Blender's 40 Greatest Rock 'N Roll Books
For our latest edition of Stereogum's Shit List (i.e., someone else makes a list, we think it's shitty), we turn your attention to this guide from the scholars at Blender.
40. Yes Yes Y'All: The Experience Music Project Oral History Of Hip-Hop's First Decade
39. Stairway To Hell: The 500 Best Heavy-Metal Albums In The Universe
38. Dreaming Out Loud
37. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History Of Punk
36. Nowhere To Run: The Story Of Soul Music
35. The Aesthetics Of Rock
34. Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography Of Kurt Cobain
33. Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise And Violent Fall Of Death Row Records
32. Led Zeppelin IV
31. The Dark Stuff: Selecting Writings On Rock Music
30. The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, And The Culture Of The Night
29. Great Jones Street
28. Yes I Can
27. Christgau's Record Guide -- The '70s, '80s And '90s
26. Hit Men: Power Brokers And The Fast Money Inside The Music Business
25. Psychotic Reactions And Carburetor Dung
24. Divided Soul
23. Rip It Up And Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984
22. High Fidelity
21. Sound Effects
20. Can't Stop We Won't
19. Revolution In The Head: The Beatles' Records And The Sixties
18. Chronicles: Volume One
17. The Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock And Roll
16. Fargo Rock City
15. The Life And Times Of Little Richard
14. Hammer Of The Gods
13. Hellfire
12. A Wop Bop A Loo Bop A Lop Bam Boom
11. The Commitments
10. Lipstick Traces
9. The True Adventures Of The Rolling Stones
8. The Dirt
7. England's Dreaming
6. Deep Blues
5. Starlust
4. I'm With The Band: Confessions Of A Groupie
3. Ego Trip"s Book Of Rap Lists
2. Last Train To Memphis/Careless Love
1. Dino: Living High In The Dirty Business Of Dreams
Guess if a Rat Packer bio is the ultimate rock read, there's bound to be no room for Michael Azerrad. What fave books of yours are missing?
Posted at 12:07 PM in Shit List
everythings in italics...
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what! no Head On by Julian Cope! retards!
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I think the two most glaring ommissions, for me, are "Killing Yourself To Live" by Chuck Klosterman and The Wilco Book. I understand if there are issues with that second one (even though it paints an excellent, albeit slighlty bizarre, picture of an American rock band in the studio and on the road). However, the first seems right up Blender's alley. All about famous rock stars and death. Well-written, too.
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Dream Brother: the Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley
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no list would be complete without at least 1 or 2 of these selections. these are serious books.
http://www.genesis-publications.com/
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If you don't read "Crazy From The Heat", the David Lee Roth autobiography, you're seriously missing out. Comedy gold.
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I'm a little surprised "Hammer of the Gods" isn't on the list, but really, who cares.
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our band could be your life
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"Songs they never play on the radio" by James Young (about touring with Nico) is sorely missing.
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second that: our band could be your life....
how does this book not make the list?
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geil marcus can eat a bag, lipstick traces is boring.
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"29. Great Jones Street"
Should be much higher.
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It Came From Memphis, by Robert Gordon
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Diary of a Rock'n'Roll Star - Ian Hunter
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hey trey, "hammer" IS up there -- number 14. i guess reading's just not your thing.
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I liked "No One Here Gets Out Alive" by Danny Sugerman.
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"Can't Stop We Won't," I'm assuming, should be Jeff Chang's fantastic "Can't Stop Won't Stop." And my good Blender got it right. "Dino" is absolute genius. Scorcese owns the rights to a filmed version of Tosches' gem, though he's yet to make it. Also: Tosches equally amazing "Where Dead Voices Gather."
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Hip Hop America - Nelson George
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Hip Hop America - Nelson George
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Please Kill Me at 37? The Dirt at 9?
This is just idiotic. Those should be much higher.
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HEY! What a surprise! The journalistic brain-trust at Blender have decided to do... ANOTHER LIST! The cheapest, lamest, laziest fcking ploy in the history of magazine publishing. What a bunch of boring, out-of-touch, out-of-original-ideas, music-hating douchebags.
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Azerrad's "Our Band Could Be Your Life" is missing! Seriously.
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Azerrad's "Our Band Could Be Your Life" is missing! Seriously.
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Glad to see that I'm With The Band: Confessions of A Groupie is at #3.
I'm thirding that Our Band Could Be Your Life should be in there.
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Glad to see that I'm With The Band: Confessions of A Groupie is at #3.
I'm thirding that Our Band Could Be Your Life should be in there.
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"Azerrad's "Our Band Could Be Your Life" is missing!"
I second that..wtf!
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Glad to see that I'm With The Band: Confessions of A Groupie is at #3.
I agree that Our Band Could Be Your Life should be in there.
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Blender made the list, so I'm surprised they didn't consider their own magazine as a book.
I also only clicked on the jump link b/c I was convinced Our Band Could Be Your Life would be there.
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Klosterman's "Killing Yourself to Live" is purely pompous shit from a man who thinks his dorky girl woes are more important than the dead rockers he's supposedly writing about. What a fucking waste of my $20.
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Our Band Could Be Your Life and U2: At The End Of The World should be on there.
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The definitive Smiths biography, Johnny Rogan's SEVERED ALLIANCE, should be on the list if only because it earned the author a Moz death fatwa.
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Should have been contenders:
1. Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes
2. Siouxsie & The Banshees: The Unauthorized Biography (hilarious)
3. Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye
4. Howling at The Moon (Walter Yetnikoff's bio: totally addictive read. A must.)
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The Autobiography of Miles Davis should have been on there. True, it isn't strictly speaking "rock and roll," but it is totally punk rock! Plus Miles is, at the very least, a cross-over artist. I mean, the 70s fusion stuff is probably considered rock and roll in certain circles, right?
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4) If "High Fidelity" is a rock book, then "About A Boy" and "The Sopranos" are better rock books.
3) "Killing Yourself" does suck. "Fargo Rock City" is OK, but not #16 OK.
2) Christgau and "Post Punk" should be higher.
1) They missed: "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" by Broughton & Brewster and "Rock She Wrote," eds. McConnell and Powers. IMO, the two best rock books of the past 15 years.
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I read every comment just to see who the first person to trash Klosterman would be. Pompous is an interesting word choice, considering you're complaining a pop-writer doesn't talk enough about dead rock stars. Good book, not a music book, but still entertaining.
I read 'Flowers in the Dustbin' in college. Pretty academic, but real interesting and covers Robert Johnson to the Ramones.
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Should have been contenders:
1. Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes
2. Siouxsie & The Banshees: The Unauthorized Biography (hilarious)
3. Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye
4. Howling at The Moon (Walter Yetnikoff's bio: totally addictive read. A must.)
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I read every comment just to see who the first person to trash Klosterman would be. Pompous is an interesting word choice, considering you're complaining a pop-writer doesn't talk enough about dead rock stars. Good book, not a music book and shouldn't be on the list (well maybe this list), but still entertaining.
I read 'Flowers in the Dustbin' in college. Pretty academic, but real interesting and covers Robert Johnson to the Ramones.
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Touching From A Distance, the Ian Curtis/Joy Division book written by Ian's wife, Deborah, is pretty bomb-tight. (It's the one that they're basing the movie off of)
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'Please Kill Me' at 37? And where the fuck is 'Cash'?!
And Griel Marcus is quite possibly the worst author of all time ((of all genres)), but at least 'In the Fascist Bathroom' didn't make the cut. Not that's trash.
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'Please Kill Me' at 37? And where the fuck is 'Cash'?!
And Griel Marcus is quite possibly the worst author of all time ((of all genres)), but at least 'In the Fascist Bathroom' didn't make the cut. Not that's trash.
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'Please Kill Me' at 37? And where the fuck is 'Cash'?!
And Griel Marcus is quite possibly the worst author of all time ((of all genres)), but at least 'In the Fascist Bathroom' didn't make the cut. Not that's trash.
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'Please Kill Me' at 37? And where the fuck is 'Cash'?!
And Griel Marcus is quite possibly the worst author of all time ((of all genres)), but at least 'In the Fascist Bathroom' didn't make the cut. Not that's trash.
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'Please Kill Me' at 37? And where the fuck is 'Cash'?!
And Griel Marcus is quite possibly the worst author of all time ((of all genres)), but at least 'In the Fascist Bathroom' didn't make the cut. Not that's trash.
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'Please Kill Me' at 37? And where the fuck is 'Cash'?!
And Griel Marcus is quite possibly the worst author of all time ((of all genres)), but at least 'In the Fascist Bathroom' didn't make the cut. Not that's trash.
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oh man. i loved 'i'm with the band.' about 5-6 years ago i went to a lecture at my school given by pamela des barres, and she had the most amazing stories to tell.
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My Life in Rock the Story of Bill Graham is the best music book ever. Bar none.
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Surprised to see so much Marcus backlash. Of the old guard, I've always found him a more lively read than Bangs or Marsh.
In the Fascist Bathroom/Ranters and Crowd Pleasers probably deserves a place on the list more than Lipstick Traces, though, since music is, at best, a jumping off point for the latter.
The Commitments is the best piece of fiction about playing in a band, so it's nice to see that fairly high. Please Kill Me, Rip It Up, and Can't Stop Won't Stop should all be higher.
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Frank Zappa's autobiography should be on there. Funny and informative, I always like to read the thoughts of a genius. And I don't see Dylan's Chronicles Vol. 1.
Another shit list. Jimmy Page said he was living near a river when he started reading Hammer of the Gods, and literally through it in the water before finishing it.
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SHAKEY (Neil Young bio) by James Mcdonough certainly deserves mention.
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"I Lived to Tell it All" by George Jones. The Possum makes Motley Crue look like a group of Girl Scouts. He did so much cocaine and drank so much whiskey that he heard voices of an old man and a talking duck in his head for several years. Also, "My House of Memories" by Merle Haggard. He breaks out of like 5 prisons when he's still adolescent.
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I just read a great book about Laurel Canyon named Laurel Canyon. I'm not a huge Rollins fan, but Get in the Van was a pretty great trip.
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Stairway To Hell is great
Billion Dollar Baby is missing
Our Band Could Be Your Life is overrated
and Christgau's 90's guide sucks
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Blender is so fucking myopic. Here are 3 more ommissions:
1. Ray Davies - X-RAY
2. William Knoedelseder - STIFFED (The True Story of MCA, The Music Business And The Mafia)
3. Brian Eno - A YEAR WITH SWOLLEN APPENDICES
Also, Kevin Sampson's POWDER is a hilarious piece of 90s Britpop fiction.
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Holy shit, Fred Goodman's MANSION ON THE HILL isn't on there either! wtf?
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Black Metal timeline "Lords of Chaos" & DLR's auto-biography
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"Cheese Chronicles: The True Story of a Rock N Roll Band You'Ve Never Heard of" by Tommy Womack.
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"Hairstyles of the Damned" is by far the best book I've read that captures that right mix of teen angst, musical discovery, and trying to nail that slightly plump punk girl you had a crush in high school. "Heavier Than Heaven" is a decent read but Cross completely nullifies it by presenting as fact his conjectures on Kurt's last minutes. While it might be more bubblegum, Azerrad's "Come As Your Are" is just as good, if not better. Also, while I wouldn't include it on this list, the examination of the life of DC Hardcore "Dance of Days" is a good read. Ooooo! And "American Hardcore." That's some good crack: find a more exhaustive look at any underground movement. Plus that Darby Crash biograhpy is pretty decent too.
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i'm going to jump on the bandwagon (a bandwagon that needs to be jumped on) and say that it is a damn shame Our Band Could Be Your Life isn't on there!
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Some problems with that list, but Dino and The Ego Trip Book of Rap Lists deserve to be up there, for sure. Dino fully deserves to be at number one - a great, great book.
Azerrad's books are OK but pretty bland. I don't see the problem with his omission.
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What?! Where's Motley Crue's The Dirt? That shit is hilarious.
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Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes by Sylvie Simmons
This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the 20th Century by David Bowman
Cash by Johnny Cash
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Another omission.....'The Night I Made Love to a Coke Bottle' by that dude from ELO
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