Gar Veteran Member Posts:1676  
| 12/8/2005 12:33 PM |
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Does anyone recommend any good music autobiographies/biographies?
The good one's I've read this past year or two have been:
- 'Hardcore Troubadour: The Life And Near Death Of Steve Earle' by Lauren St John
- 'Let It Blurt: The Life And Times Of Lester Bangs' by Jim DeRogatis
- 'The Grateful Dead's American Adventure' by Carol Brightman
- 'John Peel: A Life In Music' by Michael Heatley
- 'Revolution: The Making Of The Beatles' White Album' by David Quantick
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| 12/8/2005 1:02 PM |
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Heavier than Heaven is a good one about Kurt Kobain but thats old news at this stage. Recently read a good biography about Ian Curtis of Joy Division - forget author's name though....
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Rev JulesVeteran Member Posts:1041
| 12/8/2005 1:11 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Gar
Does anyone recommend any good music autobiographies/biographies?
The good one's I've read this past year or two have been:
- 'Hardcore Troubadour: The Life And Near Death Of Steve Earle' by Lauren St John
- 'Let It Blurt: The Life And Times Of Lester Bangs' by Jim DeRogatis
- 'The Grateful Dead's American Adventure' by Carol Brightman
- 'John Peel: A Life In Music' by Michael Heatley
- 'Revolution: The Making Of The Beatles' White Album' by David Quantick
'The Promise of Bruce Springsteen' and Dave Marsh's biog of Bruce are both excellent. |
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UnicronVeteran Member Posts:1696
| 12/8/2005 1:59 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by raoul
Heavier than Heaven is a good one about Kurt Kobain but thats old news at this stage. Recently read a good biography about Ian Curtis of Joy Division - forget author's name though....
Deborah Curtis? |
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| 12/8/2005 2:00 PM |
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an oldie but a goodie, 'no one here gets out alive' jim morrison biography:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446602280/102-4077416-4264914?v=glance&n=283155
Also -not a biog but a great read, its about 60 pages if you print it out
http://www.klf.de/online/books/bytheklf/manual.htm
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| 12/8/2005 2:01 PM |
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Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralnick is great insight into the rise of Elvis up to the Army years and Careless Love the follow up charts his decline, best biogs I've read
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Pilchard Advanced Member Posts:699
| 12/8/2005 3:15 PM |
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johnny rogan's book on Van Morrison is great.
there have been 1 or 2 decent talking heads bios
And with Rev Jules on his Springsteen recommendations
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off the post Basic Member Posts:284
| 12/8/2005 3:50 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by vinny
Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralnick is great insight into the rise of Elvis up to the Army years and Careless Love the follow up charts his decline, best biogs I've read
I really liked them as well but at times it was information overload and I had to keep flicking back remembering who is who? But overall, yeah, great reads.
Read an semi-auto biog of Brian Wilson a few years back. Can't think of the name but I enjoyed it. Also the biog of the Smiths I thought was really good, esp since Morrissey hated it! |
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dudleyBasic Member Posts:124
| 12/8/2005 4:01 PM |
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no no no.
undeniably the very best music book is "The Dirt", the Motley Crue book. Just the filthiest and funniest thing ever.
Other great ones:
"I'm with the Band" - Pamela Des Barres
"While Line Fever" - Lemmy
I forget the name but the Little Richard book is awesome too, total perv
Any of the Led Zep ones have been cool, and "Shakey", the neil young one, is pretty wonderful.
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| 12/8/2005 4:09 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Unicron
quote:
Originally posted by raoul
Heavier than Heaven is a good one about Kurt Kobain but thats old news at this stage. Recently read a good biography about Ian Curtis of Joy Division - forget author's name though....
Deborah Curtis?
no smartarse - twas an older one. |
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aidanAdvanced Member Posts:638
| 12/8/2005 5:31 PM |
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Jon Savage's book on the Sex Pistols (can't remember the title)is awesome; v. intellectual in parts re: nihilism and anarchy as philosphies, terrifying re: what it was like to live in Britain in 1976-77.
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Atticus Finch New Member Posts:16
| 12/8/2005 8:12 PM |
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"Dream Brother" is excellent. Its bout the life and death of Jeff Buckley. Talks bit bout Tim Buckley aswell. Can't remember name of the author. The bits about the recording of "Grace" are pretty cool and it goes on to talk about the mystery surrounding his death. A good read.
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| 12/8/2005 8:42 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by off the post
Read an semi-auto biog of Brian Wilson a few years back. Can't think of the name but I enjoyed it. Also the biog of the Smiths I thought was really good, esp since Morrissey hated it!
Think the Brian Wilson one you're on about is 'Wouldn't it be Nice', as far as i know tis the only one he had a hand in and is a great insight into the mind of a true genius.
Also 'Hammer of the Gods' about Zeppelin- hilarious! |
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Rev JulesVeteran Member Posts:1041
| 12/8/2005 11:13 PM |
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Joe Eszterhas' 'Hollywood Animal' is great crack, he started off as a music journalist with Rolling Stone and ended up with Sharon Stone's...its just a great read.
By the way, Motley Crue's 'The Dirt' is a boy scout's tale compared with Jenna Jameson's New York Times Bestselling Autobiography. Some of the stories in there would strip the paint off a Sherman tank.
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| 12/8/2005 11:56 PM |
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The Micheal Mills one about Manic Street Preachers is fascinating.
Also "Wonderland Avenue" by Danny Sugarman is great. Not quite a music biography, but really good all the same.
And that book by (I think her name is) Pamela De Barres, where she goes threough the deaths of various famous dead people is a real page turner. Whats that book called?
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KarlitoBasic Member Posts:210
| 12/9/2005 4:24 AM |
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Couple of suggestions:
Keith Moons one is good, it was released maybe 5 years ago or there abouts, read it a couple fo times, very funny plus it puts stop to some the stories that entered into legend.
I recently read 4 books on the beatles, one on each of them, nothing new there really, but a good read, the 2 thickest books are on Harrison and Starr, which is nice to see as the other two normally have more written about them.
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UnicronVeteran Member Posts:1696
| 12/9/2005 6:27 PM |
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Dudley is right on the money with the dirt, I don't think I've ever heard a song by the Crue but it's brilliant.
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UnaVeteran Member Posts:1721
| 12/9/2005 7:17 PM |
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'The Dirt' and 'The Lives of John Lennon' by Alfred Goldman are the only music books I've read that are any good.
Pamela Des Barres is a tit, but 'Rock Star' has some interesting stories
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| 12/9/2005 7:27 PM |
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a tit she may well be, but the book was interesting. Is "Rock Star" the one I'm talking about, or is that a different one??
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UnaVeteran Member Posts:1721
| 12/9/2005 7:56 PM |
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dunno, rock star has just loads of stories about different people's falls from grace
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