Autobiographies

[BigOkieChris]

So I'm about to finish the Peter Criss autobiography, and I couldn't be more happy that it's about to be done. I have read both his book, and Ace Frehley. I almost wish I hadn't read either one of them. Both sound like whiners. I know Gene Simmons may be a real douchebag, but both made their own decisions. Live with it, boys! Some of the stories told in both books still shows a bit of immaturity, in my opinion.

There have been some great reads too. Duff McKagan's book was great, along with The Dirt about Motley Crue. Slash's book was a good read too. Sammy Hagar's book was great, but I felt there were some things about EVH and AVH, that could have remained unsaid. Anyway, I could keep going, and going, as most of my book library are musicians/bands biographies.

Anyone else have any good read recommendations, or warnings? I can make a review list.

BOC

[tater1977]

Sammy's book was great...

If you decide to read Steven Tyler's
book... Does the Noise in My Head bother you...
Tyler doesnt leave anything out....

[AR]

I loved Peter Criss's book because it was revealing. Ace's told me nothing I didn't already know.

The best book ever written on on Kiss is Kiss and Sell - The Making Of A Supergroup by C.K. Lendt

Great insight on the business side of Kiss.

[PianoMan1986]

I agree, Sammy's book is great. As far as some recommendations:

"Clapton - The Autobiography"

"The Grand Illusion"
"The Grand Delusion"

Sting "Broken Music"
Andy Summers "One Train Later"

"Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga" (features insight from all members)

"Let There Be Rock: The Story of AC/DC" (just happens to be the book I read from their available bios)

"Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored" (same as the AC/DC book)

"Bang Your Head: The Rise & Fall of Heavy Metal"

Like you, the majority of my library is music bios and rock'n'roll history.

[Rick]

"Life" by Keith Richards has some great stories in it. I got sidetracked about half way through that one and haven't gotten back to it yet.

[Marabelle]

Don Felder's book on the Eagles, but of course accurately called...Heaven and Hell. Great book. He was on a television show last week with Jeff Probst of the Survivor shows fame and he was interviewed, played some parts from Hotel California and talked a bit about his history with the group and writing and living the book.

[RPM]

Ditto on Don Felders book. Shania's was pretty good too. Loved Sammy's as well. My too favorite female
Rock singers, Ann & Pat both wrote books whining about the record companies. Probably all true, but really boohoo
Funny almost all had a hit written by Mutt Lange (the corrs included) and are pissed about there hit song.....

[Deb]

Recently read this one by one of my favorite bassists. Off The Rails ~ Rudy Sarzo. It was a good read........alot about his time on the Blizzard of Oz tour with Ozzie and his friendship and crazy plane crash loss of Randy Rhoads.



Next up in my kindle app on my IPAD to read is Melissa Etheridge's biography

[BigOkieChris]

I completely agree about Steven Tyler's book. While in the normal Steven Tyler randomness, the stories were great. I was shocked he admitted to his sexual encounter with another man. He blew right past it, but he at least had the courage to mention it. Paul Stanley needs to do the same. But I digress.....

You know, one of the best rock n' roll books I read was the book by Ann and Nancy Wilson. It's called Kicking and Dreaming. They lived very interesting lives as military brats, and were a great example of the rock 'n roll gypsy lifestyle. I highly recommend.

I did read 'Bang Your Head'. It was an interesting read.

Do you guys feel that books that aren't directly from the artists reveal more, or less? There are times I don't know what to believe. I always like to say there are two sides to every story, and the truth is somewhere in the middle.

You know, I don't know how much to believe, but the book by Steven Adler was VERY open, and almost disturbing at times. It was a good read, and he owns a lot of his F ups. I felt bad for the guy. Again, a lot of self-created destruction, but he definitely strikes me of one that was taken advantage of a lot.

I'm enjoying this discussion...

[brywool]

Ann and Nancy Wilson's book was great too.

[No Surprize]

I have read many and the best by far was Don Felder's life in The Eagles "Heaven & Hell". Read Ozzie's which was ok just never

enough of a fan to really enjoy it. I read "Life" by Keith Richards and I expected a whole fucking LOT more from a guy who's

been around since the dawn of civilization. The one that bored me to tears was Ann & Nancy Wilson's. You know, when I read an

auto-biography, I want to read about the inner working's, the struggle, the fame. What I DON'T want to read about was how the

record company fucked us over with doing this, or doing that, our management fucked us over doing this, or doing this. What I

want to know is how much blow you did and who you blew, who was the partier and who was an a-hole. I also read Neil Pearts

which wasn't about Rush at all. It was a written after the death of his daughter & wife in less than a years time. Take's a LOT of

patience to get thru with a couple of gin & tonics thrown in to wrap your head around it. I have Duff's book but haven't got

around to reading it. The one I'm looking forward to is Paul Stanley's.

[mikemarrs]

I loved Peter Criss's book because it was revealing. Ace's told me nothing I didn't already know.

The best book ever written on on Kiss is Kiss and Sell - The Making Of A Supergroup by C.K. Lendt

Great insight on the business side of Kiss.

My favorite out of many KISS books.Learned a lot from reading this one.I would recommend this to any KISS fan.

[ebake02]

"Life" by Keith Richards has some great stories in it. I got sidetracked about half way through that one and haven't gotten back to it yet.

I've been think about reading that.

[BigOkieChris]

I'm finally almost done with Peter Criss' book.....FINALLY. ha! I hate that I'm ready for it to be over, but I can't take much more of his constant complaining about Gene and Paul. I expected some of this due to the circumstance, but these guys must spend every waking moment of their lives trying to conspire against Peter Criss.

I think I'll take the advice for the Kiss & Sell book. I will pick it up and give it a go. Brett Michaels had his book put on hold, no? I would be curious to that one.

As I said, i wish I hadn't read some of the books by these dopes. It didn't do their reputations any good. Especially in the case of Vince Neil. Not that he had a great rep to begin with....

By the way, I find a common theme in most of these books is how the record companies screwed them over. You know, I don't think the music business is fair. Uneducated kids making it big as musicians get taken advantage of just like anyone else. I believe band members also know how to take advantage of other band members' lack of street smarts, and no-how.

So far, my favorite read has been The Dirt, but I've heard some of it is fictional. I'm not sure what parts.

[SusieP]

I really enjoyed 'Heaven & Hell' by Don Felder. I found him to be really calm and reasonable about what must have been a really frustrating situation. He could have just dished the dirt but he didn't.

Others I have enjoyed ...

White Line Fever by Lemmy
One Train Later by Andy Summers
and I quite enjoyed Slash's autobiography too.

But the Don Felder one is my favourite of all.



I will now go and check out the Wilson sisters book.

[BigOkieChris]

Susie, did you get the impression that Lemmy may be full of sh*t? I always get that feeling about Lemmy so that's why I have steered clear of it. Not that other artists don't embellish. Just curious.....

I will pick up Don Felder's book! Thanks for the suggestion!

BOC

[SusieP]

Lemmy is a curious beast.
Purports to live the rock'n'roll hellraiser lifestyle and yet reads the works of P G Wodehouse in his leisure time.
So......sure he's full of shit.

But I still enjoyed his book.



I also enjoy reading P G Wodehouse.

[Melissa]

Next up in my kindle app on my IPAD to read is Melissa Etheridge's biography

I love that app! Had my Kindle before upgrading my dying BB to an iPhone and was a total geek when I found out I can pick up on the app on the phone where I left off whatever book I'm reading on the Kindle, lol. So I can read on breaks at work or anywhere else. I've also gotten used to reading on the phone when laying down since when I get sleepy it hurts less to drop the phone on my own face than the Kindle This thread reminds me to add some of these I've meant to read to my reading list!

[Andrew]

Run, don't walk, to buy -

Rick Springfield
Glenn Hughes
Sammy Hagar

3 amazing reads...

[Melissa]

Run, don't walk, to buy -

Rick Springfield
Glenn Hughes
Sammy Hagar

3 amazing reads...

Yeah Springfield's and Hagar's are two I have been meaning to read for sure.

[BigOkieChris]

Lemmy is a curious beast.
Purports to live the rock'n'roll hellraiser lifestyle and yet reads the works of P G Wodehouse in his leisure time.
So......sure he's full of shit.

But I still enjoyed his book.



I also enjoy reading P G Wodehouse.

haha! So like some movies......you know it's bad, but it's good entertainment. I will have to pick it up!

So I got Don Felder, Lemmy, and Andrew........I didn't know R. Springfield had a book out! That should be a good read! Sammy's was a good read. I wonder if he regrets anything the put in it, because he said a lot.

BOC

[BigOkieChris]

By the way, I looked into Glenn Hughes' book, but it got bad reviews on Amazon. I bought the Journey paperback that was on the main MelodicRock.com page, and it was awful. So many misspellings, and nothing new in it. It was more like a term paper than a book.

I hated that JSS couldn't really open up more about his experience. I know he's got some stories. I mean, Schon ran off with another guy's wife eventually, and she seems a nutcase. That says something right there!

[SusieP]

Another favourite of mine is "A Cure For Gravity" by Joe Jackson.

It's very English though - so I don't know how much other Nationalities will relate to it.
But I enjoyed it.

[maverick218]

I'm looking forward to reading Lou Gramm's "Juke Box Hero"... might go get it today... It will be interesting to see what he says about Mick-

[Andrew]

Hoping to get a promo of the Lou Gramm ASAP.

The Glenn Hughes is very good. Glenn's got his own way of communicating which isn't for everyone, but I'm well used to it. Once you get used to that, it's a great read.

[tater1977]

Blackwood, Nina; Goodman, Mark; Hunter, Alan ; Quinn, Martha (2013-05-07). VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV's First Wave Atria Books. Kindle Edition.


Haven't quit laughing yet..and only on the 3rd chapter..

Makes one wonder how some of them made it out of there alive...


A Mark excerpt - Chapter 7 -

Mark: Early on, the plan was to do a Saturday night concert, live, from somewhere every weekend. So in September 1981, MTV sent me to Houston to introduce Journey. It was an arena show, eighteen thousand people or so, and we weren’t on most cable systems in Texas yet.
The crowd had no idea who I was; Journey had no idea who I was.
But we were on in College Station, which is about a hundred miles away from Houston. I went onstage and my rap was something like, “Look, you people don’t know who I am, but hopefully, you’re going to be watching MTV in the future.”
And I said, “Anybody here from College Station?” There were about a hundred people, making a lot of noise, and it was shocking to me that they recognized me.
Of course, the other 17,900 people didn’t.

[Rick]

Blackwood, Nina; Goodman, Mark; Hunter, Alan ; Quinn, Martha (2013-05-07). VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV's First Wave Atria Books. Kindle Edition.


Haven't quit laughing yet..and only on the 3rd chapter..

Makes one wonder how some of them made it out of there alive...


A Mark excerpt - Chapter 7 -

Mark: Early on, the plan was to do a Saturday night concert, live, from somewhere every weekend. So in September 1981, MTV sent me to

Houston to introduce Journey. It was an arena show, eighteen thousand people or so, and we weren’t on most cable systems in Texas yet.
The crowd had no idea who I was; Journey had no idea who I was.
But we were on in College Station, which is about a hundred miles away from Houston. I went onstage and my rap was something like, “Look, you people don’t know who I am, but hopefully, you’re going to be watching MTV in the future.”
And I said, “Anybody here from College Station?” There were about a hundred people, making a lot of noise, and it was shocking to me that they recognized me.
Of course, the other 17,900 people didn’t.

This is a fairly recent picture of Martha Quinn. She has held up really well. She's 53 now, so 52 or so in this picture.

[tater1977]

Blackwood, Nina; Goodman, Mark; Hunter, Alan ; Quinn, Martha (2013-05-07). VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV's First Wave Atria Books. Kindle Edition.


Haven't quit laughing yet..and only on the 3rd chapter..

Makes one wonder how some of them made it out of there alive...


A Mark excerpt - Chapter 7 -

Mark: Early on, the plan was to do a Saturday night concert, live, from somewhere every weekend. So in September 1981, MTV sent me to

Houston to introduce Journey. It was an arena show, eighteen thousand people or so, and we weren’t on most cable systems in Texas yet.
The crowd had no idea who I was; Journey had no idea who I was.
But we were on in College Station, which is about a hundred miles away from Houston. I went onstage and my rap was something like, “Look, you people don’t know who I am, but hopefully, you’re going to be watching MTV in the future.”
And I said, “Anybody here from College Station?” There were about a hundred people, making a lot of noise, and it was shocking to me that they recognized me.
Of course, the other 17,900 people didn’t.

This is a fairly recent picture of Martha Quinn. She has held up really well. She's 53 now, so 52 or so in this picture.

If you get a chance to read about Martha's 1981 interview with Rick Springfield...

Martha - I had a huge crush on Rick— who didn’t? I had visions of being Mrs. Rick Springfield. I was hoping he’d ask me out, or whisk me away in his limo.

[Rick]

Blackwood, Nina; Goodman, Mark; Hunter, Alan ; Quinn, Martha (2013-05-07). VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV's First Wave Atria Books. Kindle Edition.


Haven't quit laughing yet..and only on the 3rd chapter..

Makes one wonder how some of them made it out of there alive...


A Mark excerpt - Chapter 7 -

Mark: Early on, the plan was to do a Saturday night concert, live, from somewhere every weekend. So in September 1981, MTV sent me to

Houston to introduce Journey. It was an arena show, eighteen thousand people or so, and we weren’t on most cable systems in Texas yet.
The crowd had no idea who I was; Journey had no idea who I was.
But we were on in College Station, which is about a hundred miles away from Houston. I went onstage and my rap was something like, “Look, you people don’t know who I am, but hopefully, you’re going to be watching MTV in the future.”
And I said, “Anybody here from College Station?” There were about a hundred people, making a lot of noise, and it was shocking to me that they recognized me.
Of course, the other 17,900 people didn’t.

This is a fairly recent picture of Martha Quinn. She has held up really well. She's 53 now, so 52 or so in this picture.

If you get a chance to read about Martha's 1981 interview with Rick Springfield...

Martha - I had a huge crush on Rick— who didn’t? I had visions of being Mrs. Rick Springfield. I was hoping he’d ask me out, or whisk me away in his limo.

I tried to find something on that, but couldn't. I did see this Youtube interview. Didn't watch all of it, but she sure looks like she's gushing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcqVRU9CLjQ

[mikemarrs]

Here are some autobiographies i read and really liked throughout the last year or two....

Keith Richards-Life
Sammy Hagar
Steven Tyler
Don Felder
Gregg Alllman
Rick Springfield
Ozzy Osbourne
Duff McKagan
Vince Neil
Peter Criss
Slash
Heart
Clapton
Skynyrd


What i would love to read but haven't yet....

Lemmy
Rudy Sarzo
The Grand Illusion