What’s in it
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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorThe Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait
Daniel Mark Epstein · 496 pages
Drawn from revelatory interviews, an analysis of lyrics, and lifelong study, an in-depth, original take on one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century delves into his many accomplishments and explores his private life.
Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson
Peter Ames Carlin · 352 pages
Crazy Diamond: Syd Barrett and the Dawn of Pink Floyd
Mike Watkinson, Pete Anderson · 192 pages
Bowie In Berlin: A New Career In A New Town
Thomas Jerome Seabrook · 272 pages
By 1975 rock icon David Bowie was in crisis. Lost in Los Angeles, he was ravaged by cocaine abuse, overwork, and an obsession with the occult, while his marriage lay in tatters. Desperate to reignite his creative spark, Bowie relocated in mid-1976 to Berlin, accompanied by an equally troubled Iggy Pop, former Stooges front man. The move to Berlin proved fortuitous both personally and professionall
Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul
James McBride · 244 pages
"A product of the complicated history of the American South, James Brown was a cultural shape-shifter who arguably had the greatest influence of any artist on American popular music. Brown was long a figure of fascination for James McBride, a noted professional musician as well as a writer. When he received a tip that promised to uncover the man behind the myth, McBride set off to follow a trail t
KISS: Behind the Mask: The Official Authorized Biography
David Leaf, Ken Sharp · 503 pages
Please Be with Me: A Song for My Father, Duane Allman
Galadrielle Allman · 385 pages
Portrait of Duane Allman, founder of the legendary Allman Brothers Band, written by his daughter Galadrielle.
Everything: A Book About Manic Street Preachers
Simon Price · 283 pages
Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
Terry Teachout · 475 pages
Louis Armstrong was the greatest jazz musician of the twentieth century and a giant of modern American culture. Offstage he was witty, introspective and unexpectedly complex, a beloved colleague with an explosive temper whose larger-than-life personality was tougher and more sharp-edged than his worshipping fans ever knew. Wall Street Journal arts columnist Terry Teachout has drawn on new sources
Garcia: An American Life
Blair Jackson · 580 pages
"Garcia: An American Life is the first comprehensive biography of the late leader and guitarist of the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia (1942-1995). Garcia's saga courses through some of the most fascinating epochs of postwar American history: From the flowering of Haight-Ashbury through Woodstock and Altamont, the Dead became synonymous with the libertine values of the late'60s counterculture, and Gar
Strange Fascination: David Bowie: The Definitive Story
David Buckley · 688 pages
Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who
Dave Marsh · 546 pages
Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke
Peter Guralnick · 759 pages
Acclaimed Elvis biographer Peter Guralnick returns with a revealing portrait of Sam Cooke--a black performer who appealed to white audiences, wrote his own songs, and controlled his own business destiny. Fully capturing Cooke's accomplishments, "Dream Boogie" also conveys the astonishing richness of the black America of this era. 55 b/w photos.
Never Fade Away: The Kurt Cobain Story
Dave Thompson · 172 pages
Robert Plant: A Life
Paul Rees · 368 pages
Robert Plant is a living legend. The front man of Led Zeppelin, one of the biggest and most influential rock bands of all time, Plant defined the very notion of what it means to be a rock god. The sheer scale of Led Zeppelin's success is extraordinary. In the United States alone they have sold seventy million records, a figure surpassed only by the Beatles, while "Stairway to Heaven," the band's m
The One: The Life and Music of James Brown
R.J. Smith · 455 pages
A tribute to the life and achievements of the "Godfather of Soul" covers his unconventional youth in a segregated South, his complicated family life, and his work as a civil rights advocate and entrepreneur.
Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn
David Hajdu · 305 pages
Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967) was one of the most accomplished composers in the history of American music, the creator of a body of work that includes such standards as "Take the 'A' Train," "Lush Life," and "Something to Live For." Yet all his life Strayhorn was overshadowed by another great composer: his employer, friend, and collaborator, Duke Ellington, with whom he worked as the Ellington Orche
Petty: The Biography
Warren Zanes · 323 pages
Zanes provides an honest and evocative examination of Petty's music, and the remarkable rock and roll history he and his band helped to write. Petty was a kid without a whole lot of promise; rock and roll made it otherwise. His story has all the drama of a rock and roll epic. Dark and mysterious, Petty manages to come back, again and again, showing us what the music can do and where it can take us
Bird Lives!: The High Life & Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker
Ross Russell · 404 pages
Johnny Cash: The Life
Robert Hilburn · 679 pages
A noted music critic who knew him tells the unvarnished truth about Cash, whose personal life was far more troubled and his artistry much more profound than even his most devoted fans have realized.
Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic
Jim Derogatis · 341 pages
"Let It Blurt is the biography of Lester Bangs (1949-82) - the gonzo journalist, gutter poet, and romantic visionary of rock criticism. He lived the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, guzzling booze and Romilar like water, matching its energy in prose that erupted from the pages of Rolling Stone, Creem, and The Village Voice. Bangs agitated in the seventies for sounds that were harsher, louder, more electri
Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer
Chris Salewicz · 660 pages
The Clash was--and still is--one of the most important groups of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Indebted to rockabilly, reggae, Memphis soul, cowboy justice, and '60s protest, the overtly political band railed against war, racism, and a dead-end economy, and in the process imparted a conscience to punk. Their eponymous first record and London Calling still rank in Rolling Stone's top-ten best alb
U2 at the End of the World
Bill Flanagan · 508 pages
U2 at the End of the World takes you across four continents over four years with the biggest rock band of the last decade. In that time U2 shares adventures and ideas with a host of cultural big shots, including Bill Clinton and Mick Jagger, Salman Rushdie and Pearl Jam, Wim Wenders and R.E.M. From Dublin to Mexico, Tokyo to Hollywood, U2 at the End of the World takes you to the strange intersecti

