Part Two of the Greatest Rock books and biographies of all time… Part One is here…
The second list of twenty-five books are as follows:
- Shout! by Philip Norman. “A definitive Beatles book in a world full of definitive Beatles books…”
- England’s Dreaming by Jon Savage. “Comprehensive story of punk, starting with Malcolm McLaren…”
- You Never Give Me Your Money: The Battle For The Soul Of The Beatles by Peter Doggett. “The last days of the Beatles. A recent book looking at the break up and subsequent solo careers of the Fabs. Not a wholly flattering picture, and is all the more interesting for it.”
- Moon the Loon: The Amazing Rock and Roll Life of Keith Moon by Dougal Butler. “A companion piece to “Dear Boy”, describing the dafter antics of Keith Moon by his personal assistant.”
- Apathy for the Devil by Nick Kent. “One of those great collections of rock writing that gets you flicking through your ipod to listen to whatever he happens to be writing about.”
- Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America by Jonathan Gould. “…and another definitive Beatles book…”
- Heroes and Villains: the True Story of the “Beach Boys” by Steven Gaines. “The real story (or at least a more dodgy version) of the Beach Boys. Reads like a novel – such a bizarre tale…”
- Rock Dreams by Guy Peellaert and Nick Cohn. “A slightly bizarre mix of paintings of pop and rock icons in unlikely situations. Good in a weird way.”
- The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings on Rock Music 1972-1993 by Nick Kent. “A good and diverse collection of rock articles – always interesting.”
- Wilko Johnson: Looking Back At Me” by Zoe Howe. “This book is a compendium, scrapbook and journey into the mind of one of rock’s greatest characters, Dr Feelgood’s Wilko Johnson. It is charming, funny and captures Wilko’s own voice. Very different and very special – like the man himself.”
- Tearing Down The Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector by Mick Brown. “…preceded by 1972’s Phil Spector: Out of His Head by Richard Williams, which covers the rise of Spector, this book covers the fall, in spectacular detail.”
- Deep Blues by Robert Palmer. “Comprehensive book on the evolution of Delta Blues. Scholarly but readable and will get you digging out your old blues records…”
- Stoned by Andrew Loog Oldham. “Some great stories in this memoir by the former manager of the Rolling Stones (see also 2Stoned – the sequel)”.
- Nowhere To Run by Gerri Hirshey. “The story of Soul – this book did a great job of putting the rise of RnB into context for me.”
- Shots from the Hip by Charles Shaar Murray. “Entertaining compilation of CSM’s magazine articles. I like that he kept in his 1975 comment that Blondie “would never be a star, because she’s not good enough”. A varied and comprehensive collection”
- Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs. “Good fun, diverse, although less established names are often the subject matter (a collection of best writings rather than best bands).”
- Nankering with the “Rolling Stones”: The Untold Story of the Early Days by James Phelge. “A very funny look at the early years of the Stones, written by their ex-flatmate.”
- Eric Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton. “A revealing account of how alcoholism can really screw you up.”
- Exile by Dominique Tarle (Genesis Publications). “The most iconic book of rock photos ever, but impossible to get hold of without a couple of grand. For the rest of us you can do what I did and take three books (Rolling Stone’s interview with Keith Richards, Dominique Tarle’s signed book that accompanied his recent exhibition in France plus the photo book that came with the Exile on Main St box set) and get a rough idea…” Also by Genesis publications, but which has a wider availability in a lower priced edition is Moonage Daydream by David Bowie and Mick Rock. The recent Jimmy Page photo biography is also beautiful…
- Boogie Man: The Adventures of John Lee Hooker in the American Twentieth Century by Charles Shaar Murray. “Not just a book about John Lee Hooker, but also a history of the Blues. Just as good is CSM’s book about Jimi Hendrix, Crosstown Traffic“
- All These Years by Mark Lewisohn. I read the expanded edition which is a remarkable book and despite being 1,800 pages only tells of The Beatles’ early years. Superb stuff – and replaces The Complete Beatles Chronicle also by Mark Lewisohn in my list. The latter is a definitive account of The Beatles entire career day by day by the leading Beatles scholar.” See also Beatles Forever by Nicholas Schaffner for great photos and pictures….
- Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B. B. King by B. B. King. “A rich life story of the great man. There is so much about his life I didn’t know…”
- Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll: The Ultimate Guide to the Music, the Myths and the Madness by John Harris. “A sort of Schott’s Miscellany of music – only much more fun.”
- Yeah Yeah Yeah by Bob Stanley. “To track the history of pop music you could buy “1001 Albums Before You Die”. It’s a pretty good album guide (as is The Rolling Stone Album Guide). Alternatively, you could keep those two as a door stop to leaf through from time to time and instead let Bob Stanley tell you the whole fascinating story in a far more engaging way – from the beginning of the charts to the end of the last century”. There’s a chapter by chapter Spotify playlist of Yeah Yeah Yeah through this link….
- Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess by Danny Sugerman. ”The story of Sugerman and how he came to manage Iggy and The Doors. See also No-one Here Gets Out Alive…”
I hope you have enjoyed reading the list. So did I miss any? What is your favourite? If there’s a great music biography or book I haven’t read that you want to tell me about please do leave a comment below…
Update September 2012: I have just finished Peter Guralnik’s Elvis bio Last Train To Memphis, which deserves a place on this list…
Every record tells a story 
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