Does anyone read about musicians?

@miluminations It seems like a lot of musicians are creating audiobooks? I realized Dave Grohl’s wasn’t available as a regular book. I don’t usually listen to audiobooks but I might change my mind. :+1:

Dave’s book is available in a physical form as well. I think they just released a softcover version (based on the fact that I see it on a bunch of billboards).

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@Notter It’s too bad the Black Crowes couldn’t stay together but after reading the book I get it. It sounds like they all were stubborn and unreasonable at times over the music as well as the general vibe both on and offstage.

Very true, but as usual that tension didn’t half generate some magic!

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Ravi Shankar’s My Music, My Life, which includes an introduction to the structure of Indian music.
Also, Raga Mala by Ravi Shankar & George Harrison, which is an autobiography.

The Real Frank Zappa Book, an autobiography that proves that truth is stranger than fiction.

Life by Keith Richards, highly recommended reading for any aspiring guitarist.

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Does anyone read about musicians?

All the stories here on the comunity of people playing and making music…and all personal stories etc …so everyone here reads about musicians or musicians in the making :sunglasses:…there is almost no room for much more to read :blush: :grin:
Greetings,Rogier

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So I wanted to come back and mention that I finished reading a book by Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue called The Heroin Diaries. Oh man that was a captivating read. He is/was a very flawed individual- at the time, young and didn’t understand or respect a lot of things about life, angry at both of his parents for abandoning him, had a world-touring band, dependent on his creative outlets, had addiction, undiagnosed depression, and zero coping skills. And unlimited money and free time. Basically a train wreck.
This book, and others by him that I’ve read- he’s a good writer in that he can be rather eloquent (when it’s not his younger diary entries), but also he seems to be very honest, transparent, seems genuine, and unafraid to put his thoughts right out there, for better or worse. And he knows he used to be and still can be a total a-hole, though rare nowadays. His introspection in adulthood is mature and thought provoking. Narcissist? Maybe. Probably. But still interesting to read, imo. I’ll be reading anything he publishes.

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Hi Suzie,

I read about musicians and watch you tube video interviews as well. There was an interesting video about Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters, how he had a rough childhood and still found fame in music. Another I watched was Bob Kulick, whose brother was Bruce Kulick played with Kiss in the 1990s. He had lots of setbacks and failed auditions, but it never keep him from getting up and trying again. A third one was the big interview with Paul Stanley, how I talked about having a deformed ear and a social outcast at youth. A favorite quote from him was, “There is never a shortage of people telling you what can’t be done. Those are people that failed and misery loves company. You can be a rock star in your own way if you never give up the dream”. I like how he also said you will never go to a Kiss show and not get your money’s worth. Nothing worse than seeing a band when I (Paul) was a kid and the guys look like they just crawled out of bed…and I paid good money to see this show. This will never happen with my show. I liked how he never forgot how important the fans are.

Another pretty good book is Been So Long: My Life and Music by Jorma Kaukonen. Without giving it away, he also had his ups and downs, and it wasn’t evident at all that he’d become the wise old man he is now.

Last week I watched this Q&A with Bootsy Collins, it was quite interesting, especially the emphasis on being familiar with the history of the music you’re playing:

There are videos with Bernie Worrell and George Clinton in this series that I added to my watchlist.

I used to read about reggae and its history and evolution.
Nowadays I tend to stick to documentaries, I recently watched one about Frank Zappa, which is an absolute music legend for me.

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Was it this one?

How did you like it? In my opinion, it’s pretty good as a primer for those about to get into Zappa’s world, but his career would much better be served by a series like the Beatles Anthology, or a longer standalone documentary like the one about the Grateful Dead.

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It was that one, yes. I did like it.

Yeah, I think with the amount of music he made and versatility he displayed and his genius musical brain, you’d at least need a 10 or more documentaries. :sweat_smile:

You might also try his book, a very interesting read. Zappa that is.

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i can never do audio books, i find myself zoning out and missing 20 minutes. my mind is too random

I second that, I’m about halfway through it now, just past where he talks about the end of Nirvana after Kurt’s death and playing with Tom Petty.

Hi Suzieq,

This is a very interesting topic, so I decided to join in.
I read many books about musicians, mainly about the ones that music I love, so Queen, The Beatles and of course Eric Clapton and many less known polish musicians.
For me the most interesting thing is when you read more than one book about someone, especially when you read a biography and then autobiography (if it’s available) and then you notice how different is the perspective of some events/moments in someones life.

For a long time I was looking for any book about Dire Straits cause I love Mark Knopfler’s guitar playing and I recently found out that John Illsley (Dire Straits bassist) wrote about them.

The book does not have any “spicy” facts or comments, rather a pure facts about how the things went for them. However, I still find it interesting to me.

After I read a book I found the series on YouTube, on Andertons TV channel, where they have a chat with many different musicians and they also did an interview with John. The whole series is also very interesting to me, cause you can see how different people are getting into the music business.

Here is the link if someone is interested:

Cheers,
Arek