NEON ANGEL!

I just LOVE biographies of musicians (dead or alive)!!!

@Barbara Charley...So do I. I despise fiction. It's so cool to read about a musician and his life and then listen to his music with the knowledge you have after reading the biography...

"When you know someone's life story everything in their life suddenly makes sense"...unknown

Great idea for a list. But what is Johnny Cash doing here? He sure wasn't a rocker, although given the subscript, I am reluctant to just go in and zap the title. Antoine? What do you think?

Journey Into Beatledom is a great new take on The Beatles songs in the tradition of iconic Rock critic Richard Meltzer, which tells the band's story through their lyrics and songbook.

What about Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Sam Cooke?

Donna wrote: "Great idea for a list. But what is Johnny Cash doing here? He sure wasn't a rocker, although given the subscript, I am reluctant to just go in and zap the title. Antoine? What do you think?" Johnny Cash was ALWAYS a rocker, from Sun Records until his American Recordings. "Get Rhythm."

Removed for being YA/fiction: The Perfect Game, #403
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

While admittedly showing my age and the numerous books depicting the mega artist >>>rock and roll did not come into vogue in the summer of love 1967. It did exist beforehand but you'd never know it from this list. From a highly biased perspective, other than the bands their selves , besides groupies and roadies the industries that rock spawned and the practices of many of it's vile and colorful producers and record executives are noteworthy. The record labels fierce rivalry only after they discovered there was a market to be swallowed up. The studios, many of which now serve as museums where those echo chambers reek of historic tracks laid down within their confines. Not a single reference to the nucleus of it all- the blues. Ottis Williams to Carl Perkins Mr Excitement, Jackie Wilson to the Brill Building the finishing school for Detroit's Motown. the bus tours and road shows and the payola scandals. The Chitland Circuit where the primitive delta bluesman played to a teen magazine whose subscription was 5 million-
whose editor had affairs with stars from Dion to Morrison. The venues and that wondrous era of top 40 am radio that re invented itself in video form-MTV. Not a single title of my humble assemblage of around 100 books on rock and roll's history is mentioned here. I could ramble on but a little research probing this vast wasteland of cyber space- and a true quest of rock's history- is somewhat void without exploring a few of these elements. The ones that were so vital to rock and roll Seek onward my children

Rustic wrote: "While admittedly showing my age and the numerous books depicting the mega artist >>>rock and roll did not come into vogue in the summer of love 1967. It did exist beforehand but you'd never know it..."
OR you could do as the rest of us have done and add your favorites to the list. Use the tab at the top of the list.

Great list!

X-Ray by Ray Davies

Wired and A Spaniard In The Works shouldn't be on this list. One is a biography of an actor and the other is nonsense musings by someone who happened to be in a rock band.

Patrick wrote: "Wired and A Spaniard In The Works shouldn't be on this list. One is a biography of an actor and the other is nonsense musings by someone who happened to be in a rock band."

Belushi was also a musician. Ever see The Blues Brothers? I have the album.

Second the motion.
"Everybody's doing flips and twists." [The Blues Brothers, screenplay]
Also, John Belushi did a great impression of Joe Cocker.

Brent wrote: "Second the motion.
"Everybody's doing flips and twists." [The Blues Brothers, screenplay]
Also, John Belushi did a great impression of Joe Cocker."

Thanks, Brent.

In reference to the other: "Nonsense musings by someone who happened to be in a rock band," I can see this as a valid reason not to vote for the book, but a person that happens to be in a rock band is, for our technical purposes, a musician. I can't remove a book because I don't like it or its author; I can only remove it if it is plainly, uncontrovertibly out of genre. I could take Little Women of the list (if it were here,) and likewise books like Twilight and Harry Potter that tend to show up on every single list whether they belong there or not. I cannot judge the quality of the subject's musicianship and decide to remove it. Anybody that does stands in violation of GR policy, and may lose their membership.

So on that score, I can commiserate, but I cannot act. Sorry.

...a person that happens to be in a rock band is, for our technical purposes, a musician"

I take the point about Belushi. Even if music was a sideline to his acting career it was a fairly big one. In fact I watched the Blues Brothers only last week. Still good.

But the list isn't called "Books by musicians". It's called "Best Books on Rock and Roll", and In His Own Write / A Spaniard in the Works aren't books on rock'n'roll by any stretch of the imagination.

By the way, I mean "nonsense" as a genre, not an insult. The books are a lot of fun. If the list were "Books by musicians" then I'd vote for them.