dylan-books

Michael Stipe, Questlove, members of Best Coast, Anthrax, Zombies, Aerosmith & more recommend favorite rock memoirs

by Rob Sperry-Fromm

dylan books

Vulture recently talked to a bunch of musicians who compiled a list comprised of their favorite music memoirs. Many of the musicians, like Questlove, Paul Stanley, and Nikki Sixx interviewed have written memoirs themselves.

It’s a varied list that covers a fair amount of ground and provides some interesting nuggets about what the different musicians like in their music writing. Anthrax‘s Scott Ian likes Gregg Allman’s memoir because “From the murder of his father to his brother trying to hang him from a tree when they were kids to the insane levels of rock-and-roll excess, this book has it all.” Bethany Cosentino is a fan of Storms: My Life With Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac because “There is also an intense amount of emotional shit you go through while you’re touring and living your life in the public eye. I think this book does a really good job of reminding people of that.”

Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis recommends Will Hermes’ Love Goes To Buildings On Fire, which is not a memoir in any way but is still a pretty great music book. And Questlove directs us towards Carrie Brownstein’s new book Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl, which we just talked to her about. That was an easy one for Questlove, as he just talked to her about the book at at Saint Vitus.

Books that got multiple mentions:  Jewel and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry like Bob Dylan’s Chronicles; Def Leppard’s Phil Collen and The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone both rep Keith Richards’ Life, and Michael Stipe and Garbage’s Shirley Manson both recommend Patti Smith’s Just Kids (not a surprise, Michael).

There’s been a deluge of music memoirs lately, from Carrie’s book to new tomes by Chrissie Hynde, Kim Gordon, Grace Jones, John Fogerty, Elvis Costello and Travis Barker. And there’s more exciting stuff on the way from Tom Petty, Laura Jane Grace, John Doe and Carly Simon, just to name a few.

Check out the whole list at Vulture.