R&R Biographies
Re: R&R Biographies
I'd love to read one on Bowie, if anyone know a good one please let me know
Re: R&R Biographies
Well, there are quite a few out there. Personally, I have read this one:Matz wrote:I'd love to read one on Bowie, if anyone know a good one please let me know
Strange Fascination: David Bowie: The Definitive Story
by David Buckley
I enjoyed it...very informative. Also some excellent interviews with people who have been assocated with Bowie.
The next one is highly recommended and considered to be the best bio. It's on my list to read.
The Complete David Bowie
by Nicholas Pegg
One more that's supposed to be good: David Bowie: Starman
by Paul Trynka
Re: R&R Biographies
cool thanks a lot, I'll denitely check them out. In fact, I think I'll go order one right now!
Re: R&R Biographies
Just thinking about Whores, which was the laziest piecce of shit I have ever labored though. I remember finishing and it felt like I hadn't finished anything.
A real, substantive Jane's bio is sorely needed.....
A real, substantive Jane's bio is sorely needed.....
Re: R&R Biographies
The Hard Rock comic was pretty substantive, if exaggerated. The real "JA" stories seem to all fall within the three years of 85-87, and then I guess some stuff during Lolla 91. They're really not a very interesting band once you know that stuff.SR wrote: Just thinking about Whores, which was the laziest piecce of shit I have ever labored though. I remember finishing and it felt like I hadn't finished anything.
A real, substantive Jane's bio is sorely needed.....
Re: R&R Biographies
The latest bio on Leonard Cohen looks like a winner - I'm buying it!
Good Review here:
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2 ... ie-si.html
Good Review here:
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2 ... ie-si.html
- Essence_Smith
- Posts: 2224
- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:52 pm
Re: R&R Biographies
That dude looks like mike d from the Beasties...
Re: R&R Biographies
In the last 6 months, I read Reckless by Chrissie. Real disappointment. She's really rough on Farndon....ebullient on JHS. Martin Chambers had a thread going on PledgeMusic recently where he was selling his yet unwritten bio, and I asked him what the BS was there on Farndon. He agreed and said more would come out later, but just last week suspended his efforts.
I just started the new Springsteen bio; it reads well into the first 100 pages, if a bit depressing.
I just started the new Springsteen bio; it reads well into the first 100 pages, if a bit depressing.
- Pandemonium
- Posts: 5720
- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 3:18 pm
Re: R&R Biographies
I read the Springsteen bio over the last couple evenings. It's certainly one of the most literate rock bios I've ever read. It's interesting how in the last decade, dealing with depression he's become a big proponent of drugs like Klonopin. The chapter about Clarence's passing at the tail end of the book is heartbreaking.SR wrote:In the last 6 months, I read Reckless by Chrissie. Real disappointment. She's really rough on Farndon....ebullient on JHS. Martin Chambers had a thread going on PledgeMusic recently where he was selling his yet unwritten bio, and I asked him what the BS was there on Farndon. He agreed and said more would come out later, but just last week suspended his efforts.
I just started the new Springsteen bio; it reads well into the first 100 pages, if a bit depressing.
Re: R&R Biographies
Reading My Damage by Keith Morris. 80 pages in and it's great! If you're into any of his bands it's well worth the read.
Re: R&R Biographies
I did not enjoy Keidis' book
The entire thing was basically:
- Wrote a record
- Toured
- Got off tour, checked into a hotel, did heroin for 3 months till Flea came and took me to rehab
- REPEAT
Scott Weiland's was also a total pile of shit. He basically just picked out all his fuckups and explained why none of them were actually his fault. He is also a terrible storyteller. Every single story that involved other people always included his description of their height and what they were wearing. ("Dean Deleo was 6'2" and wearing a Black flag tshirt with grey curodouray pants"... "Duff McKagen was 6'3" and wearing a grey vest, black pants, and sandals")... it was fucking BRUTAL. Also, it was only about 70 pages long, and he's just randomly have 2-3 blank pages between chapters or he'd fill pages with lyrics from songs he had written. (His ex-wife's book is a thousand times better and gets into the shit they were ACTUALLY going through, and she takes responsibility for her actions unlike her dead ex who just blamed everyone but himself)
Keith Richards book was really great. Zero complaints there. It can kind of drag in places, but once he gets to the exciting stories in between all the "hung out at the house with my dad for 6 months" stuff, it's really great. And he pulls no punches in admitting that he was a fucking junkie and that's why Mick took such control of the band for so long.
Corey Taylor's first book is really great, and somewhat biographical. The second is some bullshit about the paranormal and sucked ass. The third was good though, some bio stuff but mostly the situations he finds himself in, in which he just absolutely hates people. The rage has humor to it though.
Almost anything by Henry Rollins is great, in particular his tour journals. He has more than I can count at this point where he describes his adventures around the world, and the cultures of people he is interacting with. All of them are pretty awesome. "Smile, you're traveling" is probably my favorite, but maybe that's just because it was the first one I read. He's done several more since then.
The entire thing was basically:
- Wrote a record
- Toured
- Got off tour, checked into a hotel, did heroin for 3 months till Flea came and took me to rehab
- REPEAT
Scott Weiland's was also a total pile of shit. He basically just picked out all his fuckups and explained why none of them were actually his fault. He is also a terrible storyteller. Every single story that involved other people always included his description of their height and what they were wearing. ("Dean Deleo was 6'2" and wearing a Black flag tshirt with grey curodouray pants"... "Duff McKagen was 6'3" and wearing a grey vest, black pants, and sandals")... it was fucking BRUTAL. Also, it was only about 70 pages long, and he's just randomly have 2-3 blank pages between chapters or he'd fill pages with lyrics from songs he had written. (His ex-wife's book is a thousand times better and gets into the shit they were ACTUALLY going through, and she takes responsibility for her actions unlike her dead ex who just blamed everyone but himself)
Keith Richards book was really great. Zero complaints there. It can kind of drag in places, but once he gets to the exciting stories in between all the "hung out at the house with my dad for 6 months" stuff, it's really great. And he pulls no punches in admitting that he was a fucking junkie and that's why Mick took such control of the band for so long.
Corey Taylor's first book is really great, and somewhat biographical. The second is some bullshit about the paranormal and sucked ass. The third was good though, some bio stuff but mostly the situations he finds himself in, in which he just absolutely hates people. The rage has humor to it though.
Almost anything by Henry Rollins is great, in particular his tour journals. He has more than I can count at this point where he describes his adventures around the world, and the cultures of people he is interacting with. All of them are pretty awesome. "Smile, you're traveling" is probably my favorite, but maybe that's just because it was the first one I read. He's done several more since then.
Re: R&R Biographies
The storyteller isn't limited to songs I appears. No co-writer is listed, which I don't believe but I can see this guy writing most of this.Pandemonium wrote:I read the Springsteen bio over the last couple evenings. It's certainly one of the most literate rock bios I've ever read. It's interesting how in the last decade, dealing with depression he's become a big proponent of drugs like Klonopin. The chapter about Clarence's passing at the tail end of the book is heartbreaking.SR wrote:In the last 6 months, I read Reckless by Chrissie. Real disappointment. She's really rough on Farndon....ebullient on JHS. Martin Chambers had a thread going on PledgeMusic recently where he was selling his yet unwritten bio, and I asked him what the BS was there on Farndon. He agreed and said more would come out later, but just last week suspended his efforts.
I just started the new Springsteen bio; it reads well into the first 100 pages, if a bit depressing.
- Pandemonium
- Posts: 5720
- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 3:18 pm
Re: R&R Biographies
He didn't have any help, no ghost writer. From what I understand, he wrote it in shorthand over the course of the last 7 years in fits and starts, drop it for a few months at a time, go back and re-read and edit and eventually turned in a mountain of hand written pages to the publisher. He's doing a book signing at a Barnes and Nobel in LA Monday which I expect to be insane. Not for me, thank you.SR wrote:The storyteller isn't limited to songs I appears. No co-writer is listed, which I don't believe but I can see this guy writing most of this.Pandemonium wrote: I read the Springsteen bio over the last couple evenings. It's certainly one of the most literate rock bios I've ever read. It's interesting how in the last decade, dealing with depression he's become a big proponent of drugs like Klonopin. The chapter about Clarence's passing at the tail end of the book is heartbreaking.
- Pandemonium
- Posts: 5720
- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 3:18 pm
Re: R&R Biographies
I've read a fair number of rock bios, and surprisingly, probably the best and certainly most entertaining is the Motley Crue bio "The Dirt." You get a good picture of what scumbags pretty much everyone in the band except Mick Marrs is.
I also liked U2's "U2byU2" which is really more of a huge coffee table photo book because everyone in the band contributes to the nuts and bolts of putting together their music and live shows in a pretty straightforward way. The funniest thing I got out of that book was they saw The Cramps live around 1979 and the show freaked them out, lol!
I also liked U2's "U2byU2" which is really more of a huge coffee table photo book because everyone in the band contributes to the nuts and bolts of putting together their music and live shows in a pretty straightforward way. The funniest thing I got out of that book was they saw The Cramps live around 1979 and the show freaked them out, lol!
Re: R&R Biographies
Most impressivePandemonium wrote:He didn't have any help, no ghost writer. From what I understand, he wrote it in shorthand over the course of the last 7 years in fits and starts, drop it for a few months at a time, go back and re-read and edit and eventually turned in a mountain of hand written pages to the publisher. He's doing a book signing at a Barnes and Nobel in LA Monday which I expect to be insane. Not for me, thank you.SR wrote:The storyteller isn't limited to songs I appears. No co-writer is listed, which I don't believe but I can see this guy writing most of this.Pandemonium wrote: I read the Springsteen bio over the last couple evenings. It's certainly one of the most literate rock bios I've ever read. It's interesting how in the last decade, dealing with depression he's become a big proponent of drugs like Klonopin. The chapter about Clarence's passing at the tail end of the book is heartbreaking.
Re: R&R Biographies
I want to read the Curtis Mayfield bio written by his son, Todd Mayfield and Travis Atria.
In the Rolling Stone link is an excerpt from the book.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... is-w442580
I had no idea that he was paralyzed from a freak accident.
In the Rolling Stone link is an excerpt from the book.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... is-w442580
I had no idea that he was paralyzed from a freak accident.
Re: R&R Biographies
Jut finished it. By far the best auto bio I have ever read. In the acknowledgements, he expresses gratitude for a great number of people who include some who spent countless hours assisting with the endless rewrites. Ho most certainly had help with framing, toning, editing and language. Still, I think he did far more than most in these regards, far more.....it's just too heartfelt, authentic, and sincere.Pandemonium wrote:He didn't have any help, no ghost writer. From what I understand, he wrote it in shorthand over the course of the last 7 years in fits and starts, drop it for a few months at a time, go back and re-read and edit and eventually turned in a mountain of hand written pages to the publisher. He's doing a book signing at a Barnes and Nobel in LA Monday which I expect to be insane. Not for me, thank you.SR wrote:The storyteller isn't limited to songs I appears. No co-writer is listed, which I don't believe but I can see this guy writing most of this.Pandemonium wrote: I read the Springsteen bio over the last couple evenings. It's certainly one of the most literate rock bios I've ever read. It's interesting how in the last decade, dealing with depression he's become a big proponent of drugs like Klonopin. The chapter about Clarence's passing at the tail end of the book is heartbreaking.
I found myself fairly emotional reading it. I haven't dedicated much time to his music in decades, but the narrative brought me back (hard) to the Darkness and River days. 3 plus decades ago I dedicated a lot of energy to those albums, dissecting them in Jack Daniel's fueled marathon's with friends while my parents were out of town. By the time BitUSA came out, I felt like a seasoned 'old' fan. I went to the Coliseum show and loved it, but I wasn't completely sold on the material. So, when in the book he referenced the final mix of BitUSA as a watershed moment, I was surprised. To this day, I think it's a marginal song. The deeper cuts like My Hometown, I'm Going Down, I'm on Fire, Darlington County and Cover Me stood head and shoulders over it.
So many things to reflect on, but his description of Brendan O'Brien resonated with me....describing him as a confident young man of 30 or so. Too, he referenced Pete Townshend so many times; it bothered me. Though during the time I referenced earlier, I was also deeply immersed in Tommy, WN, and Quad I fell off the Who after 81 with it's Hard and it's tour which I was disappointed in. And his vocal neo-con politics and shameless exploitation of his music on tours and commercials has left me feeling ill and resentful. I was surprised that he still admires him so much.