Books about music
 

I've been reading up on music lately. I've recently been into [I]Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung[/I] (a collection of Lester Bangs articles and reviews), [I]Sweet Soul Music[/I] (by Peter Guralnick, about Stax Records), and Johnny Cash's autobiography.

Anyway, I decided I'd like to read some more music related books. So, anybody got some recommendations? General history, or analysis, or biographies, whatever. I almost bought the Tim/Jeff Buckley dual biography thing a few days ago, is that one any good?

Also, does anybody know a good Beatles biography? There's a million of them, and I don't wanna get a crappy one.

[I]Our Band Could Be Your Life[/I] by Micheal Azerad (sp?) is really great. It has biographies of alot of SST bands and other bands in the American underground during the 80s. Black Flag, Minutemen, Dinosaur, Butthole Surfers, Husker Du, Mission of Burma, etc. Really cool book.

[I]The Real Frank Zappa Book[/I] is a nice, biased look at various Zappa related information. I dug it.

[I]Miles and Me[/I] is a really good biography of Miles Davis as told by friend Quincy Troupe.

I know I've read more, but they don't come it mind at the moment.

walk on- spiritual journey of U2 is a good read..

[QUOTE=Sam][I]Our Band Could Be Your Life[/I] by Micheal Azerad (sp?) is really great. It has biographies of alot of SST bands and other bands in the American underground during the 80s. Black Flag, Minutemen, Dinosaur, Butthole Surfers, Husker Du, Mission of Burma, etc. Really cool book.[/QUOTE]
Damn good book.


The great Indie Discography is another awesome book, its by Martin Strong. Its about 1,000 pages, and its basicly a dictionary of Indie music from the last 40 years.

[QUOTE=Sam][I]Our Band Could Be Your Life[/I] by Micheal Azerad (sp?) is really great. It has biographies of alot of SST bands and other bands in the American underground during the 80s. Black Flag, Minutemen, Dinosaur, Butthole Surfers, Husker Du, Mission of Burma, etc. Really cool book.[/QUOTE]

I've been meaning to get that book for ages now, but I've never gotten round to it. It does sound great though.

[QUOTE=Anxious Mo-Fo]Damn good book.


The great Indie Discography is another awesome book, its by Martin Strong. Its about 1,000 pages, and its basicly a dictionary of Indie music from the last 40 years.[/QUOTE]

I might have to read that.

[QUOTE=Sam][I]Our Band Could Be Your Life[/I] by Micheal Azerad (sp?) is really great. It has biographies of alot of SST bands and other bands in the American underground during the 80s. Black Flag, Minutemen, Dinosaur, Butthole Surfers, Husker Du, Mission of Burma, etc. Really cool book.[/QUOTE]

This book sounds awesome - I'm gonna have to get it. Now all I need is money.

And about the title of the book, I've heard that line somewhere before but I can't think where, and now it's annoying me. FCUK!

Its from Minutemen-History Lesson Part II

[QUOTE=Anxious Mo-Fo]Its from Minutemen-History Lesson Part II[/QUOTE]

Damn! The very first line, too. This is one of the best spoken word tracks ever, I think.

as for Beatles, I rather enjoyed Albert Goldman's The Lives of John Lennon, though I am unfortunately in the minority in that aspect...:(

[QUOTE=Bukowski]Damn! The very first line, too. This is one of the best spoken word tracks ever, I think.[/QUOTE]
Ever.

I might look into the ones Sam and Anxious Mo-Fo mentioned.

I keep saying this over and over again: [I]The Dirt[/I] by Motley Crue.

I don't even particularly like the band but the book is just ridiculously entertaining and well, good. It's even surprisingly well-written as well.

The Beatles Anthology is great. It's incredibly expensive though... so it depends how much you're willing to spend. I think it's well worth the money, but then again I got it as a gift and didn't have to pay for it with my own money. Bob Dylan's Chronicles is an incredible book as well. I want to get Levon Helm's book about The Band.

I borrowed the Beatles Anthology from the library... most people already know the general story but that goes into unimaginable detail. Very well put together and it's presented nicely as well. I might buy it someday just to have it, but if I were you I would definitely borrow it from your local library if they carry it.

The other collection of Lester Bangs stuff, [I]Mainlines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste[/I] would be a good read if you enjoyed [I]Carburetor Dung[/I]. Right now I'm reading a biography about Sun Ra: [I]Space is the Place[/I] by John F. Szwed. Very interesting to hear about his pre-Sun Ra days, about a quarter of the way through right now. I also read a biography on Brian Jones recently, he's got an interesting mystery story behind him. The book I read wasn't terribly great, though.

Elliott Smith And The Big Nothing by Benjamin Nugent

Can anyone tell me if this is any good? I plan on reading it someday.


[QUOTE=Tomahawk]I almost bought the Tim/Jeff Buckley dual biography thing a few days ago, is that one any good?
[/QUOTE]

I read that, that was an awesome book.

[i]This Wheel's On Fire[/i] by Levon Helm.

[i]Fargo Rock City[/i] by Chuck Klosterman. Great read, I thought it was entertaining.

I mention this every time a thread like this comes up, but Shane MacGowan's semi-biography A Drink With Shane MacGowan is very good (Victoria Mary Clarke should be credited as the author, if you go looking for it).

Anything by Jim DeRogatis is a sure bet.

I read Hammer of the gods about Led Zeppelin, it was pretty good.

I was gona get 'the band that time forgot' about G'n'R but wasnt sure. Has anyone read it?.....I'm thinking of Spat Out Plath really.

I guess I should read some more Alt+Indie type books, I was gona get the smashing pumpkins bio but it's expensive.

[I]Wonderland Avenue[/I] by Danny Sugarman.

Amazing book more aor less about a man's life with music.

I bought [I]The Bob Dylan Scrapbook [/I]yesterday.

[QUOTE=Ficus][i]Fargo Rock City[/i] by Chuck Klosterman. Great read, I thought it was entertaining.[/QUOTE]
[i]Killing Yourself to Live[/i] by Klosterman is another decent read.

[QUOTE=Dreww]I bought [I]The Bob Dylan Scrapbook [/I]yesterday.[/QUOTE]
I have [i]Bob Dylan Chronicles[/i] volume 1, its fairly entertaining.

[QUOTE=MC187]I have [i]Bob Dylan Chronicles[/i] volume 1, its fairly entertaining.[/QUOTE]
I have that as well. Love it.

[I]Rip It Up And Start Again[/I] is supposed to be a good book about post punk, but i havent been able to read it yet because we dont get it in the us until 2006...

[QUOTE=bleep_bloop][I]Rip It Up And Start Again[/I] is supposed to be a good book about post punk, but i havent been able to read it yet because we dont get it in the us until 2006...[/QUOTE]
I'm going to have to get it. Do you know if you can pre-order it or who the author is?

[QUOTE=MC187][i]Killing Yourself to Live[/i] by Klosterman is another decent read.[/QUOTE]


what is killing yourself... about?