best rock autobiography books

The 50 Greatest Rock Memoirs of All Time

By Rob Sheffield

Rob Sheffield

Funny thing about rock & roll memoirs: They tend to have the same plot. Our heroes begin with big dreams about making it as rock stars. There’s the sleazy bars, the cheap motels, the shady managers. Then they get a taste of the big time: hit records, limos, drug orgies, groupies, diseases, the works. What could go wrong? Craaaash! But, hey, Elizabethan revenge tragedies all have the same plot too, and nobody complains when the royal family gets butchered in the final scene. Great rock memoirs don’t always come from great artists: Sometimes it takes one-hit wonders, losers, hacks, junkies, crooks. Every rock & roll character has a story to tell. Here are 50 of our favorites.

Steven Tyler: ‘Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?’ (2011)

If you can find a single coherent sentence in this book, write and tell the publisher, so they can correct this error in future editions. But happy hunting, because Steven Tyler’s brain is located, as he puts it, “in the way-out-a-sphere.” From Aerosmith to American Idol , Tyler has been “61 Highwayed and I did it my wayed; Little-Willie-Johned and been-here-and-goned; million-dollar riffed and Jimmy Cliffed; cotton-picked and Stevie Nick’d.”

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Nikki Sixx: ‘The Heroin Diaries’ (2007)

This one gets the “truth in packaging” award — Nikki Sixx does so many drugs in this book it should come in an aluminum-foil dust jacket. It’s more personal than The Dirt , but just as juicy. It might be cheating to mention  The Heroin Diaries on a list like this, since there’s barely any mention of his music, but anyone even vaguely interested in Mötley Crüe is going to be fine with that.

Alice Bag: ‘Violence Girl’ (2011)

A Chicana punk coming-of-age story from East L.A., where a barrio kid named Alicia Armendariz starts a hardcore band called the Bags, battles her way to the stage, then finds she has to keep on battling. Raised on the Mexican ranchera records of her immigrant parents, baptized in 1970s glam rock, Alice Bag thrives on her confrontational dust-ups with the slam-dancing mosh pit crew, in her pink dress and high heels. For her, it’s all about “the giddy adrenaline rush of the fight.”

Billy Idol: ‘Dancing With Myself’ (2017)

Billy Idol seems to show up at least once in every Eighties-Nineties memoir, usually when some sort of pharmaceutical dessert is consumed. So it’s only fitting he wrote his own. Hell, Billy’s index has more drama than most books: “Idol, Billy, cocaine use of,” “GHB overdose of,” “hair of,” “police anti-crack sting,” “violin lessons of.” From “White Wedding” to “Cradle of Love,” his purple prose is a thing of beauty, as when an early punk romance breaks up because the drugs “dashed my hopes on the rocks of desire as the sea poured into our kingdom.” No matter where he is, Billy never idles.

Debbie Harry: ‘Face It’ (2019)

The Blondie grande dame has told her story before — most notably in Making Tracks , her great 1982 photo-history with Chris Stein and Victor Bockris. But Face It has the complete saga: how Debbie Harry came out of nowhere to seduce the world, from CBGB to The Muppet Show , then lost it all, yet refused to give up and quit. Her whole book has the glorious sneer of a tough old punk queen who knows how cool she is and does not care if you agree. “My Blondie character was an inflatable doll, but with a dark, provocative, aggressive side. I was playing it up, yet I was very serious.”

Rick James: ‘Glow’ (2014)

Fame — it’s a hell of a drug. Rick James begins his chronicle in Folsom Prison after flaming out on crack, in the hard times between his “Super Freak” peak and his Chappelle’s Show comeback, which explains why it’s not titled I’m Rick James, Bitch . In the Sixties, he plays in a hippie band with a not-yet-famous Neil Young, stays up all night with Joni Mitchell grooving to Sketches of Spain , cruises the Whiskey a Go Go with David Crosby, gets turned on to acid by Jim Morrison. Then he sees KISS and gets a lesson in showmanship. Rick becomes the King of Punk Funk, hitting Studio 54 (“Tanya Tucker was my best friend”?) and beefing with Prince. And along the way, he meets some very, very kinky girls.

Elton John: ‘Me’ (2019)

When Elton published his long-threatened memoir in late 2019, the world learned why the biopic Rocketman was such a humorless drag — it turned out Captain Fantastic was saving all the juiciest dish for his own superb book. Me has the right mix of salty gossip and even saltier self-mockery. A shy English schoolboy named Reginald Dwight decides to become a glitter-rock starlet, dubs himself Elton, peacocks through the Seventies, only to end up a respectable elder statesman. Hello, yellow brick road.

Gucci Mane: ‘The Autobiography of Gucci Mane’ (2017)

Dean Wareham: ‘Black Postcards’ (2008)

Dean Wareham led the great New York guitar band Luna through the 1990s, after the breakup of the Boston indie pioneers Galaxie 500. He shares the dirty details of how tedious it can be to plug away in a semi-famous, halfway-to-the-big-time rock band: the airports, the motels, the bickering band politics, the broken relationships, the constant asking around to see who’s got the drugs. Nobody in this story gets rich, or even seems to break even — all anyone gets out of the experience is a few dozen excellent songs. And that ends up being enough.

Bobbie Brown: ‘Dirty Rocker Boys’ (2013)

Peter Hook: ‘Substance: Inside New Order’ (2016)

Neil Peart: ‘Ghost Rider’ (2002)

In the summer of 1997, Neil Peart’s teenage daughter Selena dies in a car crash. Less than a year later, his wife Jackie dies of cancer. So he gets on his motorcycle and hits the road, from Quebec to the Yukon, then down south to Mexico and Belize. He rides thousands of solitary miles, brooding over his grief, with no home to go back to, while his brothers in Rush give him the time he needs to fire up the willing engine. Ghost Rider is different from anything Peart wrote for Rush — an unusually personal statement from such a shy and private writer. But the Professor brings all his analytical rigor to these road journals — and leans on the healing power of mechanical music.

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Tegan and Sara: ‘High School’ (2019)

Donald Fagen: ‘Eminent Hipsters’ (2013)

Joe Boyd: ‘White Bicycles’ (2006)

John Lydon: ‘Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’ (1993)

The former Johnny Rotten has all the dirt about how the Sex Pistols pissed off the world. But he’s also got poignant details about his hardscrabble youth in London’s Irish-immigrant squalor, raised by a mother even more badass than he was. He also shares his deep hatred for religion, the Queen, the other Sex Pistols, hippies, rich people, racists, sexists, the English political system, Malcolm McLaren, and, of course, Pink Floyd . “A lot of people feel the Sex Pistols were just negative,” he says. “I agree, and what the fuck is wrong with that? Sometimes the absolute most positive thing you can be in a boring society is completely negative.”

Gregg Allman: ‘My Cross to Bear’ (2012)

A Southern Gothic rock epic. The Allman Brother sings “Whipping Post,” he snorts himself senseless, he rats on his drug roadie. And, of course, he marries Cher . On their first date, he even manages to stay off heroin until right after dinner. “I went to her house in a limousine, and when she came out, she said, ‘Fuck that funeral car,’ and handed me the keys to her blue Ferrari.… She didn’t have shit to say to me, and I didn’t have shit to say to her. What’s the topic of conversation? It certainly ain’t singing.” The second date goes a little better: “We made some serious love.”

Boy George: ‘Take It Like a Man’ (1995)

The confessions of a natural-born poseur. Boy George grows up as the “pink sheep” of his working-class Irish Catholic family, getting his start on the London club scene as a coat-check boy with a face full of cosmetics and a reputation for picking the customers’ pockets. He becomes an international pop sensation with Culture Club, while having a torrid affair with the drummer. The Boy doesn’t worry about making himself seem likable — quite the opposite. He bitches himself out along with everybody else, which is why his catty recollections make this book addictive.

Marilyn Manson: ‘The Long Hard Road Out of Hell’ (1998)

Luke Haines: ‘Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Role in Its Downfall’ (2009)

Brian Wilson: ‘I Am Brian Wilson’ (2016)

Robbie Robertson: ‘Testimony’ (2016)

Lemmy: ‘White Line Fever’ (2002)

Neil Young: ‘Special Deluxe’ (2014)

Henry Rollins: ‘Get in the Van: On the Road With Black Flag’ (1994)

Did Jack Kerouac ever write a book this great? In a word, no. This is the real on-the-road American adventure: a band of antisocial maniacs who hate each other crammed in a van, bumming from town to town, sleeping on floors when they’re lucky, getting clubbed by the cops when they’re not, doing it all for those few minutes of glorious noise. Black Flag were hardcore pioneers who paved the road other bands have traveled ever since, and Rollins’ tour diaries are the essence of that pain-is-my-girlfriend punk spirit.

Kim Gordon: ‘Girl in a Band’ (2015)

Jay-Z: ‘Decoded’ (2010)

If you’re curious about what it’s really like to be Shawn Carter , you’ll learn more about his hard-knock life from his albums, which have always gone heavy on the In My Lifetime narrative. But what he’s really trying to do here in Decoded is write the whole story of hip-hop, merely using himself as a prime example, as he rises from criminal-minded fan to industry kingpin. Like he says, “Rap is built to handle contradictions.” Most surprising moment: Hov defends the Coldplay duet “Beach Chair” as “one of the hidden jewels of my catalog.”

Tommy James: ‘Me, the Mob and the Music’ (2010)

The Goodfellas of rock & roll literature. Everybody knows the Tommy James oldies — “Mony Mony,” “Hanky Panky,” “Crimson and Clover,” etc. But according to Tommy, these songs got on the radio because he had some influential mobbed-up friends pulling the strings. (And, of course, pocketing the loot.) The whole topic of criminal connections in the music business is still taboo — see Fredric Dannen’s 1990 classic Hit Men for the full picture. But Tommy James is the first star to tell the story from the inside: How the Mafia gave the world “I Think We’re Alone Now.”

David Lee Roth: ‘Crazy From the Heat’ (1998)

You know what’s crazy? How underrated this book is. Diamond Dave’s book of pensees really deserves to be read wherever generally insane ramblings by generally insane dudes are read. Crazy From the Heat barely got noticed because it came out in the late Nineties, when public interest in Van Halen was at an all-time low. But every page abounds with his stark-raving lunatic eat-‘em-and-smile rock & roll Zen wisdom. Preach, Dave: “I’m not real good with baby steps. My specialty is ass-kicking. Does that sound unreasonable? It may well be, but I guarantee you, you will find no reasonable man on top of big mountains.”

Kristin Hersh: ‘Rat Girl’ (2010)

Even if you don’t know Kristin Hersh’s band Throwing Muses, Rat Girl is a crucial first-hand account of the Eighties indie-rock uprising. Her narrative voice is warm, friendly, and surprisingly funny. When Hersh gets pregnant and decides to have the kid, without giving up her band, she shrugs, “I’ll cross the living-in-a-van-is-probably-child-abuse bridge when I come to it.” Deep down it’s a story about messed-up kids finding one other, starting a band, and accidentally scrounging up an audience of similarly messed-up kids. It belongs on the shelf next to Michael Azerrad’s classic Our Band Could Be Your Life .

Morrissey: ‘Autobiography’ (2013)

Richard Hell: ‘I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp’ (2013)

Chuck Berry: ‘The Autobiography’ (1987)

The “Johnny B. Goode” man who invented rock & roll tells a few stories about what he saw along the way. As a Fifties black pop star, scoring hit records in a land full of violent racism, his story seems to touch on all the contradictions and injustices of American culture. In the early Sixties, while bands like the Beatles , the Stones , and the Beach Boys were hero-worshipping him, Berry himself was rotting in jail, railroaded in a blatantly racist trial. That’s where he wrote the deeply ironic “Promised Land” — a classic celebration of American dreams, written in a prison cell.

David Bowie: ‘Moonage Daydream: The Life and Times of Ziggy Stardust’ (2002)

It’s a massive coffee-table art book, with lavish images of Bowie in the Seventies from photographer Mick Rock . But the main attraction of Moonage Daydream is the text by the man himself. He’s in top form, whether he’s shopping for shoes with Cyrinda Foxe (who teaches him to wear “palm-tree’d fuck-me pumps”) or sipping tea with Elton John (“We didn’t exactly become pals, not really having that much in common, especially musically”), or partying it up with Mick Jagger (“I have absolutely no recollections of this party at all”). The closest this world will ever get to a straight-up Bowie autobiography — but who’d ever want anything straight-up from Bowie?

Rod Stewart: ‘Rod’ (2012)

Anthony Kiedis: ‘Scar Tissue’ (2004)

The Red Hot Chili Pepper tells a quintessential made-in-L.A., rise-and-fall-and-rise story, complete with all the californicatory details. Kiedis muses about his childhood, his band, his face time with the Dalai Lama, and his many, many, many ex-girlfriends, most of whom inspire him to share a kind word, a nude photo, or both. (Ione Skye was “an au naturel, soft, soulful forest nymph.”) Scar Tissue has the best final sentence of any book on this list, starring Keidis’ lovable pooch Buster: “And when I do think, ‘Man, a fucking motel room with a couple of thousand dollars’ worth of narcotics would do me right,’ I just look over at my dog and remember that Buster’s never seen me high.” Let’s hope Kiedis writes a whole book about Buster some day.

Ronnie Spector: ‘Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness’ (1989)

The New York doll of the Ronettes had one of rock & roll’s biggest voices. She also had one of rock & roll’s most famously nightmarish marriages, as she was practically kept captive by Phil Spector for years. But if you’re looking for self-pity, you’ll be disappointed, because her book, like her voice, is full of cocky, smart, self-aware humor. And, yes, in case you were wondering, it totally sucked to be married to Phil Spector.

John Taylor: ‘In the Pleasure Groove’ (2012)

Paul McCartney: ‘Many Years From Now’ (1997)

Officially this is an “authorized biography,” by longtime Macca friend Barry Miles. But that’s just a front, because the book really exists as a vehicle for Paul to tell his story in his own words. Every page has killer lines, like when he reveals “Can’t Buy Me Love” was recorded after a nine-day orgy with Miami Beach’s finest hookers: “It should been ‘Can Buy Me Love,’ actually.” Some fans were put off by the way he squabbles over credits, even breaking down songwriting by percentages. (To pick one controversial example, he calculates that “Norwegian Wood” as 40 percent his and 60 percent John’s.) But on the page, as well as in song, his voice overflows with wit and affection. And he did less to fuck up his good luck than any rock star who has ever existed, which might be why his memories make such marvelous company.

Nile Rodgers: ‘Le Freak’ (2011)

The “sex, drugs, and disco” revolution of the Seventies, as seen by the Chic guitarist who permanently changed the way music sounds and feels and moves. This is a cerebral and unabashed celebration of disco; as Nile Rodgers puts it, “We shared Afrobromantic dreams of what it would be like to have real artistic freedom.” He also reveals that when he and Bernard Edwards wrote the classic “Upside Down” for Diana Ross , everybody at Motown hated it. The song would have been axed forever, if not for the one listener who recognized its brilliance. “We played it for Gene Simmons of KISS , who was recording next door, and he told us it was great. We respected Gene, but he was dating Diana Ross at the time, so what else would he say?”

Carrie Brownstein: ‘Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl’ (2015)

The RZA: ‘The Tao of Wu’ (2009)

How do you choose between the RZA’s two excellent memoirs? ( Choose the sword and you join me. Choose the ball and you join your mother. You don’t understand my words, but you must choose! ) The first installment, The Wu-Tang Manual , is more of a beginners-guide handbook to the Shaolin mythology. But The Tao of Wu digs deeper, as the RZA broods on hip-hop and spirituality. He combines esoteric Buddhism, true mathematics, kung-fu flicks, chess tactics, and comic books into his own unique theosophical ruckus.

Slash: ‘Slash’ (2007)

There’s no shortage of Sunset Strip metal-sleaze gossip books out there, including other excellent GN’R memoirs — see Steven Adler’s My Appetite for Destruction or Duff McKagan’s It’s So Easy (And Other Lies) . But Slash’s book is surprisingly reflective, yet hilariously blasé about all his decadence. Low point: Slash collapses during a hotel drug binge and gets rushed to the hospital, where the doctors restart his heart. He complains, “I had no remorse whatsoever about my overdose — but I was pissed off at myself for having died. The whole hospital excursion really ate into my day off.”

Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz: ‘Beastie Boys Book’ (2018)

Viv Albertine: ‘Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys’ (2014)

Keith Richards: ‘Life’ (2010)

Like a lot of books on this list — only more so — Life makes you marvel that the guy who lived through all this chaos could end up remembering any of it. In fact, it’s hard to imagine how a guy who lived the rock & roll myth as hard as Keith Richards could still talk his way through a transaction at the drive-through window, let alone a book this great. Despite all the cranky bitching about Mick , this book exceeded any reasonable expectation for literary Keefness.

Questlove: ‘Mo Meta Blues’ (2013)

Bruce Springsteen: ‘Born to Run’ (2016)

Patti Smith: ‘Just Kids’ (2010)

An incredibly romantic portrait of two young hustlers in the big city: Patti Smith and her best friend, artist Robert Mapplethorpe, have to keep telling each other how great they are, because nobody else will believe it. The most amazing thing about this book is the warmth, the lack of bitterness — what Smith seems to remember most about New York bohemia in the 1960s is all the moments of awkward kindness. Best scene: Allen Ginsberg buys Patti a cheese-and-lettuce sandwich at the Automat, because he thinks she’s a pretty boy. When she breaks the news that she’s a girl, she asks, “Well, does this mean I return the sandwich?” Ginsberg just keeps talking to her about Jack Kerouac while she eats — a gentleman as well as a poet.

Bob Dylan: ‘Chronicles, Volume One’ (2004)

Everybody knew this guy had a way with words. But it’s safe to say that nobody expected his autobiography to be this intense. He rambles from one fragment of his life to another, with crazed characters and weird scenes in every chapter. It all hangs together, from his Minnesota boyhood (who knew Dylan started out as such a big wrestling fan?) to the “deserted orchards and dead grass” of his Eighties bottoming-out phase. He evokes his early folk-rogue days in New York, even though he hated being perceived as the voice of a generation: “I was more a cowpuncher than a Pied Piper.” So where’s that Nobel Prize already?

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30 Great Rock Memoirs

Many legendary musicians have taken literary guitar solos off-stage by penning great rock memoirs. Music fans adore delving into their favorite artists’ juicy, tell-all autobiographies. Rock memoirs allow average Joes to experience the scandalous debauchery of the rock and roll lifestyle. From hit records and red carpets to drug addiction and sleazy groupies, these memoirs take readers on the rollercoaster ride of stardom. Whether written in 1960 or today, rock memoirs capture the drama of music heroes journeying towards their big dreams.

However, rock memoirs aren’t always the fascinating, soul-baring reads you’d expect. The genre has plenty of autobiographies filled with fluff already well-known on the Internet. Rock memoirs can also become garbled, indecipherable accounts by musicians who are more accustomed to writing notes than paragraphs. The best memoirs avoid the usual road-worn clichés and plots to eloquently share unhindered truths about rock stars.

Below we’ll recognize 30 great rock memoirs that deserve a sacred space on your bookshelf or Kindle library.

#1 – I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir

Brian wilson.

Releasing in October 2016, this much-anticipated memoir tells the story of Brian Wilson, the co-founder of the Beach Boys. Starting with his turbulent childhood with an abusive father, Wilson relays the mental illness, drugs, and sorrow that plagued his early life. He also offers glimpses into the songwriting process for hits like “Good Vibrations.” Readers witness his never-ending climb to survive the industry and remain one of music’s most revered figures.

#2 – Walk This Way

Divided in two,  Walk This Way  chronicles the history of the legendary hard rock band Aerosmith. Members Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, and Brad Whitford take turns sharing recollections never publicly released. Book One focuses on the early years after their album  Toys in the Attic  debuted. Book Two takes place after their 1980s downfall and resurgence. Candid stories of concerts, drugs, partying, and women abound.

#3 – The Dirt

Motley crue.

Perhaps the world’s most notorious rock band, Motley Crue collaborated to publish  The Dirt  in 2001. Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil, and Nikki Sixx detail their 30-year career without holding back. Fans journey beyond their immortal music to learn about backstage scandals, love affairs, and addictions after their rise to fame. Over 100 photographs are included to depict the pleasures and perils of decadent rock star lifestyles.

#4 – Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl: A Memoir

Carrie brownstein.

Named a  New York Times  Notable Book of 2015, Carrie Brownstein’s novel allows a deeply personal look into how she redefined gender limitations in rock. From her childhood in the Pacific Northwest, Brownstein depicts the search for her true calling. The exuberant guitarist details her rise to prominence with Sleater-Kinney in the growing feminist punk rock movement. She also shares the experiences that spawned the TV hit  Portlandia.

#5 – Born to Run

Bruce springsteen.

After his Super Bowl halftime show, “The Boss” himself began writing an extraordinary autobiography detailing his life from a childhood in Freehold, New Jersey. Set for release in September 2016,  Born to Run  vividly recounts Springsteen’s relentless drive for music. Readers watch as his career progresses from playing bar bands to headlining the E Street Band. Bruce Springsteen details the light and darkness of his experiences with raw honesty.

#6 – Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts and Madness

Ronnie spector.

Ronnie Spector published this 384-page tell-all novel about her time as lead singer for the Ronettes, the hit 1960s “girl band.” Although there are glimpses into the glamour of rock stardom, much of the memoir centers on her rocky relationship with Phil Spector. She details how her powerful producer husband turned cruel and reclusive. Follow her inspiring battle to break free, overcome alcoholism, and recreate a life worth living.

#7 – Crazy From The Heat

David lee roth.

Van Halen lead vocalist David Lee Roth produced the ultimate rock memoir with  Crazy From The Heat  in 1998. The archetypal rock star shares his life’s narrative in guerrilla style with plenty of expletives. With candor, Roth depicts the backstage life for the Guinness Book’s highest paid American rock group of the ’80s. David Lee Roth also shares his recording experiences as a solo artist and several unpublished poems.

#8 – Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs

Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, wrote this unique rock memoir about his time with the ’70s punk band. The “God Save the Queen” singer depicts how the Pistols were working-class rockers with families, friends, and financial woes. Lydon is unabashedly spiteful in shedding light on the British class system and the music industry. John Lydon also adds perspectives on his band mates, including the notorious Sid Vicious.

#9 – Long Hard Road Out of Hell

Marilyn manson.

America’s most controversial rock idol Marilyn Manson published a shocking memoir titled  Long Hard Road Out of Hell.  Born as Brian Hugh Warner, Manson discusses his unstable childhood, including his grandfather’s sexual fetishes. Its pages go in-depth on how the Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids formed and recorded the infamous “Antichrist Superstar.” Like other rock memoirs, the book references bitter breakups and dysfunctional relationships.

#10 – Many Years From Now

Paul mccartney.

With author Barry Miles, Paul McCartney wrote  Many Years From Now  to disprove that the late John Lennon was the Beatles’ only creative leader. The 650-plus memoir centers on the duo’s 50-50 songwriting partnership through hits like “I Feel Fine” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” From Beatlemania on, McCartney reminiscences on the genesis for every song penned with Lennon while taking credit for the band’s immersion into the avant-garde.

#11 – Moonage Daydream: The Life and Times of Ziggy Stardust

David bowie.

David Bowie’s debut novel gives unprecedented insight into his intriguing, sexually ambivalent stage persona Ziggy Stardust. Photographer Mick Rock assists in chronicling imagery from Ziggy’s stratospheric two-year stardom. Vast albums of images compile to detail the onstage performances and backstage scandals through his blockbuster retirement. It’s among the finest rock memoirs that beautifully immortalizes the late icon in high-definition.

#12 – Chronicles: Volume One

Through his own eyes,  Chronicles: Volume One  details the critical crossroads in Bob Dylan’s early life to begin the planned three-volume memoir. The National Book Critics Circle Award finalist shows Dylan’s first arrival in magical Manhattan. The story poignantly shares details about his 1960s breakthrough album. From nightlong parties to fleeting loves, readers witness Bob Dylan’s rise into fame as the “spokesman of a generation.”

Johnny Cash

Having sold over 90 million records globally, Johnny Cash is deemed one of the most influential musicians for songs like “Ring of Fire” and “Man in Black.” Cash’s deep baritone voice crossed lines from country and blues to rock and roll. From his boyhood in Arkansas to super-stardom in Nashville,  Cash  reminiscences on the legend’s lifetime. The autobiography highlights his 40-year career, including his marriage to June Carter, with wry humor.

#14 – Scar Tissue

Anthony kiedis.

Released five years after  Californication,  this rock memoir follows the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ lead vocalist through his drug addiction battle. Son of Blackie Dammett, Anthony Kiedis first experienced drugs with his father at 11. When the band formed in the ’80s, Kiedis had a hardcore addiction. He details the effect of Slovak’s overdose death on his downward spiral. Audiences witness his fight against relapses to restart a productive, happy life.

#15 – Just Kids

Patti smith.

Chosen for  Publishers Weekly’s  top 10 best books, Patti Smith’s memoir provides the same lyrical quality as her influential album  Horses.  Beginning in 1967, the book portrays Smith’s early career homeless and hungry in Brooklyn. That’s when she encounters Robert Mapplethorpe, a young photographer, and her life forever changes. Patti Smith tells their inseparable friendship’s moving story during the halcyon days of the Hotel Chelsea.

#16 – My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor

Keith morris.

Hardcore punk icon Keith Morris chronicles his revolutionary 40-year career as one of music’s hardest working men. Beginning with his childhood in Los Angeles’ South Bay, the book provides a lens into Morris’ development to legend status. From leading the Circle Jerks to appearing in cult films like  Repo Man,  Keith Morris shares interesting perspectives on the entertainment industry and his battle with diabetes.

#17 – The Beatles Anthology

The beatles.

Released with the documentary series in 2000,  The Beatles Anthology  is a large-format hardcover book infused with photographic artwork. Archived interviews with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr as well as producer George Martin are combined into one epic rock memoir. Every page is brimming with recollections from their early days in Liverpool to their ultimate breakup, including Lennon’s marriage to Yoko Ono.

#18 – I, Tina

Tina turner.

Adapted to the film  What’s Love Got to Do with It  with Angela Bassett in 1993, Tina Turner’s rock memoir retells her life from growing up as Anna Mae Bullock. The best-seller transports readers from her meager beginnings in Tennessee to her volatile relationship with blues musician Ike Turner. Her superstar account shares the pain and abuse that sparked one of rock music’s greatest comebacks.

#19 – Slash

Legendary Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash opens up to share his own experiences with the sex, drugs, and rock and roll lifestyle. The notoriously private musician pens a jaw-dropping memoir detailing the factors leading to the band’s demise. Beyond wild parties, groupies, drugs, and never-ending tours, Slash depicts the dictatorship rule of Axl Rose. He explains how Axl’s determination to change the band’s sound with synthesizers ripped them apart.

#20 – I Am Ozzy

Ozzy osbourne.

Prized for its laugh-out-loud humor,  I Am Ozzy  provides a rambling memoir of the Black Sabbath frontman’s life. Born John Osbourne, he grew up within an impoverished British family in Aston and seemed destined for manual labor. On a trip to prison, Ozzy became enamored with the darker side of rock and roll. Life spirals out of control with recording, drinking, drugs, and women. But the unpolished autobiography then shares the satanic rocker’s rebirth.

#21 – Clapton

Eric clapton.

Clapton  portrays the rock star’s life in an unseen light starting with his debut in Cream and their untimely breakup two years later. Eric Clapton shares his experiences working with Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, and long-time friend George Harrison. Here readers discover his love for George’s wife, Pattie Boyd. His heartbreak leads to heroin, despair, and hit songs like “Wonderful Tonight.” Life seemingly improves as he wins Pattie’s affection, until the devastating death of their four-year-old son.

#22 – Amy, My Daughter

Mitch winehouse.

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse’s memoir was written in 2013 by her closest advisor and friend, her father Mitch. The intimate account separates fact from fiction by detailing the true events that shaped her music career. Mitch doesn’t shy away from discussing her drug addiction that inspired the hit song “Rehab.” Audiences witness what happened behind-the-scenes in the months leading to the talented musician’s tragic death.

#23 – I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp

Richard hell.

Since retiring from the music industry in 1984, Richard Hell has published countless books, including his own rock memoirs. This novel renders his shift from a bucolic childhood in Kentucky to New York City’s punk rock movement. Known for co-founding bands like The Heartbreakers and working with artists like Patti Smith, Hell forever cemented CBGB as the epicenter for punk. The memoir celebrates his passion while warning of its implicit risks.

#24 – Journals

Kurt cobain.

Originally contained in over 20 notebooks,  Journals  presents a collection of Kurt Cobain’s handwritten notes and drawings. From a kid in Aberdeen, Washington, to a morbid punk rocker, the entries depict Corbain’s unlikely rise to fame. Readers glimpse his innermost thoughts as Cobain signs with Sub Pop, forms Nirvana, and writes “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” But entries turn darker as coping with the fame ultimately leads to heroin addiction and suicide.

#25 – Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout

Laura jane grace.

Laura Jane Grace, the lead singer for Against Me!, will offer this vivid memoir of her tumultuous search for self-identity in November 2016. Born Thomas James Gabel, Laura shares how she grappled with feeling detached from her body.  Tranny  shares her struggles with gender transition, sex, failed relationships, and drug addiction while becoming a punk rock icon.

Keith Richards

As winner of the 2011 Norman Mailer Prize, Keith Richards’ memoir  Life  was written with journalist James Fox to chronicle the Rolling Stones guitarist’s rousing stardom. Richards delivers an unfettered story of his career from small gigs to sold-out stadiums. Rock fans are entranced with firsthand accounts on his love for Patti Hansen, rocky relationship with Mick Jagger, tax exile in France, and more. His journey becomes immortalized like the riffs of “Satisfaction.”

#27 – The Autobiography

Chuck berry.

Pioneering rock and roll guitarist Chuck Berry’s memoir not only shares his own past, but also uncovers dark truths about race in America. Growing up in a poor, segregated St. Louis neighborhood, Berry discusses his family roots and his feeling “black.” From performing with Johnnie Johnson’s trio to signing with Chess Records, he recounts his galloping success redefining rhythm and blues to the distinctive rock sound.  The Autobiography  also includes a discography of his musical masterpieces.

#28 – Don’t Try This at Home: A Year in the Life of Dave Navarro

Dave navarro.

After messy breakups with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction, guitarist Dave Navarro partnered with writer Neil Strauss to chronicle 12 months of his life. He purchased a photo booth to record every celebrity, dealer, and hooker who stopped by his house. The resulting 57 chapters speak to the quasi-glamorous rock and roll lifestyle. However, readers eventually witness Navarro’s sobriety as his career and marriage restarts.

#29 – Girl in a Band

Published in 2015,  Girl in a Band  shares the autobiographical story of Sonic Youth’s bass guitarist and fashion icon Kim Gordon. The memoir’s vivid pages open several chapters of her life for inspection from California to New York City. She visually details her music and passion for taking women into the unchartered territory in the Alternative revolution. Gordon also describes her personal life, marriage, and relationship with her daughter, Coco.

#30 – Take It Like a Man

Boy George strutted into rock stardom in the early ’80s with “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” His platinum Culture Club hits, avant-garde style, and captivating melodies fueled media’s obsession with the English singer. That’s until his life took a downward spiral. Boy George’s relationship with Jon Moss disintegrated, Culture Club collapsed, and drug addiction wreaked havoc.  Take It Like a Man  retells his highest highs and most desperate lows in mesmerizing detail.

Search for these 30 great rock memoirs to read profound, inspiring recollections from one-of-a-kind music icons who’ve experienced successes and downturns in the public eye.

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100 Must-Read Musician Memoirs and Biographies

Ashley Holstrom

Ashley Holstrom helps make books at Sourcebooks. She lives near Chicago with her cat named after Hemingway and her bookshelves organized by color. Newsletter: Crooked Reads . Twitter: @alholstrom .

View All posts by Ashley Holstrom

At least, that’s how I ended up obsessed with Guns N’ Roses. And The Doors. And Motley Crue. And Aerosmith. And, in the future, many more that I’m holding on to for just the right moment.

Here are 100 musician memoirs and biographies, sorted by the music’s genre (loosely defined), to get you rockin’ and rollin’ and movin’ and groovin’.

Country/Folk

My Cross to Bear by Gregg Allman

Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie

Rat Girl by Kristin Hersh

Love, Janis by Laura Joplin

Coal Miner’s Daughter by Loretta Lynn, George Vecsey

Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography by Jimmy McDonough

Reba: My Story by Reba McEntire, Tom Carter

It’s a Long Story: My Life by Willie Nelson

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock by Gene Odom, Frank Dorman

Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir by Linda Ronstadt

The 50th Law by 50 Cent, Robert Greene

Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm by Percy Carey, Ronald Wimberly

Fight the Power: Rap, Race, and Reality by Chuck D, Yusuf Jah

The Way I Am by Eminem

Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption-from South Central to Hollywood by Ice-T, Douglas Century

Unashamed by Lecrae Moore

The Tao of Wu by The RZA

The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur

How to Ruin Everything: Essays by George Watsky

Gone ‘Til November by Lil Wayne

The Good Life by Tony Bennett

The Godfather of Soul: An Autobiography by James Brown

Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker by Stanley Crouch

Miles: The Autobiography by Miles Davis

Can’t Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters by Robert Gordon

Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King by B.B. King, David Ritz

John Coltrane: His Life and Music by Lewis Porter

Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker in Her Time by Phyllis Rose

Now and Then… by Gil Scott-Heron

Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong by Terry Teachout

Pop/Punk/Reggae/Ska

Catch a Fire: The Autobiography by Melanie B.

Black By Design: A 2-Tone Memoir by Pauline Black

Passion Is a Fashion: The Real Story of the Clash by Pat Gilbert

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace

If Only by Geri Halliwell

Herbie Hancock: Possibilities by Herbie Hancock, Lisa Dickey

Reckless: My Life as a Pretender by Chrissie Hynde

Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs by John Lydon

I’ll Never Write My Memoirs by Grace Jones, Paul Morley

A Natural Woman: A Memoir by Carole King

Army of She: Icelandic, Iconoclastic, Irrepressible Björk by Evelyn McDonnell

Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones by Dee Dee Ramone

Get in the Van: On the Road With Black Flag by Henry Rollins

Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, or My Life As a Fabulous Ronette by Ronnie Spector, Vince Waldron

Rod: The Autobiography by Rod Stewart

Diana Ross: A Biography by J. Randy Taraborrelli

In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death, and Duran Duran by Nigel John Taylor

I, Tina by Tina Turner, Kurt Loder

Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley by Timothy White

Pharrell: Places and Spaces I’ve Been by Pharrell Williams

Rock ‘n’ Roll

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys by Viv Albertine

Between a Heart and a Rock Place: A Memoir by Pat Benatar

Chuck Berry: The Autobiography by Chuck Berry

Moonage Daydream: The Life & Times of Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

Lips Unsealed: A Memoir by Belinda Carlisle

Cash by Johnny Cash

Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton

Journals by Kurt Cobain

Not Dead Yet by Phil Collins

Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello

  Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Cross

Neon Angel by Cherie Currie

Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division by Deborah Curtis

Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis

Things The Grandchildren Should Know by Mark Oliver Everett

Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac by Mick Fleetwood, Stephen Davis

Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon

Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick

Diary of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star by Ian Hunter

Dancing with Myself by Billy Idol

Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury by Lesley-Ann Jones

Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis

White Line Fever by Lemmy Kilmister

The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee

Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead by Phil Lesh

Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love by Courtney Love

The Long Hard Road Out of Hell by Marilyn Manson

Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason, Philip Dodd

It’s So Easy: And Other Lies by Duff McKagan

Autobiography by Morrissey

Joan Jett by Todd Oldham, Joan Jett

I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne

Rocks: My Life in and out of Aerosmith by Joe Perry

Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley

Life by Keith Richards

Crazy from the Heat by David Lee Roth

Bird Lives!: The High Life & Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker by Ross Russell

Slash by Slash, Anthony Bozza

Somebody to Love?: A Rock-and-Roll Memoir by Grace Slick, Andrea Cagan

Just Kids by Patti Smith

Face the Music: A Life Exposed by Paul Stanley

Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good by Corey Taylor

Who I Am by Pete Townshend

The Real Frank Zappa Book by Frank Zappa, Peter Occhiogrosso

Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke by Peter Guralnick

Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday, William Dufty

Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye by David Ritz

Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues by Elijah Wald

Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman by Fred Wesley

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Best Music Autobiographies: 20 Memoirs From Legendary Rockers

Exploring the life and times of rock’n’roll’s most iconic stars, the best music autobiographies give us an insider’s look at stardom.

Providing a unique opportunity to glimpse into the minds of rock’n’roll’s most legendary figures, the best music autobiographies serve as a reminder of just how much these icons have shaped popular culture. From blues-rock journeyman Eric Clapton to genre-shaping visionary David Bowie , these memoirs delve deep into their authors’ psyches, going beyond their stage-based antics to explore their upbringing and give us a behind-the-scenes insight into their experiences of fame and stardom. Here, then, are the best music autobiographies – books that provide an intimate look at the lives and careers of some of the industry’s most legendary figures.

Listen to our Rock Classics playlist here , and check out the best music autobiographies, below.

20: chrissie hynde: ‘reckless: my life as a pretender’ (2015).

Reckless: My Life As A Pretender , by Chrissie Hynde, is a humorous and frank account of the new wave era songwriter’s life story. Known for her incomparable voice, style and attitude, Hynde weaves a witty and colourful narrative that follows her career journey from Akron, Ohio, to London in the 70s, where she formed Pretenders . Hynde candidly describes her harrowing experiences with grief following the deaths of bandmates James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon, and reveals intimate details about her exploration of music, love and identity. Full of vivid storytelling, Reckless is a sharp-witted and eye-opening read among the best music autobiographies.

19: John Densmore: ‘Riders On The Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison And The Doors’ (1990)

Taking readers on a journey through his experiences as a founding member of The Doors , drummer John Densmore’s memoir, Riders On The Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison And The Doors , preceded the release of Oliver Stone’s 1991 Doors biopic, starring Val Kilmer. Given that Densmore acted as a consultant for that film, it’s hardly a surprise to discover that his memoir is just as compelling, recalling the time he spent making music with one of the best rock frontmen of all time , Jim Morrison , along with bandmates Ray Manzarek (keyboards) and Robby Krieger (guitar). The drummer guides readers through the wild ride of The Doors’ Los Angeles origins and on to their ascent as classic rock’s warrior kings. Readers will be fascinated by Densmore’s candid revelations about living in the eye of the storm that was the 60s counterculture, replete with details about all aspects of his life during that era, as well as reflecting upon how it shaped who he is today.

18: Debbie Harry: ‘Face It: A Memoir’ (2019)

Covering everything from her CBGB-era punk beginnings in the 70s, as the frontwoman for Blondie, to her various side projects as an actress and solo artist, Debbie Harry’s memoir, Face It , is a typically provocative account of her rise to frame. Unafraid to share secrets and embarrassing moments from her life – from details about her wild romantic relationships to discussing her struggles with heroin addiction, Harry’s frankness makes Face It a truly eye-opening read. Offering a window into her deep insights into how she fought bouts of depression, the book is a truly self-reflective primer on how to maintain a sense of confidence while navigating the darker aspects of fame.

17: Neil Young: ‘Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream’ (2012)

A gold rush of memories, Neil Young ’s memoir Waging Heavy Peace is an idiosyncratic and non-linear retelling of the singer-songwriter’s life. One of the best music autobiographies of recent years, it details the ups and downs of Young’s career, from his days as a folk-rock pioneer to becoming one of the best songwriters of all time . Through this book, readers get to see how the Canadian rocker has infused his music with personal stories and emotions that transcend generations. Speaking candidly about his passion for recording music and writing songs that have become evergreen classics, Young reflects on both his successes and failures, offering valuable lessons on how to be creative without compromising your values or goals. His words will inspire any budding creative.

16: Rod Stewart: ‘Rod: The Autobiography’ (2012)

Rod Stewart’s memoir, Rod: The Autobiography , is an entertaining and amusing story that goes beyond handbags and gladrags to follow Stewart’s career path from London mod to world-renowned rock star. The former Faces frontman and Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? hitmaker recounts his rollicking journey with impish humour, his natural charisma shining through every page as he reflects on the struggles and successes he has experienced during his long career. Throughout it all, while recounting stories about early influences such as Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry, Stewart remains self-deprecating and witty while never forgetting to mention those who have helped him along the way.

15: Eric Clapton: ‘Clapton: The Autobiography’ (2007)

The music industry is filled with legends, but few have had as big an impact as Eric Clapton. With a career spanning almost six decades, Clapton’s influence on popular music has been profound and enduring, so it’s hardly a surprise that his autobiography is also remarkable. Already known for his virtuoso guitar talents, Clapton’s writing style is accessible and heart-rending, containing stories such as the tragic death of his four-year-old son and his personal triumph of overcoming alcoholism. By candidly detailing his difficult upbringing, his childhood struggles with abandonment and identity, and the romantic relationships that defined different stages of his life, this is a must-read among the best music autobiographies.

14: Bob Dylan: ‘Chronicles: Volume One’ (2004)

Bob Dylan, the era-defining songwriter, caused a cultural earthquake when he released Chronicles: Volume One . Often cryptic and mysterious in his lyrics, nobody expected Dylan to reflect upon his life and career as eruditely as he does here, running as he does through a series of honest and introspective stories and recollections. From his early days as an up-and-coming folk musician in New York City’s Greenwich Village to his rise to global stardom and the subsequent demands of living with the baggage of the “voice of his generation” tag, Dylan offers an intimate look at how his journey has shaped him both as an artist and a human being. An enlightening entry among the best music autobiographies, Chronicles: Volume One has a raw honesty that captures the essence of Dylan’s unique voice, providing readers with an insight into the mind of one of a truly world-changing artist.

13: Keith Richards: ‘Life’ (2010)

It goes without saying that Keith Richards is the ultimate rock’n’roll survivor. Giving us a first-hand look at the wild world of The Rolling Stones, the legendary guitarist’s biography, Life , chronicles his life from childhood to adulthood and everything in between, including his humble beginnings growing up in Dartford, England, and international fame as the spiritual figurehead of one of the British Invasion’s most notorious rock bands. An intimate portrait of Richards’ personal journey through celebrity, Life features stories about Richards’ escapades with Mick Jagger, as well as his headline-grabbing experiences with drugs. In addition to humorous anecdotes about life on the road, the guitarist talks candidly about how he was able to emerge from addiction intact and how music has been a source of solace throughout his life.

12: Phil Collins: ‘Not Dead Yet: The Autobiography’ (2016)

Phil Collins ’ autobiography, Not Dead Yet , is an honest recount of his life and career. From the start, Collins speaks openly about his upbringing – he was drawn to music from an early age, taking up the drums at five years old and eventually becoming the drummer for prog-rock band Genesis. Written with great humility, the book moves between periods in Collins’ life, discussing his experiences with divorce as well as his professional successes, such as recording with Genesis and launching a successful solo career. Whether speaking about recording sessions or touring experiences, it becomes clear that Collins has lived an extraordinary life full of unique moments that have helped shape him into the star we know today.

11: Peter Hook: ‘Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division’ (2012)

As the bassist for Joy Division – one of the most influential post-punk bands of the late 70s – Peter Hook provides an intimate look at the band’s rise to prominence in Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division . Through a series of personal reflections, he takes readers behind the scenes to explore how Joy Division created its foreboding sound. Revealing unknown details about life on tour and what it was like working alongside frontman Ian Curtis , who committed suicide at age 23, the book offers captivating accounts of the band’s turbulent history. Through Hook’s words, we come to understand why Joy Division was so special – they were able to take dark themes such as death and despair and turn them into something beautiful through their music. Having penned one of the best music biographies of all time, Hook then went and did it all over again with a follow-up. Substance: Inside New Order , which continues the story of his game-changing career.

10: David Bowie with Mick Rock: ‘Moonage Daydream: The Life And Times Of Ziggy Stardust’ (2002)

Moonage Daydream: The Life And Times Of Ziggy Stardust is a captivating visual biography documenting the incredible rise to fame of one of music’s most influential figures. Alongside extraordinary photographs by Mick Rock, the ever mysterious David Bowie himself recounts his creative journey from glam-rock provocateur to art-rock Renaissance man, providing an insightful look into his genius and offering a rare glimpse into the work he created in the 70s. Capturing the energy and spirit of Ziggy Stardust’s artistic inception, Moonage Daydream truly highlights how Bowie’s contributions to popular culture profoundly affected music for generations to come.

9: Johnny Marr: ‘Set The Boy Free: The Autobiography’ (2016)

Set The Boy Free , the autobiography of The Smiths ’ guitarist Johnny Marr , serves as an incredible and honest look at the indie sensation’s life. Following Marr from his childhood in Manchester, England, to becoming one of the best guitarists of all time , the book vividly recounts his experience teaming up with Morrissey to form The Smiths, and how the pair revolutionised the 80s indie-rock scene. Weaving together tales from throughout his life – growing up as a working-class kid on a council estate; falling in love with the guitar – Marr’s autobiography offers a definitive take on how he did the unthinkable and made guitar music cool again.

8: Nile Rodgers: ‘Le Freak: An Upside Down Story Of Family, Disco And Destiny’ (2011)

Le Freak: An Upside Down Story Of Family, Disco And Destiny invites readers to learn more about the life of one of the world’s most influential musicians – the guitarist and producer Nile Rodgers . From his early days as a session musician to becoming a gatekeeper of funk and disco as the guitarist for Chic , Rodgers tells a rich and captivating story, drawing from his unconventional upbringing as well as his personal accounts of mental-health issues, and substance abuse. An intimate look at how the genre-defying artist found success despite life’s many roadblocks (he would go on to produce records for David Bowie, Duran Duran and Madonna , and collaborate with Daft Punk on the globe-straddling hit Get Lucky), Rodgers strings together anecdotes that are both funny and heartbreaking, and his free-spirited energy sees him faithfully recapture moments of joy and sorrow through vivid accounts of his career highs and lows.

7: Stephen Morris: ‘Record Play Pause: Confessions Of A Post-Punk Percussionist’ (2019)

Much like his bandmate Peter Hook, drummer Stephen Morris’ memoir Record Play Pause is an account of Joy Division’s early punk and post-punk days in 70s Britain. Through his personal recollections, readers gain an inside view into what it was like for Morris to be part of the musical revolution Joy Division engendered, as the drummer offers a glimpse into his childhood in Macclesfield, as well as his teenage years spent largely discovering music and exploring the sounds that would define him for years to come. From getting his first drum set at 14, through to recording with Joy Division, this memoir provides a candid look at how post-punk began. Record Play Pause also has a sequel, Fast Forward , which takes the story into the New Order era and also deserves a mention among the best music autobiographies.

6: Rob Halford: ‘Confess: The Autobiography’ (2020)

Rob Halford, the lead singer of the heavy metal band Judas Priest, gave fans a raw and honest look at his life in his autobiography, Confess . As he reflects on his career, personal struggles and relationships, it’s easy to see why Halford has become an icon for heavy metal music over the years, so diehard fans of Judas Priest will definitely want to pick up this book and read more about the man behind some of their favourite songs. Confess offers an in-depth look into Halford’s surprisingly multi-faceted life, with plenty of stories about his time in Judas Priest, touring the world, coming out as a pioneering LGBTQ+ icon and dealing with addiction issues. Halford also talks candidly about how it felt to be a rock star in a genre that wasn’t always accepted by mainstream society. Even if you’re not the biggest fan of heavy metal, this book is an insightful entry among the best music biographies.

5: Ozzy Osbourne: ‘I Am Ozzy’ (2009)

As the “Godfather Of Heavy Metal”, Ozzy Osbourne uses I Am Ozzy as a chance to run through his thrilling and tumultuous career, allowing fans to get a deeper look at his life as he recounts all his ups and downs in an honest and often humorous way. Written in a conversational style that feels as though you’re sitting with a long-lost friend, I Am Ozzy gives readers insight into what it was like growing up in post-war England, becoming the frontman for hard-rock giants Black Sabbath, dealing with drug addiction and depression, and finding success again with solo hits such as Crazy Train. Osbourne also dives into his latter years, discussing his family and how his wife, Sharon, is responsible for putting him on the path to sobriety.

4: Nick Mason: ‘Inside Out: A Personal History Of Pink Floyd’ (2004)

Inside Out: A Personal History Of Pink Floyd , by drummer Nick Mason, is a must-read for any fan of the iconic band. In this first-hand account of the group’s history, Mason recounts Pink Floyd’s incredible journey, from their early psychedelic-rock days to their massive prog-rock successes in the 70s and 80s. With vivid detail, Mason takes readers through every major moment in the group’s history, including the stories behind their first hit single, Arnold Layne, and their ambitious concept album The Wall. Throughout, Mason paints an evocative picture of life inside one of Britain’s most renowned bands, not only addressing the creative process but also shedding light on moments of joy and camaraderie, when his bandmates supported each other during some of the toughest times. It’s an engaging and fascinating read.

3: Bruce Springsteen: ‘Born To Run’ (2016)

Born To Run is a testament to Bruce Springsteen’s personal resilience and his unwavering commitment to the spirit of rock’n’roll. Chronicling The Boss’ early days growing up in New Jersey, as well as his rise to fame as the lead songwriter in The E Street Band, it’s an emotional journey from the man’s own viewpoint, filled with both joy and sorrow. As well as Springsteen’s recollections of life on tour, we also get honest accounts of his long-standing relationships with family members. From tales of personal struggles and career triumphs to reflections on the power of music in our lives, Born To Run is one of the best music autobiographies out there, regardless of whether you’re a Springsteen fan or not.

2: Elton John: ‘Me’ (2019)

Elton John’s Me is a witty and self-effacing autobiography that traces the life of one of Britain’s greatest songwriters. Covering decades of John’s emotional ups and downs, the book offers revealing accounts of his drug addiction, his troubled love life and his struggle to come to terms with his sexuality, as well as his career as a celebrated singer-songwriter. With behind-the-scenes stories about how some of his best-loved songs were written, John speaks most profoundly about the impact fame has had on him, and Me explores themes such as loneliness and depression to great effect. A companion piece to the 2019 biopic Rocketman , starring Taron Egerton, Me does wonders in capturing the essence of Elton John.

1: Anthony Kiedis: ‘Scar Tissue’ (2004)

Anthony Kiedis’ memoir, Scar Tissue , is a revealing and no-holds-barred account of the Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman’s life. Following Kiedis through both tremendous career success and deep personal pain, readers will discover the highs and lows of a life lived on the edge – expect rampant substance abuse, wild sexual escapades, broken relationships and many other extreme experiences. Kiedis writes candidly about his struggles with addiction as well as his spiritual journey to sobriety while balancing his personal life with the demands of being in one of the best 90s bands . Kiedis also shares stories from his unconventional childhood growing up in Los Angeles, where fame was always nearby – he even recounts once being babysat by Sonny And Cher. In the end, Scar Tissue is a heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting read, as Kiedis eventually finds peace through self-acceptance and redemption. And that’s why it tops our list of the best rock autobiographies.

Now check out the best music biographies .

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13 books every rock fan needs to read

These indispensable books should take pride of place on every discerning rock fan's shelves.

Chock full of colourful characters, constantly adrift on a sea of international adventure and not shy of a plot-twist or 25, the rock world feels predestined to generate some of the most horrifying, inspiring and downright incredible stories imaginable. We’ve stopped short of naming the 'top 13' rock biographies – simply because there are literally hundreds out there more than worth your time. Instead we have listed thirteen of the best rock music books you should read right now.

The Dirt: Confessions Of The World’s Most Notorious Rock Band (Mötley Crüe with Neil Strauss, 2001)

The classic. A title that’s become synonymous with the bad-boy rock biography, The Dirt feels like the ultimate chronicle of the genre’s ’80s excess. Looking back now, the idea that Mötley Crüe classics like Wild Side and Girls, Girls, Girls only scratched the surface of their unshackled debauchery seems almost unbelievable. A kaleidoscopic odyssey of booze, drugs, groupies, dealers, cops, tour buses, strip-clubs and car-wrecks, both figurative and literal, it’s a tale that needs to be read to be believed. If you only pick up one rock bio today, probably best to make it this one. Devotees should be sure to grab Nikki Sixx’s bleaker but equally essential 2007 follow-up, The Heroin Diaries, too.

Tranny: Confessions Of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout (Laura Jane Grace, 2016)

Known, during writing, as Killing Me Loudly, the autobiography from Against Me! ’s Laura Jane Grace draws extensively from the journals she had been compiling since third grade. Its eventual title ‘Tranny’ is a term the singer hates, but its appropriation here is symbolic of her taking ownership of a personal struggle through which she noted the supposedly accepting punk community were “more closed-minded than the church”. Illuminating. Poignant. Inspiring. It’s equally essential reading for individuals struggling to come to terms with themselves and those same closed-minds struggling to understand.

White Line Fever: The Autobiography (Lemmy Kilmister, 2002)

Possessed of a godlike air like few others, Lemmy always seemed like something of an unapproachable icon even for those of us fortunate to make his acquaintance. As such, this exceptionally grounded autobiography – charting the life of Ian Fraser Kilmister, son of an RAF chaplain from Stoke-On-Trent – brought us brilliantly closer to the man behind the myth. Of course, from his early musical exploits with Jimi Hendrix and Hawkwind to decades-long scene leadership at the helm of Motörhead , the man led a life that most of us could even imagine. “It’s a fallacy to say I taught him how to drink,” the legend writes at one point, remembering a young Lars Ulrich. “I actually taught him to throw up, and that’s what he did, all over himself. That’s what he got for trying to keep up with older people’s habits…”

Girl In A Band (Kim Gordon, 2015)

Sonic Youth were never a band to shy away from unpleasantries in their dogged pursuit of beauty and authenticity. Fittingly, bassist Kim Gordon’s chronicle of her break-up with guitarist Thurston Moore and the dissolution of their seminal indie-rock outfit isn’t just a tale of heartbreak; it’s one of the sporadic mundanity, unpredictability and seat-of-your-pants adventure of holding a prime seat on the alt.rock roundabout for the best part of three decades. Girl In A Band proves itself essential reading for anyone with even a passing interest in the New York noiseniks – or the scene they helped define.

Hammer Of The Gods (Stephen Davis, 1985)

Another of the classics. It’s probably not that difficult to write a rollicking recount of one band’s tumultuous journey when that band is Led bloody Zeppelin . From quaaludes to bathtubs full of baked beans to the extremely questionable use of one taxidermied shark, many of the anecdotes here have slipped into rock’n’roll folklore, but that takes little from the experience of finding them compiled into this singular volume. It's best not to spoil them too much further here. Let’s just say this is another must-read addition, for rockers or anyone else with a heartbeat…

This Is A Call: The Life And Times Of Dave Grohl (Paul Brannigan, 2011)

It can be difficult, at times, to get a real sense of what goes on under the surface with The Nicest Man In Rock™. K!’s own Paul Brannigan charts his fascinating story with a dextrous grip on the evolving scenes through which Dave Grohl has endured and a spectacular sense of the adventure he’s experienced along the way. From the kid from the D.C. suburbs who dropped out of school to go on tour with Scream, to the sticksman catapulted to superstardom with Nirvana , to the iconic Foo Fighters frontman called upon to play for the Obamas on the White House lawn, few lives share the rollercoaster momentum of Dave’s.

Slash (Slash, 2007)

Most rock bios are about the gritty build and the glitzy payoff. Safe to say, the Slash bio is virtually all payoff. Born Saul Hudson in England in 1965 to a white British graphic artist father and a black American costume designer mother, Slash’s story was never going to be that of your garden variety guitarist. Growing up in Los Angeles’ ’70s bohemia, his mum dated David Bowie, hung out with Joni Mitchell and taught the youngster that “being a rock star is [about finding] the intersection between who you are and who you want to be”. As the story of Guns N’ Roses’ meteoric rise and incendiary fall-out (their latter-day reconciliation is not part of this 2007 volume) unfold, they seem like simply the logical narrative developments of one of music’s most dramatic life stories.

Lords Of Chaos (Michael Moynihan, 1998)

Before you see the movie, read the book. As feels inevitable for any volume skewering the adolescent, corpse-painted pomposity of the ’90s Norwegian black metal scene – and laying bare the narcissistic inhumanity of the suicide, church burnings and murders that followed in its wake – the accuracy of Michael Moynihan’s Lords Of Chaos has been called into question by many of those involved at the time. Regardless, this is a fascinating trip into metal’s most evil sub-genre, and a chilling reminder of what can happen when the lines blur between trve cvlt theatre and stark reality. Special mention to Dayal Patterson’s Evolution Of The Cult (2013) and The Cult Never Dies (2015) for further deconstructing the scene’s horrifically compelling progression, too.

Heavier Than Heaven (Charles R. Cross, 2001)

Much (perhaps too much ) has been written about the life and death of Kurt Cobain . This first (arguably definitive) long-form retelling of his life story does spectacularly well to disperse the rumour that hangs around an individual who was, at his core, a musically prodigious slacker from the lower-middle-class of North Seattle. Even better, it charts Nirvana’s explosion of incredible cross-cultural success – one that, we should remember, lasted a fleeting three years – with a remarkable blend of cool analysis and awe. It’s in a chilling final forensic analysis of Kurt’s self-destructive streak, though, that Heavier Than Heaven comes into its own: daring the reader to put aside music and mythos to pass judgement on the individual in the harsh light of the bare facts.

Smash: Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX And The ’90s Punk Explosion (Ian Winwood, 2018)

It’s strange how the story of ’90s skate-punk has been distorted through the retrospective lens of the last two-and-a-bit decades: its lineage conflated and confused with that of the pop-punk genre it helped inspire. Veteran K! contributor Ian Winwood’s book shatters those perceptions, transporting us back to the poverty, addiction and unhinged chaos of the era that spawned so many of our favourite bands. Finding The Offspring guitarist Noodles working as a janitor, Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong living in a Salvation army shelter and Green Day maestro Billie Joe Armstrong infested with body lice during a debut European tour, it’s a fascinating look at the underground grit and shit before the platinum-rated sheen that followed.

Get In The Van: On The Road With Black Flag (Henry Rollins, 1994)

Something of a gritty yin to The Dirt’s glamorous yang, Get In The Van is a superb, zero-bullshit diary of life on the road with LA hardcore legends Black Flag . Fronting the band between 1981 and 1986, punk’s storyteller supreme Henry Rollins had a drivers-seat view of the violence, squalor and sheer chaos of hardcore’s early days. From roadies forced into eating dog food to hard-nut cops to borderline psychotic fans, it’s a dirt-beneath-the-fingernails classic unafraid to show the bleak underbelly of life in a touring band – albeit one with an ultimately triumphant arc. Any fledgling rock star wannabes out for fame and fortune should really stop to read this first…

Dark Days: A Memoir (D. Randall Blythe, 2015)

On May 4, 2010, in the Abaton club in Prague, during a concert by Virginian metal legends Lamb Of God , 19-year-old fan Daniel Nosek sustained injuries to his head. Over the weeks that followed, he would slip into a coma and pass away. Although, following his initial release on bail, legal counsel advised against returning to the Czech Republic to face trial, frontman Randy Blythe insisted he "could not run away from this problem while the grieving family of a dead young man searched hopelessly for answers that he might help provide". Those events provide the tragic backdrop for the singer’s stunningly frank account of the dark days (and months) that followed his indictment on manslaughter charges and incarceration in a Czech prison. Even years since Randy’s release, it’s a story that delivers gut-churning jailhouse anecdotes, tales of galvanising camaraderie and an ultimate redemption that even the most optimistic dramatist might’ve struggled to conjure up.

Metallica: Enter Night (Mick Wall, 2010)

It’d be unreasonable to compile a list of great rock biographies without including at least one on the biggest metal band in the world . Tracking a path from the thrash kings’ spandex-clad genesis to their coronation as globe-straddling, genre-transcending megastars, this packs in all the drugs, booze and drama any self-respecting fan would expect. From early acrimony with Dave Mustaine through the devastating loss of Cliff Burton to the callous early treatment and furious departure of Jason Newstead, all the personal drama is captured. As are the band’s mid-’90s creative swerves, the (ever-more hilariously redundant) Napster fiasco and the cringing in-studio therapy that formed the basis of seminal rock-doc Some Kind Of Monster. Crucially, though, Enter Night perfectly charts the band’s place in the rock and metal scene forever evolving around them.

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Best rock star biographies and memoirs: it's pure debauchery

We're talking sex, drugs and bloody good stories

Rock stars of yesteryear had all the fun. The best rock star biographies shed light on those glory days, answering questions you didn’t know you wanted answering.

From tales of debauchery to gritty insights into life on the road, the best biographies share the low points as well as the highs. Teasing details about their lives, many of these access-all-areas biographies allow you to be a fly on the wall for some of the most dramatic moments in musical history.

UPDATE: We've added a couple more key picks from the world of rock autobiographies. Elton John's Me makes the cut for the sheer style of its retelling of one of the iconic careers in rock music. And for those after a less classic biopic-style approach should check out Viv Albertine's 2014 memoir Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys. It's a top read.

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Here we’ve picked out a selection of the very best rockstar memoirs. They feature some of rock’s most prominent figures… as well as some who we’re glad we’ve been able to find out even more about.

Upvote your favourite read, and suggest any we've missed at the bottom.

Best rock star biographies

1 . Keith Richards – Life

No list of rockstar memoirs would be complete without a mention of the Rolling Stones guitarist and rock stalwart Keith Richards. Life spans several decades of music, drugs and life on the road – from the more glamorous elements to the hard reality of some of what he went through. As with all the best memoirs, Life shows a new side of its subject while retaining the kind of honesty and vulnerability which was often hidden from those who only saw his public persona.

2 . Mötley Crüe - The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band

Known for their extreme antics and tales of debauchery, Mötley Crüe has become synonymous with a life of excess that accompanies rock music. A culmination of 30 years worth of jaw-dropping material involving Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, and Mick Mars , the book features scandalous celebrity love affairs and dark stories involving extreme drug addiction. The book has also since been made into a Netflix Original Movie starring Machine Gun Kelly and Douglas Booth.

3 . Anthony Kiedis – Scar Tissue

The Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman is a 21st-century rocker you’d expect to have plenty of revealing stories, and Scar Tissue is certainly a revealing read.

Kiedis’s drug use has hardly been a secret throughout his career, but this is an at-times-sensitive look at his early exposure to substances and how it shaped his life and experiences as his band enjoyed a rapid rise and ultimately grew into one of the world’s biggest.

4 . Slash — Slash: The Autobiography

Few rock stars of the 80s and 90s are as instantly identifiable as Slash, and the Guns N’ Roses guitarist lived a proper rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle during his time with the band. This is documented in detail in his 2007 autobiography, with covers ups, downs, excess and near-death in the kind of detail you can only get from someone who lived through it all… and almost died in the process.

5 . Lemmy – White Line Fever

The title of Lemmy’s autobiography gives a bit of a clue to what to expect, but there’s more to it than just drugs and excess. It’s not just about Motörhead, either, although the band does have a big role to play. White Line Fever is often conversational in tone, and that gives you an idea of Lemmy’s real, authentic voice – it’s the sort of thing which not every memoir needs, but the feeling of him being right there with you certainly helps in this case.

6 . Patti Smith – Just Kids

Smith’s memoir isn’t just about music or even just about her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, but rather a poignant look back at a very specific version of New York which we will surely never see again. Published in 2010, Just Kids captures a time, a place and the people united by both to make for a fascinating memoir, and we’re grateful to Smith for bringing it all back to life with such honesty.

7 . Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

'Writing about yourself is a funny business…But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I’ve tried to do this.' — notes Bruce Springsteen, from the pages of his autobiography, Born to Run . The concept for the book spawned from his 2009 Superbowl half time show, which Springsteen noted as being so exhilarating, the experience simply had to be documented. From his Catholic upbringing in Freehold, New Jersey , to the traumatizing events which shaped some of his greatest lyrical work, this is a delightfully gritty tale depicting a rock 'n' roll great

8 . Nikki Sixx – The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star

Some of the most eye-catching rock memoirs aren’t even really about the music, and this work from the Mötley Crüe man is a case in point. The bassist presents a no holds barred depiction of life on tour, in the studio and on heroin, all presented in diary form, during a period where addiction to the drug almost killed him. Throw in retrospectives from Sixx and his bandmates and it makes for compelling reading.

9 . Kim Gordon – Girl in a Band: A Memoir

Girl in a Band takes us back to the 1980s heyday of Sonic Youth through the words of founding member Kim Gordon. The memoir looks back at Gordon’s childhood before exploring her career in music, her marriage to bandmate Thurston Moore, and the eventual unravelling of that relationship. The portrait of Gordon’s life in Rochester and LA is honest and exploratory without ever being performative, while painting a picture of plenty of her contemporaries from Sonic Youth’s rise to prominence.

10 . Mark Lanegan - Sing Backwards and Weep

Coming from Seattle in the 80s, Mark Lanegan saw everything grunge had to offer and managed to get out the other side. This frank autobiography does not paint an idolised life of a rockstar, but one that has knocks, scrapes and near misses. It's packed with the lowest of lows and the highs are all, well, something else. You need to read this and it's even more poignant after his passing.

11 . Elton John - Me

This autobiography covers Elton John's pre-fame years, his early career and most riotously depraved years. It's hilarious, touching and, as far as we can tell, pretty honest given how often John is not depicted as a flawless hero character. This biography was written in collaboration with music critic Alexis Petridis, who captures John's voice perfectly while delivering thoroughly well-written prose.

12 . Viv Albertine - Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys.

Slits guitarist Viv Albertine's 2014 autobiography made an impact that went far beyond punk fans interested in her band. It's a feminist work that looks at the realities of being a woman in the 70s and 80s, amped up by being a pivotal part of the punk scene. The book also covers her work after the Slits, who disbanded in 1982.

13 . Laura Jane Grace - Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout

Grace, the vocalist for punk band Against Me!, has a unique story to tell. And she tells it brilliantly in Tranny. The singer and guitarist came out as transgender in 2012, and her memoir – written with journalist Dan Ozzi and published four years later – is a brutally honest look at her experiences with gender dysphoria alongside her breakthrough into the punk scene. As well as shedding light on Grace’s past, it allows us a look at Butch Vig and Bruce Springsteen through fresh eyes.

14 . Mark Oliver Everett – Things the Grandchildren Should Know

Everett, better known as E, has enjoyed a strong following with his band Eels without ever attaining worldwide superstar status. Everett’s emotional depth has always come through in his songwriting, so it’s no surprise to see him eloquently and sensitively detail the role of others’ deaths in his own life after losing both parents and his sister before turning 35. There isn’t the excess of other memories, but it’s just as emotionally affecting, if not more so.

15 . John Lydon – Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs

Lydon, known as Johnny Rotten during his time with the Sex Pistols, had front-row seats to the birth of punk in the UK. As you can guess, this makes for great memoir fodder. The Londoner tears in to anyone and everyone you can imagine from the “boring” society infiltrated by his band. As the man himself says: “A lot of people feel the Sex Pistols were just negative. I agree, and what the fuck is wrong with that?”

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The 10 Best Memoirs by Musicians

From Britney Spears' long-awaited biography to Jay-Z's innovative memoir.

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From music superstars like Elton John to pop queens like Britney Spears , a plethora of musicians have embarked upon writing an autobiography, hoping to take fans behind the scenes of an extraordinary life. Rock legends like Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen have chronicled their respective paths to fame, while singer-songwriter Alicia Keys decided to get candid, opening up about everything from her childhood to what it means to be a woman in the music industry. Here, we round up 10 of the best memoirs by musicians available to read in 2023.

Andy Cohen Books 'The Meaning of Mariah Carey' by Mariah Carey with Michaela Angela Davis

Most of us are well acquainted with Mariah Carey's music career, but in her revealing memoir, the "Fantasy" singer takes fans behind the scenes of her private life. From her difficult childhood growing up in Long Island, New York, to her allegedly abusive marriage to music executive Tommy Mottola, Carey's book is a frank account of her incredible rise to fame. Carey also offers readers a glimpse of her songwriting process while exploring her identity as a biracial woman in the music industry. Not to be missed.

Gallery Books 'The Woman in Me' by Britney Spears

Following the end of Britney Spears' 13-year conservatorship , fans have been waiting to hear the superstar's story in her own words. With The Woman in Me, due October 24 from Gallery Books, Spears explores her rise to fame, her journey with motherhood, and her experiences breaking free from conservatorship, which became worldwide news. Catapulted to fame with 1998's "Baby One More Time," Spears has had an incomparable career, and she's finally ready to share her truth with readers everywhere.

Henry Holt and Co. 'Me' by Elton John

Having been born as Reginald Dwight in London on March 25, 1947, Elton John started making a name for himself in the '70s thanks to his iconic glam rock persona. In Me, John gets candid about his childhood, how he broke into the music industry, and how he overcame a decade-long drug addiction. From his friendships with fellow musicians like Freddie Mercury and John Lennon to his marriage to David Furnish, John's memoir chronicles the life of one of the world's most noted singers.

Dey Street Books 'The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music' by Dave Grohl

Dave Grohl has had one of the most unbelievable careers in rock, from his early days drumming for Nirvana to his role as lead singer of the Foo Fighters. In The Storyteller, Grohl shares anecdotes from throughout his life, coming face-to-face with music royalty like Paul McCartney and Iggy Pop and building a family outside of fame. From his childhood as an aspiring musician to what it was like working with Kurt Cobain, Grohl's memoir is a fascinating insight into an inimitable career.

Simon & Schuster 'Chronicles: Volume One' by Bob Dylan

Chronicles: Volume One is the first memoir from Bob Dylan , one of America's most important singer-songwriters. The book gives readers snapshots of three specific moments in Dylan's career, starting in 1961, jumping to 1970, and ending in 1989. Each segment charts Dylan's creative process, delving into unexpected moments from his life and sharing insight into how an icon came to be. Since its 2004 release, fans have been eagerly awaiting a follow-up to the celebrated memoir, which Dylan is rumored to be writing.

Da Capo Press 'I Put A Spell On You: The Autobiography Of Nina Simone' by Nina Simone with Stephen Cleary

First released in 1992, I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone was re-released in 2003 following the singer's death. As well as charting her incredible recording career and exemplary singing voice, the memoir also covers her personal life, exploring her failed marriages, serious health issues, a suicide attempt, and challenging business decisions. Ultimately, Simone's book is a testament to her strength in the face of adversity and a celebration of her unforgettable musical career.

Simon & Schuster 'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen

In his acclaimed biography, Bruce Springsteen opens up about his youth in New Jersey and explains the inspirations that led him to pursue a career in music. From the founding of the E Street Band to the successes that followed, Springsteen doesn't hold anything back. He followed up his memoir with a Broadway tenure in which he read extracts from Born to Run and performed songs from throughout his career. Overall, Born to Run is an important insight into a quintessential American musician.

Flatiron Books 'More Myself: A Journey' by Alicia Keys with Michelle Burford

Alicia Keys has connected with listeners all over the world with her jaw-dropping voice and personal lyrics. In More Myself: A Journey, Keys takes readers back to her early childhood in Harlem and Hell's Kitchen, exploring difficult familial relationships alongside the events that led to her starting a singing career. As well as being a biography, Keys' memoir explores what it means to be a woman in the public eye and the journey she's been on to discover her true self away from the spotlight.

Dey Street Books 'Open Book' by Jessica Simpson

In Open Book, Jessica Simpson candidly talks about her climb to the top, from her disastrous Mickey Mouse Club audition to competing with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in the charts. Simpson doesn't hold anything back, detailing her struggle with alcoholism, her failed marriage to Nick Lachey, and romantic dalliances with John Mayer and Johnny Knoxville. Following forays into acting, fashion, and business, Simpson reckoned with her career and herself, exposing the positives and the negatives of a life in the public eye.

One World 'Decoded' by Jay-Z

Decoded takes Jay-Z fans on a journey from Shawn Carter's early days to the creation of a hip-hop legend. By combining biographical details from throughout his life with the dissemination of his own lyrics, Jay-Z builds a picture of how he rose to fame and what it took to get there. An important look at hip-hop artistry, creatively written in an innovative format, Decoded provides a unique insight into one of music's most lauded figures.

Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Her bylines include Harper's BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness , and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics.

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Passionate and highly personal accounts of extraordinary lives, the best music memoirs offer everything from creative insights to rock’n’roll excess.

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Many musicians have a great story to tell about their action-packed lives – and the best music memoirs are always passionate and highly personal. Some focus on creative journeys and a search for artistic fulfillment; some offer accounts of wild parties and other rock’n’roll excesses. Some classics, such as Woody Guthrie’s Bound For Glory and Miles Davis ’ Miles: The Autobiography , were written decades ago, but there have been some great modern additions to the canon, by greats such as Elton John , Patti Smith, Keith Richards , and Debbie Harry.

Here are our 30 best music memoirs of all time. Think we’ve missed one of yours? Let us know in the comments section, below.

30: Woody Guthrie: Bound For Glory (EP Dutton, 1943)

The autobiography of Woody Guthrie, written with the help of his first wife, Marjorie, detailed the folk singer’s travels across America and his experiences as a fruit-picker living in a hobo camp. Bound For Glory has its own charm as it explains the background behind one of the 20th-century’s most important musicians. Guthrie’s boyhood gang, who features in the memoir, provided the inspiration for the name of Bob Geldof’s band The Boomtown Rats.

29: George Melly: Owning Up (Penguin, 1965)

Owning Up was singer George Melly’s first-hand account of the professional jazz world of the 50s. After giving up work in an art gallery, Melly was drawn into the jazz revival. In Owning Up , the first of a series of memoirs by the Liverpudlian, Melly humorously describes an endless round of pubs, clubs, seedy guest-houses and transport cafés, and the weird array of musicians, drunks, and eccentrics that were part of that vanished music scene.

28: Booker T Jones: Time Is Right: My Life Note By Note (Omnibus, 2019)

Booker T Jones , the leader of the acclaimed Stax Records house band Booker T And The MGs, is integral to the history of 60s soul music. His self-penned memoir is full of great stories about musicians such as Otis Redding and Dr John – and offers an interesting account of his own musical education, including his love of Blue Note pianist Horace Silver . He is also modest about his own talent, writing in praise of Ray Charles , for example, that he could not match his way of playing ‘I Got A Woman’. “Ray played with such precision and did not miss a note or beat, every note exactly in place, singing at the same time! I couldn’t even play it in time.” This, by the way, comes from the man who helped create the instrumental masterpiece ‘Green Onions’ , a song Barack Obama invited him to perform at The White House.

27: Chuck Berry: The Autobiography (Harmony Books, 1987)

Chuck Berry was keen to let everyone know that he had not paid for a ghostwriter. “The book is entirely written, phrase by phrase, by yours truly, Chuck Berry,” he wrote in the introduction to his 1987 autobiography. It’s no surprise that the man who wrote classics such as ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and ‘Johnny B Goode’ has a clever way with words as he offers a compelling view of being subject to the injustices of racism while also charting his place in the founding of rock’n’roll.

26: Nile Rodgers: Le Freak (Little, Brown, 2011)

Nile Rodgers, the child of jazz-obsessed junkies, had an action-packed life. He jammed with Jimi Hendrix , toured with Big Bird on Sesame Street ’s roadshow, and played in the legendary Apollo Theatre house band. He was also a key part of the “sex, drugs and disco ” revolution of the 70s as the co-founder and guitarist for Chic. His memoir is an exhilarating, blunt tale of an amazing musical journey.

25: Iggy Pop: I Need More (Karz-Cohl Publishing, 1997)

Iggy Pop , who was born James Osterberg, was considered one of the grand old men of punk rock when he wrote what he described as “a kind of autobiography in fragments” in the late 90s. The book ranges from his childhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to the evolution of his seminal rock band, The Stooges. Pop details his reckless adventures and troubles in his own frank and indomitable manner.

24: Boy George: Take It Like A Man (HarperCollins, 1995)

Boy George, the star of Culture Club , was characteristically provocative in an autobiography that showed off his droll wit. He deals with his childhood as the self-dubbed “pink sheep” of a large working-class family, and talks about coming out and his teenage fascination with David Bowie and Marc Bolan . His is funny about his jet-setting life as a pop celebrity and open about his heroin addiction. He also deals with his bizarre spat with author Anthony Burgess, who had criticized his abilities as a musician.

23: James Brown: The Godfather Of Soul (Da Capo Press, 1986)

James Brown opens up about his dirt-poor childhood in an Augusta brothel and how he went on to overcome huge obstacles to find wealth and fame. There are good anecdotes about Little Richard , Elvis Presley , Tina Turner, and Otis Redding , but the most vivid parts of the book are about Brown’s time in a juvenile center. He also discusses the brave stand he took following the assassination of his friend Martin Luther King .

22: Quincy Jones: Q: The Autobiography Of Quincy Jones (Hodder & Stoughton, 2001)

Quincy Jones is one of the most significant producer/arranger/composers of the modern era and Q is an acutely personal book. Jones gives a no-holds-barred account of his life, from his mother’s mental illness to working with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson . He also discusses his own nervous breakdown after the triumph of Thriller , and his failed marriages.

21: Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner’s Daughter (Knopf Doubleday, 2010)

Loretta Lynn has lived a remarkable life and her memoir tells the story of her impoverished childhood in Kentucky, her marriage at 13, her six children, and how she battled to become one of the most influential songwriters and singers in country music. Her powerful story is told in a feisty, open style, detailing how she bucked against a life where “there was always a man telling me what to do”. The audio version was brilliantly narrated by actress Sissy Spacek.

20: Gil Scott-Heron: The Last Holiday (Grove Press, 2012)

Songwriter, poet, and activist Gil Scott-Heron died at 62 in May 2011. His posthumously published memoir, The Last Holiday , is an elegiac finale to his musical and literary career. He offers a perceptive, funny, and compassionate account of his life, its tribulations, and the inspirations for his brilliant, socially-conscious music.

19: James Fearnley: Here Comes Everybody: The Story Of The Pogues (Faber, 2012)

The Pogues first formed in 1982 as Pogue Mahone (Gaelic for “kiss my arse”) and were one of the groundbreaking bands of the era. James Fearnley, The Pogues’ accordion player, brings to life the youthful friendships, the bust-ups, the grim gigs and the drunkenness of his times with a band fronted by the alcoholic Shane McGowan.

18: Willie Nelson: It’s A Long Story: My Life (Little, Brown, 2015)

There have been numerous books about Willie Nelson – including his own 1988 publication, Willie: An Autobiography – but the most unvarnished is 2015’s It’s A Long Story: My Life . This book captures Nelson’s humor and spirit and goes off at interesting tangents. The country music singer, an avid reader, talks about the influence of the TS Eliot poem ‘East Coker’ on his own song ‘Still Is Still Moving To Me’. Nelson is a true one-off and that shines through in this tale.

17 Jay-Z: Decoded (Random House, 2010)

From drug dealer to multimillionaire rapper, Jay-Z ’s story, as told in Decoded , is gripping. Part art book, part lyrical compilation, and part personal narrative, Decoded is also a defense of rap music. “Rap took the remnants of a dying society and created something new,” says the man born Shawn Carter in New York in 1969.

16: Johnny Marr: Set The Boy Free (Penguin, 2017)

Johnny Marr’s autobiography, Set The Boy Free , was, unsurprisingly, less grandiose than Morrissey ’s memoir. The Smiths had a huge influence on music in the 80s and Marr was one of the most influential guitarists of his generation. His memoir, which deals with the break-up of the band and his subsequent career, is witty and moving. Some of the most affecting parts are his memories of growing up in Ardwick Green, Manchester.

15: Roger Daltrey: Roger Daltrey, My Story: Thanks A Lot Mr. Kibblewhite (Blink Publishing, 2018)

The Who members have a rich story to tell. After Pete Townshend ’s Who Am I , published in 2013, there came Roger Daltrey’s punchy memoir, which told the story of his journey to rock stardom. It’s a funny and open account. (The title, incidentally, refers to the headmaster who expelled Daltrey from Acton County Grammar School when he was 15. Daltrey’s generation could certainly hold a grudge.)

14: Mötley Crüe: The Dirt: Confessions Of The World’s Most Notorious Rock Band (HarperCollins, 2001)

Mötley Crüe ’s off-stage antics were as wild as their music, and the 2001 memoir The Dirt was a collective autobiography written by Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil, and Nikki Sixx. A genuinely entertaining, shocking book, it became a bestseller in 2001. In March 2019 a film adaptation was given its Netflix debut.

13: Johnny Cash: Cash (HarperCollins, 2000)

There have been several biographies about country music legend Johnny Cash , but in 2000 he gave his own revealing account of his life. He covered the early days at Sun Records – with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis – to his rise as a country superstar. Cash offers interesting details about his own complex character and opens up about his recurring addiction to amphetamines and his shortcomings as a father. This follow-up to 1986’s The Man In Black memoir is also full of wonderful oddities, such as the time he was nearly disemboweled by an ostrich.

12: Marianne Faithfull: Memories, Dreams And Reflections (HarperCollins, 2007)

Many of the stories about Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger almost belong to folklore, but she proves herself to be a witty, eccentric storyteller in Memories, Dreams And Reflections . Her background is fascinating, too. Her father was an ex-MI6 spy who had interrogated Himmler. As well as stories about fellow musicians, the singer, who had a hit with ‘As Tears Go By’, reflects on poet Allen Ginsberg. She also recalls how, high on smack, she walked away from the part of Lady Macbeth given to her by Roman Polanski. The book is a quirky treat.

11: Debbie Harry: Face It (HarperCollins, 2019)

As part of Blondie , singer and actress Debbie Harry was one of the most original and successful female singers of the 70s. Her tales of stardom are vivid, and her account of growing up is self-deprecating and amusing; there are stories galore of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll in this entertaining memoir. She also offers surprises, as with her recollections about her passion for jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday , Dizzy Gillespie, and Ornette Coleman.

10: Elvis Costello: Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink (Penguin, 2016)

For Elvis Costello fans, the 2016 memoir Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink was rich in details about his own writing process and the experiences and emotions that inspired classic songs such as ‘Alison’ and ‘Oliver’s Army’. Costello offers wry details about his background – his father, Ross MacManus, was a dance-hall performer – and the stories about his collaborations with giants such as Paul McCartney , Burt Bacharach , and Allen Toussaint are riveting.

9: Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run (Simon & Schuster, 2016)

The man known as “The Boss” has been one of the most dominant figures in rock music for more than 40 years. His forthright memoir sheds light on his long-standing battle with depression, his troubled relationship with his father, and his own searing ambitions. This is an enjoyable, candid self-portrait by a fine songwriter and complicated man.

8: Chrissie Hynde: Reckless: My Life As A Pretender (Ebury, 2015)

Singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde admits in the prologue to her memoir that she waited to publish her autobiography until her straitlaced parents had died: “I would have had to leave out the bad language and tell a lot of lies about what I’d been doing all that time I was gone.” The result is a compelling, candid account of the music business, one filled with memorable anecdotes and harrowing revelations.

7: Eric Clapton: The Autobiography (Cornerstone, 2007)

Eric Clapton’s account of his life is stark and painfully honest. He deals with his strange background, his addiction problems, and his “ruthless” pursuit of musical excellence. The guitarist, who gained fame with The Yardbirds and Cream , also covers the love triangle that involved Clapton, Pattie Boyd, and George Harrison . Clapton’s autobiography is notably devoid of the defensiveness and evasions normally found in celebrity memoirs.

6: Kim Gordan: Girl In A Band (Faber, 2015)

Kim Gordon was the charismatic frontwoman in Sonic Youth – alongside husband Thurston Moore. In this fascinating memoir, she recalls their shambolic early days, her feud with Courtney Love, and the cut-throat music business of the early 80s. “Women aren’t allowed to be kick-ass. I refused to play the game,” says Gordon. Her descriptions of New York in the 80s, when Sonic Youth formed, are especially fine sections.

5: Elton John: Me (Pan Macmillan, 2019)

Elton John says he has lived “an extraordinary life” and his autobiography, Me , is a hilarious, candid window into that life. John recalls the life-changing lucky stroke of teaming up with songwriter Bernie Taupin and offers an honest appraisal of how his life fell apart as a superstar, when he became hooked on drugs. There are also lots of funny stories about fellow musicians such as Freddie Mercury and Rod Stewart .

4: Miles Davis: Miles: The Autobiography (Simon & Schuster, 1989)

The memoir from one of the greatest jazz men of all time is rich in stories, self-analysis, and reflections on music. There are some lovely passages in which he recalls his excitement at hearing Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in a St Louis nightclub in 1944. It was his first live exposure to bebop . The constant use of profanity in the book caused controversy, as did his candid reflections on his own failings, including his problems with drug addiction. His behavior is sometimes repulsive – he admits to pimping to support his habit – but Miles remains an eminently readable autobiography.

3: Bob Dylan: Chronicles: Volume One (Simon & Schuster, 2004)

This modest, plain-spoken, and thoughtful opening installment of Bob Dylan’s memoirs deals with his life as folk troubadour in Greenwich Village in the early 60s. The way he talks about musical mentors such as Hank Williams , Woody Guthrie and Johnny Cash is touching. As you would expect from someone who has won The Nobel Prize In Literature, he is also well-read, and expresses his admiration for Balzac and Chekhov, among others. The tone of the book becomes more cutting when he is dealing with his own growing fame. This offbeat, ruminative book is a must-read for Dylan fans.

2: Patti Smith: Just Kids (Ecco, 2010)

Patti Smith gives a heartfelt account of her artistic education and love affair with her friend Robert Mapplethorpe in the evocative memoir Just Kids . Her account of working in a factory and living in a succession of squalid New York apartments is intense and edgy, as she worked her way towards becoming an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album, Horses . Just Kids won the prestigious 2010 National Book Award For Nonfiction.

1: Keith Richards: Life (Orion, 2011)

Keith Richards ’ life story pulsates with outlandish tales. His accounts of growing up in wartime Dartford are fascinating and, from the moment he signs to Decca Records with The Rolling Stones , he is at the center of the British music scene. Richards holds little back about his wild, drug-filled days in music, but he also conveys his rapturous delight at the music he loved, especially from blues stars such as Howlin’ Wolf , Little Walter , and Muddy Waters .

Looking for more? Discover the best illustrated music books of all time .

January 29, 2020 at 10:41 pm

Another excellent read is ‘Is That It?’ by Bob Geldof, a straightforward, tell it like it is autobiography.

Malcolm McLean

May 11, 2020 at 2:32 pm

A great list there! I also loved Jake Shears’s memoir ‘Boys Keep Swinging’, Tracey Thorn’s ‘Bedsit Disco Queen’ and Viv Albertine’s ‘Clothes, Music. Boys.’ Anyone interested in music fan memoirs could check out the one I recently wrote and released, from a pop superfan’s perspective – ‘Freak Like Me: Confessions of a 90s pop groupie’. It’s a pretty lighthearted book, full of 90s and early 2000s pop nostalgia, a collection of my memories as a teenage pop hanger-on, attending Top of the Pops week in, week out, and watching the changing chart music landscape, all whilst finding my place in the world. Check it out if it sounds up anyone’s street!

Nicholas Curcio

June 5, 2021 at 2:38 pm

Raise Up Off Me: A Portrait of Hampton Hawes

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7 Of The Best Rock And Roll Autobiographies

“If you’re going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.”

Rock music can trace its roots back to 1950s America, emerging from a fusion of rhythm and blues , western and country, and traditional folk sounds. Quickly becoming one of the most popular genres in the world of music, it split into different and distinct variants, each with its styles, fashion, and icons. With this music remaining hugely popular and its heroes both driving or coming to symbolise entire movements and eras of history, join us at What We Reading as we pay homage to rocking and rolling with the best rock and roll autobiographies!

Chuck Berry: The Autobiography – Chuck Berry

Kicking off our list of the best rock and roll autobiographies is the 1988 release from the man who created the entire genre. Chuck Berry emerged from the 1950s not only as arguably the world’s first famous black pop star but also as one of the pioneering forces in the music world.

While his influence on the artists of his time and those who followed in his footsteps is absolute, Berry’s autobiography also chronicles the systemic racism and prejudices he was forced to endure throughout his entire time at the top. As addictive to read as his music is to listen to, there’s no better book to pay homage to the history of rock and roll than by hearing it from its founding father.

Life – Keith Richards

One of the all-time classic Rock books from one of the scene’s greatest ever geniuses is Life , the 2010 music biography by Keith Richards. Immersing himself in the beating heart of the rock and roll industry for over forty years, Richards wrote the lyrics, riffs, and songs that took the world by storm from those early days with The Rolling Stones.

In Life, Richards takes readers through all the mesmeric highs and anguishing lows that come with fame and fortune, living a life totally alien to most of us. From the influence of Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry in post-war Kent, his emergence alongside Mick Jagger and Brian Jones in The Stones, the superstardom that came from being a folk hero on the fringes of an establishment rocked by his arrival to the pains of addiction, isolation, and reconciliation, the book is told with the disarming honesty and unique voice that Richards has become so known for.

Face It: A Memoir – Debbie Harry

Through an array of soulful storytelling, never-before-seen photographs and illustrations, and fan-art installations, Debbie Harry presents one of the most captivating rock and roll autobiographies in Face It . As the face of Blondie, she embodied the image of ‘ New York City cool’ and, through her contributions to music and wider society, has gone down as one of the defining artists of her time.

Face It covers everything from her rise in the grunge of 1970s New York, collaborating with individuals ranging from the Ramones, Iggy Pop to David Bowie, her path from commercial success to heroin addict, and tireless work as an activist for LGBTQ+ and environmental issues. It is a multifaceted and strikingly honest memoir from a woman who carved her own path in life and encouraged generations of artists who followed in her footsteps to do the same.

White Line Fever: The Autobiography – Lemmy Kilmister

Lemmy Kilmister’s rock and roll autobiography, White Line Fever , offers a headbanging, sometimes stomach-churning, look behind the curtains at one of the music world’s most notorious groups, with the frontman continuously leading their charge.

Through iconic songs like ‘Ace of Spades,’ ‘Overkill,’ and ‘Bomber,’ Motorhead trailblazed the emerging heavy rock scene in the 1970s. During their twenty-seven-year history, the Grammy-nominated group released 21 albums. It underwent a slew of creative changes in both style and lineup, with Kilmister being the sole continuous member. ‘White Line Fever’ charts Lemmy’s path from his roots in Wales, diving into the Manchester music scene and detailing how he cultivated the growth of the loudest rock band the world had ever heard.

Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs – John Lydon

The era of punk was one of the most significant periods in the history of music, representing a class revolt that would come to define the clothing and culture of the late ‘70s. At the head of this wave were The Sex Pistols, led by the eccentric and energetic Johnny Rotten. Rotten , the 1994 rock autobiography by John Lydon, reflects on the band, himself, and the disaffection of the time.

Much more than just another book on music, Lydon delivers a stunning walk through the history of the UK and its youth culture in the late 1970s. His witty and angry tone is prevalent throughout as he weaves through the creation and collapse of the Pistols and introduces notorious individuals ranging from Malcolm McLaren, Sid Vicious, Chrissie Hynde, to Billy Idol.

Slash – Slash 

Funny, honest, and totally jaw-dropping, Slash is the 2007 autobiography from the notorious Guns N’ Roses guitarist. Born in the UK and raised on the urban streets of Los Angeles, Slash takes readers through his adolescent years and explains how the discovery of a beat-up one-string guitar in his grandmother’s closet changed his life forever.

From that moment on, Slash chronicles how playing the guitar became his expression and led him on a path towards rock and roll. He takes readers inside the formation and success of Guns N’ Roses alongside Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler, and Duff McKagan, detailing his continued creative evolution, as well as surviving everything from rehab, lawsuits, debauchery, and riots.

Chronicles, Volume One – Bob Dylan 

In the first volume of his bestselling memoir, rock legend Bob Dylan recounts the defining moments in his life and career. Leaving Greenwich Village, he paints a stunning portrait of New York City in the 1960s, filled with hazy night-long parties, literary awakenings, transient lovers, and lifelong friends.

Intimate and intensely personal, Dylan’s memoir serves as a collection of thoughts from a Trans-Atlantic creative genius, offering readers a stunning window into the thoughts and feelings that influenced his work. Chronicles, Volume One is a poignant reflection on the people and places that shaped Bob Dylan’s life and art.

Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).

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Classics Du Jour

10 great classic rock autobiographies you need to read.

What makes a great autobiography? Honesty, great stories, and the willingness of the author to really go deep. The following books have either stood the test of time, or have recently topped the charts and gotten enthusiastic reviews from critics and fans alike.  Sadly, two of our choices feature artists who have passed – David Bowie and Gregg Allman.

10  Eric Clapton – “The Autobiography” (2007)

Eric Clapton has endured more triumphs and tragedies than almost any rock star.  He’s also been in more successful bands – The Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos, and then his own brilliant solo career.  Clapton doesn’t try to dodge the truth, and expounds on love, loss, music and addiction.  “All I am certain of right now is that I don’t want to go anywhere, and that’s not bad for someone who always used to run.”   ― Eric Clapton

Get it on Amazon

09  Steve Jones – “Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol” (2017)

From the original leader of the influential group The Sex Pistols, Jones riffs on the beginning of the punk movement, his sad and abusive upbringing, how one TV show started the “Filth and the Fury” headlines that almost killed the band and how he wrote the book knowing “I’m not going to come out of this whole thing smelling like roses.” 

“When I was in the Sex Pistols, I listened to Boston. But I couldn’t tell anybody, you know. I’d get lynched.”   ― Steve Jones

08  Nikki Sixx – “The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star” (2007)

Bassist Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe famously “died” for two minutes in 1987 from a heroin overdose and was brought back to life by paramedics after a 911 call from fans. This book delves into a heroin-infested year of his life with no details spared. Sixx shares his diary entries and artwork from this drug-dazed time.

“This was the crazy routine I had at the time. I would start out freebasing or mainlining anywhere in the house: the front room, the kitchen, the bathroom. But as soon as the coke-induced psychosis kicked in, as soon as the insanity began, I would make a beeline for my bedroom closet. That was my refuge. The only way to bring myself down quicker was heroin. Heroin would make the madness go away: it was the easy solution. It seemed to make sense at the time.” ― Nikki Sixx

07  David Bowie – “Moonage Daydream: The Life and Times of Ziggy Stardust” (2005)

Stuffed with over 650 images from famed photographer Mick Rock, this huge coffee-table art book also includes hilarious and insightful anecdotes from David Bowie . Centered around his two-year experiment as his alter-go Ziggy Stardust, Bowie riffs on shopping for crossover stage costumes, friendships with other stars like Elton John and Mick Jagger and of course glam and fashion.

“I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human. I felt very puny as a human. I thought, ‘F**k that. I want to be a superhuman.” ― David Bowie

06  (TIE) Pete Townshend – “Who I Am” (2012)

Raw and intimate, Pete Townshend lays bare everything from his early childhood abuse, to his rollicking tales of life with Keith Moon.  He comes off as completely humble, giving much of the credit for The Who ’s success to Daltrey and others. 

“The music we play has to be tomorrow’s, the things we say have to be today, and the reason for bothering is yesterday.” ― Pete Townshend

06  (TIE) Roger Daltrey – “Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite: My Story” (2018)

Roger Daltrey was expelled from grammar school at the age of 15, after he and some friends shot off their air rifles. The book’s title refers to the headmaster, Mr. Kibblewhite, who said on his exit, “You’ll never make anything of your life, Daltrey.”  Although Daltrey wrote almost no Who songs, rarely played an instrument and didn’t contribute any lyrics, there is no Who without him.  Even Townshend, who is responsible for virtually all of the music, says Daltrey is “the unquestionable leader” of the band.  Daltrey comes off as the “adult” in the Who, even choosing early on to stay in a different hotel than the others because he was sick of getting thrown out at 3 a.m. for their antics. 

“‘Why don’t you all ffffffffade away?’ It wasn’t a stutter. To me, it wasn’t a sign of weakness. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue. It was aggression, pure aggression, pushed forward by that onbeat. Bottled-up rage, barely controlled, spilling out onto vinyl, shouting I hope I die before I get old.” ― Roger Daltrey

05  Gregg Allman – “My Cross To Bear” (2012)

Gregg Allman was on the music scene for almost five decades, and he lays those decades raw in what has been called his “Southern gothic rock epic.”  Although drink- and drug-addled for most of his life, Allman began keeping a journal in 1981 and also recorded his memories on cassettes, which kept the book honest and accurate.

“It was once said that the blues is nothing more than a good man feeling bad, and that’s what it is. Believe me, singing a blues song makes you feel better afterwards.” ― Gregg Allman

04  Bob Dylan – “Chronicles: Volume One” (2004)

Allegedly the first volume of an anticipated trilogy, Bob Dylan focuses the majority of this book on his first year in New York City in 1961, with multiple flashbacks to his upbringing in Minnesota.  The prose is not straightforward, and like Dylan’s music, the reader may have to put some mental work into deciphering this sometimes meandering tale. The abridged audio version of the book is read by friend and actor Sean Penn.

“Most people who write about music, they have no idea what it feels like to play it. But with the book I wrote, I thought, ‘The people who are writing reviews of this book, man, they know what the hell they’re talking about.’ It spoils you … they know more about it than me. The reviews of this book, some of ’em almost made me cry—in a good way. I’d never felt that from a music critic ever.” ― Bob Dylan

Related: Listen to Bob Dylan’s Nobel Lecture in Literature

03  patti smith – “just kids” (2011).

Just Kids is actually a love story about Patti Smith and her best friend and fellow artist Robert Mapplethorpe, figuring out how to survive and thrive in bohemian New York City in the late 60s and early 70s.  That both went on to become two of the most influential artists of the day, seemed almost destined. 

“We were as Hansel and Gretel and we ventured out into the black forest of the world. There were temptations and witches and demons we never dreamed of and there was splendor we only partially imagined. No one could speak for these two young people nor tell with any truth of their days and nights together. Only Robert and I could tell it. Our story, as he called it. And having gone, he left the task for me to tell it to you.” ― Patti Smith

02  Keith Richards – “Life” (2010)

Like the joke goes, at the end of this world, all that will remain are roaches and Keith Richards.  It’s a miracle that Richards is still alive, after hearing again in minute detail about his massive drug use in this autobiography.  And it makes it easy to see why the relationship between Richards and Mick Jagger has been so tumultuous over the years. 

“But I’m not here just to make records and money. I’m here to say something and to touch other people, sometimes in a cry of desperation: ‘Do you know this feeling?’” ― Keith Richards

01  Bruce Springsteen – “Born to Run” (2016)

Although Bruce Springsteen is known for being a very private person, his candor and honesty in Born to Run is astonishing. Revealing his ongoing struggles with depression, his family and personal life, and his approach to music and songwriting, Bruce lays bare many stories that have never been told. Now is a perfect time to get caught up on all things Bruce, as he has just announced that he’ll be recording a new record with the E Street Band in the fall, and then touring to support it in 2020.

“Writing about yourself is a funny business…But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I’ve tried to do this.” — Bruce Springsteen

Related: Top 10 Rock Songs Inspired By Literature

Pam Edwards

Bitten by the radio bug early, Pam Edwards first started in broadcasting at her Glenbard West high school station, WGHS, 88.5 FM, in Glen Ellyn, IL. Now defunct, students were allowed to play anything they wanted on the station before and after school. While getting her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Marketing at the University of Illinois,... View all posts by Pam Edwards →

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Best books about music: Essential reads for all music fans

Delve into the history of the world’s biggest artists, explore the many genres of rock and take a closer look at the pivotal moments that shaped our favourite sounds with our guide to the best books about music

One thing is for sure: the world of rock music is rarely boring – and if you're looking to explore some of the very best books about music ever written, then you've come to the right place.

From brilliant autobiographies and compendiums, through to warts'n'all exposes and stunningly detailed histories, there’s plenty of reading material out there for devoted music fans to delve into.

Below, you’ll find our pick of our favourite books ever written about music alongside a selection of the best reads of last year. So whether you're looking to buy a gift for a friend or hunting for something to keep you engaged during lockdown, we’re pretty sure you’ll find something in the list which fits the bill.

1. The Dirt: Motley Crue with Neill Strauss

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

The big one. The (really filthy) Godfather of rock books. The book was immortalised in the Netflix feature film, The Dirt and is so gob-smackingly scandalous, you’ll frequently question whether the events actually happened as you read through it.

Read in shock and awe as Nikki Sixx and co . rise from smalltime LA to the Sunset Strip and the biggest stages in the world – smoking, shagging and shooting up all things, both thinkable and unthinkable. 

2. Waiting For The Sun - by Barney Hoskyns

From surfboards to singer-songwriters, from Svengalis to satanic cults, this multigenerational round-up of the LA Music scene reads like a well-written novel. 

All the legendary characters are represented – Jim Morrison , Frank Zappa , Gram Parsons – but it’s often the lesser-known names such as Van Dyke Parks and Lou Adler who offer the most interesting insights. It's a story of excess, eccentricity and enduring musical splendour.

3. Hammer Of The Gods - by Stephen Davis

Another justifiably popular big fish that’s been by turns revered, criticised and reissued since it was first published in 1985. Journalist Stephen Davis travelled through America with Led Zeppelin for two weeks in 1975, as their US tour was kicking off. 

For better or worse, his chief source for this unauthorised biography was Richard Cole, Zeppelin’s sometime tour manager/roadie. On the one hand, the band have publicly refuted its accuracy. On the other hand, its juicy, funny, shocking stories have been poured over greedily by thousands.

4. Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain

The debate over whether the UK or US can lay claim to have ‘invented’ punk rock has raged on for years. We’ll keep this simple: it was the US. 

Please Kill Me brilliantly documents the genre’s messy birth and wildly creative early years by letting all the key players – Lou Reed , Iggy Pop , the Ramones , Johnny Thunders, Rob Tyner, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Debbie Harry, etc – tell their stories in their own words. If punk means more to you than just a slogan on an artfully ripped T-shirt, you need this book.

5. The True Adventures Of The Rolling Stones by Stanley Booth

One of the most enlightening pictures of the rock revolution of the 60s that you’re ever likely to read, The True Adventures Of The Rolling Stones is also a no-holds-barred insider view of the rise of the Rolling Stones . 

A huge part of its appeal lies in its writer. By the time Booth met Mick, Keef and co. he’d already drunk “Scotch with B.B. King for breakfast” and watched “Otis Redding teach Steve Cropper The Dock Of The Bay”. That same zeal is captured here, one hugely engaging triumph, pitfall and brush with the law after another.

6. Lonely Boy: Tales From A Sex Pistol by Steve Jones

The influence of The Sex Pistols on modern music – and punk especially – is quite simply undeniable. This first-hand account from the band’s guitarist Steve Jones manages to capture the significance of the group through his own eyes, but it also delves deep into his difficult childhood. 

There's no doubt about it: Steve Jones is a one-off. He's hilarious, eccentric, painfully honest and 100% Lahndahn, which is all the more surprising, since he's lived in Los Angeles for decades.

7. The Beatles: All These Years Vol.1 by Mark Lewisohn

Quite possibly the most gargantuan undertaking in the history of music literature, Volume One of Mark Lewisohn's history of The Beatles is merely the first part of a trilogy, and ends before Beatlemania. 

All These Years Vol. 1 is stunningly researched and is mind-bogglingly detailed, its 960 pages teach us so much about a band we think we already know everything about. And for the terminally curious, there's also an expanded version that tells the story over more than 1700 pages . Staggering.  

8. Murder in the Front Row by Brian Lew & Harald Oimoen

San Francisco natives Brian Lew and Harald Oimoen were two metal-obsessed geeks who just happened to find themselves at the epicentre of a world-changing musical revolution when a little band from Los Angeles called Metallica moved to the Bay Area on February 12, 1983. 

Largely a photo book,  Murder In The Front Row  brilliantly captures the camaraderie, raw enthusiasm and reckless, violent energy of the nascent thrash metal, from Metallica’s very first rehearsal w ith bassist Cliff Burton through to the release of Slayer ’s peerless  Reign In Blood album.

9. Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad

The bible for anyone interested in DIY punk rock culture,  Our Band Could Be Your Life  details the birth and development of the US underground rock scene in the 1980s, focussing upon biographies of 13 trail-blazing bands – Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Mudhoney and Fugazi among them – who together mapped out a new terrain for rock music, pre- Nirvana . 

Without these bands, and their stubbornly independent, take-no-shit-from-anyone bullishness, Nirvana would have been just another local bar band.

10. White Line Fever by Lemmy

First published in 2002 and re-printed several times since, Lemmy 's autobiography takes some beating. From his childhood in Wales, through his discovery of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll (not quite in that order), and on to rock infamy,  White Line Fever  is never less than entertaining. 

Lemmy was a well-read and sharp-witted character and his book is a hilarious and warm reminder of the man we lost. An essential read.

11. Choosing Death by Albert Mudrian

Subtitled The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcor e, Decibel magazine Editor Mudrian’s text offers an incisive, in-depth analysis of the rise of the extreme metal underground, tracing a path from the back rooms of Birmingham pubs to the US arena circuit. 

Input from the likes of Napalm Death, Cannibal Corpse, Entombed, Death, At The Gates and more lends authenticity, while much unintentional humour comes from the sheer joyful naivety of those involved. Lords Of Chaos is more sensationalist, but this is the smartest book yet written on underground metal.

12. Fried And Justified by Mick Houghton

Veteran PR Mick Houghton’s disarmingly honest and ego-free memoir of his time working with some of the more challenging and off-piste acts of the 80s and 90s – Echo & The Bunnymen, Julian Cope, KLF – thrills in its insight and pragmatism. 

On the KLF’s notorious burning of £1 million, Houghton says: "I was never that shocked… in music-business terms £1m is nothing… The House Of Love blew £800,000 in less than a year."

13. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life And Times Of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon

In death as in life, Warren Zevon remains a cult figure. Fortunately his ex-wife Crystal ensured that his legacy hasn’t been totally forgotten. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead is no fawning hagiography; this is a blackly comic oral history that depicts Zevon as equal parts genius and asshole. 

Family, collaborators and superstar friends (Stephen King, Bruce Springsteen) praise and crucify a man who lived life with a mix of relish and spite. That a dying Zevon gave it his blessing says much about the man.

14. 1971: Never A Dull Moment by David Hepworth

Never one for group-think, Hepworth’s persuasive defence of his proposition that 1971 was rock’s greatest year casts a broad cultural net woven with acute and original thinking. 

With monumental releases by Zeppelin, David Bowie , the Stones, Pink Floyd and more that year, it’s less the postulation that matters, rather his exhilarating analysis bolstered by impeccable research and flair. The appendix listing 100 albums from 1971 is an expert witness in itself.

15. Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and The Germs by Brendan Mullen

The story of doomed punk rock anti-hero Darby Crash and his heroically inept band The Germs (who featured future Foo Fighter Pat Smear), Lexicon Devil is a brilliantly sketched portrait of idealism, energy, confusion and self-destruction in the LA punk scene of the late 1970s. 

By turns hilarious, terrifying and heart-breakingly sad, it’s a vivid, visceral read, pulsing with the energy and colour of a lost Los Angeles. Remarkably, it features in not one, but two, Red Hot Chili Peppers videos (By The Way and Universally Speaking) as Anthony Kiedis’ book of choice.

16. Life by Keith Richards

How Keith Richards is still alive is one of science’s more unfathomable mysteries. 

And it has to be said that even after you’ve read this thoroughly engaging autobiography (assisted by journalist James Fox) and placed it back on the bookshelf, you won’t be any the wiser. However, what you will have is an incisive view of the Rolling Stones' guitarist's world of riffs, rock, drugs, women, arrests and more, from his childhood in Kent through to life in the 21st century.

17. Espedair Street by Iain Banks

Late Scottish novelist Iain Banks’s fictional love letter to classic rock, Espedair Street is a thinly veiled retelling of the Fleetwood Mac myth, from the perspective of hulking bassist Daniel ‘Weird’ Weir, a character inspired by ex- Marillion singer Fish . 

Romantic rivalries, tragic mid-air deaths, suicide attempts, triumphant comebacks… every rock’n’roll cliché is gleefully ramped up to fever pitch, and it’s all the better for it. It’s amazing that they haven’t made it into a movie.

18. Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen

“The writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind,” Bruce Springsteen writes in his autobiography. And in his trademark plain-spoken but poetic way, he does just that. 

Whether detailing his uneasy relationship with his father, the sexual perks of superstardom or his struggles with depression, Bruce is frank and funny. Ultimately, you sense that he’s writing not only to share his experiences but also to better understand them. 

19. Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys by Viv Albertine

As guitarist with 70s punks The Slits – an all-female band in an overwhelmingly male-dominated scene – Viv Albertine has had a compelling perspective of rock’n’roll. 

Since then, as this book thoughtfully documents, Albertine has moved into film, been through divorce, IVF, illness and also got back into making music – all which she discusses with evocative attention to detail.

20. Burning Down The Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution and the Fall of the Berlin Wall by Tim Mohr

This secret history of East German punk rock is not just about the music; it is a story of extraordinary bravery in the face of one of the most oppressive regimes in history. 

Rollicking, cinematic, deeply researched, highly readable, and thrillingly topical,  Burning Down The Haus  brings to life the young men and women who successfully fought authoritarianism three chords at a time – and is a fiery testament to the irrepressible spirit of revolution.

21. No One Here Gets Out Alive by Jerry Hopkins & Danny Sugarman

Jim Morrison was being deified before his body was even cold, but No One Here Gets Out Alive elevated him to Immortal Godhead. 

It helped that former Doors manager and Morrison confidante Danny Sugarman had a ringside seat for the iconic singer’s rise, fall and posthumous resurrection – as a portrait of a doomed talent this book is fantastic, but it’s as an exercise in myth-making where it truly excels.

22. Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me by Martin Millar

A novel, or maybe a memoir, about being young and in love – with a band as much as a girl –  Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me  follows the narrator as he makes a complete tit of himself over the eponymous girl, and obsesses over Led Zeppelin in the build-up to the band's gig at Green's Playhouse in Glasgow. 

Full of period detail and timeless romance, it's a brilliantly rendered tale of obsession from one of the UK's best comic writers.

23. Beneath The Underdog by Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus might have been a jazzer, but his life was more rock'n'roll than most, and Beneath The Underdog is a helluva story: part memoir, part erotic fantasy, part stream of consciousness tirade.

Mingus writes of growing up in Poverty in Watts, and trying to succeed as a musician in a society that didn't want him to. It's not always an easy read, and Mingus isn't an entirely sympathetic character, but it's utterly unique: very few musicians have carried off a successful parallel career as a pimp.

24. Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs

You can’t really talk about the rise of rock journalism without mentioning Lester Bangs. Tragically, although perhaps unsurprisingly, he was not long for this world – he died at 33 of an accidental overdose. 

Philip Seymour Hoffman played him in the film Almost Famous , and this posthumous collection by Greil Marcus (Bangs’s first editor at Rolling Stone, in 1969) reminds us of his enduring position as one of the most distinctive, thrillingly unpredictable voices in American writing.

25. Chronicles: Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan

Something of a revelation on its publication, with few expecting the enigmatic Bob Dylan to sidestep his usual obfuscation and ellipsis and cut straight to the quick. 

While not wholly innocent of the former, Chronicles examines three points in Dylan's career (1961, 1970, and 1989) with piercing clarity and an insightful artistic remove. Full of taut one-liners, folksy idioms and no little humour, at its best the book is on a par with his greatest songs.

26. Revolution In the Head by Ian MacDonald

Just when it seemed like there was nothing left to say about The Beatles , ex-NME writer Ian MacDonald drilled down into the one aspect of their career that hadn’t been strip-mined: the songs. 

Revolution In The Head set out to analyse every track the band recorded. It sidesteps dull trainspottery, thanks to MacDonald’s insight and cantankerous outbursts: he loved The Beatles but, by God, he wasn’t afraid to put the boot in when needed. Often imitated but never bettered – just like its subject.

27. Girl In A Band by Kim Gordon

When Sonic Youth went on hiatus/broke up in 2011, it soon became clear that Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon’s marriage had also fallen apart. 

Gordon revealed her side of the story in this tell-all memoir that also contains a comprehensive history of the seminal New York band, but this is so much more than break-up literature. It's heartbreaking, smart, dignified and completely inspiring.

28. Confess by Rob Halford

Judas Priest legend Rob Halford released his no-holds-barred autobiography Confess in 2020 and if you’re looking to discover the real Metal God, then this really should be top of your shopping list. 

Delivered with refreshing down to earth frankness, Halford takes us through his journey from a council-estate to some of the world’s biggest stages. And as Classic Rock ’s review reported, “with chapter titles such as The Shirley Bassey Leather Years and Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory Hole, this is not a book for anyone squeamish about heavy rock’s screamingly camp subtext.”

Simply put, it's a must read – not only for fans of Halford and Judas Priest, but for all music fans.

29. Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman

A hilarious trawl through the byways of the 80s hair metal milieu, through the dispossessed rural hick-filter of Chuck Klosterman’s North Dakota childhood.

By turns sociologically astute, self-deprecatingly knowing and piercingly on-point musically, Klosterman argues that the bouffant bad boys of the day – Poison , Ratt, Warrant et al – merit equal cultural weighting as The Beatles and their peers. Nonsense, obviously, but you suspect he knows that.

30. Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics: The Legend of Man, a Rock'n'Roll Band by Deke Leonard

Aside from making progressive noises with Welsh rockers Man , Deke Leonard (who died in 2017) had a zingy, infectious way with words. 

He wrote several books, all of which are worth checking out, but if you pick one it should be this one, which mixes standard rock’n’roll excess with all the weirder tales of the Man world. A riotous read, whether you’re a Man fan or not.

31. Diary Of A Rock 'N' Roll Star by Ian Hunter

Written during Mott The Hoople ’s American tour in 1972, this book details the buzz (playing a sold-out show in Memphis) and the boredom (endless Holiday Inns) of a journeyman musician. Amid the musings and travelogue observations are walk-ons by artists including Chuck Berry and Bryan Ferry. 

Like his songwriting, Ian Hunter’s prose exhibits an eye for the truth: “The rock business is a dirty business, full stop.”

32. Thanks A Lot Mr Kibblewhite by Roger Daltrey

Conversational, witty, revelatory, Roger Daltrey ’s autobiography is possibly the most readable account yet of The Who's uniquely fracas-filled journey toward rock immortality. 

If you want forensic detail (the kind of inconsequential minutiae fans invariably pore over yet central protagonists barely register), then you'd best look elsewhere, but for an unvarnished first-person account from the eye of the storm, look no further.

33. I'm With The Band by Pamela Des Barres

A book about a legendary groupie may sound terribly un-PC in the post-MeToo age, but Pamela Des Barres’ salacious, sharp, witty account of life with the classic rock glitterati of the 60s and 70s (including affairs with Mick Jagger , Jimmy Page , Keith Moon , Jim Morrison and many more) feels warm and celebratory – and certainly not like the words of a victim.

34. Shots From The Hip by Charles Shaar Murray

A classic collection of rock writing from one of the masters of the genre. Charles Shaar Murray started out on counter-culture bible Oz, and became the enfant terrible of the NME. 

Along the way he hung out with everyone from the Stones to the Ramones and helped invent the history of rock music as we know it. This is simply unmissable.

35. Everybody Loves Our Town by Mark Yarm

This definitive history of grunge, published 20 years to the month after Nirvana released their classic Nevermind , is the story of a place as much as it is of a scene – a scrappy underdog of a city that never really wanted the attention and couldn’t really handle it when it got it. 

All the key surviving participants look back with a mixture of pride and bafflement at what they lived through, although there’s a tang of sadness for all those who didn’t make it.

36. Give The Anarchist A Cigarette by Mick Farren

Memorably described by music writer Charles Shaar Murray as coming on like a cross between Abbie Hoffman and Charles Manson, Farren’s full immersion in 60s/70s UK counterculture bridges beatniks to bollocks with a gleeful jaundice. 

Full of anecdote and wit, it reads like both social document and autobiography, told by a possibly unreliable narrator who’s no stranger to the excesses of the day himself.

37. Dark Days: A Memoir by D. Randall Blythe

This is one book that couldn’t have a more appropriate title. A memoir detailing   Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe's arrest, trial and acquittal for the manslaughter of the fan who died after their gig in the Czech Republic in 2010. 

As we know, the verdict exonerated him, but that doesn’t make reading his account of all that happened any less harrowing.

38. I'm Not With The Band: A Writer's Life Lost In Music by Sylvia Patterson

For more than three decades, Sylvia Patterson has been writing about music and interviewing some of the biggest names and bands in the business. This book chronicles her experiences in doing so, as well as being a woman on the front lines of the rock’n’roll dream. 

Encounters with Oasis, New Order, Page & Plant , the Happy Mondays and more are by turns hilarious and touching.

39. Louder Than Hell by Jon Weiderhorn and Katherine Turman

A beast of a book, some 700 pages in length,  Louder Than Hell  grandly bills itself as ‘The definitive oral history of metal’, and very nearly lives up to this lofty claim. Spanning five decades, with chapters focussing on ‘Proto-Metal’, the NWOBHM , Thrash , Nu-Metal , Black Metal , etc,. 

Louder Than Hell  largely dispenses with chin-stroking analysis of the culture, focussing heavily instead on gross-out tales of hedonistic excess and gloriously entertaining bitching and back-stabbing. The  Appetite For Destruction  of rock books.

40. Slash: The Autobiography

In other hands, Slash 's autobiography would probably be a laugh-riot. But there's something about the Guns N' Roses ' man's laidback delivery that makes you realise: he's not telling these stories to keep you entertained – this actually happened.

From a Wolf Of Wall Street-style meltdown that sees him shooting at demons in his house (with a shotgun! While his girlfriend sleeps!) and fleeing naked across a golf course, to celebrity encounters with David Bowie , Keith Richards, Lemmy and many more, Slash's book is never boring. 

41. Facing The Other Way: The Story of 4AD by Martin Aston

Martin Aston’s peek behind the curtain of famous indie label 4AD concentrates on their output throughout the 80s and 90s - a golden period for the UK music label. Artists including Pixies, Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, Belly and Throwing Muses all released their music through 4AD, making them the darling of the independent scene. Fans routinely bought everything the label released, such was the calibre of the artists on their roster.

It’s a hefty read, weighing in at over 600 pages, but it’s fascinating to look at the label through a different lens and examine the independent scene of the time. There are plenty of nuggets that will delight the 4AD faithful – and you’re pretty much guaranteed to stumble across several artists you’ve never been aware of and take pleasure in diving headfirst into their music.

42. Get In The Van by Henry Rollins

The polar opposite of  The Dirt ,  Get In The Van  is a blunt, no-nonsense diary of life on the road in a punk rock band, specifically Black Flag , the uncompromising LA hardcore unit Rollins fronted from 1981 to 1986. 

There is precious little glamour here, from roadies eating dog food to band members indulging in five minute knee tremblers in piss-drenched alleyways, with violent confrontations with fans, sketchy promoters and power-crazed cops only ever a few days away. 

As grim as it sounds though,  Get In The Van  is an undeniably inspirational chronicle, illustrating the power of music to blow minds and change lives. But if you ever dream of becoming a rock'n’roll star, read this first.

Rare and ridiculously expensive, but it is a collectible.

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• Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
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In honor of the 10-year anniversary of The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx’s definitive and bestselling memoir on drug addiction is now available on audio for the first time, read by Nikki Sixx....

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Throughout his career, Sebastian Bach has sold over 20 million records both as the lead singer of Skid Row and as a solo artist....

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From Madonna to Barbra Streisand, it was the year music took over books

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Maybe it was the continued rude health of indie bookstores in 2023, or perhaps a millennial fascination with the pop antiquities of the pre-smartphone era. Or maybe it’s just Mom and Dad Rockers desperate to reel in the years with the gods of their youth . For whatever reason, this year has turned out to be a banner publishing moment for musical giants who until now have not been graced with the full-dress books they deserve — some rigorously researched deep dives, other chatty memoirs or anthologies, many of them illuminations of life and art in urban milieus with all their messy interactions.

Our critics and reporters select their favorite TV shows, movies, albums, songs, books, theater, art shows and video games of the year.

Among the ill-served icons getting their propers in print this year is Lou Reed : New York’s leather prince, the street poet who launched at least three musical genres with his band the Velvet Underground , a lodestar for gender fluidity long before anyone else bothered to write songs about LBGTQ+ and the subculture that nurtured it. Before Will Hermes’ riveting biography “ Lou Reed: The King of New York ,” the artist’s biographers have tended to be either mean-spirited or bone-dry, glossing over the rough magic of Reed’s inner life.

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Hermes, a veteran music critic, has written what will surely be the definitive Reed biography for years to come, a complete portrait of this inconstant, erratic genius, the most eloquent voice of the marginalized during the Nixon era. An elegant prose stylist with a sharp critical eye, Hermes appears to have scared up everyone alive whose life intersected with his subject. And he embraces the contradictions of a musical empath who could be heartless and malicious, tender and vulnerable to friends and lovers — a great bully poet much like Reed’s literary hero and mentor, Delmore Schwartz .

Hermes skillfully twines together the many strands of Reed’s singular life — a benumbing suburban childhood, electroshock therapy, heroin addiction and artistic flowering at the feet of Schwartz and the Beats. Providing fresh stories at every turn, he is particularly adept at conjuring the meth-enabled swirl of Andy Warhol’s Factory universe and Reed’s attachment to the Pop artist, his beloved mentor and bête noir. This is the best biography of a composer since Alex Ross’ 2020 book “ Wagnerism .”

One of Reed’s most talented acolytes graced us with a memoir this year. Thurston Moore hit New York as a 14-year-old Reed fanatic in the late ‘70s, right before his idol’s old, weird downtown was forever lost and Wall Street money moved in. Into this liminal space emerged the squalling, post-punk deconstructions of the No Wave movement : saxophonist James Chance and his Contortions, singer-poet Lydia Lunch and, most crucially for Moore, composer Glenn Branca , whose ear-bleed guitar symphonies alerted the Connecticut native to the beauty of Loud. He would harness that volume with his avant-rock band Sonic Youth for 30 years. Moore has a lot of great stories to tell, and he does so engagingly in “ Sonic Life ,” the tale of a record collector geek made good, a seeker after new sounds who in turn became a key architect of experimental rock in the two decades that followed.

In “Sonic Life” Moore, a suburban outcast like Reed, becomes a pilgrim in search of transcendence through noise and muscles his way into an East Village tempest of brash risk-taking. He meets future bandmates Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo . Sonic Youth pulls the throttle all the way out: Moore threads drumsticks into his guitar strings, Ranaldo utilizes an electric drill onstage, Gordon barks out her bold feminist anthems on the seductions of consumer-driven desire. Moore has set it all down, and his book is an engaging memory piece through a golden era of busted toilets and secondhand smoke that now seems as distant as Montparnasse in the 1920s. If you’re looking for juicy bits about Moore and his ex-wife Gordon , you mercifully won’t find it here. He keeps that part of his private life to himself.

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Dec. 4, 2023

While Sonic Youth was cultivating a following on the margins, another downtown scenester was hitting dance clubs like Paradise Garage and Danceteria with designs on something bigger. As a young Michigan exile, Madonna Ciccone found her people in these spaces, and when she insisted DJs spin her record “Everybody,” the fuse was lit. Mary Gabriel’s comprehensive biography “ Madonna: A Rebel Life ” can be read as the uptown analogue to “Sonic Life,” as this force of nature quickly outgrows New York clubland and in a few short years enters the pop icon pantheon.

Gabriel has done her homework, giving equal weight to Madonna’s private and public selves in a sprawling survey that offers a strong argument for Madonna as a sound-and-vision innovator every bit as crucial as David Bowie . But you have to really care about her relationships with Sean Penn and Warren Beatty to get there.

Decades before Madonna lit up the New York night, Ella Fitzgerald had audiences standing on their seats at the Savoy Ballroom as the singer for Chick Webb’s swing band, a powerhouse vocalist who had to overcome her “pretty plain looks” before she became the 20th century’s tower of song. In her excellent biography “ Becoming Ella Fitzgerald ,” Judith Tick makes a compelling case for Fitzgerald as a modernist innovator. Promoters and managers told her to stick to one marketable sound, but that wasn’t an option, as Fitzgerald contained multitudes: novelty songs (her self-penned 1938 hit “A Tisket-a-tasket” put her on the map); classic recordings of the Great American Songbook; and the expertly knotty ululations of her scat singing in the bebop era — a genre in which Fitzgerald became the acknowledged master.

Twenty-eight years after Fitzgerald recorded her 1945 hit “ Flying Home ,” a record that placed scat singing front and center in popular music, Sly Stone was recording his own half-whispered version of scat live in a Sausalito studio. It would become the vamp-out to 1973’s “If You Want Me to Stay,” the last big hit for Sly and his band, the Family Stone.

The year in theater: A time of struggle but with enough brilliance to sustain us

Alex Edelman’s ‘Just for Us,’ the genius of Stephen Sondheim and a Tony Award for the Pasadena Playhouse were among the highlights of Los Angeles theater in 2023.

Stone fans have been waiting a long time for the reclusive singer to finally break his silence about his life and career. While his memoir “ Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) ” offers up its share of gonzo tales involving drugs, guns and pet baboons, the erstwhile superstar, 80, provides only tantalizing crumbs of real insight into his messy life. Still, there are some ripping anecdotes (baboons!), and origin stories behind “Stand!,” “Everyday People” and Stone’s other funky one-world anthems.

Perhaps Stone surmised that it’s best to keep his mystique alive, as opposed to expounding on his life at great length in the fashion of Barbra Streisand ’s “ My Name is Barbra .” Alas, no one has ever told this to the countless fanboys (yes, they are almost always boys) and academics who continue to write books about Bob Dylan , coming at the Nobel laureate from every conceivable angle. And yet, somehow, this year has brought something entirely new: A lavish, glossy scrapbook with material provided by Dylan himself.

“ Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine ” is a stunning visual trip through the artist’s life and art as revealed via Dylan’s own ephemera and Zimmerman-adjacent mementos from friends and musicians. Published in conjunction with the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Okla., this immaculately designed coffee-table confection also features a collection of informative essays from Lucy Sante , Greil Marcus , Ed Ruscha and others. They provide context for what we’re seeing, which is quite a bit — grade school class photos, Dylan’s notebooks, manuscripts and legal pads and, yes, even photos that this Dylan freak has never seen before.

18 best nonfiction books for fans of Madonna, memoirs or cultural histories

2023 is the year of the star-studded gift book, with memoirs and biographies covering rockers, auteurs, poets, controversial executives and, yes, Julia Fox.

Nov. 1, 2023

Which reinforces a couple of valuable lessons from this year’s joyful glut of music tell-alls. First: While they’re no substitute for the brilliantly written, category-killing, milieu-rich biography, no format is inherently better or worse at delivering the goods. And second: There’s always something new under the sun.

Weingarten is the author of “Thirsty: William Mulholland, California Water, and The Real Chinatown.”

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The 10 Best Music Books of 2023

By Pitchfork

Every year there are countless books released about music—2023 alone included dishy memoirs from Britney Spears, Barbra Streisand, and Sly Stone, plus a big-deal, authorized bio on Tupac. In our estimation, the best works tend to give the reader new ears with which to listen. What follows is a list of personal favorites from this year, as picked by Pitchfork staffers and contributors. Happy reading!

Check out all of Pitchfork’s 2023 wrap-up coverage here .

60 Songs That Explain the ’90s

In 2020, as the pandemic forced everyone who didn’t live on a megayacht to upend their entire lives, retreating into the nostalgia of one’s youth became an all-but-necessary coping mechanism. Veteran music writer Rob Harvilla felt that same urge. But instead of merely staring into the middle distance while washing dishes to Gin Blossoms’ “Hey Jealousy,” he put his musical memories to work and made an essayistic podcast called 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s . And now that very funny and startlingly insightful show—which has grown to cover more than 100 songs—has its own very funny and startlingly insightful book. (Full disclosure: I once lost money to Harvilla in a basement poker game in 2010, and recently guested on the 60 Songs podcast.)

The entire endeavor succeeds because Harvilla is so good at conveying his teenage excitement (he’s unafraid to use the descriptor “rad,” repeatedly) while also offering the wisdom of a fortysomething dad who’s been writing about music for much of his adult life. For every loving one-liner (listening to Celine Dion sing is “like drinking rosé from a fire hose”) or list of the 20 Worst Red Hot Chili Peppers Song Titles (don’t worry, “Party on Your Pussy” makes the Top 10), there are sober reflections on Courtney Love reading Kurt Cobain’s suicide note, or how white rap fans (like him, like me) would be smart to understand that they’re eavesdropping when they listen to a song like Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day.” Earnest, empathetic, and admirably goofy, Harvilla is an ideal guide to the most random decade in pop history. –Ryan Dombal

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Black Punk Now

When James Spooner first logged on in 2001, he immediately Googled “Black punk.” A blank screen stared back at him: There were zero links. Spooner knew this was inaccurate—he had countless Black punk friends and collaborators—but the experience underscored that if no one else was going to document his culture, then it was up to him. This is what motivated Spooner to create the Afropunk documentary and festival, as well as compile this new anthology of writing alongside Black Card author Chris L. Terry.

Black Punk Now uses a multi-genre approach, from fiction to graphics to screenplays, to showcase the ways Black punks move through the world. In “The Princess and the Pit,” Mariah Stovall explores the racialized beauty standards of punk shows via a feminist fairytale. The script for comedian Kash Abdulmalik’s short film, Let Me Be Understood , meditates on one musician’s desire to have an honest relationship with his father.

The collection’s greatest strength is how it captures the pure joy felt by its contributors while living on the fringes, the integrity they’ve gained from being misunderstood by the white establishment. (As contributor Bobby Hackney Jr. puts it, what is more punk than challenging what people think “Black” is supposed to be?) Taken together, these works show readers that “punk” is a commitment to liberation from the tedium of mainstream culture, and a way to demand much more. –Mary Retta

The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock’s Lost Queen

One of the best graphic novels of the year is a riveting portrait of an undersung musical hero and an intense document of wartime Cambodia. Gregory Cahill tells the story of Ros Serey Sothea, the prolific ’60s and ’70s Cambodian rock singer who seemed to rocket from rice farmer to national treasure overnight. It’s an underdog story told through the lens of the Cambodian Civil War’s propaganda machine.

Scenes of Cambodian rock’n’roll club nights and studio recording sessions are depicted in a blissful sunrise palette of deep reds and oranges, with sheet music floating translucently into the ether. Music is central to the experience of enjoying the book; there’s an accompanying playlist, and each page has track cues, so the sound of Sothea’s music is never abstract. But the book is also full of darkness: A constant military presence hangs over Golden Voice , and it closes with the Khmer Rouge seizing power and burning Sothea’s records. It’s a tragedy with heart-wrenching illustrations and a solid history lesson, soundtracked by incredible vintage Cambodian records. –Evan Minsker

Goth: A History

Despite its totemic title, Goth: A History is neither a sociology textbook nor a definitive document of the subculture. Instead, Lol Tolhurst—a core member of the Cure across its gothiest period—has written a memoir and social history of his years in the scene’s cobwebbed trenches. Structured more like the florid chaos of the Cure’s Pornography than the linear minimalism of their Seventeen Seconds , the book wends its way from capsule meditations on the genre’s influences (Nico, Bowie, Camus, Sartre) into diaristic recollections from the Cure’s gloomy golden era; he wraps up with mini-profiles on fellow travelers like Cocteau Twins and Nine Inch Nails. But many of the book’s most revealing passages are its most personal, like running into Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher while in rehab, or discovering that his buttoned-up IRS agent was also a secret member of the sect.

Situating goth at the intersection of punk and Sylvia Plath, Tolhurst describes the movement as a necessary reaction to the bleakness of post-WWII England. Yet, as he considers its decades-long endurance and 21st-century mainstreaming, he also notes the universality of its message: “It can get lonely being the only weirdo in town. We all want a tribe to belong to.” At Portland’s Powell’s Books, I bought my own copy of Goth along with an armload of children’s books. “It looks like I’m trying to turn my daughter into a goth,” I said to the woman behind the register. Without so much as a smile, she replied, “We all get there eventually.” –Philip Sherburne

Hachette Books

Kleenex/LiLiPUT

In the raw rapture of their shredded shrieks and destabilized noise, O.G. punks Kleenex made the Sex Pistols sound like the Rolling Stones. Though the Swiss group broke up in 1983—changing their name to LiLiPUT in 1979 after a threat from the tissue company—it’s taken 40 years for English-language fans to fully access the primary document of this crucial all-woman band: the diaries of guitarist Marlene Marder, who died in 2016.

Originally published in German in 1986, the diary was also a scrapbook capturing “the detritus that comes with playing in a band,” as described by editor Grace Ambrose, who instigated this English translation for the inaugural book on her Kansas City, Missouri-based punk label, Thrilling Living, which has released music by the likes of Special Interest and Girlsperm.

Supplemented by zine clippings, photos, and visual ephemera—including relics of Kleenex’s 1979 UK tour with the Raincoats—the collage-like Kleenex/LiLiPUT book creates its own paradigm for punk storytelling by imposing no definitive Kleenex narrative, instead replicating the ever-in-process nature of the unruly music. Legendary rock critic Greil Marcus’ original introduction to Marder’s diary is included along with another of his enlightening columns on the band, in which he writes, “Punk had good taste in ancestors.” He was talking about the Kleenex-Dada connection, but the same rings true of punks today, who see themselves in this history still. –Jenn Pelly

Thrilling Living

Lou Reed: The King of New York

Several strong Lou Reed bios were already out there by the time Will Hermes published The King of New York this fall. Victor Bockris’ Transformer: The Complete Lou Reed Story is a compelling document of the New York underground of the ’60s and early ’70s, while Anthony DeCurtis’ Lou Reed: A Life has first-person intimacy while situating the singer’s work among his rock contemporaries. But Hermes tells the best story, finding the ideal mix of big-picture narrative sweep and intriguing details.

The book frames Reed’s life in a way that speaks to our current cultural moment, revealing how the fluidness of sexuality and gender in Reed’s milieu hinted at the world to come, and it deepens your appreciation of his hugely varied recorded output. Hermes’ previous book, Love Goes to Buildings on Fire , was a personal examination of New York’s influential downtown music scene in the ’70s, and the city is just as influential here, growing and changing alongside Reed while forever informing his art. This shifting contextual backdrop makes Hermes especially fun to read on the Velvet Underground frontman’s notoriously spotty solo albums. Few artists risked failure like Reed did, and this book will have you digging for records you once ignored, from his wispy debut to the shocking power of Lulu ’s “ Junior Dad .” –Mark Richardson

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse

When writer Howard Fishman first heard Connie Converse’s beautifully melancholic folk music at a party in 2010, he became consumed by a quest to find out what became of the obscure mid-century singer. Thirteen years and 550 pages later, the New Yorker contributor has turned in the definitive history of Converse’s life. With To Anyone Who Ever Asks , he traces her story, from her tragedy-marred early years in small-town New England, to an escape to New York in the 1940s and ’50s and eventual retreat to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Converse eventually disappeared in 1974, speeding off in her Volkswagen and writing to loved ones asking them not to look for her.

Fishman uncovers not the shy wallflower that her songs suggest, but a binge-drinking, heavy-smoking bohemian widely ahead of her time, who performed for Walter Cronkite, composed operas, and championed civil rights. He occasionally falls into fanboy tendencies, glorifying every artistic move by Converse with uncritical praise. But for anyone who has ever wondered about the person behind these lost songs, or just what it means to make art that no one will fully appreciate until decades later, To Anyone Who Ever Asks provides as much of a proper answer as we’ll ever get. –David Glickman

Testigos del fin del mundo

In his debut book, Bolivian music critic and professor Javier A. Rodríguez-Camacho chronicles the untold history of 2010s Ibero-American indie music. The book includes artists from Latin America, the United States, and Spain—an editorial choice that illustrates how multiple genres and geographical locations of the Spanish-speaking world have always been in conversation with each other. Instead of presenting a definitive canon, Rodríguez-Camacho traces an incomplete but dynamic map of the era’s scenes and sounds through 120 albums, spanning everything from the Chilean indie pop explosion to the Mexican ruidosón movement.

It’s an archival endeavor structured through individual album reviews, each of which transcends mere formal description. The chapters are meticulously contextualized, immersing readers into the musical and sociopolitical milieu from which these albums sprouted. But they also explore how these artists speak to shared experiences across the Spanish-speaking diaspora—regardless of the “zip code of their residence, their accents, or their stylistic influences.” The book is packed with delightful easter eggs, too, like playlist recommendations from guest contributors. Its creative direction is vividly inspired by the blogs and streaming platforms that revolutionized the decade, with tracklists, sidebars, and credits surrounding each review as though you can click on them. Whether you’re reading up on culture-shifting artists like Arca, or discovering Puerto Rican trap pioneers like Füete Billëte, Testigos del fin del mundo is an illuminating compendium that documents scenes and sounds that have lived in the shadows for too long. —Isabelia Herrera

Rey Naranjo Editores

Wayward: Just Another Life to Live

Those drawn to Vashti Bunyan ’s memoir likely know her story already: a ’70s British singer-songwriter whose freak-folk debut Just Another Diamond Day developed a cult following—thanks in part to fans like Animal Collective and Devendra Banhart—that inspired her to return in the 2000s with a long-awaited follow-up. Originally released in the UK last year, Wayward delivers far more than that familiar redemption arc.

Bunyan’s life story is one of striking defiance and quiet beauty, the combination of which moves the heart in unexpected ways. She recounts wearing the fragile shellac of her father’s 78s so thin that her parents removed the needle as punishment; skipping class to play guitar and fraternize with soon-to-be Monty Python co-founders Michael Palin and Terry Jones; and recording her debut single with Jimmy Page while Mick Jagger facetiously imitated her voice. “I was quietly delighting in being a small part of the big fuck-you,” she writes.

Perpetually drawn to the outdoors, from searching for bones amid post-WW2 rubble as a kid, to voyaging to Donovan ’s Scottish commune by horse and carriage in her 20s, Bunyan long rooted her music’s roving spirit in a desire for physicality that’s muddy and crestfallen. For a figure that’s been upheld as fragile and innocent, the true story of Bunyan the musician is that of a woman-turned-nomad fueled by an awareness that the more people and places you meet, the more your perception of the world grows. –Nina Corcoran

White Rabbit

World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music

Jeff Tweedy admits in the introduction to his third book, World Within a Song , that he would have started here, with brief love letters to important songs throughout his life, had he been more confident as a writer. Instead, the Wilco frontman felt the pressure to pen a more conventional memoir in 2018’s Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) , then followed that up with How to Write One Song , his down-to-earth approach to the guru-littered gutters of the “creativity guide” genre. Both books are excellent—warm, funny, unflinchingly honest, and clearly the work of a true music fan. But World Within a Song allows Tweedy to go full nerd, not as a tangent to a story but as the story itself. The effect is something like a book-length version of Pitchfork’s own 5-10-15-20 interview series , where stray memories become reflexively intertwined with certain lyrics or melodies.

Tweedy writes like he talks—direct, enthusiastic, relatable, self-aware when he’s corny—and it’s a quick and enjoyable read even when he opines on well-worn hits like “Smoke on the Water.” The best parts are when he focuses on specific moments with family members that shifted his view of things: his mom connecting to Lene Lovich’s “Lucky Number” while watching the “New Wave” episode of The Midnight Special with him, her own “you live alone, you die alone” worldview reflected back; discovering, after many years of assuming otherwise, that his cousin did not write Bachman–Turner Overdrive’s “Takin’ Care of Business.” It’s not all classic rock and vintage alternative, though—I gotta hand it to Tweedy, I didn’t expect to be so moved by his take on Rosalía’s “Bizcochito.” He writes, upon Googling lyric translations and realizing he’d understood the emotion even though he doesn’t speak Spanish, “I could actually hear the look on her face. I could see the man she was singing to—pinpoint the heartache to a specific moment in her life.” –Jill Mapes

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‘One Tree Hill’ Star Bethany Joy Lenz Announces Memoir ‘Dinner for Vampires’ Detailing Her Decade in a Hollywood Cult

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“One Tree Hill” star Bethan Joy Lenz, best known for her role as Haley Scott in the beloved CW drama series, has announced a memoir set to release on Oct. 22 (and is available to pre-order on Amazon starting today).

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Lenz’s book follows a long list of best-selling celebrity memoirs that have come out recently, such as Barbra Streisand’s “My Name Is Barbra,” Jada Pinkett Smith ‘s “Worthy” and Britney Spears ‘ “The Woman in Me.” Below, check out more of the most captivating, top-selling celebrity memoirs to read this year.

‘Dinner for Vampires’

‘my name is barbra’.

In Barbra Streisand’s highly anticipated memoir, the chart-topping singer and actor recounts her life in a way that has never before been told. In addition to her years in the spotlight, she delves into her early years as a struggling actor, forging friendships with other legends such as Marlo Brando and her marriage to James Brolin

My Name Is Barbra $47.00   $45.00 Buy Now On Amazon

‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing’ by Matthew Perry

In Perry’s memoir, the beloved late “Friends” actor gets candid about his decades-long struggle with drug and alcohol abuse. From his alcohol-induced erectile disfunction to the one time all of his teeth fell out of his mouth after biting into peanut butter toast, Perry doesn’t hold back from revealing some of his bleakest moments in his first book, which he wrote entirely on his own without a ghostwriter (a rarity for celebrity memoirs). 

‘Making a Scene’ by Constance Wu 

In this candid collection of essays, Constance Wu shares private stories from her childhood in Richmond, Virginia, a string of unhealthy romantic relationship throughout her 20s, her experience with sexual assault and harassment in Hollywood and an honest look at the impact that her breakthrough role on “Fresh Off the Boat” had on her mental health.  

‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’ by Jennette McCurdy

In her first book, Jennette McCurdy best known for her starring role in the show “ICarly,” the 30 year-old actor gets candid about the struggles she faced as a child actor on the Nickelodeon show, such as eating disorders, OCD and her infamously strained relationship with her mother Debra McCurdy who died in 2013. For McCurdy, this is her first body of work that feels like is wholly her own.

‘Hello Molly’ by Molly Shannon

‘finding me’ by viola davis.

Although Viola Davis ‘ first memoir doesn’t come out until April 26, it shot to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list since becoming available for pre-order. Much of the book focuses on the racism the award-winning actor has experienced within Hollywood, recalling the racist incidents she endured throughout her childhood in Rhode Island. Of course, the book also takes readers through Davis’s illustrious career, benchmarked by defining moments like when she was first cast for ABC’s “How to Get Away With Murder” that catapulted the actor to another level of fame.

‘Will’ by Will Smith

Part autobiography, part self-help book, Will Smith’s first memoir is more than just a chronicling of his own inspiring journey from West Philadelphia to rap stardom to Hollywood fame. With the help of Mark Manson, the author of the multi-million-copy bestseller “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck,” Smith paints a candid portrait of his life in the public eye, along with the genuine wisdom and profound self-knowledge he’s learned on the way.

‘You Can’t Be Serious’ by Kal Penn

Kal Penn is famous for his starring role in the buddy stoner comedy “Harold & Kumar” and has also become a household name during his tenure as a staffer in Barack Obama’s White House. But it’s more personal details that make his brand new best-selling memoir so buzzy online. Most notably, he reveals his eleven-year engagement to his partner Josh and, in doing so, comes out publicly first the first time in the books’ pages. In addition to recounting in heartwarming detail his and Josh’s first dates, he also writes about growing up in suburban New Jersey, his journey to Hollywood and his relationship with politics.

‘Unprotected’ by Billy Porter

Before snagging a Tony and Grammy for his groundbreaking role in Broadway’s “Kinky Boots,” and an Emmy for his inimitable performance in Fox’s “Pose,” Billy Porter was just a young boy in Pittsburgh struggling to fit in. In his first-ever memoir “Unprotected,” already a #1 bestseller on Amazon, Porter unpacks his formative teenage years, during which he tapped into his craft, voice and creativity amidst deep trauma.

‘Taste: My Life Through Food’ by Stanley Tucci

‘the storyteller: tales of life and music’ by dave grohl.

Dave Grohl has lived through some of the most extraordinary experiences as one of the most famous rock-and-roll drummers in the world, and now he’s chronicled his story in his own words. This #1 best-selling memoir details Grohl’s most formative years as a musician, from going on tour with Scream at 18 to his time with Nirvana and the Foo Fighters.

‘Yearbook’ by Seth Rogen

From the beloved comedian known for his iconic roles on “Superbad” and “Freaks and Geeks” comes the New York Times Bestseller “Yearbook.” In the hilarious page-turner, Rogen recounts his wildest and funniest stories, from doing stand-up as a teenager to making awkward conversation with A-listers at star-studded Hollywood parties.

‘Broken Horses’ by Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile’s insightful autobiography has been heralded as one of the best music memoirs ever written since it came out earlier this year. In “Broken Horses” the Grammy-winning musician tell the stories from her life that helped shape the raw music that continues to resonate with millions of fans around the word. She shares her experience of coming out as gay in her very small, religious town and finding salvation through the music of heroes that have become collaborators, like Elton John and Dolly Parton. In a Variety review, Chris Willman wrote, “The best-written, most engaging rock autobiography since her childhood hero, Elton John, published ‘Me.'”

‘Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood’ by Danny Trejo

Trejo’s remarkable story became an instant best-seller since hitting the shelves earlier this year. The captivating memoir tells the actor’s remarkable story of growing up in an abusive and drug-addicted home and landing in some of the country’s most notorious state prisons before going onto become a recognizable face in some of Hollywood’s biggest shows and movies.

‘Make it Nice’ by Dorinda Medley

Dorinda’s memeable one-liner came out of an episode of “Real Housewives of New York” when she invited the rest of the housewives for a visit at her storied Berkshires estate. When they made a mess of the weekend (as always), she yelled: “Make it nice!” It’s a motto she’s lived by her entire life, journeying through not-so-glitzy experiences before landing the glamorous reality show life we all know and love.

Check out more of the best gifts for “Housewives” fans here.

‘All In’ by Billie Jean King

‘unfinished’ by priyanka chopra jonas.

From her childhood in India, growing up as a teenager in the states and then moving back to her home country as a beauty pageant tar, Jonas’s rise to fame has been far from ordinary. In her best-selling memoir, the actress reflects on her challenges and triumphs as she doggedly pursued her calling, while sharing honest stories about her father’s death, her marriage with Nick Jonas and her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

‘Greenlights’ by Matthew McConaughey

A #1 New York Times Bestseller, McConaughey’s memoir and self-proclaimed “approach book” is filled with raucous stories and one-of-a-kind bits of wisdom from the actor’s less-than-average life. His approach to living life is captured in the book’s motto: catching greenlights, or learning how to deal with, and even thrive amidst life’s challenges. You might also enjoy the audiobook version, read aloud by the actor himself and his distinct Southern-style drawl.

‘Just As I Am’ by Cicely Tyson

Tyson died at 96 just months after her memoir was released at the beginning of the year. In the 400-page chronicle, co-written by Michelle Burford, the iconic actress recounts her very full life, from being brought up by immigrant parents in Harlem throughout the 1920s and ’30s, getting pregnant at 17 and eventually making her way to Hollywood as a model and actress. Weaved through all her stories is Tyson’s strength and resilience as she finds success against a backdrop of racism and sexism, serving to inspiring to countless Black creatives that came after her, and also one of the many reasons former President Barack Obama awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

‘The Beauty of Living Twice’ by Sharon Stone

Stone gets brutally honest in this New York Times Bestseller as she opens up about her near-death experience after suffering a massive stroke and losing her career, family and fortune in the process. In the candid pages, she chronicles her efforts to rebuild her life and regain her health, while also taking readers back to a childhood of trauma before making her way in an industry filled with their own types of demons

‘Letters to America’ by Willie Nelson

Following his best-selling memoir “It’s a Long Story,” the beloved country musician and activist is back with “Letters to America” in which he writes patriotic and heartfelt letters to a younger generation, in addition to important figures in his life such as family members, his hero Gene Autry and his guitar “Trigger.”

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