteen's autobiography.
The first ones that came to my mind, neither one mentioned. I love genre/scene books. Our Band Could Be Your Life is tremendous. Loved this topic, like to see another one with different speakers.
Great topic! Love the Rolling Stone Enceclopedia and Nick Cohns Awopbopaloobopalopbamboom
David hepworths books are particularly British but take us back to the heady days of the 60s and 70s. I love in particular when LPs ruled the world
His podcast is excellent too
Hear hear! He’s a wonderful writer.
Might have been mentioned but ever read Billion dollar baby? Bob Greene went on tour with the Coop in 74. Muscle tour and chronicled the whole thing. An amazing read. Glen Buxton was a stand out. Someone should tell Sydney Taylor about it. Plus Bob greene sang back up vocals on Hard hearted Alice.
One of my favourite is… What's Welsh for Zen: The Autobiography of John Cale (UK edition). 👍
Great show! RE: those Chris Pike BUDGIE books: I heard about those from a video I saw with Martin saying how great they were back in 2020 I think, and somehow, I was able to track them down and purchase them out of England through the old Weebly website that was being used to advertise them, and evidently managed by Budgie's original drummer Ray Phillips who was kind enough to autograph them! "Back To The Egg: Budgie's Influential Early Years 1967-1973", and "In Pecking Order: Budgie's Dynamic Middle Years 1974-79". Great books!
Great episode. Some of my favorites that weren't mentioned. Jeff Wagner's recent Destination Onward on Fates Warning. His genre book on Progmetal Mean Deviation is a must read for lovers of the genre. Nwobhm has many great book. First No Sleep 'til Saltburn tells the story of Mark Gregory, fan, magazine writer and radioshow host. Very funny read. John Tucker is the best introduced author in NWOBHM. Good books on Saxon, Diamond Head and Whitesnake. His NWOBHM book Suzie Smiled and the one on Neat Records holdi loads of interesting facts and stories. One of my absolute favorites is Reuben Archer's a Rock n Rollercoaster Ride. The vocalist of Stampede, Lautrec and passings at Lionheart and Wild Horses. His book tells really his life and the firts 350 of 450 pages mainly talk about his life before music. Even so Eric Clapton and mick Jagger got mentioned. He knows lots of people his life is an interesting read and the style of storytelling reads very nice.
Of the books mentioned, I've read "Who I Am" by Pete Townshend. Terrific book. Great insight into not only the author but also The Who, escpecially the early days. Other good books not mentioned in this vid are 2 Pink Floyd books, "Comfortably Numb" by Mark Blake and "Inside Out" by the band;s drummer Nick Mason. Also "All Things Must Pass Away" by Ken Womack and Jason Kruppa about the lifelong friendship between Eric Clapton and George Harrison. I'll also give a shout out to the series "All The Songs" that does a song-by-song look at a band's catalogs. I have the volumes on The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin.
Thanks for the book suggestions, guys! Love the Keith Richards Life book, so crazy lol. Another good making of the album one is The Making of Rumours (by Ken Caillat - engineer, and Steve Stiefel). LOVE the shoutout of Dean Martin - proud son of Steubenville, OH (my Dad’s hometown). 👍👍👍👍
Just watched a drive thru vid of Steubenville. Rough look these days.
One of the best books I've read on the rolling stones is, The true adventures of the rolling stones by Stanley Booth, such a great read, Stanley hung out with the band in the late 60s and early to mid 70s, it's mostly about the mick Taylor years but does have chunks on the Brian Jones era. Also another great read and a pretty shocking read is Beast by Paul Dianno not for the faint hearted but a very honest book.
That Jeff beck book sounds like Bruce Dickinson's book, very tame Bruce seems to love flying more than anything, he's led a very clean un rock n' roll life.
Loved this episode as I'm a constant reader. I've read hundreds of music bios and autobiographies. Moon by Tony Fletcher, Ghost Rider by Neil Peart, and Miles by Miles Davis are my top books. All of them are insanely entertaining.
I have a recommendation:Bill Graham Presents. The life and times of Rock impresario Bill Graham. In addition to creating the modern rock concert experience, as well as the concert venues The Fillmores ( East and West) and Winterland. It is not just Bill's own recollections but the crews at the venues and the musicians that played at his venues as and tours as well.
Holy WOW! Thank you to Martin for the kind words about the Aero book. Much appreciated, and I'm humbled by the inclusion along with so many amazing other rock books!
That's an awesome book! Great fun to pick up at anytime and read. The old concert reviews are hilarious. A lot of them are fairly accurate regarding too much damn distortion and volume - live they often sounded like sludge.
I read 'One Train Later', by Police guitarist Andy Summers, and thouroughly enjoyed it. Reading about Zoot Money, The Animals, and his experiences in London, was incredible, a true look into the sixties.
Summers was close with the likes of Clapton, met Hendrix, and crossed the pond to find success and failed. Schooling, guitar, teaching, penniless, married and then returning to join post-punk/new wave band The Police...in five short years they were the biggest band in the world!!!
Excellent read!
Great book I have it too. It doesn't get enough love it was extremely well written and engaging throughout.
Same - great read
1. Keith Richards - Life
2. Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell
3. Rob Halford - Confess
4. Rainbow In The Dark: The Autobiography
5. White Line Fever: Lemmy: The Autobiography
6. The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Band
7. Glow: The Autobiography of Rock James
8. Genesis - Chapter & Verse
9. Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock
Not on the list:
Martin Popoff’s books, you have written so many biographies for the most prolific rock bands, thank you for everything!
Some of the anecdotes in The Dirt are amazing!💯
The ones I like are these among many: Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite by Roger Daltry, Life by Keith Richards and X-Ray by Ray Davies.
A book that I enjoyed from about a decade ago: "What You Want Is in the Limo" by Michael Walker. It centers around three rock tours from 1973 - the Who's Quadrophenia, Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy and Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies.
3 of my favourites are Van Halen Rising, Nikki Sixx: The Heroin Diaries (how is he still alive?) and Bernie Marsden: Where's My Guitar? Just one funny story after another.
One of my favorite Rock Reads is Steven Adler's Appetite For Self Destruction. He comes across as a very humble guy who owns up to his mistakes and doesn't blame anyone.
Not really rock but Etta James RAGE TO SURVIVE amazing love Etta and yes she Rocked
Love this guy's got some great books to check out. Have soooo many KISS books and Metal books that Bruce Dickinson book What Does This Button Do? is amazing!
That was interesting. I like to read, but don't have that much time to do it. Thanks to Pete I looked on amazon and put the Lita Ford book in my cart. I found it for a good price, and it was on Prime, so free delivery. I'm a big fan of the Runaways. Over the years I've read the book about Janis Joplin, "Buried Alive," the Doors/Jim Morrison one, "No One Here Gets Out Alive," and Mick Fleetwood's "Fleetwood." I have Keith Richard's book "Life," but have only read portions of it. I find most of them fascinating and hard to put down. At one time I had the Motley Crue one, "Dirt," which I got for Christmas, but it seems to have wandered off at some point. I like the "dishing the dirt" books and one of the best I read was "You'll Never Make Love In This Town Again," which featured several rock stars, including Rod Stewart and Don Henley. A friend of mine loaned me a book called "Hit Men" once, which was all about the big record company execs in the late 60's and through the 70's. What an eye-opener that one was! I also have Greg Godovitz's book "Travels With My Amp," which again I've only read portions of, and a friend of mine recently wrote a book about Max Webster, which I want to check out. Also one more I have to read, which I have, is Neil Peart's "Ghost Rider." That one will be personal to me, as I knew his first wife Jackie. At 66 I still work seven days a week. It's hard for me to sit down and spend some time with a book.
It’s an oldie but I loved No One Here Gets Out Alive by Danny Sugarman about the Doors.
Ted Templeman's A Platinum Producers Life in Music, is one of the best books I've read in a long time....fascinating to read about his production work with early VH, Doobie Brothers, Montrose and Van Morrison amongst others.
Greg Renoff's Van Halen Raising is also great!
@@GrexKhusan Yes, Grex you are correct on that one!
I like Nick Mason's Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd. I found out that Nick is a pretty funny guy. Loved the pictures he shares in it.
So many good ones out there! 2 that go together are from members of the MC5, bassist Michael Davis’ “I Brought Down The MC5” and Wayne Kramer’s “The Hard Stuff” which give 2 views of the same situations within that band. The drug tales are near unbelievable. Read Kramer’s book 2nd and prepare to be unable to scrape your jaw up off of the floor. His life was so off the rails that he now tells of his criminal activities after the 5 imploded. Just nuts and both books get into so very sad places too. Tragic stuff went on. But what great reading.
I own 7 out of the 20 picks and read a lot of other's that were mentioned. My 2 favorite autobiographies are by John Joseph and Harley Flanagan from the Cro-Mags, you don't need to be a fan of the band to enjoy these crazy stories of violence,drugs and survival of the streets, I could not put them down. I also own 22 Martin Popoff books and want to get a bunch more.
Paul Dianno's autobiography The Beast. Just reading the book you can see why he lasted with Iron Maiden for only 2 albums. A total loose cannon but my favorite Maiden singer.
No love for any books by or about Frank Zappa? The Real Frank Zappa book is a top choice for me. And The Big Note: A Guide to the Recordings of Frank Zappa is an amazingly comprehensive book that is essential for Zappa fans.
Of course, but can’t name every book I like.
Yeah, "The Real FZ Book" is a great read. But FZ's honest and revealing views on the vapid, pointless nature of the "rock music industry" and on how idiotic and phony "rock journalism" is might not set well here.
Life by Keith Richards (Check out the audiobook with reading by Johnny Depp)
Cash by Johnny Cash
Last Train To Memphis by Peter Guralnick (First volume of an excellent two-volume biography of Elvis)
Who Am I by Pete Townshend
Before I Get Old: The Story Of The Who by Dave Marsh
AC/DC: Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be by Mick Wall
Smash: Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX and the '90s Punk Explosion by Ian Winwood
Mystery Train: Images Of America In Rock 'N' Roll Music by Greil Marcus
Lipstick Traces by Greil Marcus
Psychotic Reactions And Carburetor Dung writings of Lester Bangs edited by Greil Marcus
I'm currently reading Paul McCartney The Life by Philip Norman. Philip Norman also wrote John Lennon The Life which is excellent and Symphony For The Devil : The Rolling Stones Story.
Honorable Mentions:
Hammer Of The Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga by Stephen Davis
Heavier Than Heaven by Charles R. Cross (A biography of Kurt Cobain)
Enter Night by Mick Wall (Metallica biography)
Rotten: No Dogs No Irish Allowed by John Lydon
Clapton by Eric Clapton
No One Here Gets Out Alive by Jerry Hopkins (Jim Morrison biography)
Hellfire by Nick Tosches (Jerry Lee Lewis biography)
Born To Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story by Dave Marsh
The Glenn Hughes books is well worth the read. It is amazing he is still with us and able sing like he does.
Allman Brothers Band
“One Way Out”
by Alan Paul
best book on AAB
🎸🎸
There's a documentary on Dean Martin that aired on TCM called King Of Cool that I think is worth checking out. Gives you some insight into his private life through his daughter and friends etc along with home movie footage and stuff like that. Three favorite music books of mine: Me The Mob and the Music by Tommy James, Not Dead Yet by Phil Collins and Ticket To Ride: Inside the Beatles' 1964 Tour That Changed The World by Larry Kane.
Excellent! Miles Davis is a pretty good autobiography as well,
I do recommend Lords of Chaos . It’s about the rise of the satanic black metal scene and the murders, church burnings , etc…happening at that time.
Fantastic read.
Rock bios are my favourite books to read for enjoyment
The Van Halen Saga by Ian Christie was really good. I also liked I Am Ozzy. Stone bassist Bill Wyman has an awesome coffee table book--Rolling With The Stones-- about his era with the band. Eric Clapton's auto-bio was really good too.
That Clapton book made me see what an a hole he is.
good idea to get the CSN bio by Dave Zimmer. it covers before the beginning of the band up until the 90s
Kansas member Kerry Livgren's autobiography " Seeds Of Change "(he has a solo album with the same name) is a must if you're interested in Kansas. Livgren explains the lyrical meaning of many Kansas songs, a bit of history on how the band came to be, and why he left Kansas. It is hard to find though, not sure if there has been any reissues
I'm on it. Kansas is grossly under appreciated.
One of my favourite s is a fast way out of here the story of pete way the guy was a legend
Another great Rolling Stones tour book is Dance With The Devil by Stanley Booth, which documents their 1969 US tour.
Blimey haven’t read any music books lately as I mostly read motor racing biography’s. Last one I did read was Woody Guthrie- A Life by Joe Klein. My favourite though is Mick Walls biog of Marillion, Market Square Heroes
Edit: I forgot Big Man Clarence Clemons. Such a funny book of truths, half truths and very tall stories. Highlights include the pool game with Castro, staying at a ranch in Texas during a storm and the Commander Cody quote
Mick Wall " When Giants Walk the Earth " ( Led Zeppelin story ) is best for me .
Keith Richards book too .
In some strange ways " Scar Tissue " RHCP -Antony Kiedis is good .
Two of my favorites are Steve Gorman’s memoir on the Black Crowes and Don Felder’s tell- all on his time with the Eagles called Heaven and Hell.
Did he mention the criminal act of Don Henley with teens?
Admittedly I've never been a huge fan of reading in general but I did enjoy the Paul McCartney biography by Philip Norman and the Carlos Santana memoir "The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light."
'And on Piano Nicky Hopkins' is excellent. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young by Pete Doggett. Would love to see a CSNY biopic with actors playing the four guys. Who'd play the parts?. Perhaps Nicholas Cage playing the older Neil Young.
Love it guys
Great show guys. I was thinking about the John Fogerty book. Can't remember him or Creedence ever mentioned on your shows, but may have missed it.
I’ve done a few CCR shows
Any of half dozen Grateful Dead books but will go 2- Conversations with the Dead by David Gans, and A Long Strange Trip by Dennis McNally. Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis. Up and Down with the Rolling Stones by Tony Sanchez. Scuze Me While I Kiss the Sky by David Henderson. Chronicles, Volume 1 by Bob Dylan.
Ian Hunter - Diary of a Rock n Roll is a page turner.
The Ray Davies autobiography is entertaining.
X Ray by R.D? Great read!
That Liston book would be fascinating.
I've just read "Sick On You - The Disastrous Story of the Hollywood Brats, the Greatest Band You've Never Heard Of", written by vocalist Andrew Matheson. Great book! This band should be looked at when Popoff decides to write his "who invented punk" book.
I've particularly enjoyed Julian Cope's autobiography.
Just got Holly Knight's new book I am the Warrior just got it this morning so cant say how good it is yet but hopes are high as she was a premier songwriter if you love 80's pop as I do.
We need a book about The Cult. There's so little about them, and I'm sure they've got tons of exciting stories and great thoughts.
Cheers.
I've bought many books from Martin Popoff so mine would have been all by him.
Shakey: Neil Young's Biography Paperback - May 13, 2003
by Jimmy McDonough (Author) is really well researched
I would love to see Martin do an Album by Album book by the career of Wendy O Williams with tons of great pictures. I recently read a great book called Eve of Destruction: The Wild Life of Wendy O Williams and it was filled with a lot of stuff that I never read about before but it had no pictures and it was less than 200 pages.
Faithless: Marianne Faithfull
Chronicles Vol 1: Bob Dylan
Life: Keith Richards
Up and Down with The Rolling Stones: Tony Sanchez
4 superb biographies that don’t hold back
The Last Highway -Bon Scott. The parts of the book outlining the night of Bon’s death were very bizarre. It even suggested Bon wrote the lyrics to the Back in Black album using some pretty interesting arguments. Once I reached those parts it was hard to put this book down.
I am not a huge AC/DC fan, but I found Bon's story very interesting, also.
I agree that Bon wrote most, if not all the lyrics to Back In Black. The lyrics are Bon#s to a 'T'.The band went on a huge trajectory downwards music wise, but not popularity wise after this mega album, due to the fact that they no longer had the great lyricist that was Bon..
I read it too, but I found it lacked real proof of a lot of things Fink mentioned as what supposedly really happened. I still think we never will really know for sure what happened that faithful night.
@@Walesktf How could he not have written that stuff? They were booked in the studio for April and Bon died in February! He ABSOLUTELY had to have written material for that LP. Of course, they're not going to credit Bon with 50% (or ANY) of the writing - his estate would be getting royalties. Why give them to his estate when you can keep them for yourselves? I think it's one of the biggest scams pulled by a band on their audience. Even if Brian wrote some of it, Bon had to have completed a few of those songs at the very least.
If Brian wrote those lyrics, why was there never another LP that came close to Back in Black? He should've just been hitting his stride. Most bands have a run of at least a few albums before the muse runs dry.
I'll never believe that Brian wrote all of those lyrics. Never.
@@flazjsg I agree with you 100%, the songs on BiB have Bon's lyrics all over them. I thought this the very first time heard the album and still think it today. As you rightly say, it's a huge scam pulled on Bon's estate and AC/DC fans as well
Regarding books on one tour, the 1977 Led Zeppelin cursed tour would make for an excellent book. A book on The Who’s 1973 “Quadrophenia” which was innovative for its use of backing tapes, story lines yet troubled because of technical issues and Keith Moo collapsing on stage would be cool. Others that would be worthy of a book, The Beatles 1966 Tour, Grateful Dead’s 1995 tour, etc.
The Velvets to The Voidoids (not Voivods ;p hehe) is awesome. Please K*ll Me might be my all time fave. Matter of fact, I'm reading it for at least the 4th or 5th time right now.
Lemmy's auto biography is awesome as well.
The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones by Stanley Booth. Booth was with the band on their 1969 tour of the US. Great insight into that ill fated jaunt but also on the origins and growth of the band.
The Who; Maximum R&B by Richard Barnes
Had Me A Real Good Time; The Faces Before During and After by Andy Neill
Love Stanley’s book!
Mick Wall's nooks are all good. When Giants Walked the Earth on Led Zeppelin stands out
Beefheart 'Through The Eyes Of Magic' by John Drumbo French and Different Every Time by Marcus O'Dair the authorised biog. of Robert Wyatt the original Soft Machine drummer
My picks:
Pete Townshend-Who I Am
Neil Young-Waging Heavy Peace
Elvis Costello-Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink
Donald Fagan-Eminent Hipsters
Crystal Zevon-I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Story of Warren Zevon
Keith Richards Life
Living The Blues by Fito de la Para of Canned Heat , is a killer.
Love the way Martin always put an 's' on the end of 'anyway.' Is that something North Amreicans do? We don't do that in the UK!
Sammy Hagar's book was surprisingly good. Real working class no nonsense kind of guy. Great stories.
Pete Ways,....Pat Benatars....both Paul Stanleys are great( i enjoyed the other 3 KISS books too),...Tony Iommis is excellent ..and Jonathan Caines...... Vince Neils was fun.
Correct, no memoir from Neal Smith as yet - although he is said to be working on one. Alice has written two books. The first, ‘Me Alice’ is the least unguarded.
I like Tony Ioomi and Duff McKagen books. I love the book Hellfire about Jerry Lee Lewis!!
No mention of Lester Bangs, Richard Meltzer, or Joe Carducci! What? The Devil and Sonny Liston is indeed an amazing book about that crazed pugilist. One can also find an interesting fictional treatment of Liston in James Ellroy's Blood's A Rover. Oh, yeah, another great, short book by Tosches: The Last Opium Den.
Very surprised neither of you choose "the dirt" or David Lee roths excellent "crazy from the heat". For me, these are essential history books kids need to read.
Martin's books are very good
The Clapton book is great. I definitely need to check some the books mentioned here, the Townsend, dean Martin, and Morrison sound great. On a side note, I read that numerous people and members of the doors said the book 'no one here gets out alive' is not true and garbage.
Chris Pike's book Rocking Man about Tony Bourge is also very good.
The Aerosmith book is fantastic. Just looking at the concert ads is a trip. The funniest thing about that Aerosmith book is reading all of the horrible reviews. A lot of latter-day fans may not have a clue as to how reviled Aerosmith was in the press - both local and national.
I have the Lukather book. To me it was a good read but was lacking quite a bit in depth. He worked with all these people like Michael Jackson and Olivia Newton-John but had very little to say about them. Maybe he didn't interact with them, but I really didn't get much insider information from this book. It was bland - kind of like a lot of Toto music, so what did I expect?
The Graham Nash autobiography is great as is the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young book. CSNY were basically 4-a$$holes if anyone wanted to know the Cliffnotes! The Nash book gave me a much better appreciation of the Hollies. Terrific band!