Top 10 Music Books-A List

Top Ten Music Books

Always a sucker for lists and even more so, a sucker for books about music, I’ve been pondering this for a while. Like all lists, tastes change over time and what may be my Top 10 today may be totally different tomorrow. I’m sure that there are some great books that I’ve read and forgotten about and that there are some books I should have read but haven’t just got around to as yet. Additionally, there will be many books that I have read and are staring me in the face as I type, wondering what they have done not to make this list. Don’t worry, your time will come. But for now, this is how it stands.    

10. Tricksta-Nik Cohn

I picked this up in a second-hand bookshop I think. I’d heard of Nik Cohn, but not read any of his work. It was well worth the £1.50 I spent however.  This is a tale of how, just pre-Katrina, Nik Cohn ended up in New Orleans and immersed in the small, yet amazing, sub-culture of New Orleans rap.

9. Song & Dance Man III-The Art of Bob Dylan-Michael Gray

A massive and fairly scholarly tome, concentrating upon Dylan’s writing rather than his music. I just had to have a Dylan book in here and decided to limit myself to just one. I nearly plumped for Dylan’s  autobiography but Gray’s wins out for now, purely because although it is rightly critical of Dylan where necessary, and looks at his writing over the music, cannot hide the deep love of the music.

8. This Is Serbia Calling-Matthew Collin 

Whenever I read some idiot musician pronouncing that politics have nothing to do with music (or vice versa), I want to point them in the direction of this book, all about how a group of young people kept a radio station, Radio B92, on air throughout the rule of Milosoviec and how important music was to them.

7. Rock & Hard Places-Andrew Mueller

A bit of a mixture of travel and music journalism, this is a collection of tales about music from around the world. But before you think it’s about that dread phrase, “world music”, suffice it to say that it doesn’t enter the frame. A silly Def Leppard promo jaunt in a cave in Morocco and wandering around college towns in America with Radiohead, sum up the absurdities of the music world. It’s very funny as well.

6. Renegade-Mark E Smith

As with Dylan, I had to have a book about The Fall in here. There haven’t been many great books about The Fall; possibly because it’s impossible to write about them. Dave Simpson’s “The Fallen” is an exception and on another day would (and could) probably replace this frankly, bonkers “autobiography” by MES. It is very funny though and I think that the ghost-writer must have had his work cut out.

5. Songs They Never Play on the Radio-James Young  

A dark, bleak and grimly amusing tale of being in the band that backed Nico on her last tour around Europe. Anyone who may still have any lingering doubts about the glamour of drug use and/or the majesty of Nico will be disillusioned. This is not a hatchet job however, but a book that looks at the realities of touring and working with a fading star, with respect and honour.

4. Last Train to Memphis/Careless Love-Peter Guralnick  

Bit of a cheat here, as these are two books about the rise (Last Train to Memphis) and fall (Careless Love) of Elvis Presley. The two things can’t be untwined really. And if you are going to read any book about the King of Rock and Roll, then it has to be this one. (Or two actually).

3. 45 - Bill Drummond    

Written by Drummond when he was 45, this is an autobiography about the Teardrop Explodes, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The KLF, The K Foundation, burning a million quid and drinking tea. There’s more to it than just that but that’s a good start.

2. Love Is A Mixtape-Rob Sheffield 

Please don’t be put off by either the fairly awful sub-Mills & Boon/”chick-lit” title or the negative reviews on Amazon. I loved this tale of love and loss and the redemptive power of music. It might not be to everyone’s tastes, but I’d love to know what other people make of it. Still in my Top 10.

1. High Fidelity-Nick Hornby   

Not the most fashionable writer and I suppose that there’s that clichéd British thing about knocking someone down when they become (very) successful, but I still love this book (and the film as well). I’m sure that so many people have read this that there’s not much point in going on about it. Just a great book, despite everything.