The Rock and Roll Biography, Depravity and Redemption?

A review of the best rock biographies with insights and warnings

All rock and roll stars are happy/unhappy/happy again in their own way. That is assuming they do not end up dead or broke. Who ever said do not meet your heroes, could have added or read their biography. You will only despair at the depravity, the vices, the personality faults, and just maybe some shafts of light will shine through.

I have done the hard yards and read over one hundred and twenty of their lives and tribulations as documented in various texts for you. It is not pretty reading. A soon sameness theme emerges of youthful joy, mate-ship, musical learning's, a hard slog against the odds, friendships ruined, relationships blasted, sacrifices made, a bad manager/rip off record company deal, new pathways forged, and a drive to succeed against the stacked odds. Somewhere along the line there is a breakthrough success of some sort, and then the decline and fall, and fall again; and just maybe all going well, a slow climb back into being a functioning human being again. But the falls are spectacular, and they damage people badly. The alcohol and sexual excesses are one thing, but the out and out depravity of a drug-fuelled hedonist seeking to maintain their habit any which way, to make the next gig. Is a truly hideous and harrowing thing to read. Especially if it is drawn out, page after page, chapter after chapter. Of course, many do not get out of here alive.

I like to read the ones where I am a fan of the music or there is something about the writer that draws me in. Sometimes it is a delight (Julianna Hatfield: ‘When I Grow Up, A Memoir’), often it is harrowing (Mark Lanegan: ‘Look Backwards and Weep’). The utter sameness of many in narrating their decline into drug or alcohol hell is depressing, in that, the same mistakes are made again and again, by each generation of musicians, who surely know the sins of their forbears from the pages of NME, Rolling Stone, Uncut, or Mojo magazines. If you have read one of these stories of rock ’n’ roll drug depravity, you have read them all. There is however light in the dark, as some musicians can be genuine artists and modern day poets, some (or their ghost writer or biographer) capture the light and the dark of their world and let you in to the insights and influences that inspired their best creative work. If written well it is a great read.

Here is what I have found, the good, the very good, as well as the - brace yourself for a rough ride. Where you should spend some time and where you might want to avoid.

Let’s start with an all time the top three and why:

‘Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements’, by Bob Mehr

‘Dead People I Have Met’, by Shayne Carter

‘Bedsit Disco Queen: How I Grew Up and Tried to Be a Pop Star’, by Tracey Thorn.

Three very different music acts, one an independent biography and two autobiographical memoirs. Bob Mehr, a journalist who started as a bit of fan of the band and its music, got interested in the back story of what made them tick, or not tick, as the case often was. He soon found an unpleasant vein of childhood trauma and despair, which started to make sense of this bunch of perennial outsiders, who could not commit to success and sabotaged it any time it came close. He delivered up a thorough and well researched book of the highest standard, no matter what the subject or field. You simply could not make up the story of the Replacements and its enduring fascination to the bands and songwriters they inspired, the fans new and old, and to have this book alongside their song canon is fitting, and why it sits at number one.

New Zealand has a strong artistic and creative marrow in the lively arts, but to date little strength in the musical biography. That was until Shayne Carter put down the plectrum for the pen in Aromoana, Dunedin and produced the goods in this award-winning book. Like the Replacements, the back story is not pretty in places, and as the title suggests a darkness haunts his back pages. Like his music the words flow on the page into something else, and although he shares some of the usual vices, and mistakes, the tone is on a higher plane. He does not succumb to the mind-numbing repetition of the middle and last chapters being the endless mind-numbing narrative of drink, drugs, record, tour, drink, drugs … as many others do. Instead he looks hard at himself, reflects on his surroundings, the things that made him, the regret, and the good times, as well as the quality of his musical output. In a class of its own in New Zealand rock and number two here.

Tracey Thorn surely wins best ever title: ‘Bedsit Disco Queen: How I Grew Up and tried to Be a Pop Star’. She writes with the candor and insight that mid-life brings to one’s younger self. She writes easily and seamlessly about getting started very young in the music business, the coincidences or fateful moments that led to doors opening and meeting the right people at the right time. Including, just before going on stage and receiving stinging fashion advice from Paul Weller: ‘You two are going onstage dressed like that?’ She and partner Ben were of course just walking on stage in their day clothes, as they usually did. Paul was ever the snappy dresser. There are moments of pathos in life after the initial highs and successes, and she tells it all in the same, seemingly effortless, and natural way she sings her songs. Polished on the outside even if hard won on the inside.

Also rounding out the top tier of contenders are:

‘Girl in a Band’, Kim Gordon. A masterclass of the keeping it together as a marriage disintegrates and the bands plays on. She has the artistic eye to look back with insight, make sense of the events and provide a highly personal account of one of the great indie bands of our time.

‘Redemption Song: The Ballard of Joe Strummer’, Chris Salewicz. The towering punk rock voice of a generation deserved an account in written history, befitting his contribution and standing. Chris Salewicz was the man to do it, in a book that is both reverential and near academic in its intellectual rigor. As always, the hero protagonist has his flaws, (the political doctrines were confused and inconsistent, his treatment of girlfriends and friends’ girlfriends decidedly at odds with the supposedly right-on politics of the left). But those faults aside, it is a compelling story of a man who changed stripes, got on the right (left) side of things, and left a compelling legacy of song and method.

‘Merseybeast’, Ian McNabb. A lesser known musician, but a big, larger than life character who became known for the Icicle Works in the 1980s and a string of critically applauded but less known solo albums. Coming from Liverpool, McNabb typically does not hold back and tells his tales with verve and scouser wit and vigor. A fast, fun, and furious riot of a ride. Stories about the Beatles, Joe Walsh, contemporary musicians, and many more escapades abound.

‘When I Grow Up: A Memoir’, Juliana Hatfield, An unexpected delight from the talented 90s indie alumnus. As you would expect, an understated tone from an artist with a light touch in music and a story to tell. She has great insight into the touring life of lesser known acts out on the road in vans, motels and small-town taverns and clubs. The grind of being the only women in the touring band/roadie team, the disappointment of a cancelled tour with Paul Westerberg (thankfully later remedied beyond the book with an excellent joint album collaboration: The I Don’t Cares).

‘I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen’, Sylvie Simmonds. Just like Strummer, Leonard Cohen deserved a literary book tracking his early life, the slow coming together of a towering talent, and the blossoming out from dark prince of melancholy into a late life majestic cult of warm reverence from audiences. Again, he is not without flaws, but they are sensibly put in context and the various musical collaborations, the supreme song writing gifts are given their due.

‘Adventures of a Waterboy’, Mike Scott. A musical talent who not only wrote some of the best literate and mystic lyrics and tunes of his time, but also transcribed the poetry of W.B. Yeats into an astonishing and acclaimed album (‘An Appointment With Mr Yeats’). So, expectations were high for this one. Disappoint he does not. A frank and introspective look back on his life, the various steps and stumbles leading to success and later regeneration's of musical output. He recognizes mistakes with band-mates, trusting the wrong advisers, and above all trying to ethically and philosophically find a way of life that can coexist with his rock and roll world.

‘The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Night Club’, Peter Hook of Joy Division/New Order. Outrageously funny. Hooky is self-deprecating and at peace with the mistakes, miscalculations, and unbelievable rip-offs the band suffered when they ventured into nightclub ownership and management land. He has a forensic accountant eye for detail and was an avid collector of documents, receipts, and memorabilia from the club. A shame he did not apply that skill back then to the accounts and cash flow balances … you will laugh and cry at the folly, the highs and lows, that are well recounted here. My favourite: they were finally having a good financial return on New Year’s Eve, the store room was overflowing from cash stashed from ringing tills, the nights finale was fireworks that went up in hope, hit the glass ceiling, came down in despair, as they set the cash alight. Back in debt again.

‘Life’ Keith Richards and James Fox. Sixties icons are well represented in the musical biography. None does it better than Keef. Somehow Fox makes the words lift off the page in an effortless way that it seems like a natural conversation with the man himself. It is of course a hell of a story and many of the usual demons I warned about. If you are going to do drugs, do pharmaceutical quality ones, just might be the best drug health warning advice you will hear, from one who knows. Aside from that there are musical byways, interactions with other legends, and above all insight about how a 60s London blues combo became the album and live touring giant of the 70s and beyond.

‘In the All-Night Café’, Stuart David. An anti-rock band of subtlety and nuance, Scottish band Belle and Sebastian have always been an enigma to me as a listener. So, it was a delight to discover this book by their first bass player and early collaborator with band leader and songwriter Stuart Murdoch. The small-town beginnings, student accommodation, early shows to small audiences, a few false starts, it is all laid out with a writer’s ear and eye here. No surprise he now writes novels.

My Second Tier seemingly jumps out from some the music I have been listening to for years:

‘Record Play Pause’, Stephen Morris. Joy Division and New Order must have the record for the most books by members, family, as well as independent authors. Like the music, the quality is high. Given the later times guitarist/bass player fallout there are a few scores to be settled in some of those places. Here the drummer adds to the bookshelves with a bipartisan even handed account. He produces a high quality volume detailing the nonchalance of a band that flew high in their youth, and only in hindsight did they realise the toll on their singer/lyricist/leader as he slipped into psychological despair beyond the ability of twenty year old's’ to handle. Yet became revered around the world, beloved of both fans and other bands that followed their lead.

‘Culture Clash: Dread meets Punk Rock’, Don Letts. Immortalized forever on the cover of the Clash’s ‘Black Market Clash’ EP as the Rasta on the run/confronting the police? This is a man with the gift or fortune of being in the right place in musical history. Hilariously he recounts he was just crossing the road when the immortal picture was snapped. Part of the young wave of clothes shops scene on the Kings Road by day, Jamaican music clubs, punk rock gigs at night, introducing the Clash to reggae, introducing Bob Marley to punk. This man has stories to tell and he tells them well, and that’s before we get to film making, joining Big Audio Dynamite and more.

‘Something Quite Peculiar: The Church. The Music. The Mayhem’, Steve Kilbey. Aussie rock has a reputation for the hard-rocking pub rock and stadium traditions led by AC/DC and others. Running under and below that is a rich vein of artistic literate rock, think: the Triffids, Nick Cave, the Go Betweens, and the Church. Until recently holding down a reasonably stable line-up over decades they have produced some of the finest psychedelic guitar rock sounds about, as well as the timeless Starfish album. Behind it has been bassist, singer and songwriter Kilbey. Surely the only songwriter to marry the words ‘opulence’ and ‘arrogance’ into a rhyming couplet lyric (Almost With You). He writes and recounts well, from their slow start in the trenches, minor breaks in the States and then gold dust with an international hit (Under the Milky Way). He has intelligence, wit, a certain sarcastic bite, and in middle age, the wisdom to see through some of his youthful folly.

‘Lonely Boy’, Steve Jones. An illiterate tea leaf (thief) in his own words, with a little help gets his story down and it is a hell of a ride. A damaged childhood, a good mate (drummer Paul Cook) and the ability to seize a chance leads to one of rock and rolls great stories, delivering just the one greatest slab of punk rock and then disintegrating splendidly. Jones tells it with a rogues’ rollicking charm, and unexpectedly OK ending in LA as radio jockey, actor, and sometimes guitar-slinger for hire.

‘Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division’, Peter Hook. Delivers the title and more. An insider’s account from the grey, grim, drizzle infused Manchester. Like all his books, the facts and figures underpin a story well told.

‘Paul Weller: The Changing Man’, Paolo Hewitt. A very good and thorough account from a friend and musical journalist who was there at the start. It stutters a little with Hewitt inserting himself into the narrative as the friend cast off by Weller as he grew up and found success. Pretty obviously that becomes the Weller mode of operation, keep movin’ on regardless of band-mates, friends, girlfriends. It does though buy a hell of a history of song writing talent.

‘No One Here Gets Out of Here Alive’, Danny Sugarman. Almost single-handedly launched the genre of the rock and roll biography. This story of someone close to Jim Morrison and the Doors has its detractors for its hype, factual accuracy, and cult like lauding of JM. But it is still a rollicking ride and lively told account of the band that did things differently, strived for their art, and left a sublime body of work.

Harrowing, open and read if you dare, you are in for a trip to the darkness:

‘Sing Backwards and Weep’, Mark Lanegan. It is written well, which is just as well, for these are dark pages. Lanegan had to overcome a few demons, some born into, some self-afflicted. He has an alcohol problem, he exchanges it for a drug problem, he sings the lyrics written by another in a band he hates, he is Kurt’s drug scorer. Somehow, he knocks most of this on the head eventually and delivers a strong body of solo material. It is fascinating in the same sense as a train wreck. You have been warned.

‘Nico, Songs They Never play on the Radio’, James Young. A young and green piano player auditions for the live tour of a 60s icon, known for her beauty and mystique. The 60s are long over and her charms have faded. A well told insider account with sufficient detachment. There are cameo’s by other musical legends and drugs, lots of drugs, and the wreckage they bring.

‘The One & Only: Peter Perrett, Homme Fatale’, Nina Antonia. Many of us have been intrigued by the band that briefly flew high with ‘Another Girl Another Planet’ and fizzled out. Nina Antonia, has done the research, conducted the interviews and written up the account. Uncovered is Peter Perrett's’ perchance for drugs, both consuming and supplying that undermined the band, his health, and his art. Recently there has been redemption with new solo material and live shows with the backing of his sons’.

Uplifting and inspiring:

‘Never Enough: The Story of the Cure’, Jeff Apter. How do you sustain a career of bedsit becomes gothic rock, becomes pop, becomes stadium gothic rock, and write the tunes we have all embedded in our ears all these years? Have the stamina and enduring patience of Robert Smith and become an icon.

‘I Just Can’t Stop It: My Life in the Beat’, Ranking Roger and Daniel Rachel. The story of the Beat is an endless fascination, young guys start a Ska band with a pop song sensibility, their saxophone player is a ska legend of at least a generation older, two of them will launch the super successful Fine Young Cannibals, and later times will see two versions of the original band touring the USA and the UK respectively. In amongst it all is the seemingly happy/go lucky toaster Ranking Roger. You get the highs and lows, the band-mate tensions, stories from the road, a certain redemption with the reformed band, and the pathos of a life lost to soon to cancer.

‘Defying Gravity: Jordan’s Story’, Jordon Mooney. Some people just have a story to tell and few are as good as Jordon’s. Coming from a small English village, working in the most provocative clothes fashion store of the day, being part of the Sex Pistols rise and fall, and many more musical associations. She lived it, recalls it, and writes it well.

‘Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’, John Lydon. Working class and Irish in a grim post war Britain. This boy needed an escape and boy did he find it. Lydon is hard to pin down, the sneer, the hidden intelligence, the occasional sell-out, or inconsistency. Someone needed to tell his story and set the record straight (unlike the twisted and bent self-serving McLaren version), so who better? Until we get the independent detached one, this will do nicely.

‘Big Blue Sky: A Memoir’, Peter Garret. A bombastic hard rocking band with a political conscience. Garret marries up the unlikely dual careers in rock and parliamentary politics as lead singer and senator, respectively. He comes across as a good and decent guy, hardworking, and unusually for rock, very little in the way of skeletons.

Should be checked out:

‘Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors’, John Densmore. A valuable insider take from the drum riser.

‘Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division’, Deborah Curtis. Bridges the other, non-musical side of the man and his struggles to keep it together.

‘A Multitude of Sins: Golden Brown, The Stranglers and Strange Little Girls’, Hugh Cornwell. Like his lyrics a good writer of memoir and recounts the many trials and tales well.

‘The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise’, Brix Smith. Could you make this story up? Leaves sun kissed LA with a guitar to end up in grim Manchester with the local word master song-writing grump.

‘The Big Midweek: Life Inside the Fall’, Steve Hanley. Another Fall survivor, with a well written account of the anarchy and chaos of being a Fall sideman.

‘Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy’, Harry Sharpiro. The guitar talent of his generation/ever, given his short but blazing career write up.

‘No Certainty Attached: Steve Kilbey and the Church: A Biography’, Robert Dean Lurie. Academic fan does the hard yards of research to reveal and recount the rise and fall of the band.

‘Bit of a Blur: The Autobiography’, Alex James. Just a romp and loads of fun to read.

‘The Ten Rules of Rock and Roll’, Robert Forster. Another from the academic canon. Few have the intellectual insight Forster brings to his material.

‘Here Comes Everybody’, James Fearnley. Someone needed to tell the insiders account of London Irish’s finest, the Pogues, step up the young accordionist.

‘How to make Gravy’, Paul Kelly. A consummate songwriter lets us in on the back story and one of the few to embrace the Aboriginal side of Australia.

‘Set the boy Free’, Johnny Marr. The only book you need to read on the Smiths and the guitar player of his time.

Worth a skim

‘Lemon Jail: On the Road with the Replacements’, Bill Sullivan. A useful addition to the growing swell of literature around one of the great cult bands. Sullivan as roadie/tour manager saw it all first hand and recounts the escapades well.

‘Punk Rock Blitzkrieg-My Life as a Ramone,’ Marky Ramone. Their longest serving drummer and sole survivor of the New York brothers. Brothers is an apt description as the band were akin to a dysfunctional family, everywhere than on the stage. The hang ups, the tensions, the fights, they are all here.

‘Mick Jones: Stayin’ In Tune, the Unauthorised Biography’, Mick O’Shea. As the other half of the great song writing partnership (Strummer/Jones) there is a lot of interest in finding out what makes him tick. Whilst Strummer had the front-man, voice of a generation, lyricist, and drive to make a difference persona, he needed a musical collaborator/partner. Jones not only the guitar player/riff maker of his generation, was also the best ears in the studio and was the right-hand man. Jones gave the Clash their musical glam and genius, their rock-solid London roots.

‘24-Hour Party people’, Tony Wilson. An indie music fanatic in a suit and tie and gentleman voice.

‘Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco’, Jeff Tweedy. Another consummate songwriter who pens his narrative with honesty and reflection.

‘Gutter Black: A Memoir’, Dave McArtney. University drop out, guitar/songwriter pens his life just before the cancer gets him.

‘That Close’, Suggs. A life richly awash in London, lots to tell and told well.

‘Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys’. Viv Albertine. Knocked out a late life stunner. A very good book and a different take on the London punk scene.

Need to hear From

Graeme Downes of the Verlaines. One of the most literate of songwriters and a musical PHD/professor to boot.

Tommy Stinson or Paul Westerberg, what’s the insiders view of the Replacements and their post Mats careers?

Lawrence Donegan, once a Commotion with Lloyd Cole, he has written books on golf, used car selling, going bush, there must be a musical memoir coming?

Lloyd Cole. Another outstanding song and verse man who straddled the Glasgow, London, and New York music scenes.

Matt Berninger from the National must have a good book him, he looks like a professor.

Fiction but …

‘Espedair Street’, Iain Banks. The best of many fictional stories of bands. Banks takes a Fleetwood Mac like band story arc and melds it into a Scottish novel of very high literary standards.

‘Let it Bleed’, ‘Black and Blue’, ‘Death is not the End’, ‘Dead Souls’, ‘The Falls’, and ‘The Beat Goes On’. Ian Rankin, the other Scot novelist uses album and song names for his book titles, drops in musicians, songs, lyrics and more in his work. Always showing impeccable 60s and more recent indie taste.

‘High Fidelity’, Nick Hornby. The train spotter of musical lists goes to town in this account of a young adult learning slowly to grow up. The films and TV shows came later.

One’s on my list or just starting:

‘Diary of a Rock ’n’ Roll Star’, Ian Hunter. Regarded as an early classic of the genre.

‘It’s So Easy and Other Stories’, Duff McKagan. Gets excellent reviews.

‘Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors’, Ray Manzarek. Must be the best placed guy to provide the real story of one of the most innovative and artistic bands ever.

There it is. The very good, the good, and the harrowing, for your reading pleasure. Below are the key songs linked to the books: