books about music worth reading

[Better Midlands]

Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979 by Tim Lawrence is the definitive book on how disco came to be.

PWL: From The Factory Floor by Phil Harding who was the main engineer on the SAW hits is interesting if you're a recording studio geek.

[Eggy Mess]

On an Ian MacDonald tip his book of collected essays etc 'The People's Music' is well worth a read and contains an astonishingly good essay on Nick Drake.

I recall Patrick Humphries' Nick Drake biography to be pretty decent, although I can remember little else about it other than Nick Drake being a few years ahead of Chris de Burgh in school.

Another vote for Higgs' KLF book here - not really a music biog as such, but just an incredible read which may send you down all manner of rabbit holes and reality tunnels.

On the 'business' side of things, I haven't seen mention of Fred Goodman's 'The Mansion On The Hill' is an amazing read on the corporatisation of the hippie dream from The Human Be-In to Born In The USA and various Elektra/Geffen/Laurel Canyon points in between.

On the British indie front -

I read David Cavanagh's 'My Magpie Eyes...' and it subsequently passed through about a half dozen other people - an amazing read, despite McGee's nonsensical criticism at the time.

James Nice's 'Shadowplayers - The Rise and Fall of Factory Records' gives new meaning to the term exhaustive. It's a hefty tome and Nice's writing is incredibly dry, but I zipped through it. If you're interested in Factory outside of the standard Joy Division/New Order/Hacienda/Happy Mondays tales it's absolutely essential.

Richard King's 'How Soon Is Now?' is a great overview of British indie labels and the people behind them - your Wilsons, Travises, Millers, Watts-Russells etc. King has a very easy writing style and there's a great chapter on the KLF in there too.

Further votes here for anything by Simon Reynolds, Copey's two autobiographies (esp Head On) and Bill Drummond's 45 and 17 - both of which contain the most music stuff out of all of his books.

That's as many as I can remember now, although more may come to me such as that Billy McKenzie book by Tom Doyle. And that recent World Of Twist one by Gordon King.

[madhair60]

Thank you all for this thread. I love music books. Must throw in some recommendations when I get brain in order

hang on, what's this "you all" bollocks? thank me, i fucking made it. christ.

[badaids]

I am going to suggest Kill Your Friends by John Niven. 

It's a fiction and a novel, a very cheap knock off of American Psycho, but it's set in 90s London and Bateman figure is an A&R manager on a label.

So the context is 100% the 90s music scene and lots of that aspect is based on Niven's time as an A&R manager. Loads of thinly veiled and funnt anecdotes and characters based on real events and people, and how the music business used to work. If you grew up in or around the London music scene in the 90s you'll probably love it.

[Sebastian Cobb]

PWL: From The Factory Floor by Phil Harding who was the main engineer on the SAW hits is interesting if you're a recording studio geek.

Been meaning to read this. Even the Mike Stock book looks interesting.

[markburgle]

I know what you mean about this, and it certainly has its self-indulgent moments, but as a Fall obsessive who's read pretty much everything ever written about the group I think it's one of the better ones.

Whilst it's based on the "he sacked everyone" myth that isn't actually true, it is kind of a fun narrative and it was interesting to read the side of the story from the bit-part players.

Also most of them actually say stuff along the lines of "He's insane and was a complete cunt to me, but it was the most exhilarating three months of my life and I'd go and play with him again in a heartbeat" so it's not quite the Mark Smith hatchet job a lot of people seem to think it is.

My disdain is partly fuelled by the thwarted hope that it would be a compendium of deep-dive, insightful interviews with all the people he tracked down. But I was also angry with him for wasting *his own efforts* on becoming the alt-rock Dave-Gorman nobody asked for, with no greater goal than just to be able to say he'd done it, rather than ask them all anything good.

Gonna add Captain Beefheart Book (can't remember title) by John French. Super detailed (excessively so, at times), utterly compelling, frustrating (after the 3rd/4th time he goes back only to be screwed yet again over money you'll be screaming "get a contract, you fool!!"), dark, complex. Full of the kind of deep-dive info about the construction of the songs I lap up but most rock books skip over.

Also has an unusual skepticism about rock-n-roll excess (similar to Ian MacDonald's) I find refreshing - not because I'm anti-drug, but more because the endless glorification of drugs in such books can get wearisome. That skepticism comes from a religious place, and be warned there is a certain amount of Christianity in this book. But very little actual preaching, and it gives him an interesting angle from which to analyse Beefy's lyrics.

You'll come away full of fascination of and contempt for Don Van Vliet, who was as gifted/charming as he was monstrous and cowardly. The way French keeps escaping his clutches only to keep being drawn back, taking a little more self-possession and assertiveness with him each time, is fascinating.

[djtrees]

Hip Hop Family Tree - Ed Piskor

Marvellous comic book version of all the old classic hip hop stories from the olden days. Pretty thorough overview of the stuff that you'd know about if you have any interest in the old hip hop, but brilliantly done. Cracking artwork and really well put together.

Dilla Time - Dan Charnas

In depth look at J.Dilla and all that made him swing. Pretty theoretical at times for my non-muso brain, but still staggeringly well researched and interesting.

Mingering Mike - The Amazing Career of an Imaginary Soul Superstar

Brilliant made up albums created and designed over years by Mingering Mike.

[iamcoop]

I am going to suggest Kill Your Friends by John Niven. 

It's a fiction and a novel, a very cheap knock off of American Psycho, but it's set in 90s London and Bateman figure is an A&R manager on a label.

So the context is 100% the 90s music scene and lots of that aspect is based on Niven's time as an A&R manager. Loads of thinly veiled and funnt anecdotes and characters based on real events and people, and how the music business used to work. If you grew up in or around the London music scene in the 90s you'll probably love it.

It's very good. I love the little intro paragraphs describing the scene at the time. There's one along the lines of

"Rumours going round the office from a few people that have heard the new Radiohead atrocity. Word on the street is they've absolutely fucking lost the plot big time. Some prog rock nonsense about computers or something. Sounds nothing like The Bends. Cunts will be working on a building site this time next year"

[Johnboy]

a few fine memoirs that deal with early years up to the brink of success:

Joe Jackson  A Cure For Gravity
Sting  Broken Music
Will Sergeant  Bunnyman

and a couple I haven't read yet but I know I'm going to really like:

Michael Odell  Rock Bottom: A Music Writer's Journey Into Madness

- music writer walks away from rock and roll and looks back in horror at the rock and roll myth

Michel Faber Listen: On Music, Sound and Us  - my interest piqued by his recent guest spot on RocksBackPages podcast

[Magnum Valentino]

Kill Your Friends's sequel Kill 'Em All is just as funny and features the incredible line "[he's] not broke like you're broke, you idiot, sitting there in your flat reading a fucking book like a cunt".

[badaids]

It's very good. I love the little intro paragraphs describing the scene at the time. There's one along the lines of

"Rumours going round the office from a few people that have heard the new Radiohead atrocity. Word on the street is they've absolutely fucking lost the plot big time. Some prog rock nonsense about computers or something. Sounds nothing like The Bends. Cunts will be working on a building site this time next year"

Yes, the brutal little editorial comments like this throughout are hilarious.  The ones about the character who is clearly Goldie are funny but totally unacceptable.

[kngen]

Shout out for Mark Lanegan's book Sing Backwards and Weep.

Probably the most genuinely brutal of the "drug-addict rock star" books I've read, but it's laced with biting humour and he could really write.

Yeah, fantastic book. Tore through it (whilst wincing most of the time.)

He also pulls no punches in admitting what a cunt he was to a lot of people and it also brilliantly describes how fucking shit it must be to be a heroin addict.

I met him when ST played the Big Day Out in Australia, and he couldn't have been more sound. A genuinely lovely guy who listened graciously when I told him of my experience of watching them play Dollar Bill on The Late Show on BBC2 over and over again to get through a really bad acid trip a couple of years earlier. He shared similar stories and was just really, really lovely. He was walking with a stick (a motorbike accident, he said) and even hobbled over to me to say cheerio about half an hour later, when I was stood at the far end of the back stage area. I came away thinking, 'Wow, I'd heard he was a wild man, but he's seems to have got his shit together, finally. Good for him.'

Then I read his book (20 years later) and realised the day I met him was the day after he had dived off a massive festival stage to attack a punter who'd thrown water at him (fracturing his foot, hence the walking stick), and then the day after I'd met him he'd strangled Ministry's Al Jourgensen with a phone cord for screwing him over in a heroin deal. Erm ... yikes!

[poodlefaker]

I echo the love for Lloyd Bradley: Bass Culture is as good as England's Dreaming in combining social history, technical details and an absolute love for the music. It makes you want to hear the records*, which any good writing about music should do.

I would add Richard Williams's The Blue Moment: ostensibily about Miles Davis, but so much more; I had to keep a list of the stuff he was mentioning so I could track it down afterwards* - discovered so much great music through this book.

*I read both pre-Spotify.

[badaids]

Kill Your Friends's sequel Kill 'Em All is just as funny and features the incredible line "[he's] not broke like you're broke, you idiot, sitting there in your flat reading a fucking book like a cunt".

I've re-read both books a few times and it's always thrilling to read that stuff.

[Jockice]

Yes, the brutal little editorial comments like this throughout are hilarious.  The ones about the character who is clearly Goldie are funny but totally unacceptable.

Nothing will ever convince me that the bit near the start about a new band hyped, chewed up and spat out by the music industry wasn't specifically based on one a mate of mine was in during the late 90s. It's just SO accurate.

[badaids]

Nothing will ever convince me that the bit near the start about a new band hyped, chewed up and spat out by the music industry wasn't specifically based on one a mate of mine was in during the late 90s. It's just SO accurate.

I have a mate in a band that I too am convinced this refers too. The experiences he recounted to me are almost identical to those in the book. I wonder if it because there were loads of bands treated in this way at this time.

[Jockice]

I have a mate in a band that I too am convinced this refers too. The experiences he recounted to me are almost identical to those in the book. I wonder if it because there were loads of bands treated in this way at this time.

Could be! Or we could always know members of the same band. One word, used to refer to a radio in my mate's case. That's 'used to' as in the past. Although it is still a commonly-used word in a different context now.

[Kankurette]

Has anyone read Stewart Copeland's book? He's my favourite Police man and apparently there's some funny stories about Sting being a wally.

Also has an unusual skepticism about rock-n-roll excess (similar to Ian MacDonald's) I find refreshing - not because I'm anti-drug, but more because the endless glorification of drugs in such books can get wearisome.

It's why I find reading the Catatonia biographies not...triggering, exactly, but difficult. Brian Wright's because it's so close to home, and David Owens' because reading about the stupid shit Cerys did when she was on one of her benders isn't as fun when you've lived with an alkie.

[badaids]

Could be! Or we could always know members of the same band. One word, used to refer to a radio in my mate's case. That's 'used to' as in the past. Although it is still a commonly-used word in a different context now.

Definitely not my mate's band then (in my case named after a famous religious figure).  I like my pal a lot, but I don't think much of the band.

[Jockice]

Definitely not my mate's band then (in my case named after a famous religious figure).  I like my pal a lot, but I don't think much of the band.

My mate's band was featured along a couple of others in a 'could they be the next Radiohead?' spread in a magazine. The answer to which was an emphatic NO! Not least because they sounded bugger all like Radiohead.

Last time I was in touch with my mate, near the end of last year, he was touring France as part of an Abba tribute band. Not sure what member though, but he was always a bit of a pretty boy...

[Kankurette]

Was this 1998? Because I swear at one point, every bloody band was touted as the new Radiohead. Including The Unbelievable Truth, if only because Thom's brother was the singer.

[Cleveland Steamer]

One word, used to refer to a radio in my mate's case. That's 'used to' as in the past. Although it is still a commonly-used word in a different context now.

Knob?

[Kankurette]

I've been trying to figure out who this band is and one of the first results was a professional wedding band, but I'm guessing not them.

[Jockice]

Knob?

Certainly not! Although it did make me laugh.

[Jockice]

Was this 1998? Because I swear at one point, every bloody band was touted as the new Radiohead. Including The Unbelievable Truth, if only because Thom's brother was the singer.

Slightly earlier. Their album came out in 1998 by which time their hopes of fame had fallen so much the record company only made a thousand copies.

You're right about the band's name though. They're mentioned in the brilliant David Cavanagh book as being signed to Creation Records. They weren't but they were taken on by Alan McGee's publishing company.

They were a Manchester band too, although my mate wasn't originally from there.

[Jockice]

There we go. Their debut single. Got a bit of airplay (Mark and Lard liked it) and the video (set at a wedding) was on TV a couple of times, but it didn't make the top 40 and the record company lost interest...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSrOiFb_bDM

The same company incidentally that another band I knew were signed to a few years earlier. And whose album wasn't even released. Instead the members were told to leave by the back entrance, past a skip full of copies of the LP. I've no doubt that if John Niven had heard about that he'd have put it in his book too.

[chutnut]

How Music Works by David Byrne was really interesting
Mixing Audio by Roey Izhaki - maybe not the kind of music book that this thread's intended for but if you're into production at all it's brilliant
England's Hidden Reverse by David Keenan - I guess this one depends on how interested you are in 80s UK industrial/post industrial

[Gethin Grave]

The same company incidentally that another band I knew were signed to a few years earlier. And whose album wasn't even released. Instead the members were told to leave by the back entrance, past a skip full of copies of the LP. I've no doubt that if John Niven had heard about that he'd have put it in his book too.

Poppy Factory?

[badaids]

My mate's band was featured along a couple of others in a 'could they be the next Radiohead?' spread in a magazine. The answer to which was an emphatic NO! Not least because they sounded bugger all like Radiohead.

Last time I was in touch with my mate, near the end of last year, he was touring France as part of an Abba tribute band. Not sure what member though, but he was always a bit of a pretty boy...

Being in an ABBA tribute might be fun actually, and will probably earn some cash. 

My mate's lot are still going after being spat out with a £250k debt to the record label after being dropped 20 year ago, down to a 2 piece of original members, still touring and recording records off their own back to a hardcore following of what seems to me about 17 people who revere them.  We're in our 40s now so I want to say, surely it's time to give up, but he's a mate n all so what can you do but keep quiet. But he seems happy enough.

[paddy72]

+1 for a couple already mentioned.

Both of Brett Anderson's memoirs are well worth reading, if only for how hilariously pretentious he is.

Mark Lanegan's Sing Backwards and Weep is indeed excellent, incredibly bleak with a streak of dark humour.

Also highly recommend Small Hours: The Long Night of John Martyn, one of the best music biographies I've read for a while. An unbiased and unvarnished account of a very complicated bloke, who was also a cunt to quite a lot of people.