Summer is here! I don't know about you, but I tend to tear through books during the summer. It's a combination of the week long vacation I usually take, and the sunshine that stays up well into the evening just makes me want to lay in the sun. And on the plus side the books can block your face so you can avoid sun damage! Unfortunately I have not actually read ten books on rock, or I can't remember them, and therefore I will not recommend them because they obviously sucked. Anyway, here's my favorite 6 books that I've read about rock music and rock gods.
1. Heavier Than Heaven by Charles R. Cross - Charles C. Cross is such a good writer, and you get so wrapped up in Kurt Cobain's life. The way he writes you feel like you know Cobain, and it's really devastating when he describes his death. No shock that they are turning this into a movie. Cross has also written books about Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Bruce Springsteen that I have to remember to check out.
2. Shakey: Neil Young's Biograpy by Jimmy McDonough - Neil Young had once said that he would never let and authorized biography to be written about him or a greatest hits album to be issued. Well both of those things have happened and I think the complement each other like Cabernet and steak. I learned so much about the man behind the music from this book, and am happy that he is still "Rocking In the Free World".
3. Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Bealtes - by Geoff Emerick - Emerick was a sound engineer for the Beatles from 1966 to 1968. I not only learned things about the Beatles that I never knew, but I also found in interesting to see how music production worked in the 1960s. By far my favorite part of this book was the sections about the making of the The White Album.
4. No One Gets Out of Here Alive by Jerry Hopkins - This is a in depth biography of Jim Morrison. I need to pick this book back up again. I read it when I was about 13 during a time I was obsessed with The Doors and Jim Morrison. I'm sure the parents of the children I was babysitting loved coming home at night and seeing their babysitter reading about a drug addict who drowned in a bathtub thirty plus years prior.
5. No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan by Robert Shelton - Looking at this list I realize that I am very interested in the biographies of front men. The friendship that existed between Shelton and Dylan allowed for a real in deep look into the man and the music.
6. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation by Jeff Chang - I would have thought that hip hop started in the Bronx or in Rick Rubin's dorm room had I not read this book. It also really looks at the sociology behind hip hop. I think I'm going to read this again.
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