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Music Autobiographies or Biographies


Jimi Shandrix

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13 hours ago, The Skelpit Lug said:

Lee Brilleaux, Rock & Roll Gentleman by Zoe Howe is a great insight into Lee & Dr Feelgood.

Agreed great book.

Pete Way - A Fast Ride Out of here: Confessions of Rock's Most Dangerous Man - now sadly deceased but you wonder how he survived so long.

Glenn Hughes - The Aurobiography - another lucky to be alive today.

Bernie Marsden - Where's My Guitar - great read and not pretentious.

Cozy Powell - Dance With the Devil - not great but insight into who he played with.

Colin Hart - A Hart Life - Story of Deep Purple and Rainbow Tour Manager 

Hawkwind - Saga of Hawkwind - delves deep into the band - well worth a read.

Ian Hunter - Diary of a Rock n Roll Star & Rock n Roll Sweepstakes   essential reading.

Deke Leonard = 3 books - Rhino's, Winos and Lunatics,   Maybe I Should Have Stayed in Bed,  Maximum Darkness. Story of Man before and after - a good easy read with some laughs.

Bob Daisley - For Facts Sake - well worth reading especially how Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne treated him and Lee Kerslake.

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39 minutes ago, ThomCat said:

Bob Dylan/ Chronicles: Volume 1 shifted between the less obvious parts of his career. Can't see a sequel happening now tbh 😟

I don’t know if he had a ghost writer - I suspect not - but it’s beautifully written.

Bruce Springsteen’s isn’t, and it’s an absolute trudge.

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51 minutes ago, razamanaz said:

Good reads:

Highway To Hell by Clinton Walker -life & death of Bon Scott

Diary of a R&Roll Star - Ian Hunter

Hardcore Troubadour - Steve Earle

Simple Dreams - Linda Ronstadt

My House of Memories - Merle Haggard

+1 for Ian Hunter & Steve Earle, Willie Nelsons autobiography is also a fantastic read, I spent my entire life thinking he had wrote You were always on my mind & not realising he wrote Crazy before I read it.

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18 hours ago, diegomarahenry said:

Pete Townsends book and the footage of his detention by the police show that there is sometimes smoke without fire. His opinion of Live Aid was pretty stark. Tony Fletchers book on Keith Moon is very good, dispels a few myths about him.

Keith Richards and Steven Tyler's books were very hard to read, both written in their conversational style.....you'd struggle to follow it with  radar. 

The Beastie Boys book is very good but most of it is covered in the documentary and it is done with a bit more style

I know what you mean about Keith Richard's book, but I really enjoyed it.

I did find it odd that the first 5 Stones albums didn't merit a mention - I mean, that's got to be a big deal for anybody- but there were pages and pages on unreleased reggae demos made with his Jamaican pals.

Same with Dylan's Chronicles. Seems almost wilfully awkward in the choice of which records/eras to focus on/leave out.

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Powder by Kevin Sampson is fiction but I enjoyed it.

 

Viv Albertines I loved, 

In the all night cafe by Stuart David gets terrible press from B and S fans but I thought it covered the early days well. 

 

Apparently the Mike Scott autob Life of a Waterboy is great reading but have still to read it.

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I would also recommend the Julian Cope books 'Head On' and 'Repossessed' - I had both books in the one package. 

I love Copey, but he's a rascal - nothing's ever his fault, and he's always complaining that he's 'rudderless and museless', and he talks way too much about his fascination for toys for my liking, but the books are great, and give great insight into the background of the records, leading up to his best album, imo - Peggy Suicide. 

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1 minute ago, paranoid android said:

I would also recommend the Julian Cope books 'Head On' and 'Repossessed' - I had both books in the one package. 

I love Copey, but he's a rascal - nothing's ever his fault, and he's always complaining that he's 'rudderless and museless', and he talks way too much about his fascination for toys for my liking, but the books are great, and give great insight into the background of the records, leading up to his best album, imo - Peggy Suicide. 

Strange that he ended up in Liverpool

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Neither an autobiography or biography but Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 is a great profile of a load of iconic bands.

A shout for Tony Wilson’s 24 Hour Party People as well.

I have a pile I’ve been meaning to work my way through including:
Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl - Carrie Brownstein
I’m Not With The Band - Sylvia Patterson
Girls To The Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution - Sara Marcus
Meet Me In The Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll In New York City 2001-2011 - Lizzy Goodman

Edited by capt_oats
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36 minutes ago, Chester Desmond said:

Miles Davis' autobiography is a hair raising but fascinating read. If, by their nature, autobiographies tend to paint the subject in a more favourable light then Davis must have been a despicable human being. 

Agreed. A great read. According to Miles, everybody was a motherfucker. 😀

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This is probably worth its own thread, but what's your favourite rockumentaries?

Mine are DOA, about the punk scene, with particular regard to The Sex Pistols ill-fated US tour in 1978.

 

B-movie, about a bloke from Manchester who moved to Berlin in the late 70s and got involved in the avant-garde music scene.

 

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Zoe Howe’s Barbed Wire Kisses about JAMC.

Really enjoyed it, helps that I’m a big fan of the brothers Reid. It was written before they started speaking again so has contributions from Jim, Dougie Hart, Moore, Lurie but nowt from William Reid. Great read nevertheless.

Carpet Burns - Tom Hingley. Would really recommend this - especially to any fellow fans of Inspirals. Useful insight into background of band effectively sacking Hingley and bringing back original vocalist.  Also confirms that Noel Gallagher has always been a twat

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