Books about rock/metal/punk

[Pete H]

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.

[Pete H]

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.

[bustedchucks]

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.

[dcasper70]

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!

[WhoIam]

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.

[Pete H]

[ 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

[4_2_it]

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

[Pete H]

[ 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

[sam h]

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.

[KilgoreTrout]

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.