Biographies: reviews and recommendations

[DavidLeeNatra]

I like reading biographies in general and some coming from musicians are pretty interesting if they don't come in a red cover...

However...I throw you some (not always sure about the titles but who gives a fuck) and hope for some good recommendations.

I give them points from 1 to 10. But remember, opinions are like assholes...

Keith Richards - life

Fantastic read! Colorful, interesting, funny and sometimes dirty. 10

Ozzy

Typical Sharon rip-off project. Some ghost writer was hired to go through the interviews and documentaries. Mix it with some pics and articles and call it autobiography. NOTHING new in there, it's all on YouTube. 3

Better try:

Tony Iommi

Solid, genuine read with some good insight thoughts about what was going on. 8


Lemmy - The White Line

It's fucking Lemmy. Read it for crissake! 10

Ian Gillan

A bit too long. But not bad. 7

Bruce Dickinson

Smart guy. A bit too smart sometimes. Lots of Lead Singer Disease but nothing about the inner conflicts leading to the split. A lot about flyyyyyyyiiiiiing...nice read but left me unsatisfied. 6-7

Brian May - Laura Jackson

Fantastic read! But what do you expect from such a highly intelligent and great musician from one of the greatest bands of all times. 10

Paul Stanley - Face the music

Remember: it's HIS perspective of things that happened. But interesting and entertaining. Even the normally boring childhood stories. A bit too much of "it wasn't me and if I was it I was right", but hey...it's Paul Stanley 8-9

Mix it with:

Peter Criss - from make - up to break up

If you read both, you might get a nice picture of the truth "in between". Peter goes deep into things you never wanted to know about but it's a good read. He's so desperate for sympathy and pity that sometimes you want to scream at him: "it was YOU, taking the drugs and signing the bad deals, you fucking idiot!" 7-8

More to come...

[Von Halen]

Thanks Natra!

[vandeleur]

Want to read the Brucie one and the Keith Richards one was excellent.

[DavidLeeNatra]

Want to read the Brucie one and the Keith Richards one was excellent.

As I said. Don't expect to learn something about the inner turmoils, that were going on behind the Iron curtains. You can guess something from reading between the lines. Also almost literally nothing about fellow musicians except from sitting next to brian may on the beach and puking on Ian gillan's shoes.

Nothing about the ozzfest egg incident for example. Or being on tour with KISS.

[twonabomber]

I've picked up a few rock bios on the torrents. Billy Idol's book was okay, Rod Stewart's a little less so. Nile Rodgers' was good.

I have Ron Wood's "Ronnie" sitting on the table and haven't gotten to it. Keef's was good. Victor Bockris did a good Keef bio back in the 90's, I'll have to go through that one again.

Went through all the KISS books, kind of funny that Stanley and Simmons are pretty close to each other and then Ace and Peter's are like two different stories.

Not really a bio, but if you can find Billy Gibbons Rock + Roll Gearhead, pick it up.

[DavidLeeNatra]

I'm at the first pages of Steven Tyler right now...fucking weirdo...don't know yet what to think about it.

I read the Gene bio, too. And the one from their manager "Kiss and sell". Skipped the ace book, though. Think it's like the Ozzy book all ghost writing

[vandeleur]

I remember ish that scar tissue by the red hot chilli bloke . Was a bit shit .
I fucked her then scored some gear ..... rinse and repeat.

[Terry]

It's tough, because although I've read a ton of them, precious few rock bios/autobios turn out to actually be any good.

The Keith Richards "Life" book WAS one of the better ones that has come out in the last decade.

I blew through Ozzy's and Iommi's both in under a day: honestly, I found each about as informative as a lengthy magazine interview...both, to my mind, were strictly rock autobiographies by the numbers. Mundane to average at best. And, yes, Ozzy's (like Ace Frehley's) was clearly - I think probably explicitly - ghostwritten.

Paul Stanley's "Face The Music" wasn't too bad. In point of fact, the first third or so of the book was quite candid when Stanley was talking about his childhood. Once Stanley in the book hooked up with Simmons and they formed KISS with Criss, the rest of the book was pretty much standard Paul Stanley/KISS interview boilerplate material: nothing that a fan of the band hadn't already heard about a million times before.

If you want a real interesting read, find a copy of The Real Frank Zappa Book, which was first printed in the 1980s. It was clearly written (and well written) by Zappa, is chock full of interesting stories about the music business, Zappa's thoughts on society and politics...I mean, real interesting stuff even for non-Zappa fans.

[twonabomber]

I forgot about that Zappa book. It's around here somewhere. Good read.

[DavidLeeNatra]

Finished Steven Tyler and Lita Ford

Steven Tyler: pretty annoying, tries too hard to be "grooooovy" and the "me, me, meeeee"-factor is hard to get over while reading.

A lot about drugs and rehabs...a lot of "filling" with lyrics that I don't consider that worth praising. Not much mentioning of fellow musicians. No VH at all. No KISS...
I flew over the last 150 pages just to finish it.

Lita Ford

I was surprised how good it is! First of all it should be a blueprint how a biography should be structured and build up. Enough childhood to get the picture without learning about uncle Joe's shoesize.
Sounds genuine and honest and her pussy has seen more famous dicks than the urinal in the backstage area of Madison Square Garden. Some funny stories about the mighty Edward, too...but...fair warning: she's a Hagarita...but Tony Iommi beat the shit out of her for that. Really an astonishingly good read.

[Full Bug]

Bruce Dickinson

Smart guy. A bit too smart sometimes. Lots of Lead Singer Disease but nothing about the inner conflicts leading to the split. A lot about flyyyyyyyiiiiiing...nice read but left me unsatisfied. 6-7

I just finished reading this, and agree 100%, pretty boring read, and he skips right over huge gaps in time and tours, was really disappointed in this book....
After reading your Lita Ford review, I just reserved her book from the library.....

[Terry]

Finished Steven Tyler and Lita Ford

Steven Tyler: pretty annoying, tries too hard to be "grooooovy" and the "me, me, meeeee"-factor is hard to get over while reading.

A lot about drugs and rehabs...a lot of "filling" with lyrics that I don't consider that worth praising. Not much mentioning of fellow musicians. No VH at all. No KISS...
I flew over the last 150 pages just to finish it.

Lita Ford

I was surprised how good it is! First of all it should be a blueprint how a biography should be structured and build up. Enough childhood to get the picture without learning about uncle Joe's shoesize.
Sounds genuine and honest and her pussy has seen more famous dicks than the urinal in the backstage area of Madison Square Garden. Some funny stories about the mighty Edward, too...but...fair warning: she's a Hagarita...but Tony Iommi beat the shit out of her for that. Really an astonishingly good read.

Yeah, I was interested in the Lita Ford book. Heard it was decent, mostly because it was so candid. Will probably pick it up in paperback at some point.

[DavidLeeNatra]

Yeah, I was interested in the Lita Ford book. Heard it was decent, mostly because it was so candid. Will probably pick it up in paperback at some point.

To be honest...I never was into her music and not that interested in her at all. Heard an interview about the Iommi shit and gave it a try. She's still not my cup of tea but it's a very good read.

[Terry]

To be honest...I never was into her music and not that interested in her at all. Heard an interview about the Iommi shit and gave it a try. She's still not my cup of tea but it's a very good read.

Thought The Runaways were a good group. Probably in part because it was young girls in the 1970s performing pop rock in the 1970s, actually playing all the instruments, which back then wasn't something common.

Lita Ford's solo career? Average to good. She could clearly play her instrument, and in the early 80s - much like the 1970s - it wasn't common to see a young woman writing tunes, playing lead guitar, doing the lead vocals, fronting a hard rock band. Strictly in terms of the material, some of what Ford churned out I thought was good, particularly her first two solo albums. Some of it was average. Some of it was forgettable.

Like, I'm not a the world's hugest, diehard Zappa fan. I wasn't in the late 1980s when his book came out. Still, that was a GREAT book. So I'd agree with you it's certainly possible for an entertainer I'm not gaga over to put out a great bio.

[DavidLeeNatra]

So...now Stephen Davis...watch you bleed the G'n'R story. Long fucker....stay tuned...