This October, Patti Smith will publish a new memoir M Train. We can’t wait. But we’ll have to, so until then, we’ll re-read our favourite rock memoirs.
Just Kids - Patti Smith
Smith already wrote what is probably the best music memoir of all time. This is truly magical, life-affirming stuff. Just read.
The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band - Motley Crue and Neil Strauss
You don’t have to like Motley Crue to read this book, and you’ll certainly spend a lot of time balking at their behaviour. But it’s still the best book about a rock band: grotesque, funny, horrible, sad and bonkers. Nikki Sixx’s subsequent memoir The Heroin Diaries takes a lot of the darkness from The Dirt, but none of the laughs. Don’t read it if you have The Fear.
Get In The Van: On The Road With Black Flag - Henry Rollins
Possibly the ultimate tour memoir. Poor? Hardcore? Idealistic? DIY to the bone? This is the book for you.
Rat Girl / Paradoxical Undressing - Kristin Hersh
This snapshot of indie rock stardom focuses on Hersh’s time with Throwing Muses between 1985 and 1986, also a rather chaotic time in her life as she battled mental illness and was going through a pregnancy. A gem among the few female- authored rock memoirs.
Scar Tissue - Anthony Kiedis
Red Hot Chili Peppers may have descended into something far safer than their origins, but this book charts Kiedis outrageous life from a young age. One wonders how he actually managed to hold it together.
Chronicles (Volume One) - Bob Dylan
Rambling and occasionally abstract, Chronicles eschews the moments you’d like Dylan to shed some light on and goes for the more obscure stuff. Ever the crowdpleaser, right? Still good though.
