best/worst rock biographies

the last third of Life is pretty bad -- a lot of "i own property in connecticut, i hate mick jagger, i'm an old rich guy" kind of stuff. but there's enough in the 60s-70s to make it worthwhile.

Oh, and The Fallen about all the ex-members of The Fall is pretty good in a few places, but really should have been a blog as there's not enough meat to make a full book...

Dylan's Chronicles

Ribowsky's Spector bio is good, I think.

i read this years ago -- really excellent. there's a newer bio of spector that i think got good reviews, too.

I have the Ribowsky bio, it's great

Just finished the latest Led Zep bio--it's excellent, especially if all you knew before was Hammer of the Gods

The Richards one hits his nadir when he goes off on the guy who stole his shepard's pie ingredients late in the book. I can't imagine why you would want the world knowing you are that much of a fool.

hits "its" nadir

David Keenan's England's Hidden Reverse is wonderful, as is Simon Ford's Wreckers of Civilization. Not sure if those count as biographies exactly though.

I read Hagar's book. I thought it was really entertaining. Don't expect Shakespeare.

The Warren Zevon biography is remarkable for how unflattering it is. He comes off as an absolute monster.

Yeah, that's a good one too.

Feels like I've read dozens of bios of the classic rock/pop types (Stones/Kinks/Who/Beatles/Pink Floyd etc) and yet I can't think of a single one that sticks in my memory. Even the good ones tend to follow the same general model where the savage young upstart early years/first flush of fame part of the story is interesting but the second half is a relatively dull or sometimes depressing catalogue of album releases, collaborations, lawsuits and relationship problems.

The only ones I can think of where I have read them more than once or regularly flick through them:

Julian Cope - Head On (Repossessed suffers from the above issues)
Bill Drummond - 45
Malcolm McLaren - The Wicked Ways of Malcolm McLaren
Ian MacDonald - Revolution in the Head

I'm aware of the issue with the last one but it's a great resource for recording details and so on and reading it is kinda like arguing with a fellow Beatle freak about why they are brilliant.

Best: Levon Helm, This Wheel's on Fire (whenever I think of Robbie Robertson, I always think of Ronnie Hawkins and Levon making fun of his red scarf in Last Waltz)

Worst: either Albert Goldman's Elvis or A Drink with Shane MacGowan

Fuck. Goldman's book is the worst book/thing ever.

I've had a hold on Greil Marcus's Dead Elvis at the library for a while now, which is in part a rebuttal to that piece of shit. Opinions anyone?

Bowie In Berlin, a really sweet string of moments that begins with Bowie freaking out on Cameron Crowe in L.A. while eating peppers, milk and cocaine (literally checking the closed blinds for any signs of Jimmy Page, who Bowie thought had cursed him) to a more assured Bowie years later, wrapping up Lodger and moving with "Ashes to Ashes".

In between, Iggy Pop serves as a wingman, Bowie rides around in a hovercraft, Marc Bolan and Bing Crosby are both struck dead mere weeks after performing with Bowie and Bowie sees two familiar figures out kissing by the Berlin Wall.

― Pleasant Plains, Sunday, March 6, 2011 6:51 PM Bookmark

Best: Levon Helm, This Wheel's on Fire (whenever I think of Robbie Robertson, I always think of Ronnie Hawkins and Levon making fun of his red scarf in Last Waltz)

And the fact that the mic he sang into was off.

the goldman elvis book is 'bad' definitely but also kind of hysterically entertaining as long as you don't expect it to be an actual biography, but rather 600 pages of unintentional self-expose on goldman's part. there's an entire page in marcus's book where he just lists as many odious goldmanisms as he can find in the book, viz a viz: "the presleys were not normal people, they were hillbillies..."

Andrew Oldham's book is really good. Oral history that allows others to undercut Oldham's own claims. He comes off like such a charismatic asshole. It's supposed to be the first of a series (it ends w/Marianne Faithfull having a hit w/"As Tears Go By"). 2Stoned came out a while back, but not in the US. I think it covers the rest of the 60s. I'm wondering if the rest will ever come out.

I think the biggest revealation I got out of Keef's book (other than Mick's "tiny todger")--and reall is just something I never really thought about--is he never really used effects pedals. The only reason he used a fuzzbox on "Satisfaction" was it was made available to him, and he thought his track would be replaced w/horns. Later, he cites a delay pedal during the Some Girls/Emotional Rescue era.

Actually now that I think of it, Kieth also claims through the magic of overdubs & tape editing he played all the guitars on The Stones 66-67 recordings because Brian Jones couldn't play well any more. Reeks of bullshit to me.

stanley booth's 'true adventures' is definitely the best stones book, but i read any of them i could get my hands on when i was 19. bill wyman's book is dry as dust; he even manages to make banging groupies sound boring. tony sanchez's book is trashy fun. a. e. hotchner's oral history 'blown away' is a pretty half-assed book but it does have some great interviews with ian stewart and marianne faithfull -- worth skipping around in, at least.

Jah Wobble - Memoirs Of A Geezer (2009)

Have tried to start this twice and run aground both times. Needs more of a ghost-writer, maybe, but I'm hoping it'll pick up once he joins some bands.

Andrew Loog Oldham - Stoned (2000)

This is a delight, he has such fun writing in a snotty up-himself persona ahead of accuracy or objectivity, and all for the better. As noted upthread, they allow enough dissenting views from contemporaries to allay the qualms of fact-sticklers and to add to the amusement by undercutting Oldham's grandiosity.

2Stoned feels very different, as he relates a decade or so of trying to let that persona carry him in the real world when he doesn't actually have anything going on to justify it. Still a good read, but there's almost certainly not enough activity in the rest of his life to warrant a third book.

Oh, and The Fallen about all the ex-members of The Fall is pretty good in a few places, but really should have been a blog as there's not enough meat to make a full book...

It was expanded from a weekend newspaper article.

xpost It's a tough call with Keith. On one hand I believe him when he says he uses no effects, etc. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if he was so far past the point of pawning that stuff off to underlings that he really believes he uses no effects. Like Neil Young and "Old Black," which has been repaired or replaces several times, as best as his tech can manage.

Anyone read Bob Mould's book? Is it out yet?

Steven Tyler's new autobiography sounds kinda lol/kinda amazing:

So it’s oddly touching that despite every­thing, through all the chaos, Tyler’s ego remains unkillable. “I wanted dreamy nubile girls to listen to my voice and cry,” he muses. “A thousand years after my death I fantasized that there’d be people in the outer galaxies listening to ‘Dream On’ and saying in hushed tones, ‘It’s him, the strange Immortal One!’ ” If the love of his life is his own voice, nobody can say the man hasn’t been faithful.

just flipping through it at the boookstore, i could see that steven likes USING CAPS FOR EMPHASIS! which is always a good thing.

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1282642876l/592741.jpg

that is a great book! what happened to bob greene? did he get horrible?

anyone read the new neil strauss collection of interviews? I need a good long airplane book next week

I need that alice cooper book.

In the interviews in the Bob Greene book, Alice clearly has his sights set well beyond the band, forseeing a future in acting, producing musicals, etc. He, of course, did go Hollywood, but it's odd to think that he's done everything in Tinseltown (hung out with Groucho & Helen Hayes, raised funds for the Hollywood sign, Tonight show/Hollywood Squares appearances, etc.) except appear in films (cameos in Sgt. Pepper and Roadie aside). I always thought he would have been a great Harry Dean Stanton-esque character actor, if nothing else.

that is a great book! what happened to bob greene? did he get horrible?

One of the most famous journalists in the country who turned into a scumbag and was brought down a few years by scandal growing out of his seducing and screwing an underage girl. When it broke, the woman was much older. She had written about the affair to Greene's newspaper because she had contacted him and he had, in return, sicced the FBI on her on unfounded blackmail charges. He resigned from the Chicago Tribune and since then his career has been over.

There's a long story in Chicago Mag here with all the details:

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/March-2003/The-Sad-Saga-of-Bob-Greene/index.php?cparticle=8&siarticle=7#artanc

He made a small fortune in journalism.

Been reading the Barry Miles McCartney interview/autobio "Many Years From Now". Once Macca gets into talking about the Swinging part of the Sixties it turns fun.

Of course, there's the annoying " That (Famous Beatles Song) was John's song. He did it all. I mean, I might've done something on the bridge or verses..." on just about EVERY song whose sole author he didn't claim to be.

Just finished the latest Led Zep bio--it's excellent, especially if all you knew before was Hammer of the Gods

― Iago Galdston, Tuesday, May 31, 2011 8:22 PM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There are so many Zeppelin bios. Which one was this? Wh

Almost certainly When Giants Walked The Earth by Mick Wall.

David Buckley's Strange Fascination, boasting thorough interviews with Nile Rodgers, Carlos Alomar, Visconti, and every Bowie principal, trumps any published subsequently.

I've only read one Pink Floyd bio, Pigs Might Fly by Mark Blake, which is great – feels like the definitive history of the band.

Which notable bands/artists have not had their biography written? I've always had the feeling that publishers might be willing to take a punt on rock bios, they seem like relatively easy sells to me. Of course writing them would be much harder.

For example, there should really be a Swans book.

Get in the Van

― Lap loth, Sunday, September 5, 2004 2:44 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

NO WAY get in the van rules!!!! #theshed

I found Keith Richards' book fairly disappointing, much to my surprise.

Just read Stevie Chick's book on Black Flag, and loved it. Great job, Stevie!

Bob Mould's autobiography was really gross and self-serving. Would not recommend.

I read a new book on Paul Simon, and it was really fucking bad. Can't remember the author right now.

some pretty lousy Kurt Cobain ones out there iirc

A ton of them came out in 1994 to capitalize on his death. Those definitely sucked shit.

By the way, if anyone's curious how gross Bob Mould's autobiography is, there's a few pages devoted to the very specific finances of his production royalties on Husker Du's two Warner Brothers records, and how due to a legal settlement, Greg Norton received a portion of that money, when IT WAS BOB MOULD WHO TRULY DESERVED THAT $11,551

eesh, sounds reallllly entertaining.
get in the van is great, for real. still need to read that black flag bio stevie wrote. i've been re-reading a bunch of joe carducci stuff lately, so i'm in the mood. also want to read kristin hersh's recent bio. sort of thought it would show up at my local library, but i guess i'll have to buy it.
mentioned on a james brown thread but the new bio, the one, is really good so far.

It's not a bio but I'm halfway through Making Rumours, Ken Caillat's new memoir of the making of Rumours. It will be way too light on the dirt for most readers, I think (though there is dirt). But he is very thorough about describing just about everything they did in the studio to make the record.

that sounds pretty dope actually. lots of rock bios are light on production, unless it involves snorting coke off a mixing board.

Haven't seen any mention of John Einarson who's done some pretty great ones notably the Arthur Lee Forever Changes co-write of his posthumous.ly released memoirs. Also the Mr Tambourine Man Gene Clark one I'm currently reading. I read his Buffalo Springfield one a couple of years back and enjoyed that too.

Jefrey Lee pierce's Go Tell the Mountain is entertaining but not necessarily reliable.

enjoyed Long Strange Trip and Searching For the Sound on the Grateful Dead too.

Rick Brown & Mike Stax's Like, Misunderstood was an interesting read though it spends much more time on his life in India post draft-dodging than on the band. the 3 part history of the band in the Ugly Things mag is very good too.

think I'll think of others later

oh cool, that arthur lee thing is good? will have to seek it out.

Think it was one of the better books I've read. Really fills in a lot of details. Einarson's expansion helps matters greatly.

They were a band with a lot of rumours circulating and not much published on. So reading this was marvellous.

Wish I'd picked up the Castle compilation I saw in I think Dublin Tower years ago though it could have been London somewhere. & I think it was a compilation not just an issue. Seemed large booksize.

Almost certainly When Giants Walked The Earth by Mick Wall.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Yup...that's the one.