Line Out Music & the City at Night
The Stranger Suggests
Critics' Best Bets
Music Arts & Food
Slog
News & Arts
@SEAshowsTwitter feed of Seattle shows on sale now
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Guilty Pleasure Tell Me About Good Music Biographies
Posted by Derek Erdman on Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 9:12 AM
I finished the Meat Loaf autobiography the other night. It's called To Hell and Back and it was "written" in 1999 or so. The text is printed in at least a 16 pt. size and most of the pages are filled with copyright free gothic clip art illustrations. When I turned the last page a wave of self-loathing washed over me.
- MEAT LOAF IS VILE
Ever since Emily Nokes' muckraking Megadeth exposé two weeks ago, we've been plowing through rock biographies like elementary school students with Weekly Readers. Birdsall from Don't Stop Believin' Records dropped off the execrable To Hell and Back along with the 1995 Boy George biography Take it Like a Man. We've been fighting over the Boy George book, it's that good. I think the mark of a good music biography is to take a subject that you didn't care at all for and make them appealing enough to want to watch videos of them on YouTube. Which is certainly what I've been doing with mid-1980s Culture Club clips for the past week.
I've read some music biographies in which I liked the book but grew to abhor the subject. Warren Zevon, for instance. I couldn't get all the way through Korn singer Brian Welch's Save Me from Myself. I liked Hammer of the Gods & Morrissey and Marr: The Severed Alliance.
We need to know what to read next. What are your favorite music biographies?
1
I loved Keef's new autobiography. I also loved Bob Geldof's (Boomtown Rats, Band Aid, Live Aid) autobiography, Is That It?
3
Brian Wilson's Wouldn't It Be Nice is well worth a read. I haven't revisited it in some time, but it was written while under the sway of his creepy former therapist dude so should be taken with several lumps of salt. Still, a great first person account from a very important figure with some ca-razy stories.
That might be the last music bio I've read; not necessarily a genre I dig into a lot.
That might be the last music bio I've read; not necessarily a genre I dig into a lot.
5
The Fabulous Sylvester, by Joshua Gamson, is the best music bio I've read. (Granted, I haven't read the Guralnick Elvis books.) Nick Tosches' book on Jerry Lee Lewis is pretty great, too.
7
The Dirt - Motley Crue's autobiography. I thought it was well written, funny and the stories make Ozzy look normal.
9
@8 - shoulda kept that to yourself....
also, i remember the sonic youth biography, "confusion is next," that was written in the mid 90s as being pretty good.
also, i remember the sonic youth biography, "confusion is next," that was written in the mid 90s as being pretty good.
10
Holy weird, I'm listening to Sonic Youth's Confusion is Sex AS I TYPE THIS.
I forgot to add, This Must Be the Place about the Talking Heads is really great. Also, I enjoyed the Patti Boyd (Wonderful Tonight, maybe?) book because it was so pathetic.
Side note: Dan Paulus loves Ratt & Korn.
I forgot to add, This Must Be the Place about the Talking Heads is really great. Also, I enjoyed the Patti Boyd (Wonderful Tonight, maybe?) book because it was so pathetic.
Side note: Dan Paulus loves Ratt & Korn.
12
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" is nice, but the best Beach Boys book I've read is "The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience" by Timothy White.
The most fun you'll have reading about Swinging London is Simon Napier-Bell's "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me". Also recommended, but impossible to find due to a libel charge involving George Harrison and Caroline Coon, is "All Dressed Up: The Sixties and the Counterculture" by Jonathon Green, which is about a lot more than music.
A West Coast US counterpart to that would be "Waiting For the Sun: A Rock & Roll History of Los Angeles" by Barney Hoskyns, or his more tightly-focused "Hotel California: The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, The Eagles, and Their Many Friends", which achieves the unusual feat of being fascinating reading even if you (perhaps especially if you) can't stand most of the musicians in it. He also scored with a bio of Tom Waits. If you want to see what a human asshole looks like close up, read David Crosby's several auto-biographies. Thrill with him as he drives down the freeway freebasing with a propane torch in his hand, dropping hot ashes onto his naked chest and swerving back and forth across twelve lanes.
Less well-written, but covering one of the most overlooked figures in American music, and the man Crosby fucked over, is "Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of The Byrds' Gene Clark". Similarly, "Grievous Angel: An Intimate Biography of Gram Parsons" by Jessica Hundley and Polly Parsons is fascinating; whatever you think of Parsons ("privileged rich boy heroin addict jerk" would be my take) his story is one of the most interesting ever. "Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons And His Cosmic American Music" by David Meyer is supposed to be a better book, but I haven't read it yet.
"Re-Make/Re-Model: Becoming Roxy Music" by Michael Bracewell is terrific, from an appropriately art-centric point of view. Also very good: "Iggy Pop: Open Up And Bleed" by Paul Trynka.
If you can stand a trip outside the classic rock orthodoxy, there is no better book around than "Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams" by Nick Tosches, about Dean Martin, who makes all these little rock pukes look like total pussies. Everything Tosches writes is pure gold; check out his "Where Dead Voices Gather", about the last minstrel star, Emmett Miller, or his bio of Jerry Lee Lewis, or even his oddball book about Sonny Liston.
Terry Teachout's recent book about Louis Armstrong got a ton of critical praise, but I found it a little bloodless. A better book about Armstrong is Thomas Brothers's "Louis Armstrong's New Orleans". Context is everything! If that leads you to the magic of Ned Sublette's "The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square", you will not regret it, even though it's not a biography.
George Melly's trio of autobiographies, "Scouse Mouse", "Rum, Bum and Concertina" and "Owning Up" are hysterically funny and fascinating, even if only the last really covers his jazz career in England -- and a rare look into the seedy world of pre-Beat, pre-Beatles English pop world. Grand stuff.
More...
The most fun you'll have reading about Swinging London is Simon Napier-Bell's "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me". Also recommended, but impossible to find due to a libel charge involving George Harrison and Caroline Coon, is "All Dressed Up: The Sixties and the Counterculture" by Jonathon Green, which is about a lot more than music.
A West Coast US counterpart to that would be "Waiting For the Sun: A Rock & Roll History of Los Angeles" by Barney Hoskyns, or his more tightly-focused "Hotel California: The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, The Eagles, and Their Many Friends", which achieves the unusual feat of being fascinating reading even if you (perhaps especially if you) can't stand most of the musicians in it. He also scored with a bio of Tom Waits. If you want to see what a human asshole looks like close up, read David Crosby's several auto-biographies. Thrill with him as he drives down the freeway freebasing with a propane torch in his hand, dropping hot ashes onto his naked chest and swerving back and forth across twelve lanes.
Less well-written, but covering one of the most overlooked figures in American music, and the man Crosby fucked over, is "Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of The Byrds' Gene Clark". Similarly, "Grievous Angel: An Intimate Biography of Gram Parsons" by Jessica Hundley and Polly Parsons is fascinating; whatever you think of Parsons ("privileged rich boy heroin addict jerk" would be my take) his story is one of the most interesting ever. "Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons And His Cosmic American Music" by David Meyer is supposed to be a better book, but I haven't read it yet.
"Re-Make/Re-Model: Becoming Roxy Music" by Michael Bracewell is terrific, from an appropriately art-centric point of view. Also very good: "Iggy Pop: Open Up And Bleed" by Paul Trynka.
If you can stand a trip outside the classic rock orthodoxy, there is no better book around than "Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams" by Nick Tosches, about Dean Martin, who makes all these little rock pukes look like total pussies. Everything Tosches writes is pure gold; check out his "Where Dead Voices Gather", about the last minstrel star, Emmett Miller, or his bio of Jerry Lee Lewis, or even his oddball book about Sonny Liston.
Terry Teachout's recent book about Louis Armstrong got a ton of critical praise, but I found it a little bloodless. A better book about Armstrong is Thomas Brothers's "Louis Armstrong's New Orleans". Context is everything! If that leads you to the magic of Ned Sublette's "The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square", you will not regret it, even though it's not a biography.
George Melly's trio of autobiographies, "Scouse Mouse", "Rum, Bum and Concertina" and "Owning Up" are hysterically funny and fascinating, even if only the last really covers his jazz career in England -- and a rare look into the seedy world of pre-Beat, pre-Beatles English pop world. Grand stuff.
13
"The Long Hard Road Out of Hell" by Marilyn Manson is a real page turner. Worth it for the lunch meat groupie alone.
Not quite a bio, but "Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records," by Ronin Ro is another must read.
Not quite a bio, but "Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records," by Ronin Ro is another must read.
14
Oh! And! You should definitely read "A Drink With Shane MacGowan" and also "Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs." Both are great.
15
"Mezzotints in modern music: Brahms, Tschaïkowsky, Chopin, Richard Strauss" by James Huneker is great funny, like My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult funny, but "Bedouins: Mary Garden, Debussy, Chopin or the circus..." is more scandalous. Did you know Zildjian cymbals came from Zildjia?
"The first set of variations made by Brahms is on a theme of Schumann in F sharp minor. It is a beautiful theme, marked Ziemlich Langsam, and is familiar to all Schumann students; for it is, if I remember aright, the first of the Albumblatter. These variations dimly reveal the inexhaustible fancy of the composer. He views his subject from every possible viewpoint; he sees it as a philosopher, he grimly contemplates it as a cynic; he sings it in mellifluous accents, he plays with it, teases it contrapuntally, and alternately freezes it into glittering stalactites and disperses it in warm, violet-colored vapors. The theme is never lost; it lurks behind formidable ambushes of skips, double notes and octaves, or it slaps you in the face, its voice threatening, its size ten times increased by its harmonic garb. It wooes, caresses, sighs, smiles, coquets, and sneers—in a word, a modern magician weaves for you the most delightful stories imaginable, all the while damnably distracting your attention and harrowing your nerves by spinning in the air polyphonic cups, saucers, plates and balls, and never letting them for a moment reach the earth."
Ah, good times.
Geri Halliwell's "Just For The Record" is post-Spice-alicious
Wednesday 19th December 2001
I've just been blubbing in the toilets at the airport, completely crying my eyes out. Am I really washed up? Am I over? I haven't picked up a newspaper in six months. Is everyone pretending it's all OK?
She answers herself!
More...
"The first set of variations made by Brahms is on a theme of Schumann in F sharp minor. It is a beautiful theme, marked Ziemlich Langsam, and is familiar to all Schumann students; for it is, if I remember aright, the first of the Albumblatter. These variations dimly reveal the inexhaustible fancy of the composer. He views his subject from every possible viewpoint; he sees it as a philosopher, he grimly contemplates it as a cynic; he sings it in mellifluous accents, he plays with it, teases it contrapuntally, and alternately freezes it into glittering stalactites and disperses it in warm, violet-colored vapors. The theme is never lost; it lurks behind formidable ambushes of skips, double notes and octaves, or it slaps you in the face, its voice threatening, its size ten times increased by its harmonic garb. It wooes, caresses, sighs, smiles, coquets, and sneers—in a word, a modern magician weaves for you the most delightful stories imaginable, all the while damnably distracting your attention and harrowing your nerves by spinning in the air polyphonic cups, saucers, plates and balls, and never letting them for a moment reach the earth."
Ah, good times.
Geri Halliwell's "Just For The Record" is post-Spice-alicious
Wednesday 19th December 2001
I've just been blubbing in the toilets at the airport, completely crying my eyes out. Am I really washed up? Am I over? I haven't picked up a newspaper in six months. Is everyone pretending it's all OK?
She answers herself!
16
A Cure for Gravity by Joe Jackson
Rat Girl by Kristin Hersh
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Things the Grandchildren Should Know by Mark Oliver Everett
Everything I'm Cracked Up to Be: A Rock & Roll Fairy Tale by Jen Trynin
Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed by Paul Trynka
Rat Girl by Kristin Hersh
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Things the Grandchildren Should Know by Mark Oliver Everett
Everything I'm Cracked Up to Be: A Rock & Roll Fairy Tale by Jen Trynin
Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed by Paul Trynka
17
Over the long weekend I watched a 47-minute interview between Stephen Pearcy and Neil Zlozower.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLB3GxWEj…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLB3GxWEj…
18
"Hall and Oates: Dangerous Dances" by Nick Tosches. You'll never be able to hear Kiss On My List the same way again
19
Caught in the Crossfire by Joe Nick Patoski- Stevie Ray Vaughn's biography was great. In depth, great writing, no candy coating of his drinking and drug use and vivid portrayals of his talent and dedication to his craft. I highly recommend it.
20
@18, thank you for sparing our delicate sensibilities with those asterisks, sweet cakes.
By "are pretentious", I assume you meant "actually know what they are talking about". Just because you've never heard or read anything doesn't mean no one has.
By "are pretentious", I assume you meant "actually know what they are talking about". Just because you've never heard or read anything doesn't mean no one has.
21
I'm sure you've read it, but if you haven't, "Please Kill Me" is the "Edie" of punk music and I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down. Also, if you haven't read "Edie," it's better than any rock bio.
Belinda Carlisle's "Lips Unsealed" wasn't very well written, but the Go Gos were so fucking cool and she doesn't hold back on her gossip. I especially love how much Exene Cervenka hated them.
I read the first chapter of Nikki Sixx's book out loud to my husband because it's hilarious how unself-aware he is considering how much therapy he's obviously had. Haven't read the whole thing, though.
"Dig!" is my movie version of the kind of book you're looking for. I wasn't into the Brian Jonestown Massacre at all before I saw it, but I became so obsessed with Anton after seeing this that I wound up taking a road trip to meet him and find out what he was really like. The movie nailed it.
Belinda Carlisle's "Lips Unsealed" wasn't very well written, but the Go Gos were so fucking cool and she doesn't hold back on her gossip. I especially love how much Exene Cervenka hated them.
I read the first chapter of Nikki Sixx's book out loud to my husband because it's hilarious how unself-aware he is considering how much therapy he's obviously had. Haven't read the whole thing, though.
"Dig!" is my movie version of the kind of book you're looking for. I wasn't into the Brian Jonestown Massacre at all before I saw it, but I became so obsessed with Anton after seeing this that I wound up taking a road trip to meet him and find out what he was really like. The movie nailed it.
22
@21: You took a road trip to meet Anton Newcombe? PLEEZE recount that tale for me. That guy seems terrifying.
24
I'm not surprised that most of the recommendations here are about musicians. But my favorite was the autobiography of famed Fillmore venue owner/rock manager Bill Graham:
http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Graham-Presen…
I was in the music industry at the time and just found this great for the short history of the industry. The bio on Atlantic Record's Jerry Wexler is also very good.
http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Graham-Presen…
I was in the music industry at the time and just found this great for the short history of the industry. The bio on Atlantic Record's Jerry Wexler is also very good.
25
The best classical music autobiography is the Memoirs of Hector Berlioz. The best English translation is by David Cairns, published by Everyman ($25). A wonderful book, very funny and high spirited, and a great window into 19th century culture.
27
Train of Ice and Fire about Mano Negra's ill-fated journey by rail in Colombia.
Tropical Truth by (and about) Caetano Veloso. Exceptional.
Please Kill Me by by Legs McNeil is pretty freakin' great. The biography of a moment I suppose.
And of course you must read Ned Rorem's journals.
Tropical Truth by (and about) Caetano Veloso. Exceptional.
Please Kill Me by by Legs McNeil is pretty freakin' great. The biography of a moment I suppose.
And of course you must read Ned Rorem's journals.
28
Twenty-four hour party people - including the rebuttals by the late Tony Wilson.
Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible, and Fried: My Life As A Revolting Cock - Chris Connelly of RevCo/Ministry/many things Wax Trax!
Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible, and Fried: My Life As A Revolting Cock - Chris Connelly of RevCo/Ministry/many things Wax Trax!
29
Oh, here's another good one, from left field: "Cider with Roadies" by Stuart Maconie. He's a "radio personality" now, but he paid his dues traveling around with his own and others' bands, including a terrifying four days with Napalm Death. Sort of an English "Our Band Could Be Your Life", only funny.
31
#22, I did! Unfortunately, the story is a long one and ends up making me sound lame in that I wound up passed out outside of his van (where we'd been drinking his whiskey straight from the bottle) covered in vomit and had to be loaded into my husband's car by the opening band. I was in my 20s is my excuse.
If you ever meet him, do not ask him anything about the movie, especially why he kicked that guy in the face. He will go nuts.
If you ever meet him, do not ask him anything about the movie, especially why he kicked that guy in the face. He will go nuts.
33
Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young. Last time I was at EBC it had a copy or two.
35
"The One and Only" (Peter Perrett and the Only Ones) by Nina Antonia is great and also seconding Lexicon Devil.
36
Miles Davis' autobiography is extremely entertaining, and it's written in his voice so there are a bunch of lines like "clean as a broke-dick dog."
@24, I worked at BGP for several years (after Bill died). I enjoyed the book and I always figured part of that was due to my familiarity with the subject matter.
@24, I worked at BGP for several years (after Bill died). I enjoyed the book and I always figured part of that was due to my familiarity with the subject matter.
38
yo fnarf: @18's handle comes from the title of a poison idea EP from back in the day.
only they didn't use asterisks.
only they didn't use asterisks.
40
"And I Don't Want to Live This Life: A Mother's Story of Her Daughter's Murder" by Nancy Spungen's suburban mom
41
yo fnarf: F*** yer b** where the a**** don't c***, nerd. I've got more records than you and I work at a BOOKSTORE, beeotch!! That's right, I hear and read plenty. Plus, I play actual music in actual bands and don't spend all day on the internets writing stupid comments on stupid blogs. AND the best Beach Boys book is "How Deep Is The Ocean" by Paul Williams, so s**k it, "fnarf"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
42
unless you are a hardcore Gun Club fan, I would NOT recommend Jeffrey Lee Pierce's "Go Tell The Mountain". just wanted to throw that out there.
I haven't read "American Demon" by Jack Grisham from TSOL, but everyone I've talked to says it's fucking awesome.
I haven't read "American Demon" by Jack Grisham from TSOL, but everyone I've talked to says it's fucking awesome.
43
My favorite: Andy Summers, One Train Later. Hilarious, great read, wonderful take from a truly professional side man. I have given it to many guitarists as a gift and they have all loved it.
I enjoyed Cash, about Johnny, and Dolly Parton's autobiography was pretty entertaining. Ditto Bubbles, by opera singer Beverly Sills.
I enjoyed Cash, about Johnny, and Dolly Parton's autobiography was pretty entertaining. Ditto Bubbles, by opera singer Beverly Sills.
44
I Am Ozzy- Ozzy Osbourne. Easily the best rock bio I've read in 10 years. Better than the David Lee Roth book, better than the Aerosmith book. The stories are mind blowing and very well told and Ozzy comes across as a very genuine and hilarious dude. The Dark Stuff by Nick Kent is also amazing... in a totally different way. Also highly recommend John Peel: Margrave Of The Marshes. Best WORST ROCK BIO EVER is the Eric Clapton: The Autobiography. What a self-absorbed, womanizing, boring-ass turd.
Most Commented on Line Out
-
What You're Not Wearing: The Eagle Edition! by Timothy Rysdyke
-
Courtney Love Coming to the Moore Theatre by Kelly O
-
Today is Mr. T's Birthday by Derek Erdman
-
Ray Manzarek of The Doors Dead at 74 by Derek Erdman
-
Fleetwood Mac @ Tacoma Dome? by Kelly O
-
All Aboard the Matchbox Twenty Cruise! by Emily Nokes
-
Giggy Smile: Faust, Midday Veil, Dull Knife @ the Comet by Dave Segal
-
HAUNT REVIEW: KUBE 93 Haunted House by Derek Erdman
-
Overheard in the Office by Megan Seling
-
What Kind of Drugs Should You Take While at Graceland? by Mike Force
Stranger Personals
The Stranger
RSSSeattle Art & Performance Quarterly
A complete guide to Seattle's current art, film, dance, and theater season.
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (44) RSS