Books about rock/metal/punk
 

I just finished Mark Paytress: Vicious - The Art Of Dying Young and it was very good read.

Seemed like Paytress had really done his homework and interviewed a ton of people who knew Sid/Pistols and probably read every book available about the subject.

Highly recommended.

Before that I finished
Take a Walk on the Dark Side: Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses by R. Gary Patterson

There was some semi-interesting stuff but I found the overuse of the word 'ironic' really annoying. And some of the stuff was really, really far fetched, like the numerology bs.

Avoid like Paris Hilton's crotch.

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

Books I've previously read and enjoyed:

The Dirt

Don't care if the stories aren't 100% true, but this book is hilarious and one of my all time favourites.
Many people who have never liked Mötley Crüe's music have read this book and recommend it to everyone.

White Line Fever

Lemmy's autobiography is a must read for any Motörhead fan, but should be good read for most rock/metal enthusiasts and casual listeners.

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

Our Band Could Be Your Life - Chronicles earlysih punk, hardcore, and rock bands outside the mainstream. black flag, dinosaur jr., fugazi, minor threat,etc. I read it like five years ago and liked it alot. I'm a huge minor threat/ fugazi fan so it was cool to read about that for me.

Marilyn Mansons book is pretty entertaining. As a musician i think he blows, but this is a fun read. drugs, sex and rock and roll. lots of depravity.

Heavier than heaven - a biograhpy of kurt cobain. really well researched.

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith

I was once a big Aerosmith fan, you know, before they turned gay.
This book was really fun to read. Really amazing the hole they dug themselves into and were still able to climb out.
I still can't listen to them, but man could they do drugs!

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

Hammer of the Gods --The best-known book about Led Zeppelin. Much of its focus is on the band's scandalous episodes and some of it may not be 100% accurate. A damn entertaining book and great airplane/bathroom/before bed reading.

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hammer of the Gods --The best-known book about Led Zeppelin. Much of its focus is on the band's scandalous episodes and some of it may not be 100% accurate. A damn entertaining book and great airplane/bathroom/before bed reading.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have that, but haven't started it yet. I'll read that after I finish Keith Moon: Instant Party: Musings, Memories and Minutiae

Only at page 70 or so but so far this hasn't been that entertaining.

NP: Testament - Confusion Fusion

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

Our Band Could be Your Life

Chapters in the book focus on each of the following groups:

Black Flag
The Minutemen
Mission of Burma
Minor Threat
Hüsker Dü
The Replacements
Sonic Youth
Butthole Surfers
Big Black
Dinosaur Jr.
Fugazi
Mudhoney
Beat Happening

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hammer of the Gods --The best-known book about Led Zeppelin. Much of its focus is on the band's scandalous episodes and some of it may not be 100% accurate. A damn entertaining book and great airplane/bathroom/before bed reading.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have that, but haven't started it yet. I'll read that after I finish Keith Moon: Instant Party: Musings, Memories and Minutiae

Only at page 70 or so but so far this hasn't been that entertaining.

NP: Testament - Confusion Fusion

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn that Keith Moon book is boring as hell. It's taking forever to read but for some reason I decided to finish it.

260/290 pages done and the last 100 pages I've been wishing the guy was dead already.

This book is meant for those who already know most stories written about Moon and for some reason want to know the names of every people Moon went to studio with.

I wanted to read some crazy stories about destroying hotel rooms and stuff.

Can anyone recommend a better book about Moon / The Who?

NP: Vio-Lence - Mentally Afflicted

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

good thread. here are a couple that i have liked a lot.

please kill me: the oral history of punk rock - i'm surprised this one hasn't been mentioned yet because it is regarded by many as the "classic" book about (mostly nyc) punk.

the mansion on the hill - tells the story of how rock became a huge commercial industry, focusing largely on the stories of bob dylan, neal young, and david geffen.

let it blurt - a biography of rock critic lester bangs, also has plenty of stuff just about the mc5 and other 70s punk/rock bands.

transformer: the lou reed story - i didn't think this was the best written book, but if you like lou reed then you'll appreciate the many interesting stories and weird anecdotes.

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

Good thread. Last music history book I read was a bio of Miles Davis. Still, this thread reminded me of a couple novels that I thought touched on the subject matter of this thread.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. The book is better than the Cusack movie. Maybe it's because it came out the year I finished grad school. Maybe it's just a fun read. Been about 12 years since I read it but I enjoyed it.

Vurt, by Jeff Noon. More of a cyberpunk genre rag than anything else, it's an interesting if troubling tale about a druggy on the margins of a bleak, futuristic society. Nifty use of the vernacular and futuristic slang make this Sci-Fi Catcher in the Rye worth a read.

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

Living with the Dead

Written by their manager of 20 years. Even if you're not that into the band, the stories are great and it's fairly well written.

The Real Frank Zappa Book - Frank's autobiography written a few years before he died. Very funny and gives some nice insight into his life and career.

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

Suprised you didn't mention these 2 metal specific ones:

Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore traces the history of music's best genre from both sides of the Atlantic. Bands covered include Napalm Death, Death, Cannibal Corpse, Slayer and other pioneers of fast agressive music. You'll dig it if you haven't read it.

Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground traces the history of Black Metal and satanic artists who committed some high profile murders and church burnings in Norway. Not really a music book but a good study of how some metal guys took some turf wars too far. Bands covered include Venom, Burzum and others.

For punk, you gotta go with Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk The definitive story of punk from the people that made it happen: Patti Smith, Television, The Ramones, The Clash and anyone else who mattered. This Band Could Be Your Life is simply this book recycled for a different group of people.

And if you ever see Black Sabbath: An Oral History in a used bookstore do pick it up for cheap.

KJS

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

[ QUOTE ]
Suprised you didn't mention these 2 metal specific ones:

Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore traces the history of music's best genre from both sides of the Atlantic. Bands covered include Napalm Death, Death, Cannibal Corpse, Slayer and other pioneers of fast agressive music. You'll dig it if you haven't read it.

Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground traces the history of Black Metal and satanic artists who committed some high profile murders and church burnings in Norway. Not really a music book but a good study of how some metal guys took some turf wars too far. Bands covered include Venom, Burzum and others.

[/ QUOTE ]

Obviously I've read both of those, but didn't think there's much of interest for extreme metal over here. Choosing Death was excellent, Lords of Chaos ok/good.

Sound Of The Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal is pretty good history book.

[ QUOTE ]
For punk, you gotta go with Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk The definitive story of punk from the people that made it happen: Patti Smith, Television, The Ramones, The Clash and anyone else who mattered. This Band Could Be Your Life is simply this book recycled for a different group of people.

And if you ever see Black Sabbath: An Oral History in a used bookstore do pick it up for cheap.

KJS

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll look on those.

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

I'm too late for 'Hammer of the Gods', oh well.

I'll throw in two:

I'm With the Band by Pamela des Barres

Confessions of a sixties groupie, one of Zappa's "GTO's". Pretty much fluff, but I remember it being a great beach read twenty years ago. The new edition contains a forward by Dave Navarro.



No One Here Gets Out Alive the Jim Morrison bio by Danny Sugarman. Read this when I was 17, before I was exposed to The Doors music except from 'Apocolypse Now'.

I said, "Whoa", and bought all the Doors' albums within a month.

Actually, now that I think about it, if you've seen the movie you've pretty much read this book. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

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I'm too late for 'Hammer of the Gods', oh well.

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Finished it this morning. Excellent read.

Anyone read Nikki Sixx's 'Heroin Diaries'?

Re: Books about rock/metal/punk
 

Rip It Up And Start Again: postpunk 1978-1984 by Simon Reynolds is a very good read and covers exactly what the title suggests.

Unfortunately it cost me a small fortune in new CDs/old 7"s.

Guy.