Good books about music/pop stars etc

Great, if debauched fun. The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell by Marilyn Manson and the same guy who wrote The Dirt is very entertaining as well…

I thought this one rather good and with some interesting insights (especially concerning Country’s longevity) up until the 70s, when the author’s opinion started weighing more heavily and often dismissing or really glossing over certain eras (almost the entirety of 80s Pop in the US that’s outside of general MTV coverage, 70s Heavy Metal reduced to a page and a half, etc.)

It’s not meant to be a history of all music though - only of music that was successful in the British charts. I think it is interesting in that it focuses on music which is normally considered beneath serious critical consideration. I certainly don’t agree with all of his opinions but it’s always entertaining.

Bad Vibes by Luke Haines. This book is brilliant and I would thoroughly recommend it (even if you know nothing of his work) It’s both bitter and hilarious in equal measure and shows how badly things can go wrong when you strive to maintain an element of artistic integrity.

Fucked by Rock by Mark Manning. I reckon you’d be struggling to find anyone on here who would admit to being a fan of Zodiac Mindwarp (in fact you’d probably be struggling to find anyone anywhere who would admit to being a fan of Zodiac Mindwarp) but it’s a great book which graphically details just how quickly you can get sucked into the debauchery of a life on the road. It’s not for the faint-hearted and you won’t necessarily like the guy anymore by the end but it’s really entertaining.

I would second Jim Bob from Carter USM’s book. If you want to know how a band can go from headlining Glastonbury to total apathetic implosion in 5 years then this is a good read. It also gives an insight into the absolute nightmarish futility of trying to tour America without any major label backing.

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See also Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young. Lots of jabber about his high def digital music format, his cars, his train sets, but also loads of great insight into his music and all adds up to a rich picture of a man standing at the edge of a strange and awesomely creative life

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two recommendations for anyone who like Dylan’s chronicles:

  • John Fahey’s How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life - full of surreal and poetic tales of deepwoods Americana
  • Woody Guthrie’s Bound For Glory - like grapes of wrath but by and about a self-mythologising dustbowl folksinger

Has anyone here got that book called I Was Britpopped? I love Britpop and it’s supposedly like an encyclopedia but I dunno if it’s worth buying, it’s quite expensive across the atlantic and I can’t get a preview or anything of it online.

Also in terms of that Luke Haines book mentioned above, while it’s certainly very juicy and entertaining, I dunno if I would recommend it lol. He slags off EVERYONE and makes everything sound worse. He gives fair warning that he was a former egomaniac and the book is written through his ego in the 90s but still, it gets quite annoying after a while and I don’t think I got much out of it outside of his hatred for the musical industry and a bit less respect for The Auteurs lol.

Bill Brewster - Last Night a DJ Saved My Life. Probably one more for dance music fans, but excellent as it goes way back. And reading it, you realise how indebted anyone who like dance music is to gay culture and blacks/latinos who spearheaded a lot of this stuff in the 70s/80s. I want to read Energy Flash as well.

Yeah, I followed Luke Haines on Twitter for a while. And you’re right - when you hate EVERYONE and EVERYTHING things soon get INCREDIBLY boring. Not sure I’ve listened to The Auteurs since I unfollowed him. Such a shame.

Inspired purely by the film of High Fidelity, I checked out Cash by Johnny Cash.

It is a beautiful read, full of the imagery that made his songwriting so rich. Also the arc it takes in is pretty incredible, starting at the tail end of the dust bowl and the birth of popular music, through post WWII America and the counter culture of the 60s and subsequent malaise. It’s written in a conversational tone which is very comforting, even when describing some fairly dark tales. Some people have accused it of glossing over some of his personal failings, but thanks to the strength of the story telling I still enjoyed it hugely.

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Can anyone recommend any recent books?

Recently read and loved Ian Penman’s book It Gets Me Home, This Curving Track. It’s a collection of essays about an interesting group of artists (Sinatra, James Brown, John Fahey, Prince and a few others). Beautifully written and really insightful and thought provoking.

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Read this one recently:

Really enjoyed it, a glamour free account of a band who do it for the love. A long weekend in Belgium from Somerset to play for no people and back in time to be a postman on Monday morning? Why not.

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Will Ashton - Chamber Music - The Story of Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) Touches on more than just the music. Race, drugs, society etc.

Kim Gordon - Girl in a Band

Recently read and loved Mark Radcliffes Reeling in the Years, not checked out the new one he’s written, Crossroads or something.

Meet Me in the Bathroom - The story of the birth of the New York scene

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That Wu Tang book looks great. Going to buy a copy.

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If you’re a fan of the the fall then Steve Hanley’s The Big Midweek is fascinating.

If you’re looking for something really honest and raw then give Viv Albertine’s Clothes, Music, Boys a go. Honestly one of the best autobiographies I’ve ever come across.

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The Big Midweek is great. Another good recent Fall book is Paul Hanley’s Have a Bleedin’ Guess, which is all about Hex Enduction Hour.

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Totally forgot that that had come out! Will have to track down a copy as yeah it’s be cool to get more insight into the goings on behind Hex. More Icelandic anecdotes please!

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Only really remember Steve talking about Hex was how they could only buy booze in the airport and MES started to get a bit antsy - might be totally misremembering this… and oh and they recorded in like a cave or something?

Two tracks on the album were recorded in Iceland (in a studio that is in a volcanic cave) - Hip Priest and Iceland (natch). The rest was recorded in the less glamorous setting of an abandoned cinema in Hertfordshire.

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