The subject line pretty much asks all I want to know: What are you looking for most when you read a rock biography?
- Is it technical/musical insight – what gear the musicians played, how things were mic’ed, stories about the development of favorite arrangements and performances?
- Is it dirt: who slept with Jackson Browne, who slept with David Crosby, who could have slept with Yoko first?
- Is it something deeper, like what is the key to a great artist’s greatness?
You may answer in the present, in your rock bio-reading peak, and all points in between.
I was discussing this with a founding Townsman and close personal friend tonight, and I had to say, when I was a teenager and young man I thought reading enough rock biographies would unlock the key to the greatness of John Lennon and whatever other favorite rock artists I could read about in depth. After reading a few bios of any of my favorite artists, I could identify with a number of things any one of them went through. Yeah, my dad left me at a young age…Yeah, I always felt different than everybody else…Yeah, I’m left-handed yet play right-handed…Yeah, I have asthma too! While some young musicians were practicing their scales to unlock musical keys, I naively attempted to unlock some kind of psycho-emotional key. I’m not really proud of admitting this, but I will accept credit from the publishing industry for doing my part to sell a number of rock bios.
Don’t get me wrong, when I was young I liked the other stuff too – the technical/musical insight and the dirt – but if I have to pick what I was looking for most when reading a rock biography, it would definitely have been the “something deeper” I described. Today, I’m better in tune with who I am and realize that any coincidental life experiences with favoritea artists answer none of my questions about how to improve as a musician. I don’t know if I can think of an example of any rock bio that actually analyzed greatness in a way that helped explain it. Do you? In recent years I’ve become more interested in learning the technical/musical details behind the works of favorite artists, but that can still make for a dry read.
My friend and I agreed that Geoff Emerick‘s book on his work with The Beatles from a few years back was the best rock bio we’ve read in recent years. It had a good mix of technical and emotional content. It brought the process of making music to life, and it provided a fresh batch of dirt to The Beatles’ legend.
So how about you? What are you looking for most when your read a rock biography, and what are some rock biographies that live up to your needs?
I generally look for Nick Tosches’ name on the jacket.
What does Nick Tosches provide for you, butcher pete? Didn’t he write a good bio on Jerry Lee Lewis?
One big thing I look for in a music bio is to learn the music and musicians that a favorite of mine grew up on, admires, was influenced by, etc.
So much of the music I love came from tracing back favorites and influences. And once you start tracing, one thing leads to another, you find more great music, and you find how much it’s all connected.
One of the pleasures of listening to Dylan’s Theme Time Radio is getting a musical picture of his youth. It’s as revealing as any interview he’s ever given. More honest than Chronicles.
as an art historian, this is a loaded question for me. in the eyes of some, biography is a questionable form of information to bring to interpretations of art objects. of course, those people have lost sight of the forest for the trees.
i turned to rock lit in jr. high, out of listening, and listening, and listening, and wanting to know more, *anything*, about where the songs i was hearing were coming from. and “anything” includes photographs, too.
it became pretty clear pretty early on that there was probably an interesting story behind most of the music i was hearing. and once my mind went there, then i had to know. i would spend lots and lots of time in the rock section at any book store.
dr. john and i have both registered our delight with the neil young bio called “shakey.” go for it. it’s good stuff.
i like colin escott’s take on hank williams, and i’ll also sheepishly admit that “noone here gets out alive” was a gateway bio. “hammer of the gods” is also a guilty pleasure, like eating a very rich cake.
i have a damn good book about joy division too, but I can’t remember it’s name, and i’m at work today (faculty retreat…grumble grumble grumble).
i’m a rock bio junky i suppose.
It may not be a straightforward rock bio, but I’d recommend Stanley Booth’s The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones.
Booth hung out with the Stones on tour in 1969 and was there at both the sessions for “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses” and the infamous Altamount show. Both of these chapters in the book are incredible.
Booth captures the Stones while they’re still enthusiastic and team players, before they got jaded. He juxtaposes this account with chapters about the early Stones, which runs up till Jones’s death.
Overall, Booth shows how the Stones built up their image through blues mythology–and then had it backfire at Altamount.
saturn mentions “noone here gets out alive”.
I haven’t seen that one but I bet e. pluribus has read it, knowing how he loves Herman’s Hermits…
i forgot about the stanley booth book. good call dr. john. there are passages oin that book that i find difficult to take, where it’s clear that booth is looking to convince the reader that he is just as with it, hip, cool — whatever you want to call it — as the subjects of his book. but he often makes up for it with great moments of clarity and humility, too.
another book i forgot to mention earlier: nicholas schaffner’s “saucerful of secrets,” which still contains more info on syd barrett than any other source i can think of. in fact, most of the material on barrett that has come out since his death has added very little to the canon of stories / recollections / interpretations / and general thinking on syd, with the exception, of course, of RTH’s “small beer” thread.
I’m a rock bio junkie too. In fact, I used to try to alternate between one rock bio and one “good” book. I’ve since dropped the pretense and now I can’t even remember the last non-rock bio that I read. Pretty pathetic of me I suppose but I’ve made my peace with it.
I thought Hammer and No On get out Of here Alive were great rock bios. Very entertaining.
I’ll even read read rock bios about people that I don’t particularly care about (like David Crosby) or people I can’t stand (like Pappa John Phillips).
What I’m looking for is a nice blend of Cool Moments in Rock History coupled with a world class slide into decadence. The lesser the historical significance, the more decadence I expect. That’s why I’m considering picking up a copy of Motley Crue’s bio even though I think they are an utter joke musically.
Hell, I’d love to check out that Don Felder book if anyone has a spare copy.
Maybe we should start some sort of RTH lending library.
saturn,
I agree there are some cringe-worthy passages in Booth. Yet I have now come to think that these passages are arising from the now well outdated idea of author as macho expert (see Norman Mailer, for example).
What I now appreciate in Booth is the many times when he questions this idea.
The artist is unknowable, so I like finding out about the scene the music comes out of, especially if I don’t know much about it. Timothy White’s book on Bob Marley is a great example. Blur: 3862 Days and Pet Shop Boys, Literally as well. I know more about their scene, but Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth was a good read. It’s been a while since I read it, but Jajouka Rolling Stone: A Fable of Gods and Heroes by Stephen Davis was terrific.
I learned the hard way that what you don’t want is a book by a family member. My library had two books about Gram Parsons, and the one by her daughter was a complete waste of time. I should have read Twenty Thousand Roads by David Meyer, but I’m reluctant now to spend time on a whole nother one on Parsons. I know better than to try Rita Marley’s book on her ‘husband.’
I also really enjoyed Phil Lesh’s view from the inside, but there aren’t many of those.
I think, for one reason or another, I’ve found Jazz biographies to be even more interesting to me that Rock biographies. There is a really recording focused book called Milestones by Jack Chambers and anothe called Miles Davis by Ian Carr. Both of these are really enlightening in terms of what Miles was going for on many of his recordings. I’ve also found Coltrane biographies interesting and, daresay, inspirational. His dedication to his craft and the consistently high opinions thoes around have of him personally as well as professionally really give me the feeling that the spirituality was authentic and deep.
First and foremost, the writing style has to be to my liking. I generally don’t like indecipherable sub-Greil Marcus masturbatory stuff, but I want to treated like I’m an adult with a reasonable education all the same. I gave up on the Geoff Emerick book because I didn’t like the writing style. That and he kissed McCartney’s ass from page one onward.
In line with the writing style, there needs to be a strong authorial voice and viewpoint. A rock book should not read like a grad student paper, but there should be a central thesis all the same. Also, I really like thoroughness. I want to know about the highs and the lows. I hate books that lavish attention on a band’s peak, but then rush through their eventual decline. For good, though very different, examples of thorough books, check out Clinton Heylin’s Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades or Doug Hinman’s Kinks chronology All Day and All of the Night. McDonough’s Shakey is good for this, and a whole other slew of reasons.
Some other favorite rock books:
It Came From Memphis by Robert Gordon
The Nearest Faraway Place by Timothy White
Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer by Chris Salewicz (I should lend this to you, Mr. Mod.)
XTC: Song Stories by Neville Farmer
Britpop by John Harris
Dylan’s Chronicles Vol. 1
Geo, I also liked Milestones I want to read bios of Coltrane and Mingus, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Not sure where to begin.
Funny you should bring up this topic, as I’m now reading a bio on Marc Bolan by Mark Paytress that I picked up for a couple of bucks.
I usually look for the same qualities in a rock bio as a bio on other historical figures, i.e., the context of the times which the subject lived & what he/she did to affect (NOT “impact”) that period. I consider it a hallmark of a good bio if I learned about & get insight about other people, as well as the subject. The Bolan bio I’ve been reading is pretty interesting & does have that quality.
I also have the autobiographies of Ray and Dave Davies & let’s just say that Ray’s is more imaginative in prose than Dave’s. In fact, you can tell that X-Ray is definitely something that Ray wrote himself w/o any “ghost.”
Finally, I would like to make a plug for RTH interview subject Martin Newell’s bio, This Little Ziggy, which just came back in print after a few years.
Some other thoughts…
I’ll read anything about The Kinks (though I still haven’t gotten around to Dave’s book). The 33 1/3 entry on VGPS is absolutely stellar. I really like Jon Savage’s official bio from ’84 too. Avoid at all costs anything about the Kinks by Nevelle Marten and Jeffrey Hudson. They’ve repackaged the same book about three times by now. And it was never much good to begin with: My copy is rife with typos and style errors, the writing style is irritating; the chronology is rushed; and the insight is minimal. But if you want to read a loving appreciation of the album Phobia, you’re in the right place.
Finally, I’m really looking forward to the upcoming 33 1/3 book on Radio City. Apparently all the major players are interviewed, including Chilton, who the author spoke to here in Philly! (At the time, Chilton was dating a woman from here.) I’m hoping to use this book to reopen the wounds of the #1 Record/Radio City battles we used to have on the old RTH.
I think it should be perfect mix. I don’t really want all the technical details, but the dirt sometime explains the story. Did the author research the subject and how is the subject treated.
I was spoiled by Guralnick’s Elvis bios. Those books took Elvis off of the stained glass windows and breathed life into the man. So many Elvis books are either written to glorify the man and make him out to be some sort of god or they are written to destroy the myth and talk about the drugs and what a bastard he was. Guralnick’s books just portray a man that was devastated by the loss of a doting mother and a career that became to large to control. It never lays blame, but it certainly doesn’t try to gloss over the legend. It’s so well written and avoids the “soap opera” element that so many rock bios focus on. It never judges nor does it preach. A perfect balance to gain insight to one music’s largest. The first volume goes up to the Army and is much happier read than the second one where The King loses control of himself and his career.
I am currently wading through Guralnick’s book on Sam Cook (Dream Boogie).
I like Stanley’s stuff. Rhythm Oil is a good collection of articles he did about Southern music (particularly Memphis).
The Zappa autobiography is funny and entertaining.
I like the Timothy White book on The Beach Boys. It’s probably the best thing written about Brian, but it also delves into the enitre scope of Southern California and where that music came from and its scene.
TB
Great stuff so far – and many talking points to leap from. Here are a few that I see:
Diskojoe, first off, Mad Props! for using the word “affect” when most business-speak-afflicted writers would use “impact.” My day is already made. I didn’t know This Little Ziggy was back in print. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who’s ever believed in The Power and Glory of Rock.
As for the historical context thing, E. Pluribus Gergely and I were talking about that the other night. Too often those parts function as after-the-fact padding for me, like watching ANY documentary on ANY event that took place during the ’60s and having to see the montage of the hippies doing the Dead dance in Golden Gate park followed by National Guardsmen at Kent State accompanied to the tune of “For What It’s Worth.” Sometimes in rock bios (and any bios) I wonder if the historical context is actually representative of the times or if it’s just thrown in there after being recycled from other historical accounts that couldn’t have come into focus until after the events took place.
I still need to read Shakey and that Strummer book. They always sound like good reads.
I can’t stand Greil Marcus’ writing let alone poor man’s versions thereof. Does Marcus even have ears?
The Guralnick books always work for me. Even when he writes about stuff I know nothing about, like country and oldtime blues, I get into it.
I don’t know that I’ve ever read a jazz biography. I guess I’d worry that the authors would ascribe too much to musicians who didn’t have words in their music. I should try one someday.
I’ve only read two Jazz bios. Both were autobiographies. Quincy Jones’ was fascinating because I knew nothing about the guy before I read the book aside from the fact that he worked on Michael Jackson’s big albums.
Miles Davis’ autobiography was entertaining because the guy is so blunt about things. And boy does he love the word “motherfucker”.
Thank you, Mr. Mod, for your mad props. As for that “historical context” thing, I understand what you’re talking about, i.e., stock footage in documentaries, but what I was trying to say (it’s Monday AM) was that I’m interested in how the subject him/her self affected the times in his/her own way. For example, in the Bolan bio, you can see how his hit singles & persona put an element of glamor in the ’70s British pop scene (for the alternative,there’s an amusing ancedote of how Pink Floyd turned their backs on the camera for a publicity photo shoot). It was also interesting to read about his relationship w/people like Bowie and John Peel, among others, as his career developed.
I also enjoyed reading Guarlnick. My fave rave book of his has to be Sweet Soul Music.
Oats, have you read The Kinks Kronkles, John Mendleson’s book about you-know-who that came out in 1984 (in fact Johnny Rogan also did a Kinks bio the same year, as well as the offical bio)?
I just checked Books In Print for Martin Newell’s This Little Ziggy, and it’s not listed. Amazon, Powell’s, etc. only have expensive used copies listed.
I did, many, many years ago. I lived near the Abington library growing up, and they had a copy. It’s a really weird book, incredibly self-obsessed but funny, which is Mendeleson’s M.O. and he knows it.
The Rogan book is a rumor as far as I’m concerned. Have heard about it for years; never, ever saw a copy. Did it only come out in the UK?
Big Steve: The Wivenhoe Bookshop in Martin’s hometown has copies & you can get them autographed to boot:
http://wivenhoebooks.tbpcontrol.co.uk/tbp.direct/customeraccesscontrol/home.aspx?d=wivenhoebooks&s=C&r=10000091&ui=0&bc=0
Oats: I have the Rogan book & I think mine was actually published in the U.S.
I’ve never read the Rogan book either. It did come out in the US, with a different title from the UK edition:
http://www.kindakinks.net/books/book-rogan.html
Only 15 libraries in the US have a copy, as opposed to 68 libraries worldwide owning the UK edition, so I guess it was not widely distributed. Alibris.com, the used book clearing house, has copies starting at $28.75.
Thanks, I just tried to order a copy of This Little Ziggy. Not sure they’ll deliver to the US, but I guess I’ll find out.
I wonder if the rights reverted back to the author on this one. Selling copies you’ve produced yourself out of your hometown bookstore doesn’t qualify as ‘in print’ as the term is usually used, but, if I get a copy, it’ll go into my library after I’ve read it, and then at least one library in the US will have a copy to lend out.
Mr. Mod, in my view Greil Marcus wasn’t always so full of hot air. Mystery Train deserves its lofty reputation, and Ranters and Crowd Pleasers (I think that’s what it’s called) is a good compendium of his punk and postpunk-era writings. He definitely lost his mind at some point in the ’90s. I remember reading a piece he wrote in RS about “Smells Like Teen Spirit” ’round ’99 or so. I walked away convinced he’d been listening to a completely different song, one that bore no resemblance to the Nirvana tune everyone in Western world knows so well.
I think what makes Guralnick’s work so good is that he seems to really seek out the truth and weed out the myths and lies. I still say that if Guralnick doesn’t say it, then I don’t believe it…
I tried to read Marcus’s Old, Weird America. It was just too much for me. Maybe I’ll revisit it when I’m smarter…
TB
Oats, I haven’t read Mystery Train since I was more than half my current age, but I recall having to slog through a bunch of verbiage that wasn’t worthy of being wasted on some combination of Christ and Lincoln let alone Elvis. No offense to the King. Maybe I’m forgetting something, but I can’t recall a Marcus review that mentioned how a single song sounded. His writing on music seems like footnotes without the body text.
If I ever get around to it, I’ll someday post my imagined Greil Marcus review of The Band’s s/t album based on the imagery and historical tapestry suggested by the song titles alone. Or maybe I’ll just add that concept to my eventual post summarizing what seemed like good ideas over the years that I’ve never been able to actually execute.
Big Steve, the Wivenhoe Bookshop does deliver to the US. I got a copy of This Little Ziggy for a Christmas gift for my niece through them.
Mr. Mod, speaking of books to slog through, I read Meltzer’s Aesthetics of Rock several years ago after reading all about it & let me tell you it was rough going.
Hey Oats,
Check out ‘Beneath the Underdog’ by Charles Mingus. It is an amazing autobiography.
I look for a lot of facts, characters, and background info about bands/singers i like a lot.
I also look for artistic context about artists who’s music i don’t like.
for example: I’ve read the Frank Zappa autobiography, and the Dead book by their main road manager, Rock Scully. Culturaly, i wanted to know more about those folks, but i can’t stomach any of that music.
I like books that have extreme characters in them as primary players too. I love Pink Floyd, but their book was a snoozefest, as was a Bowie book I read. No one Here Gets out Alive and this Chet Baker book were both great, because their main characters were relentless.
Heroes and Villians was my all time fave though.
Shawn, it sounds like you’d like Nick Kent’s The Dark Stuff. It’s a series of chapters about different artists, not a book-length bio, but it’s all extreme characters.
Thanks BigSteve.
Well, I don’t really like rock biographies to be honest. I am not all that interested in any “technical/musical insight” or “dirt”.
So what do I like about Nick Tosches? I like the fact that sometimes he just makes shit up.
There are parts of “Country” and “Unsung Heroes of Rock n Roll” that read like fiction because they are fiction. I suspect that there’s a lot in “Hellfire” and “Where Dead Voices Gather” that isn’t strictly speaking the truth. But who cares? He tells a great story.
Tosches writes very well covering a lot of the same ground that is familiar to readers of G Marcus, but Tosches is a far better stylist. And he writes about genuinely interesting people– Jerry Lee Lewis, Emmett Miller, and Sonny Liston for example– whose lives, at least by his telling mean something. What it all means, I don’t know. But I’ve found his books very rewarding.
The other main reason, I like Nick Tosches is that he turned my on to a lot of great music. You really can’t go wrong a Tosches recommendation. He’s got great taste in music. I am forever thankful to him for his endorsement of Jim Dickinson’s “Dixie Fried” album.
The only other rock “biographies” that I’ve every really cared for are the “Just Shoot Me” oral history of punk and Stephen Calt’s wickedly funny and just plain evil Skip James’ bio “I’d Rather Be the Devil”