Rock Music Memoirs

Grab your lace shawl and top hat and get ready to twirl—this is a full-throttle appreciation of the life and voice of Stevie Nicks from one of rock criticism’s most celebrated writers.

Best-selling author and Rolling Stone columnist Rob Sheffield explores the music and artistry of the rock goddess who has kept generations of music lovers totally bewitched and spellbound, with such classic rock hits as "Rhiannon" and "Gypsy".

Leaving school and starting his career at Decca Records in 1958 at the age of sixteen, Tony King would soon find himself becoming close friends with Elton John, rekindling John Lennon and Yoko Ono's relationship, mediating a quarrelsome Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and spending time with Freddie Mercury in his final days - a far cry from his childhood days in Eastbourne. Living in an era of seismic social, technological and cultural transformation, King experienced these defining moments as a stalwart in London and New York's gay scenes.

From the legendary singer-songwriter of Bad Religion comes a historical memoir and cultural criticism of punk rock’s evolution. Greg Graffin is the lead vocalist and songwriter of Bad Religion, recently described as “America's most significant punk band.” Since its inception in Los Angeles...

Exploding on the music scene in the early 1970s, the rock group KISS combined raw energy with theatrical showmanship—not to mention face painting! Founding member Gene Simmons—an outrageous star whose superlong tongue, legendary sexual exploits, and demonic makeup have made him a rock icon—recounts his own story as well as the history of the band. In KISS and Make-Up, Simmons shares a wild, shocking, and unbelievable tale about an immigrant boy from Israel who studied to be a rabbi but was saved by rock and roll and became one of the most notorious rock stars in the world.

One of the most accomplished and outspoken actors today chronicles the highs and lows of his life in this beautifully written, candid memoir. Over the past three decades, Alec Baldwin has established himself as one of Hollywood s most gifted, hilarious, and controversial leading men. From his...

Sex, No Drugs & Rock'N'Roll: Memoirs of a Music Junkie is a "balls-to-the-wall" coming of age narrative explicitly told through the eyes of a musical "baby-boomer Holden Caulfield", simultaneously maturing with the country itself. From the 50s' innocent invulnerability following WWII, to the teenage years of rebellion and political unrest in the 60s, to the disillusionment and cynicism of the late 70s, sowing the seeds for the "me" generation to come. The dots connected in two universal languages: music and sex.

One of Parade's Top Ten Rock n' Roll Reads As a road manager and filmmaker, he helped run the Janis Joplin show—and record it for posterity. Now he reveals the never-before-told story of his years with the young woman from Port Arthur who would become the first female rock and roll...

Over three decades and more than 150 million albums, AC/DC has established itself as much more than just a great rock band. For millions of fans spanning several generations across the world, they are an ear-bleedingly loud, sweat-soaked religion, courtesy of such classic albums as Highway to Hell and Back in Black. Now, in a book of astonishing breadth and scope, comes, for the very first time, the complete story of AC/DC.

A pop memoir like no other: the sensational tell-all story of one of Britain's most beloved pop stars. Pop legend Lulu looks back over her astonishing life with fresh eyes, reflecting on all she has learnt. From the tenements of Glasgow to the Royal Albert Hall and the glittering lights of...

Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers is the first book to celebrate the classic-era Motörhead lineup of Lemmy Kilmister, "Fast" Eddie Clarke, and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor. Through interviews with all of the principal troublemakers, Martin Popoff celebrates the formation of the band and the records that made them legends.

From their beginnings as teenagers experimenting in a San Fernando Valley garage dubbed "The Hell Hole" to headlining major music festivals around the world, discover the whole story of Bad Religion's forty-year career in irreverent style.Do What You Want's principal storytellers are the four...

In 1983, backstage at the Lyceum in London, Tracey Thorn and Lindy Morrison first met. Tracey's music career with the Marine Girls had just begun, while Lindy, drummer for The Go-Betweens, was ten years her senior. They became confidantes, comrades and best friends, a relationship cemented by activism and agitprop theatre, lesbian punk bands and rock 'n' roll love affairs. Morrison came to be a kind of mentor to Thorn, a strong female role model in a male dominated industry. They both faced a chauvinist music media wanting them to behave to type.

None of This Rocks is a memoir by Joe Trohman—lead guitarist and cofounder of Fall Out Boy—that unfolds like a double album full of revealing stories from his youth and his experiences of modern rock and roll stardom. With wit and wisdom, and maybe a little bit of whining, Trohman grapples with depression, his mother's brain cancer, antisemitism, pills, petty larceny, side hustles, and pop punk at the turn of the century.

Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest showmen of the twentieth century. With his unparalleled voice and searing on-stage energy, he was a great pretender, a killer queen and a champion of the world. But behind the glamour lived a musician and lyricist talented beyond measure, and the creative...

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER USA TODAY BESTSELLER A fast-paced, tender-hearted rock ’n’ roll memoir for the ages, Mike Campbell’s Heartbreaker is part rags-to-riches story and part raucous, seat-of-the-pants adventure, recounting Campbell’s life and times as lead guitarist of Tom...

A fascinating memoir from a legendary music business executive.

Scott has played over 500 concerts at hundreds of venues spanning almost two decades. From performing to the bar staff at strip mall dive bars, to a sold-out show with members of The Misfits and the Ramones, 33 Percent Rockstar: Music, Heartbreak and the Pursuit of Rock Stardom is about the love of music and life as a struggling musician. It is the true story of what happens when you give up everything to follow your dreams - even when they lead to a run-down strip club in a seedy part of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Rolling Stone Best Music Books of the Year "Definitive...Not just for Talking Heads fans—it’s a masterful dive into downtown New York in the 70s, and the changing face of rock music.”—Town & Country "Riveting"—New York Post "A masterful achievement." —Booklist (starred review) On the...

Lifelong fans and interested newcomers will love this stunning biography of Duran Duran by the bestselling author of Gold Dust Woman and Hammer of the Gods. In Please Please Tell Me Now, bestselling rock biographer Stephen Davis tells the story of Duran Duran, the quintessential band of the...

There have been innumerable 'rock star' biographies and music histories before, but there is no book that presents the deepest, innermost thoughts from some of the industry's most legendary musicians on not only how they create, but what drives their creative process. Have you ever wondered how your favourite rock stars get inspired? How they write a song? How an album is put together? Icons of Rock contains interviews with each musician to give the listener a compelling and groundbreaking insight into the creative process at the heart of each rock star's musical success.