[sherlock]

I'm a real sucker for these,whether or not I like the music of the subject.Ones I've really enjoyed in the past have been
The Dirt (Motley Crue) Hilarious,debauched beyond belief.

Bye Bye Baby by Caroline Sullivan  (Bay City Rollers) Tender,lovely story.

Fucked By Rock (Zodiac MIndwarp) Not a tender,lovely story.

Boys,Clothes,Music by Viv Albertine (The Slits) Very interesting for those who remember the times.

Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracy Thorn (Everything But The Girl) Nice tale.

Bad Vibes by Luke Haines. Vicious and bitterly funny.

I'm With The Band by Pamela des Barres. Classic groupies memoir from the wild 70's.

Any other recommendations?

[butters]

The one that immediately springs to my mind is Paradoxical Undressing by Kristin Hersh which is fantastic but I am a bit of a fanboi when it comes down to it.  Recommended it in the Books thread a while back IIRC. 

[sherlock]

Cheers Butters.I know very little about Throwing Muses but loved that single KH did with Michael Stipe,Your Ghost.
Will def. check it out.

[cheque]

The Dirt (Motley Crue) Hilarious,debauched beyond belief

It's amazing. 

These used to be pretty much all I read. I'll try and remember some which are really good, ie. enjoyable even if you don't enjoy the music concerned

Tony Visconti- Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy Title is pretty self-explanatory. Really emphasises how different the US and Britain were in the 60s and 70s.

Ian Hunter- Diary of a Rock n Roll Star The hilariously banal diaries of touring in a not-quite-superstar 70s group.

Jac Holzman- Follow the Music He was the founder of Elektra records. Really interesting story of progressing from putting a few gigs on to selling a label off for millions. Like a lot of these books it documents the shift of music culture from a few people having fun to a major industry. I imagine at some point we'll get autobiographies of people who were around when it went in reverse.

Andrew Loog Oldham's Stoned is quite a cool book about him managing the Stones in their early years. The sequel, 2stoned, is shat after the first couple of chapters though.

David Crosby- Long Time Gone Largely about drugs, a lot of it is a fascinating and gruelling account of barely-imaginable freebase addiction- it's almost a companion volume to Julia Phillips' "You'll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again" but less depressing.

Tony Fletcher- Dear Boy Biography of Keith Moon. Proper "You couldn't make it up" business.

Peter Hook- The Hacienda is great. I imagine quite a few people on here have read it.

Robert Gordon- Respect Yourself The story of Stax records.

I have a feeling that I've forgotten some really good ones.

The Throwing Muses one and Tracey Thorn's are ones I'll have to check out. I've also been meaning to read Rick James' book too- surely hilarious

[sherlock]

Thanks cheque
I've read Hunter's Diary of Rock and Roll Star years ago. Great,I agree.Re The Dirt,that episode when the rest of the band kidnap Nikki Sixx from hospital nearly gave me a seizure   
Some of your other suggestions sound right in the ball-park,ta!

[sherlock]

Oh and I forgot Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis,amazing story of survival and being in the sack with Cher when he was 12

Also thought that the first chapter of Keith Richards' Life was hysterical.That shopping list of drugs is right up there with the beginning of Fear & Loathing.After that though I got a bit bored and didn't finish it.

[fried]

Nice list Cheque. I also have to remember to read the Kristin Hersh book (she's the only artist that I've n,early asked for an autograph when she toured with her punk group 50ft wave )

Anyways to add to the list a couple of favs.

Head on/ repossesed double book:- drugs, drugs and rock and roll, the story of Teardrop explodes, then Julian Cope solo.

Cor baby, that's really me:- The legendary John Otway assaults the music industy.

I have to read the Crue one, and I don't even like 'em.

[johnx2]

head on's an absolutely brilliant read. One of my favorite books... Reposessed is really good too. First time I encountered the line "we're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the kerb." Have I just imagined reading a later version with a 'where are they now' on some of the characters? Or was that the original? Where am I? 

Ah shit (on edit to remove one sentence reviews of half the above) not only no memory, no ability to focus on what's in front of my face. Completely failed to notice that all books of this genre i've read recently have (clothes etc etc, bad vibes, bedsit disco) have already been posted...

You can pretty much date me as certain generation of NME reader.




 

[fried]

You can pretty much date me as certain generation of NME reader.

47 yrs old?

Don't forget 'Margrave of the marshes'; John Peel's bio.

[andy popp]

My favourite is probably Walter Yetnikoff's Howling At The Moon: The True Story of the Mad Genius of the Music World a brilliant account of his time as the head of CBS during the 1980s.

[johnx2]

47? I wish.  Viv Albertine's book reminded me how good the Clash actually were. I first saw them play the Guns on the Roof tour at Leeds Uni, '78, supported by the Slits as it goes...  Let's leave it there.

Oh, and I tried reading... 

http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Kraftwerk.html?id=SRA6AQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y

kraftwerk: I was a robot - Wolfgang Flür hoping for fascinating insights into the world of early 70s krautrock. Regardless of what might have been lost in translation, let's just say he very clearly did not use a ghostwriter...

[sherlock]

Head on/ repossesed double book:- drugs, drugs and rock and roll, the story of Teardrop explodes, then Julian Cope solo.

How could I forget those?Sheer madness 

I have to read the Crue one, and I don't even like 'em.

[/quote]
Yes,you really must,I'm not a fan of the music either but it's one of the funnier books in the genre,rock n roll yeah 

[Jaspersharpe]

Great thread lads. Holiday reading list sorted.

[Johnny Brown]

Ah, spent my twenties reading little else...

Head On. My copy is falling to bits it's been passed around so much. Brilliant, I'm glad I first read it when I was young though, I could imagine it might not stand up so well to a more jaundiced reader.

45. Bill Drummond. Another view of the Liverpool post-punk scene, the stuff about managing Echo & the Bunnymen is amazing. Then of course making a million quid with the KLF and burning it. Very human, life as a piece of art.

Nick Drake. Patrick Humphries. Forget specifics but a great portrait of a fascinating individual.

Got through the Pamela de barre one, not sure I'd recommend it. Prefer to watch Almost Famous, which was partly inspired by it.

I've got all the Madchester ones of which Bez's Freaky Dancin' is probably the standout, again, more jaundiced readers may not engage.

If we can stretch to poets, the best biog I've read in the last few years by far is The man who went into the west; R S Thomas by Byron Rogers. Just brilliant.

[sherlock]

Started Paradoxical Undressing last night. Very hard to put down. Great call,thanks 

Also just remembered Eye Mind,the insane (literally) story of Roky Erikson and the 13th Floor Elevators.I found this terrifying.....

[jwi]

kraftwerk: I was a robot - Wolfgang Flür hoping for fascinating insights into the world of early 70s krautrock. Regardless of what might have been lost in translation, let's just say he very clearly did not use a ghostwriter...

Man, Machine and Music by Pascal Bussy was alright. Mostly focused on the music. (Of course, otherwise it would just be hearsay)

Julian Cope's Krautrocksampler might interest you. It's a rare and expensive book, but at some point I had it as a poorly scanned pdf. It should still be possible to find.

Other than those I think you'd have to get german or french books.

[the_dom]

Wonderland Avenue by Danny Sugarman?

Oh, and Please Kill Me by Legs MacNeil and Gillian McCain is wonderful, but not quite a biography..

[fried]

If anyone wants Krautrocksampler, I have the pdf. JC gave permission and it was/ is available for download somewhere.

[Johnny Brown]

I'd love a copy please. I have a friend with a physical copy but he doesn't let it out of the house.

[johnx2]

Good and readable books in this genre with anything much to say seem the exceptions. ("I was a robot" - I managed to read a few chapters of one-dimensional unreliable narration... Harsh perhaps given the guy's a drummer ffs.)

Is it Krautrocksampler any good?


...is a lot easier to get hold of. Analogous post-war weirdness? Naked japanese hippies on bikes? More books should have covers like this. "Sampler" could mean "stuff I've come across" but JC writes very well (I say despite the, erm, good in places 131) and I guess it's not like I've got to pass an exam...

Wonderland Avenue by Danny Sugarman?

I recall this being a fun read in places - some of the Iggy anecdotes - but it's a self-serving life and drug-taking times of the author. He didn't seem to be very interested in anyone's music. It wasn't clear why I would be interested in him, or his two dads... Hey ho, everyone's a critic.

The best of the books in this thread, despite being by some doubtless big egos, are written clearly with self-awareness, not labouring on the author's greatness.

Oh yeah 'Chronicles' Bob Dylan. Another unexpectedly good writer.

[Ti_pin_man]

Dirt - Motley Crue is a fabulous book, so funny I was crying and so sad I was also crying.  I thne bought the Vince Neil book and it wasnt anywhere as good, about the same as the music he released. 
I didnt love the Steve Tyler book but it was an ok read.  7 out of 10.

[fried]

I'd love a copy please. I have a friend with a physical copy but he doesn't let it out of the house.

I don't blame him. PM me an email address and I'll send it.

[webbo]

47? I wish.  Viv Albertine's book reminded me how good the Clash actually were. I first saw them play the Guns on the Roof tour at Leeds Uni, '78, supported by the Slits as it goes...  Let's leave it there.

I pretty sure I was at this too. What do you look like I might remember seeing you.

[SA Chris]

I read Dave Grohl - Foo Fighters, Nirvana & Other Misadventures recently. Probably wouldn't recommend it, he's too much of a nice guy.