The 50 Greatest Rock Memoirs of All Time
So many CBGB-era punk memoirs out there, but Richard Hell’s is unique — poetic yet never pompous, bemused without corny punch lines. As a year-old Kentucky kid, he runs off to NYC to be a poet, but ends up a rock & roller. “‘Sacred monster’ is definitely the job description,” Hell writes. “Being a pop star, a front person, takes indestructible certainty of one’s own irresistibility. That’s the monster part.” He depicts his music comrades — Tom Verlaine, Robert Quine, Patti Smith, Lester Bangs — and all the girls he’s loved before. (Hell was the punk Leonard Cohen in that department.) He quips about his popularity with critics, “because they were predisposed to favor noise, intellect, and failure.” In the final scene, he runs into his old nemesis Verlaine for the first time in years — flipping through the dollar bins outside the Strand Bookstore — and walks away in tears, musing, “We were like two monsters confiding.”
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Best rock star biographies and memoirs: it&#;s pure debauchery
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We're talking sex, drugs and bloody good stories
Rock stars of yesteryear had all the fun. The best rock star biographies shed light on those glory days, answering questions you didn’t know you wanted answering.
From tales of debauchery to gritty insights into life on the road, the best biographies share the low points as well as the highs. Teasing details about their lives, many of these access-all-areas biographies allow you to be a fly on the wall for some of the most dramatic moments in musical history.
UPDATE: We've added a couple more key picks from the world of rock autobiographies. Elton John's Me makes the cut for the sheer style of its retelling of one of the iconic careers in rock music. And for those after a less classic biopic-style approach should check out Viv Albertine's memoir Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys. It's a top read.
Here we’ve picked out a selection of the
Biographies About
Rock Stars & Punk Rebels
Electrifying guitarists, dazzling drummers, smokin’ lead singers, daring indie artists—
famous or infamous, these musicians have thrilling life and tour stories to tell.
A Dream About Lightning Bugs
- A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons
- By: Ben Folds
- Narrated by: Ben Folds
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
Overall
Performance
Story
Ben Folds is a celebrated American singer-songwriter, beloved for songs such as "Brick", "You Don’t Know Me", "Rockin’ the Suburbs", and "The Luckiest", and is the former frontman of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five
- 3 out of 5 stars
I wanted to like this more than I did.
- By R on
Best Music Autobiographies: 20 Memoirs From Legendary Rockers
Providing a unique opportunity to glimpse into the minds of rock’n’roll’s most legendary figures, the best music autobiographies serve as a reminder of just how much these icons have shaped popular culture. From blues-rock journeyman Eric Clapton to genre-shaping visionary David Bowie, these memoirs delve deep into their authors’ psyches, going beyond their stage-based antics to explore their upbringing and give us a behind-the-scenes insight into their experiences of fame and stardom. Here, then, are the best music autobiographies – books that provide an intimate look at the lives and careers of some of the industry’s most legendary figures.
Listen to our Rock Classics playlist here, and check out the best music autobiographies, below.
Chrissie Hynde: ‘Reckless: My Life As A Pretender’ ()
Reckless: My Life As A Pretender, by Chrissie Hynde, is a humorous and frank account of the new wave era songwriter’s life story. Known for her incomparable voice, style and attitude, Hynde weaves a witty and colourful narrative that follows her career journey from Akron, Ohio, to London in the 70s, where she formed Pretender
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