The Beatles

Davies, Hunter, 1936-. The Beatles, New York : W.W. Norton, [2010]

408 pages of very well written, behind-the-scenes, deeply researched, honest, and insightful summaries about how the most famous group in musical history functioned—and then didn’t. Hunter Davies, as the only authorised biographer, was granted unparalleled access—not only to The Beatles, but also to their friends, family, and colleagues—and spent eighteen months with the Fab Four at the peak of their brilliant career. This book is like getting a window view directly through to John, Paul, George, and Ringo’s world: how John the rebellious school student met then chubby Paul, how Paul met George on a school bus, how Ringo became the official drummer, how they went from a group of Liverpudlian kids playing music, to the famous band with the inestimable Beatlemaniacs following. First published in 1968, in this updated edition the London based author has included a new introduction and addresses the changes that have since taken place: Paul’s marriage, George’s death and their new records. This book defines a band that defined a generation.

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Strange Fascination: David Bowie: The Definitive Story

Buckley, David, 1965-. Strange fascination : David Bowie : the definitive story, London : Virgin Books, 1999.

To date, this 533 page book is the most complete account of London born singer/songwriter David Bowie and his impact on pop culture ever written. With exclusive and revelatory interviews with the Thin White Duke's closest collaborators and the man himself, and an unrivaled degree of access to excessively photographic material, the Liverpudlian music journalist David Buckley presents a lot of detail with great precision. Readers can sense the extensive research that is behind this updated and revised biography. Focus on the art not the gossip, Buckley knows what—or who—he’s talking about. Very academic and thorough.

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Bad Seed: The Biography of Nick Cave

Johnston, Ian (Ian Robert). Bad Seed : The Biography of Nick Cave, London : Little, Brown, 1995.

This 344 page chronicle is fun to read, well researched, befittingly dark, gripping, and seedy, yet perfectly paced. Mick Harvey as well as a lot of other close members give insight and direct quotes into Nick and the band which makes the book feel real and engaging. Although this biography only covers the time up until the release of Let Love In, the freelance music and film writer Ian Johnston does a great job revealing the inside story of this maverick Australian post-punk songwriter—it presents a timeline of Cave’s staggering body of work, balancing with heroin, riots, fights, electrocutions, stolen cars, and exploded cars. A must-have biography for Cave’s fans.

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I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen

Simmons, Sylvie. I’m your man : the life of Leonard Cohen, New York Ecco Press, 2012.

This vibrant, enthusiastic, and carefully researched chronicle has deftly narrated Leonard Cohen’s evolution. San Fransisco based rock historian Sylvie Simmons craftily explores the extraordinary life and creative genius of arguably one of the most important and influential musical artists of the past fifty years. Following Cohen’s trail from his birthplace in Montreal, to how Cohen found fame as a poet in the fifties; to New York where he first launched his music career in the sixties; through to his simultaneous successes of a happy marriage to a beautiful actress and selling a million copies worth of albums; to a rocky mountain top above Los Angeles where he entered a monastery; and finally to his re-emergence for his sold-out world tour almost fifteen years later. A 570 page compulsive read for Cohen enthusiasts seeking details regarding sex, religion, power, and meaning of love.

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A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead

McNally, Dennis. A long strange trip : the inside history of the Grateful Dead, New York : Broadway Books, 2002.

This 684 page biography is presented as a kaleidoscopic narrative, with the same zeal and spirit that the Californian band Grateful Dead brought to their music. The band’s historian and publicist Dennis McNally packs this book full of intimate details previously unavailable, such as how the Dead treated their tie-dyed, drugged up and devoted fans 'the Deadheads' as equals—as “companions in an odyssey,” or the time the group’s janitor vetoed a suggestion from multimillion-dollar promoter Bill Graham as “too commercial.” If you want to know what happened, why it happened, how it happened, and what it was like to be in one of the most long-lived and legendary bands in rock history, this is for you.

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Motörhead: Live to Win

Burridge, Alan, 1951-. Motörhead : live to win, Los Angeles : Cleopatra, 2012.

This 220 page chronicle is a first class, serious, in-depth look at the metal band Motörhead. Written by British Alan Burridge, who happens to also be the president of the fan club "Motörheadbangers", he takes the readers back to the beginnings of the musical group who once won the New Musical Express poll for “the best worst band in the world”. The struggles, the hardships, the poverty, many never before published facts and a great deal of rare and early photos are revealed in this full colour, glossy, thick paper biography. Longing for incredible attention to detail about Motörhead since the pre-Ace of Spades era? This is the ace of reads.

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Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd

Blake, Mark. Comfortably Numb : The Inside Story of Pink Floyd, Cambridge, Mass. : Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2008.

Lucidly written, this could arguably be the most comprehensive book ever written about the English progressive rockers Pink Floyd. As meticulous, exacting and ambitious as any David Gilmour-Roger Waters (plus Syd Barret) creation, this 448 page chronicle covers a lot of ground, from a background story and history of the band, to how the albums charted and were received by critics and fans, the meaning of the songs, to musical progression versus creative tension. In addition to this, the book also incorporates hundreds of new and exclusive interviews—with band members, friends, road crew, musical contemporaries, former housemates, and university colleagues. Notoriously private and very guarded when it comes to their past and their personal lives, the British popular music and culture writer Mark Blake very thoroughly disclosed the problems of each Pink Floyd member, which means that, as a reader, you really do feel as if you’re being sucked into the drama. Well researched. Well documented. Accurate. Every chapter is a trove. Indeed.

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The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones

Booth, Stanley, 1942-. The true adventures of the Rolling Stones, Chicago, IL : A Capella, 2000.

“In the backstage doorway Jagger was standing, dressed in black trousers with silver buttons down the legs, black scoop-neck jersey with white Leo glyph on chest, wide metal-studded black belt, long red flowing scarf, on his head an Uncle Sam hat, his eyes wide and dark, looking like a bullfighter standing in the sun just inside the door of the arena, seeing nothing but the path he walks, toreros and banderilleros beside and behind him, to his fate.” Yes, this 416 page book by the American music journalist Stanley Booth, the Stones’ inner circle, is that detailed and engaging, with many more moments in this huge rock band's history captured in similar descriptive detail. A truly entertaining read.

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