How Soon Is Never? by Marc Spitz

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

On The Road With The Ramones by Monte A. Melnick

Shakey by Jimmy McDonough | Neil Young bio

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil

Killing Bono by Neil McCormick

Miles Davis' autobiography
Heroes & Villains: The True Story Of the Beach Boys (Just for the pure trashy pleasure of it.)
The Beatles Complete Recording Sessions 1962 - 1970: The Abbey Road Years.

Up and Down with the Rolling Stones by Spanish Tony Sanchez
The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones by (I forget)

"I have to say my favorite book of all time is Johnny Cash's autobiography 'Cash' by Johnny Cash"

Head On/Reposessed-Julian Cope

High Fidelity-Nick Hornby

Hitmen: Power Brokers and Fast Money Made Inside The Music Business-Frederic Dannen

The Daily Adventures Of Mixerman-Mixerman

Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From The American Indie Underground-Michael Azerrad

Let It Blurt-Jim Derogatis

Has anyone on the board read John Lydon's No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs?

Also of interest, there's a new book out about Belle And Sebastian.

It's called 'Just A Modern Rock Story'. I haven't read it yet because it's not out in paperback yet but I'm sure I'll find it of interest.

Stanley Booth?

Greil Marcus' Rants and Crowd Pleasers, though it's since been renamed in other prints. This book has the best essays on the Clash ever written (sorry Lester) as well as Gang of Four (this man is the reason any of us know who they are), Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, and pretty much everyone that died in the Seventies (he fucking RANKS them!)

Lester Bangs, everything

Victor Brockris has a great Keith Richards book, as well as both Lou Reed AND Velvet Underground books. I'm pretty sure he wrote a book about Neil Young as well, which was awesome.

Please Kill Me is probably my most reread book of all time after Douglas Coupland's Girlfriend In a Coma

Bill Graham's book was always interesting, as was Al Koopers, but both in a sorta boring showbizzy sorta way.

Klosterman's Fargo Rock City is arguably his best book, though about a genre few if any really care about.

Are we including music fiction?

i liked the buckley book and our band could be your life

agreed on please kill me & our band could be your life.

also- the one i mentioned in the other thread: last night a dj saved my life. covers the origins of the dj from northern soul, reggae, garage, hip hop, house, techno. fuckin fantastic.

It's just a book of reviews, but I think Martin Popoff's The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal is waaay more interesting/entertaining. I thought Klosterman just came off as defensive in his love of butt-rock, instead of imparting his love of the genre.

My favorite rock book is Tommy Womack's "Cheese Chronicles : The True Story Of A Rock 'N' Roll Band You've Never Heard Of" . Massively entertaining - especially if you came up in the 80's loving "college rock" .

I just finished Songbook by Nick Hornby which is a collection of short essays on different songs. I downloaded all of them first and the list alone is a pretty decent mixtape. But some the articles are fascinating too and he's got some good points about pop music, modern radio, and other things.


I just started Spin: 20 Years Of Alternative Music. I'm only two chapters in but it seems like a decent enough read. Not great, but not bad, much like Spin magazine itself.


On deck is Staring At Sound, the new Flaming Lips biography.

Shakey
The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones
Please Kill Me
Cash: The Autobiography
Fargo Rock City
The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock and Roll Band
Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung
Main Lines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste

Rereading High Fidelity at the moment and not enjoying it as much as before.

Please Kill Me was good

Really need to get around to Our Band Could Be Your Life, but can never find it, even in the big bookstores.

The Sell-In: How the Music Business Seduced Alternative Rock about the Australian industry in the early-mid 90s is excellent - lots of stories about massive record company egos derailing bands - especially every time You Am I tried to get their albums out in the US - and the rivalry behind the scenes among the promoters of the big festivals and 'alternative' bands. I wish the guy would write a sequel covering the last 10 years since that's the period I have experience of and it would be interesting to see what's been going under the surface.

Lady Sings the Blues [Billie Holiday, William Dufty]
Lords Of Chaos [Michael Moynihan, Didrik Soderlind]
Choosing Death [Albert Mudrian, John Peel]

last night a dj saved my life has had tremendous influence on me. i know that there are a number of people on this board who've read it and loved it. i cannot recommend it enough to anyone interested in dj culture and/or the genres highlighted. (personal highlights: northern soul & disco 1)

high fidelity and our band could be your life, obvs.

two that i've been trying to find at the library: vinyl junkies by brett milano (heard mixed reviews) and sonic alchemy by david n. howard. anyone want to toss out some yes/no on either?

i've been trying to find this for awhile as well. let me know if you have any luck.

one other book i've been interested in reading is techno rebels: the renegades of electronic funk by dan sicko

let me add:

rip it up and start again: post punk 1978-1984 by simon reynolds

and just for the art (and a good coffeetable book): the art of the mixtape by thurston moore

has anyone read "so you want to be a rock and roll star" by that guy from semisonic?

I've been meaning to pick it up (not a semisonic fan, but heard the book is pretty good)

Anyone read the Warp Records book? I keep eyeing it & Rakim Told Me whenever I go to TT Lab

My fave's:
Generation Ecstasy by Simon Reynolds
Rip It Up & Start Again: PostPunk 1978-1984 (UK version) by Simon Reynolds
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey by Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton

you rule! i had no idea this Warp book existed. gonna order it.

Just finished it, actually. Definitely recommended...not earth-shattering or anything, but a fun, quick read. Great look at how the music game is played.