On the best rock 'n' roll biographies I've read (so far)

It’s impossible to read every rock biography ever written. I’m trying, yet it always seems just out of my grasp. There are countless biographies on so many people in the music industry that I’ll never get to all of them. My goal right now is to read a few here and there and to eventually get a good overall view of the music industry and the history of music.

While I’ve read quite a few music histories, I like to focus on musician biographies. In looking at the biographies I’ve read so far, I realized a few things:

1. I read mostly rock musicians from the 1970’s - maybe it’s time to branch out a bit more - to understand the influences of other people from other eras and other genres.
2. I haven’t read a single biography about a female musician. I need to find some of those.
3. Apparently I really like music biographies with black and white covers.

Anyway - with those thoughts in mind, I present to you a commitment to read more broadly in music books. Also, here are my favorite rock biographies so far.

• Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life by Graham Nash - I honestly wasn’t too interested in CSNY until fairly recently - After I read Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970 by David Browne, I was intrigued and wanted to know more about CSNY (especially after hearing about Crosby’s two month sailing trip to get over his dead girlfriend). So this book was perfect for that. I liked Graham Nash immediately and he quickly became my favorite member of CSNY. I like his attitude and I like the work he’s done and I especially loved his friendship with David Crosby. This book is a lot of fun and definitely worth reading if you like CSNY.

• Change of Seasons: A Memoir by John Oates - I wasn’t too into Hall & Oates until I read this book, which sparked a fervor in me for H&O that I wasn’t aware I could feel. The first half of this book bored me, but once I got into the second half, I couldn’t put it down. I feel like John Oates would be buddies with my dad, which endeared him to me. This is a fun look at 1970/1980’s pop and rock.

• Bowie: A Biography by Mark Spitz - This was only the second Bowie biography I read, but I enjoyed it quite a bit more than the first. I especially loved that Mark Spitz discusses Bowie’s musical influences and spends quite a bit of time sharing specific bands and songs that a Bowie fanatic should familiarize themselves with. For me, that was priceless and gave a whole new view to Bowie. I’ve since read more Bowie biographies, but this one sticks out in my mind as the best so far.

What music biographies have you loved? Do you agree with my picks? Which biographies would be on your list? Is there a different subgenre of biographies that you prefer reading?

On soon-to-be- or just-released books with my seal of approval

Meet my seal of approval. This majestic being is a tough guy to please, but here are the upcoming releases or book that have just barely been released that he deigned to approve of:

• How to Stage a Catastrophe by Rebecca Donnelly (April 1st) - I don’t often read middle grade books, but this one caught my eye and captured my heart. The story follows Sidney Camazzalo and his friends as they work to save the children’s theatre they love. The characters are hilarious, the story is ridiculously far-fetched (which is exactly what I liked when I read a lot of middle grade books), and the storytelling is wonderful and memorable. I laughed aloud several times. A must-read for any kids interested in theatre.
• Change of Seasons: A Memoir by John Oates (April 4th) - Rock ‘n’ roll biographies and histories are some of my favorite books to read and this book was no exception. The first half of it took me a long time to get through - I kept having to convince myself that it was worth finishing. The second half was different - I breezed through it in a night because it was so funny and it was wonderful to learn more about one half of the famous Hall & Oates duo. This reignited my interest in H&O and might have caused a slight crush on John Oates (that stache, though!). I highly recommend this to any H&O fans and anyone with an interest in classic rock/pop should enjoy this as well.
• A Tyranny of Queens (Manifold Worlds #2) by Foz Meadows (May 2nd) - The second book in the Manifold Worlds series was much better than the first. A fairly straightforward portal fantasy, this series feels like it stepped out of the 1980's in some ways. Full of political intrigue, magic, dragons, and worldwalking, it's a fun and easy to read series. I look forward to reading more by this author - Meadows seems to be getting better with more practice and has a lot of potential in my mind. I recommend this for anyone who loves portal fantasy and who enjoys knowing about up-and-coming fantasy authors first.

• It’s All a Game: What Board Games Tell Us About the World and Ourselves by Tristan Donovan (May 30th) - This book is AWESOME. As a lover of board games, I felt obligated to try this out and I absolutely adored it. In addition to giving the history of various popular board games, Donovan offers some theories as to how the world was altered because of these games. Tabletop games are growing in popularity these days, so this is a well-timed and delightful book for anyone with an interest in board games (especially if you like chess a lot). If you’re feeling inspired to get into tabletop games, Board Game Quest has some suggestions.