Powder by Kevin Simpson. If you haven't read it then you should.

i thought powder was a fairly crap book. manic street preachers bio : amazing neil young bio : amazing motley crue : amazing i cannot remember the names of these bukes...

most of the good music books i've read are either about the business or, strangely, hip-hop. Walter Yetnikoff "Howling at the Moon" (amazing story of the head of CBS Records) David Ritz "Marvin Gaye: Troubled Soul" Lloyd Bradley "When Reggae Was King" Fredric Dannen "The Hitmen" (brilliant inside tale on how the music business is run like the mafia) Ronin Ro "Have Gun Will Travel" (amazing book on US hip-hop) Brian Cross "It's Not About A Salary" (limerick dude's story of west coast hip-hop) Anything by Nelson George (the best hip-hop writer around) Patrick Neate "Where You're From" (he wrote 12 Bar Blues and then this amazing travel book on hip-hop scenes around the world) William Upski Wimsatt "Bomb The Suburbs" David Toop "Ocean of Sound" "Irish Folk, Trad & Blues: The Hidden Story" Bob Dylan "Chronicles" (loved every line of it) I like the sound of the new Billie Holiday book which has been reviewed in a few places. And i hope the Sylvie Simmonds book on Johnny Cash will be worth the wait.

have you read Chuck D's one? 'Fight The Power: rap race and reality'. It's pretty good, if a bit preachy.

the Zeppelin biography "Hammer of the Gods" is a great read,pure rock n'roll Also really enjoyed "No One Gets Out of Here Alive" a biography of Jim Morrison, "My Life With The Doors" by Ray Manzarek is also well worth a read emm, thats about it, oh Rita Marleys auto biography is very interesting too, cant remember the name but it has Bob Marley in the title somewhere!

Bob Geldof's autobiography "Is That It ?" is brilliant. Some great insights into the Irish rock scene pre-U2. His account of the whole Band Aid / Live Aid events are fascinating. "Heavier Than Heaven", the biography of Kurt Cobain I thought was a great read. "Dream Brother" - biography of both Jeff and Tim Buckley, well worth reading also if you're into either Buckley.

A few I've read recently: 'Let It Blurt: The Life And Times Of Lester Bangs' by Jim DeRogatis - it's ok, could've been alot better. '31 Songs' by Nick Hornby - expected this to be far better from such a great writer, but come on he must have been taking the piss putting 'I Am A Bird' by Nelly Furtato in there. 'Milk It' by Jim DeRogatis - decent read, he captured the grunge scene just as it started to explode globally. 'Revolution: The Making Of The Beatles' White Album' by David Quantick - great read especially when listening to the White Album. Any Beatles fan should read this. 'Lost In Music' by Giles Smith - a good book which could've been a bit more exciting. 'Psychotic Reactions And Carburetor Dung' by Lester Bangs - messed up at times, pure genius at times, simple entertainment at times, confusing drug fuelled jibberish at times.....all traits of Lester's personality and writing. An interesting read in small doses. Gonna start 'Chronicles' by Bob Dylan anyday now.

Read Dylan's "Chronicles" a while ago, its very, very good left me really looking forward to the next few installments, and it turned me back onto some of his records, so yeah, great Must read those Lester Bangs books been meaning to for ages, i got an album of his "Jook Savages on the Brazos" haven't given it a proper full on listen yet, but christ its awful!

Rev Jules: Two things about that... 1) Until recently, I always thought Nelly was singing 'I Don't Know Where My Phone Is' on that song 2) I'm rather partial to 'Turn Out The Light' myself But a book from a great writer citing 31 of his favourite songs at that period? C'mon he could've considered his list a bit better than that.

It's 'I'm like a bird', no? Nelly Furtado said in some interview she stole Jeff Buckley's vocal style for this song (much like Thom Yorke saying he did the same for FPT)

That's the one Una, 'I'm Like A Bird'.....still not worthy enough to be written about extensively.

....as for music books, 'england's dreaming' by jon savage is amazing. the story of the sex pistols and late 70s english punk, he also talks about the history of anarchism, the various scenes in london and paints a picture of a quite terrifying nationalist atmosphere around the queen's jubilee year in 1977. a fantastic book, full of vivid characters and intelligent observation.

Yes Yes Y'All by Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn is well worth checking out. It documents the first decade of hip hop in New York (1976-1986) It just a collection of quotes from people who were actually there. It's pretty comprehensive (you get the perspectives of DJs, MCs, breakers, graf writers, niteclub owners, record execs etc etc.) And it's got some amazing photos. I particluary like their scans of hand drawn flyers for block parties.

I've mentioned them before but they bear repeating 'Lou Reed' Victor Bockris 'The Promise of Bruce Springsteen' Eric Alterman 'Bob Dylan' Anthony Scaduto John Harris 'The Last Party' Simon Napier Bell 'Black Vinyl - White Powder' Peter Doggett 'Are You Ready For The Country' Peter Guralnick 'Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues and Rock 'n' Roll' Also, for any of you who loved 'Motley Crue - The Dirt', Jenna Jameson's new memoir is also in the same league, it topped the New York Times Non Fiction Bestsellers list, by the way