Good books about music

going into that sheffield list i was anticipating responding 'no rod stewart, no credibility' but there rod is, high up there, at that. his eloquence is so surprising you can't help but admire him

Dean Wareham's book is really good, he's v frank about Damon & Naomi but doesn't let himself off the hook.

(xpost) The only one I know I've read for sure is Anthony Scaduto's, the first and most ancient--came out in the early '70s. I read it 40 years ago, so I don't remember a thing; I don't think it was all that well received, by Dylan especially. The most famous is Robert Shelton's, which was anticipated for years--it's his Times review on reproduced on the first album. I think I read that when it came out. But I'm not sure--I might have just skipped to the end, where he interviews Dylan. I think he does, anyway. My memory's terrible, as you can see.

Kristin Hersh and Viv Albertine’s books are fantastic. I’d have included Playing the Bass With Three Left Hands by Will Carruthers. And its not technically a rock memoir, but Really the Blues by Mezz Mezzrow (especially since Dylan took bits and pieces of it for his own memoir).

i liked the kristin hersh book about vic chesnutt too (depressing obviously)

Loved the Hersh autobiog (predictably). Have bought her Chesnutt one as well, but am stalling at diving in, possibly for reasons expressed by na there.

Dylan's Chronicles I is fantastic. It is not really an autobio though.

I want to take a minute to Stan for a very obvious choice, one that most here will have probably already read, or at least been aware of - Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business. It's the most entertaining book on the pop-music business that I ever read, and I've read it 20-odd-some years ago. There are a million other books, most of which are mentioned in this treasure of a thread, but this book explains 70s-90s major label business more than any other book. 

I read a book a few years back written by Jacob Slichter (drummer for Semisonic) on a recommendation by a friend, it's a great read and Jacob is a really engaging writer, it's the boom and bust tale of Semisonic (and a bit about Trip Shakespeare) but very good nonetheless.

^ So You Wanna Be A Rockstar? It's a great one.

Yep, that's the one!

Y'all really made me just order a book by the drummer from Semisonic, and that's why I love this place.

My 2 fave rock memoirs are Crazy From the Heat and Chronicles Vol 1, maybe not in that order.

i enjoyed "cool town" by grace elizabeth hale about the athens, GA, scene of the '70s and '80s. she's an academic, so she does a good job of discussing the broader sociological context of the scene and bands, but she was also part of the scene (ran a beloved restaurant and was in a local band) so has a good personal connection too.

Enjoying the Michael Barnes book on Prog It Was A New Day yesterday. Got as far as the Canterbury scene. Just read the first chapter on that this morning

I was wondering this morning if there's a band in which every single member has written a memoir yet.

Got a slight update on a Kid congo one recently. So hope taht means its coming before too long. Which would mean 3 members out of 4 on a coupl eof occasions.
but Rob ritter is dead and not sure if Patricia Morrison is going to write one.
Enjoyed the Terry graham one though.

Patricia Morrison is legally not allowed to talk about her time in SIsters of Mercy, so that would make for a weird book.

I was wondering this morning if there's a band in which every single member has written a memoir yet.

― Maresn3st, Monday, April 27, 2020 3:46 PM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Motley Crue, if you count Mick Mars' contributions to The Dirt.

Has anyone read The Beautiful Ones?

The Police also

xpost - yes! It’s really good but incomplete for obvious reasons.

All the surviving members of Joy Division plus Ian curtis widow have done memoirs.
& is that Jon Savage thing an oral history that contains more material by each band member too

Finally getting around to Jeff Tweedy's book, I like it quite as bit - funny and very conversational.

Duke University Press is doing a half-price sale on their books till May 25--- Tony Allen one, some reggaeton ones, more

https://www.dukeupress.edu/explore-subjects/browse?subjectid=110&sortid=3

mark lanegan's new memoir!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

seeing backlashes against Lanegan from the Connor brothers and an attempted one from LIam Gallagher.
THink I want to read the book anyway cos he's lead an interesting life, i mean quite apart from the responses so far, like.

What have the Connor brothers said? I can't find that anywhere.

THing about the vitriol that Lanegan directed at them in the book when they haven't really talked in years and whenever they have done its been civil.
May have been a response on FB by Van Connor that somebody else shared. Sounded like there was an FB Screaming Trees group that he contributed to.

Actually comment came from GAry lee Conner.

Thanks!

this book is great. the liam gallagher chapter is hilarious. overall lanegan he has very little good to say about the trees (or anyone, really, with some notable exceptions -- the gun club, nick cave, johnny cash, waylon jennings, chris cornell, josh homme, layne staley, and kurt cobain). he caricatures lee throughout the book. i wouldn't be happy if i were him, either. he doesn't treat van to the same scorn but still i'd be pissed

Has anyone read It Still Moves by Amanda Petrusich?
Also curious about Will Oldham On Bonnie Prince Billy by Alan Licht, anyone familiar with it?

I have teh Will Oldham but haven't read it yet.

i've got the Oldham book it's good, basically a long interview, i'm not the biggest fan of music books or biographies tbh so maybe not the best judge but it's an enjoyable read

actually i could read it again now you've made me think of it, excuse my uncertainties

An old friend of mine who is a music professor at Syracuse University wrote a “textbook” about new wave music called Are We Not New Wave. It’s got lighter moments, but also some pretty deep and thoughtful academic discussion. I loved it! Here it is on goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11461133-are-we-not-new-wave

Cheers ordered the Oldham book and David Crosby's Long Time Gone!

There are more relevant threads to post this on, but--I know this is self-serving--I'm going to post here, where anybody who opens it up does buy music books.

I just self-published a book on pop music in movies and on TV: You Should've Heard Just What I Seen. It's on Kindle Direct Publishing, which is owned by Amazon, so that's where you have to order it.

States

Canada

A friend has also been talking to me about the book and posting clips on YouTube. The first one, 20th Century Women is here--you can find others in the same place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UorpT9Qbhu0

Cool, just watched. Who is your friend?

Scott Woods. He runs the Greil Marcus site, and he's been my friend and co-author for years--you might even remember him from Radio On.

Oh yeah, we toss it back and forth a little bit on rockcritics.com sometimes, when I comment on his posts. Most recently re his interview w *ilxor mark s, editor of A Hidden Landscape Once A Week,* just in case any of yall didn't know about that...

Oh, nice! Will order when I get my next CESB cheque (don't tell Scheer).

In the meantime, I added the book to Goodreads, since it wasn't on there yet: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54240276-you-should-ve-heard-just-what-i-seen

Thanks, cryptosicko (on both counts)! I got out ahead of you this time and made up a playlist a few days ago (posted the link in the Spotify playlist thread).

Delighted to see "It's Too Late To Turn Back Now" on there (assuming the entry is on BlacKkKlansman). One of my two own fave song/visual media combos of recent years, along with Prefab Sprout's "King of Rock and Roll" in the Netflix series I Am Not Okay With This.

Don't know that, but I have Netflix so I'll give that a look. "It's Too Late" was an automatic pick.

Until I get the book, I am really enjoying the YouTube series. Just finished the American Graffiti, which ends with a great gag.

Wasn't that great? Scott's so good with this stuff.

Harald Kisiedu's European Echoes: Jazz Experimentalism in Germany 1950-1975 is a very interesting study of...well, the German avant-garde jazz scene of the 60s and 70s, with particular focus on Peter Brötzmann, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Manfred Schoof, and Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky (an East German saxophonist whose work I'm not familiar with). It's really good, a mix of biography and broader social/political context...and I was surprised to find a quote from a 2019 interview I did with Brötzmann for Bandcamp included in it.

I have recently read Geoff Dyer's But Beautiful and Ian Penman's It Gets Me Home, This Curving Track, really enjoyed both for their sorta fanciful insights onto the personalities of artists. So far from all the hagiography and legend-burnishing bios and magazines I read when I was a teenager.

Enjoying Ryan Walsh's Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968, even though Astral Weeks itself was never my favourite album (been a while, though). The subtitle is cribbed from Marcus, I think, and it really does feel like a secret history, with all this stuff lost to history. I do remember reading about the hype over the Boston Sound in Lillian Roxon's encyclopedia. I've got to see if I can track down that Chamaeleon Church album with Chevy Chase!