The Best Rock & Roll Books And Biographies Of All-Time
“What are the best books and biographies about Rock & Roll?” We looked at 324 of the top Rock & Roll books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 31 titles, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Rock & Roll” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 275+ titles, as well as the lists we used are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
Top 31 Rock & Roll Books Of All-Time
31 .) Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- Louder Sound
- Radio NZ
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, from the pages of Born to Run In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl’s halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That’s how this extraordinary autobiography began. Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to these pages the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs. He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as “The Big Bang”: seeing Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song “Born to Run” reveals more than we previously realized. Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll.
30 .) Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys by
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- LA Times
- Louder Sound
The guitarist for seminal female punk group The Slits recounts playing with Sid Vicious, touring with the Clash, dating Mick Jones, inspiring “Train in Vain,” and releasing her solo debut in 2012 Viv Albertine is one of a handful of original punks who changed music, and the discourse around it, forever. Her memoir tells the story of how, through sheer will, talent, and fearlessness, she forced herself into a male-dominated industry, became part of a movement that changed music, and inspired a generation of female rockers. After forming The Flowers of Romance with Sid Vicious in 1976, Albertine joined The Slits and made musical history in one of the first generations of punk bands. The Slits would go on to serve as an inspiration to future rockers, including Kurt Cobain, Carrie Brownstein, and the Riot Grrrl movement in the 1990s. This is the story of what it was like to be a girl at the height of punk: the sex, the drugs, the guys, the tours, and being part of a brilliant pioneering group of women making musical history. Albertine recounts helping define punk fashion, struggling to find her place among the boys, and her romance with Mick Jones, including her pregnancy and subsequent abortion. She also gives a candid account of what happened post-punk, beyond the break-up of The Slits in 1982, including a career in film, surviving cancer, and making music again, twenty-five years later.
29 .) Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Culture Creature
- Goodreads
Nirvana came out of nowhere in 1991 to sell nearly five million copies of their landmark album Nevermind, whose thunderous sound and indelible melodies embodied all the confusion, frustration, and passion of the emerging Generation X. Come As You Are is the close-up, intimate story of Nirvana — the only book with exclusive in-depth interviews with bandmembers Kurt Cobain, Krist Noveselic, and Dave Grohl, as well as friends, relatives, former bandmembers, and associates — now updated to include a new final chapter detailing the last year of Kurt Cobain’s life, before his tragic suicide in April 1994.
28 .) Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota by Chuck Klosterman
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- Every Record Tells A Story
- Goodreads
Empirically proving that — no matter where you are — kids wanna rock, this is Chuck Klosterman’s hilarious memoir of growing up as a shameless metalhead in Wyndmere, North Dakotoa (population: 498). With a voice like Ace Frehley’s guitar, Klosterman hacks his way through hair-band history, beginning with that fateful day in 1983 when his older brother brought home Mötley Crüe’s Shout at the Devil. The fifth-grade Chuck wasn’t quite ready to rock — his hair was too short and his farm was too quiet — but he still found a way to bang his nappy little head. Before the journey was over, he would slow-dance to Poison, sleep innocently beneath satanic pentagrams, lust for Lita Ford, and get ridiculously intellectual about Guns N’ Roses. C’mon and feel his noize.
27 .) Hellfire by Nick Tosches
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Every Record Tells A Story
- LA Times
The life of Jerry Lee Lewis is one of the most dramatic and tormented in rock ‘n’ roll history. Hell…
26 .) High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- Goodreads
- The Guardian 2
Do you know your desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable split-ups? Rob does. He keeps a list, in fact. But Laura isn’t on it – even though she’s just become his latest ex. He’s got his life back, you see. He can just do what he wants when he wants: like listen to whatever music he likes, look up the girls that are on his list, and generally behave as if Laura never mattered. But Rob finds he can’t move on. He’s stuck in a really deep groove – and it’s called Laura. Soon, he’s asking himself some big questions: about love, about life – and about why we choose to share ours with the people we do.
25 .) I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie by Pamela Des Barres
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Billboard
- Gold Men Project
The stylish, exuberant, and remarkably sweet confession of one of the most famous groupies of the 1960s and 70s is back in print in this new edition that includes an afterword on the author’s last 15 years of adventures. As soon as she graduated from high school, Pamela Des Barres headed for the Sunset Strip, where she knocked on rock stars’ backstage doors and immersed herself in the drugs, danger, and ecstasy of the freewheeling 1960s. Over the next 10 years she had affairs with Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Waylon Jennings, Chris Hillman, Noel Redding, and Jim Morrison, among others. She traveled with Led Zeppelin; lived in sin with Don Johnson; turned down a date with Elvis Presley; and was close friends with Robert Plant, Gram Parsons, Ray Davies, and Frank Zappa. As a member of the GTO’s, a girl group masterminded by Frank Zappa, she was in the thick of the most revolutionary renaissance in the history of modern popular music. Warm, witty, and sexy, this kiss-and-tell–all stands out as the perfect chronicle of one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most thrilling eras.
24 .) Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Culture Creature
- Goodreads
From the moment that he first shook up the world in the mid 1950s, Elvis Presley has been one of the most vivid and enduring myths of American culture. Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley is the first biography to go past that myth and present an Elvis beyond the legend. Based on hundreds of interviews and nearly a decade of research, it traces the evolution not just of the man but of the music and of the culture he left utterly transformed, creating a completely fresh portrait of Elvis and his world. This volume tracks the first twenty-four years of Elvis’ life, covering his childhood, the stunning first recordings at Sun Records (“That’s All Right,” “Mystery Train”), and the early RCA hits (“Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel”). These were the years of his improbable self-invention and unprecedented triumphs, when it seemed that everything that Elvis tried succeeded wildly. There was scarcely a cloud in sight through this period until, in 1958, he was drafted into the army and his mother died shortly thereafter. The book closes on that somber and poignant note. Last Train to Memphis takes us deep inside Elvis’ life, exploring his lifelong passion for music of every sort (from blues and gospel to Bing Crosby and Mario Lanza), his compelling affection for his family, and his intimate relationships with girlfriends, mentors, band members, professional associates, and friends. It shows us the loneliness, the trustfulness, the voracious appetite for experience, and above all the unshakable, almost mystical faith that Elvis had in himself and his music.
23 .) Many Years from Now by Paul McCartney
Lists It Appears On:
- Esquire
- Goodreads
- Rolling Stone
During the past year Paul McCartney has been in the public’s eye more than at any time since the peak of Beatlemania over thirty years ago. His fans have been treated to the best-selling Flaming Pie and Standing Stone albums, a full hour of Paul on “Oprah,” and this thoughtful and comprehensive biography that brings us closer to the man than ever before. Based on hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews over a period of five years, and with complete access to Paul’s own archives, Barry Miles has succeeded in letting Paul tell the story of his life as a Beatle in his own words. It includes Paul’s recollection of the genesis of every song that he wrote with John Lennon and the fascinating details about their remarkable collaboration.
22 .) My Cross to Bear by Gregg Allman
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- Goodreads
- Rolling Stone
For the first time, rock music icon Gregg Allman, one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band, tells the full story of his life and career in My Cross to Bear. No subject is taboo, as one of the true giants of rock ’n’ roll opens up about his Georgia youth, his long struggle with substance abuse, his string of bad marriages (including his brief union with superstar Cher), the tragic death of brother Duane Allman, and life on the road in one of rock’s most legendary bands.
21 .) No One Here Gets out Alive: A Biography of Jim Morrison by Danny Sugerman
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- Spy
- Top Tenz
Here is Jim Morrison in all his complexity-singer, philosopher, poet, delinquent-the brilliant, charismatic, and obsessed seeker who rejected authority in any form, the explorer who probed “the bounds of reality to see what would happen…” Seven years in the writing, this definitive biography is the work of two men whose empathy and experience with Jim Morrison uniquely prepared them to recount this modern tragedy: Jerry Hopkins, whose famous Presley biography, Elvis, was inspired by Morrison’s suggestion, and Danny Sugerman, confidant of and aide to the Doors.
20 .) Rip it Up and Start Again by Simon Reynolds
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- Goodreads
- LA Times
Punk’s raw power rejuvenated rock, but by the summer of 1977 the movement had become a parody of itself. RIP IT UP AND START AGAIN is a celebration of what happened next. Post-punk bands like PiL, Joy Division, Talking Heads, The Fall and The Human League dedicated themselves to fulfilling punk’s unfinished musical revolution. The post-punk groups were fervent modernists; whether experimenting with electronics and machine rhythm or adapting ideas from dub reggae and disco, they were totally confident they could invent a whole new future for music.
19 .) Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs by John Lydon
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- Goodreads
- Rolling Stone
“I have no time for lies and fantasy, and neither should you. Enjoy or die…” –John Lydon Punk has been romanticized and embalmed in various media. An English class revolt that became a worldwide fashion statement, punk’s idols were the Sex Pistols, and its sneering hero was Johnny Rotten. Seventeen years later, John Lydon looks back at himself, the Sex Pistols, and the “no future” disaffection of the time. Much more than just a music book, Rotten is an oral history of punk: angry, witty, honest, poignant, crackling with energy. Malcolm McLaren, Sid Vicious, Chrissie Hynde, Billy Idol, London and England in the late 1970s, the Pistols’ creation and collapse…all are here, in perhaps the best book ever written about music and youth culture, by one of its most notorious figures.
18 .) Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- Rolling Stone
- Top Tenz
Now in paperback, the New York Times bestseller by one of rock’s most provocative figures Scar Tissue is Anthony Kiedis’s searingly honest memoir of a life spent in the fast lane. In 1983, four self-described “knuckleheads” burst out of the mosh-pitted mosaic of the neo-punk rock scene in L.A. with their own unique brand of cosmic hardcore mayhem funk. Over twenty years later, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, against all odds, have become one of the most successful bands in the world. Though the band has gone through many incarnations, Anthony Kiedis, the group’s lyricist and dynamic lead singer, has been there for the whole roller-coaster ride. Whether he’s recollecting the influence of the beautiful, strong women who have been his muses, or retracing a journey that has included appearances as diverse as a performance before half a million people at Woodstock or an audience of one at the humble compound of the exiled Dalai Lama, Kiedis shares a compelling story about the price of success and excess. Scar Tissue is a story of dedication and debauchery, of intrigue and integrity, of recklessness and redemption–a story that could only have come out of the world of rock.
17 .) Slash by Slash
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- Rolling Stone
- Top Tenz
From one of the greatest rock guitarists of our era comes a memoir that redefines sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll He was born in England but reared in L.A., surrounded by the leading artists of the day amidst the vibrant hotbed of music and culture that was the early seventies. Slash spent his adolescence on the streets of Hollywood, discovering drugs, drinking, rock music, and girls, all while achieving notable status as a BMX rider. But everything changed in his world the day he first held the beat-up one-string guitar his grandmother had discarded in a closet. The instrument became his voice and it triggered a lifelong passion that made everything else irrelevant. As soon as he could string chords and a solo together, Slash wanted to be in a band and sought out friends with similar interests. His closest friend, Steven Adler, proved to be a conspirator for the long haul. As hairmetal bands exploded onto the L.A. scene and topped the charts, Slash sought his niche and a band that suited his raw and gritty sensibility. He found salvation in the form of four young men of equal mind: Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler, and Duff McKagan. Together they became Guns N’ Roses, one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands of all time.
16 .) The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones by Stanley Booth
Lists It Appears On:
- Every Record Tells A Story
- Goodreads
- Louder Sound
Stanley Booth, a member of the Rolling Stones’ inner circle, met the band just a few months before Brian Jones drowned in a swimming pool in 1968. He lived with them throughout their 1969 American tour, staying up all night together listening to blues, talking about music, ingesting drugs, and consorting with groupies. His thrilling account culminates with their final concert at Altamont Speedway—a nightmare of beating, stabbing, and killing that would signal the end of a generation’s dreams of peace and freedom. But while this book renders in fine detail the entire history of the Stones, paying special attention to the tragedy of Brian Jones, it is about much more than a writer and a rock band. It has been called—by Harold Brodkey and Robert Stone, among others—the best book ever written about the sixties. In Booth’s new afterword, he finally explains why it took him 15 years to write the book, relating an astonishing story of drugs, jails, and disasters.
15 .) White Line Fever: The Autobiography by Lemmy Kilmister
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Goodreads
- Top Tenz
Medically speaking, Lemmy should be dead. After years of notorious excess, his blood would kill another human being. This is the story of the heaviest drinking, most oversexed speed freak in the music business. Ian Fraser Kilmister was born on Christmas Eve, 1945. Learning from an early age that chicks really do appreciate a guy with a guitar, and inspired by the music of Elvis and Buddy Holly, Lemmy quickly outgrew his local bands in Wales, choosing instead to head to Manchester to experience everything he could get his hands on. And he never looked back. Lemmy tripped through his early career with the Rocking Vicars, backstage touring with Jimi Hendrix, as a member of Opal Butterflies and Hawkwind. In 1975, he went on to create speed metal and form the legendary band Motorhead. During their twenty-seven-year history, Motorhead has released 21 albums, been nominated for a Grammy, and conquered the rock world with such songs as “Ace of Spades,” “Bomber,” and “Overkill.” Throughout the creation of this impressive discography, the Motorhead lineup has seen many changes, but Lemmy has always been firmly at the helm. White Line Fever, a headbanging tour of the excesses of a man being true to his music and his pleasures, offers a sometimes hilarious, often outrageous, but always highly entertaining ride with the frontman of the loudest rock band in the world.
14 .) England’s Dreaming by Jon Savage
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- LA Times
- Please Kill Me
- The Guardian
England’s Dreaming is the ultimate book on punk, its progenitors, the Sex Pistols, and the moment they defined for music fans in England and the United States. Savage brings to life the sensational story of the meteoric rise and rapid implosion of the Pistols through layers of rich detail, exclusive interviews, and rare photographs.
13 .) Get In The Van: On The Road With Black Flag by Henry Rollins
Lists It Appears On:
- Culture Creature
- Goodreads
- Louder Sound
- Rolling Stone
As a member of the seminal punk band Black Flag, Henry Rollins kept detailed tour diaries that form the basis of Get in the Van . Rollins’s observations range from the wry to the raucous in this blistering account of a six-year career with the band – a time marked by crazed fans, vicious cops, near-starvation, substance abuse, and mind numbing all-night drives. Rollins decided to revise this edition by adding a wealth of new photographs, a new foreword, and an afterword to include some “where-are-they-now” information on the people featured in the book. This new edition includes 40 previously unpublished black-and-white photographs from Rollins’s private collection and show flyers by artist Raymond Pettibon. Called “a soul-frying experience not to be undertaken by lightweights” by Wired magazine, Get in the Van perfectly embodies what one critic called the “secular gospel” of one of punk and post-punk’s most respected and controversial figures.
12 .) It’s So Easy: And Other Lies by Duff McKagan
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Culture Creature
- Goodreads
- Top Tenz
A founding member of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver shares the story of his rise to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction, his personal crash and burn, and his phoenix-like transformation via a unique path to sobriety. In 1984, at the age of twenty, Duff McKagan left his native Seattle—partly to pursue music but mainly to get away from a host of heroin overdoses then decimating his closest group of friends in the local punk scene. In L.A. only a few weeks and still living in his car, he answered a want ad for a bass player placed by someone who identified himself only as “Slash.” Soon after, the most dangerous band in the world was born. Guns N’ Roses went on to sell more than 100 million albums worldwide. In It’s So Easy, Duff recounts GN’R’s unlikely trajectory to a string of multiplatinum albums, sold-out stadium concerts, and global acclaim. But that kind of glory can take its toll, and it did—ultimately—on Duff, as well as on the band itself. As GN’R began to splinter, Duff felt that he himself was done, too. But his near death as a direct result of alcoholism proved to be his watershed, the turning point that led to his unique path to sobriety and the unexpected choices he has made for himself since. In a voice that is as honest as it is indelibly his own, Duff—one of rock’s smartest and most articulate personalities—takes readers on his harrowing journey through the dark heart of one of the most notorious bands in rock-and-roll history and out the other side.
11 .) Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Billboard
- Goodreads
- Louder Sound
Vintage presents the paperback edition of the wild and brilliant writings of Lester Bangs–the most outrageous and popular rock critic of the 1970s–edited and with an introduction by the reigning dean of rock critics, Greil Marcus.
10 .) Revolution in the Head: The Beatles Records and the Sixties by Ian Macdonald
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Billboard
- Every Record Tells A Story
- The Guardian
No book has taken us closer to the music of the Beatles’ Tony Parsons ‘Consistently brilliant’ SUNDAY TIMES ‘Essential’ Q The Beatles achievement was so dazzling, so extraordinary, that few have questioned it. Agreement that they were far and away the best pop group ever is all but universal. And nowhere is the spirit of the Sixties – both in its soaring optimism and its drug-spirited introspection – more perfectly expressed than in the Beatles’ music. Taking all the elements which combined to create each song as it was captured on vinyl – the songwriting process, the stimuli of contemporary pop hits and events, the evolving input from each of the Four, the brilliant innovations pulled off in the studio and, ultimately, the twisting grip of psychedelic drugs – the Beatles are pinpointed, record by record, in precise and fascinating detail against the backdrop of that vibrant era.
9 .) The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Goodreads
- Rolling Stone
- Top Tenz
Set against the frenzied world of heavy metal superstardom, the co-founder of Motley Crue offers an unflinching and gripping look at his own descent into drug addiction. It follows him during the year he plunged to rock bottom and his courageous decision to pick himself up and start living again.”
8 .) Who I Am by Pete Townshend
Lists It Appears On:
- Esquire
- Goodreads
- The Daily Beast
- The Savvy Reader
From the voice of a generation: The most highly anticipated autobiography of the year, and the story of a man who… is a Londoner and a Mod…. wanted The Who to be called The Hair…. loved The Everly Brothers, but not that “drawling dope” Elvis…. wanted to be a sculptor, a journalist, a dancer and a graphic designer…. became a musician, composer, librettist, fiction writer, literary editor, sailor…. smashed his first guitar onstage, in 1964, by accident…. heard the voice of God on a vibrating bed in rural Illinois…. invented the Marshall stack, feedback and the concept album…. once speared Abbie Hoffman in the neck with the head of his guitar…. inspired Jimi Hendrix’s pyrotechnical stagecraft…. is partially deaf in his left ear…. stole his windmill guitar playing from Keith Richards…. followed Keith Moon off a hotel balcony into a pool and nearly died…. did too much cocaine and nearly died…. drank too much and nearly died…. detached from his body in an airplane, on LSD, and nearly died…. helped rescue Eric Clapton from heroin…. is banned for life from Holiday Inns…. was embroiled in a tabloid scandal that has dogged him ever since…. has some explaining to do…. is the most literary and literate musician of the last 50 years…. planned to write his memoir when he was 21…. published this book at 67.
7 .) Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- Culture Creature
- Every Record Tells A Story
- Goodreads
- Louder Sound
They were legends based on myths-myths of fantasy, power, and black magic. The tales of their tours were the most outrageous in the already excess-laden annals of modern music. The era of Led Zeppelin personified sex, drugs, and rock roll.Based on interviews with the bands musicians, friends, employees, and lovers, Hammer of the Gods tells the shocking story of Led Zeppelins successes and excesses in the 70s-when Zeppelin reigned as the industrys biggest act.Exclusive sources. Documents. Interviews. Photos. Revelations about a band-and an industry-at its shameless peak.
6 .) Just Kids by Patti Smith
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- Culture Creature
- Goodreads
- Please Kill Me
- Rolling Stone
In Just Kids, Patti Smith’s first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel in the late sixties and seventies. An honest and moving story of youth and friendship, Smith brings the same unique, lyrical quality to Just Kids as she has to the rest of her formidable body of work–from her influential 1975 album Horses to her visual art and poetry.
5 .) Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Billboard
- Goodreads
- LA Times
- Louder Sound
This is the never-before-told story of the musical revolution that happened right under the nose of the Reagan Eighties–when a small but sprawling network of bands, labels, fanzines, radio stations, and other subversives reenergized American rock with punk rock’s do-it-yourself credo and created music that was deeply personal, often brilliant, always challenging, and immensely influential. This sweeping chronicle of music, politics, drugs, fear, loathing, and faith has been recognized as an indie rock classic in its own right. Among the bands profiled: Mission of Burma, Butthole Surfers, The Minutemen, Sonic Youth, Black Flag, Big Black, Hüsker Dü, Fugazi, Minor Threat, Mudhoney, The Replacements, Beat Happening, and Dinosaur Jr.
4 .) Chronicles by Bob Dylan
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- Esquire
- Every Record Tells A Story
- Goodreads
- Please Kill Me
- Rolling Stone
- The Daily Beast
“I’d come from a long ways off and had started a long ways down. But now destiny was about to manifest itself. I felt like it was looking right at me and nobody else.” So writes Bob Dylan in Chronicles: Volume One, his remarkable book exploring critical junctures in his life and career.
3 .) Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil
Lists It Appears On:
- About Great Books
- Billboard
- Culture Creature
- Goodreads
- LA Times
- Louder Sound
- Please Kill Me
A Time Out and Daily News Top Ten Book of the Year upon its initial release, Please Kill Me is the first oral history of the most nihilist of all pop movements. Iggy Pop, Danny Fields, Dee Dee and Joey Ramone, Malcom McLaren, Jim Carroll, and scores of other famous and infamous punk figures lend their voices to this definitive account of that outrageous, explosive era. From its origins in the twilight years of Andy Warhol’s New York reign to its last gasps as eighties corporate rock, the phenomenon known as punk is scrutinized, eulogized, and idealized by the people who were there and who made it happen.
2 .) The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Neil Strauss
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- Culture Creature
- Every Record Tells A Story
- Goodreads
- LA Times
- Please Kill Me
- The Savvy Reader
- Top Tenz
Whiskey and porn stars, hot reds and car crashes, black leather and high heels, overdoses and death. This is the life of Mötley Crüe, the heaviest drinking, hardest fighting, most oversexed and arrogant band in the world. Their unbelievable exploits are the stuff of rock ‘n’ roll legend. They nailed the hottest chicks, started the bloodiest fights, partied with the biggest drug dealers, and got to know the inside of every jail cell from California to Japan. They have dedicated an entire career to living life to its extreme, from the greatest fantasies to the darkest tragedies. Tommy married two international sex symbols; Vince killed a man and lost a daughter to cancer; Nikki overdosed, rose from the dead, and then OD’d again the next day; and Mick shot a woman and tried to hang his own brother. But that’s just the beginning. Fueled by every drug they could get their hands on and obscene amounts of alcohol, driven by fury and headed straight for hell, Mötley Crüe raged through two decades, leaving behind a trail of debauched women, trashed hotel rooms, crashed cars, psychotic managers, and broken bones that has left the music industry cringing to this day. All these unspeakable acts, not to mention their dire consequences, are laid bare in The Dirt. Here — directly from Nikki, Vince, Tommy, and Mick — is the unexpurgated version of the whole glorious, gut-wrenching story.
1 .) Life by Keith Richards
Lists It Appears On:
- Billboard
- Every Record Tells A Story
- Goodreads
- Please Kill Me
- Rolling Stone
- Spy
- The Daily Beast
- Top Tenz
With the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the riffs, the lyrics and the songs that roused the world, and over four decades he lived the original rock and roll life. Now, at last, the man himself tells us the story of life in the crossfire hurricane.
The 275+ Additional Best Rock and Roll Biographies and History Books
| # | Book | Author | Lists |
| (Titles Appear On 2 List Each) | |||
| 32 | A Twist of Lennon | Cynthia Lennon | About Great Books |
| Please Kill Me | |||
| 33 | Billion Dollar Baby | Bob Greene | LA Times |
| About Great Books | |||
| 34 | Bit Of A Blur | Alex James | Rolling Stone |
Every Record Tells A Story | |||
| 35 | Bob Dylan: A Biography | Anthony Scaduto | Goodreads |
| Billboard | |||
| 36 | Bound for Glory | Woody Guthrie | Goodreads |
| Billboard | |||
| 37 | Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin | Myra Friedman | LA Times |
| Goodreads | |||
| 38 | Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley | Peter Guralnick | About Great Books |
| Goodreads | |||
| 39 | Cash | Johnny Cash | Goodreads |
| Billboard | |||
| 40 | Clapton: The Autobiography | Eric Clapton | Esquire |
| Goodreads | |||
| 41 | Crazy From The Heat | David Lee Roth | Rolling Stone |
| Top Tenz | |||
| 42 | Decoded | Jay-Z | Billboard |
| Rolling Stone | |||
| 43 | Diary of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star | Ian Hunter | About Great Books |
Every Record Tells A Story | |||
| 44 | Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? | Steven Tyler | Goodreads |
| Rolling Stone | |||
| 45 | Everybody Loves Our Town | Mark Yarm | Louder Sound |
| Goodreads | |||
| 46 | Faithfull | Marianne Faithfull | LA Times |
| Goodreads | |||
| 47 | Girl in a Band: A Memoir | Louder Sound | |
| Billboard | |||
| 48 | Great Jones Street | Don DeLillo | LA Times |
| The Guardian 2 | |||
| 49 | Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| Billboard | |||
| 50 | I Am Ozzy | Ozzy Osbourne | Goodreads |
Every Record Tells A Story | |||
| 51 | I Slept With Joey Ramone | Mickey Leigh | LA Times |
| Goodreads | |||
| 52 | I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution | Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks | Billboard |
| About Great Books | |||
| 53 | I’m with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie | Pamela Des Barres | LA Times |
| Goodreads | |||
| 54 | Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd | Nick Mason | Goodreads |
Every Record Tells A Story | |||
| 55 | Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century | Greil Marcus | LA Times |
| Goodreads | |||
| 56 | Louder Than Hell | Jon Weiderhorn and Katherine Turman | Louder Sound |
| Culture Creature | |||
| 57 | Love, Janis | Laura Joplin | Goodreads |
| Spy | |||
| 58 | Moonage Daydream: The Life & Times of Ziggy Stardust | David Bowie | About Great Books |
| Rolling Stone | |||
| 59 | Mystery Train | Greil Marcus | About Great Books |
| Billboard | |||
| 60 | Neon Angel | Cherie Currie and Neal Shusterman | About Great Books |
| Goodreads | |||
| 61 | Papa John: An Autobiography | John Phillips and Jim Jerome | Please Kill Me |
| About Great Books | |||
| 62 | Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña | David Hajdu | Billboard |
| Goodreads | |||
| 63 | Rat Girl | Kristin Hersh | LA Times |
| Rolling Stone | |||
| 64 | Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer | Chris Salewicz | About Great Books |
| Goodreads | |||
| 65 | Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix | Charles R. Cross | Goodreads |
| Spy | |||
| 66 | Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography | Jimmy McDonough | Goodreads |
| Billboard | |||
| 67 | The Beatles | Hunter Davies | Goodreads |
Every Record Tells A Story | |||
| 68 | The Beatles Anthology | The Beatles | Goodreads |
| Spy | |||
| 69 | The Beatles: The Biography | Bob Spitz | About Great Books |
| Goodreads | |||
| 70 | The Book of Rock Lists | Dave Marsh and Kevin Stein | About Great Books |
| Goodreads | |||
| 71 | The Heart of Rock and Soul | Dave Marsh | About Great Books |
| The Guardian | |||
| 72 | The Long Hard Road Out of Hell | Marilyn Manson | Goodreads |
| Top Tenz | |||
| 73 | The Mansion On The Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen and Springsteen and the Head-On Collision Of Rock and Commerce | Fred Goodman | About Great Books |
| Billboard | |||
| 74 | To Live Is To Die: The life and death of Metallica’s Cliff Burton | Joel McIver | Goodreads |
| About Great Books | |||
| 75 | Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream | Neil Young | Esquire |
| Goodreads | |||
| 76 | Wonderful Tonight | Pattie Boyd | Goodreads |
| Gold Men Project | |||
| 77 | X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography | Ray Davies | Esquire |
| Billboard | |||
| 78 | You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup | Peter Doggett | Goodreads |
| Billboard | |||
| (Titles Appear On 1 List Each) | |||
| 79 | 1971 – Never A Dull Moment | David Hepworth | Louder Sound |
| 80 | 20th Century Boy | The Current | |
| 81 | A Journey Through America with the “Rolling Stones” | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 82 | Absolute Beginners | Colin MacInnes | The Guardian 2 |
| 83 | All You Need to Know About the Music Business | Billboard | |
| 84 | And When She Was Good | Laura Lippman | The Savvy Reader |
| 85 | Angels Dance and Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison | Patricia Butler | Goodreads |
| 86 | Apathy for the Devil: A 70s Memoir | Nick Kent | Rolling Stone |
| 87 | Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age | Billboard | |
| 88 | Autobiography | Billboard | |
| 89 | Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards | Al Kooper | About Great Books |
| 90 | Backstage Passes: Life on the Wild Side With David Bowie | Gold Men Project | |
| 91 | Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness | Ronnie Spector | Rolling Stone |
| 92 | Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who | Dave Marsh | Goodreads |
| 93 | Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus | Billboard | |
| 94 | Beyonce in Formation | The Current | |
| 95 | Billion dollar baby: A provocative young journalist chronicles his adventures on tour as a performing member of The Alice Cooper Rock-and-Roll Band | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 96 | Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America | Billboard | |
| 97 | Black Postcards | Dean Wareham | Rolling Stone |
| 98 | Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality | Billboard | |
| 99 | Black Vinyl White Powder | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 100 | Blues People: Negro Music in White America | Billboard | |
| 101 | Bob Dylan | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 102 | Bob Dylan, Performing Artist | Paul Williams | About Great Books |
| 103 | Body Count | Gold Men Project | |
| 104 | Boys in the Trees: A Memoir | Billboard | |
| 105 | Broken Music | Sting | Goodreads |
| 106 | Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry | Bruce Pegg | About Great Books |
| 107 | Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America | Jonathan Gould | Goodreads |
| 108 | Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation | Billboard | |
| 109 | Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley | Billboard | |
| 110 | Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste | Billboard | |
| 111 | Choosing Death | Albert Mudrian | Louder Sound |
| 112 | Christgau’s Record Guide: Rock Albums of the ’70s | Billboard | |
| 113 | Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time | Tim Morse | About Great Books |
| 114 | Coat of Many Colors | Read Brightly | |
| 115 | Cobain Unseen | Charles R. Cross | Goodreads |
| 116 | Commando | Culture Creature | |
| 117 | Corn Flakes with John Lennon: And Other Tales from a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life | Robert Hilburn | About Great Books |
| 118 | Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys | Lol Tolhurst | Radio NZ |
| 119 | D. Randall Blythe | Dark Days: A Memoir | Louder Sound |
| 120 | Dandelion: Memoir of a Free Spirit | Gold Men Project | |
| 121 | Dark Horse: The Life And Art Of George Harrison | Geoffrey Giuliano | Goodreads |
| 122 | David Bowie Made Me Gay | The Current | |
| 123 | Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 124 | Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta | Billboard | |
| 125 | Destined to Play | Indigo Bloome | The Savvy Reader |
| 126 | Detroit Rock City: The Uncensored History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in America’s Loudest City | Steve Miller | About Great Books |
| 127 | Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams | Billboard | |
| 128 | Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye | Billboard | |
| 129 | Dream Baby Dream: Suicide: A New York Story | Kris Needs | Radio NZ |
| 130 | Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley | David Browne | Goodreads |
| 131 | Dream On: Livin’ on the Edge with Steven Tyler and Aerosmith | Cyrinda Foxe-Tyler | About Great Books |
| 132 | Ego Trip’s Big Book of Racism! | Billboard | |
| 133 | Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King | Read Brightly | |
| 134 | Eminent Hipsters | Billboard | |
| 135 | Every Little Thing | Read Brightly | |
| 136 | Faithful: An Autobiography | Gold Men Project | |
| 137 | Faking It | Hugh Barker and Yuval Taylor | The Guardian |
| 138 | Finishing the Hat; Look, I Made a Hat | Billboard | |
| 139 | Flowers in the Dustbin | James Miller | About Great Books |
| 140 | FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio | Richard Neer | About Great Books |
| 141 | Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture | Billboard | |
| 142 | Forever Young | Read Brightly | |
| 143 | Frank: The Voice; Sinatra: The Chairman | Billboard | |
| 144 | Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon — and the Journey of a Generation | Billboard | |
| 145 | Girls to the Front” | LA Times | |
| 146 | Grant and I: Inside and Outside the Go-Betweens | Robert Forster | Radio NZ |
| 147 | Great Pop Things: The Real History of Rock and Roll from Elvis to “Oasis” | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 148 | Groupie | Jenny Fabian and Johnny Byrne | The Guardian 2 |
| 149 | Gus & Me | Read Brightly | |
| 150 | Hamilton: The Revolution | Billboard | |
| 151 | Heaven And Hell: My Life In The Eagles (1974 2001) | Don Felder | Goodreads |
| 152 | Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain | Charles R. Cross | Goodreads |
| 153 | Hef’s Little Black Book | Hugh M. Hefner | The Savvy Reader |
| 154 | How Music Got Free | Billboard | |
| 155 | How Music Works | Billboard | |
| 156 | How The Beatles Destroyed Rock’n’Roll | Elijah Wald | The Guardian |
| 157 | Howling at the Moon: The Odyssey of a Monstrous Mogul in an Age of Excess | Billboard | |
| 158 | Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl: A Memoir | Billboard | |
| 159 | I am Brian Wilson | Spy | |
| 160 | I, Me, Mine | George Harrison | Goodreads |
| 161 | I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon | Crystal Zevon | Goodreads |
| 162 | I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead | Crystal Zevon | The Daily Beast |
| 163 | Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed | Paul Trynka | Goodreads |
| 164 | Infinite Tuesday | The Current | |
| 165 | Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes | Greil Marcus | About Great Books |
| 166 | Jane Eyre Laid Bare | Eve Sinclair | The Savvy Reader |
| 167 | Japrocksampler: How the Post-War Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock ‘n’ Roll | Julian Cope | About Great Books |
| 168 | Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend | Stephen Davis | Goodreads |
| 169 | Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow | Read Brightly | |
| 170 | John | Cynthia Lennon | Goodreads |
| 171 | John Lennon: The Life | Philip Norman | Goodreads |
| 172 | Journals | Kurt Cobain | Goodreads |
| 173 | Kicking and Dreaming | Anne and Nancy Wilson | The Savvy Reader |
| 174 | Kill Your Friends | Billboard | |
| 175 | Krautrock! | The Current | |
| 176 | Lady Sings the Blues | Billboard | |
| 177 | Last Night a DJ Saved My Life | Passman, 1991 | Billboard |
| 178 | Late Late At Night | Rick Springfield | Rolling Stone |
| 179 | Le Freak | Nile Rodgers | Rolling Stone |
| 180 | Legends, Icons & Rebels: Music That Changed the World | Robbie Robertson | About Great Books |
| 181 | Lennon Remembers: The Rolling Stone Interviews: The “Rolling Stones” Interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 182 | Lennon: The Definitive Biography | Ray Coleman | Goodreads |
| 183 | Let’s Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies | Gold Men Project | |
| 184 | Lexicon Devil | Brendan Mullen | Louder Sound |
| 185 | Light My Fire | LA Times | |
| 186 | Like It Was Yesterday’ | Brad Elterman | Sixty Hotels |
| 187 | Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol | Steve Jones | Louder Sound |
| 188 | Long Time Gone | David Crosby | Goodreads |
| 189 | Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground | Michael Moynihan | Goodreads |
| 190 | Lost Highway: Journeys and Arrivals of American Musicians | Billboard | |
| 191 | Love & Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class | Billboard | |
| 192 | Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time | Billboard | |
| 193 | Me, The Mob and the Music | Tommy James | Rolling Stone |
| 194 | Meet Me in the Bathroom | Culture Creature | |
| 195 | Mick Rock Exposed: The Faces of Rock n’ Roll’ | Mick Rock | Sixty Hotels |
| 196 | Miles: The Autobiography | 1 | Billboard |
| 197 | Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove | Billboard | |
| 198 | Murder In The Front Row | Brian Lew and Harald Oimoen | Louder Sound |
| 199 | Music: What Happened? | Scott Miller | About Great Books |
| 200 | Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir | Dave Mustaine | Goodreads |
| 201 | My Appetite for Destruction: Sex, and Drugs, and Guns N’ Roses | Steven Adler | Goodreads |
| 202 | Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist | Rachel Cohn | Goodreads |
| 203 | No Regrets: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir | Ace Frehley | Goodreads |
| 204 | Noise: The Political Economy of Music | Billboard | |
| 205 | Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music | Billboard | |
| 206 | On the Road with the Ramones | Monte A. Melnick and Frank Myer | About Great Books |
| 207 | One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture | Billboard | |
| 208 | One Train Later: A Memoir | Andy Summers | Goodreads |
| 209 | Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music | Billboard | |
| 210 | Owen Noone and Marauder | Douglas Cowie | The Guardian 2 |
| 211 | Past Deadline: a blurry glimpse into the aspen music beat | John Zelazny | Goodreads |
| 212 | Paul Simon: The Life | The Current | |
| 213 | Perfecting Sound Forever | Greg Milner | The Guardian |
| 214 | Petty: The Biography | Spy | |
| 215 | Pop From The Beginning | Nik Cohn | The Guardian |
| 216 | Popular Music | Mikael Niemi | The Guardian 2 |
| 217 | Psychedelia and Other Colours | Rob Chapman | Radio NZ |
| 218 | Punk Farm and Punk Farm on Tour | Read Brightly | |
| 219 | Raisin’ Cain | LA Times | |
| 220 | Really the Blues | Billboard | |
| 221 | Rebel Heart: An American Rock ‘n’ Roll Journey | Gold Men Project | |
| 222 | Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock | Sammy Hagar | Goodreads |
| 223 | Reservation Blues | Sherman Alexie | The Guardian 2 |
| 224 | Revolt Into Style | George Melly | The Guardian |
| 225 | Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors | John Densmore | Goodreads |
| 226 | Rock & Roll Highway: The Robbie Robertson Story | Read Brightly | |
| 227 | Rock and Roll’ | Lynn Goldsmith | Sixty Hotels |
| 228 | Rock Dreams | Billboard | |
| 229 | Rock Seen | Bob Gruen | Sixty Hotels |
| 230 | Rock She Wrote: Women Write About Rock, Pop, and Rap | Billboard | |
| 231 | Rock’n’Roll’s Strangest Moments: Extraordinary But True Tales from 45 Years of Rock & Roll History | Mike Evans | About Great Books |
| 232 | Rocks: My Life in and out of Aerosmith | Joe Perry | Goodreads |
| 233 | Rod Stewart and the Changing “Faces” | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 234 | Rod: The Autobiography | Billboard | |
| 235 | Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll | Rolling Stone Magazine | Goodreads |
| 236 | Rolling with the Stones | Bill Wyman | Goodreads |
| 237 | Running With the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music | Billboard | |
| 238 | Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans | Billboard | |
| 239 | Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead | Phil Lesh | About Great Books |
| 240 | Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation | Philip Norman | Goodreads |
| 241 | Siren Song | The Current | |
| 242 | Small Town Talk | Barney Hoskyns | Radio NZ |
| 243 | So You Wanna Be a Rock N Roll Star | LA Times | |
| 244 | Song of Spider-Man | Culture Creature | |
| 245 | Songbook | Nick Hornby | Goodreads |
| 246 | Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure and the Politics of Rock ’n’ Roll | Billboard | |
| 247 | Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! | Read Brightly | |
| 248 | Strange Fascination: David Bowie: The Definitive Story | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 249 | Strange Stars | The Current | |
| 250 | Streets of Fire: Bruce Springsteen in Photographs and Lyrics 1977-1979 | The Savvy Reader | |
| 251 | Subculture: The Meaning of Style | Billboard | |
| 252 | Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me | Martin Millar | Louder Sound |
| 253 | Take It Like A Man | Boy George | Rolling Stone |
| 254 | Testimony | Robbie Robertson | Radio NZ |
| 255 | The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll | Eric Segalstad | About Great Books |
| 256 | The Autobiography | Chuck Berry | Rolling Stone |
| 257 | The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny) | Read Brightly | |
| 258 | The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia | Michael Gray | About Great Books |
| 259 | The Breaks: Stylin’ and Profilin’ 1982-1990 | Janette Beckman | Sixty Hotels |
| 260 | The Commitments | Roddy Doyle | The Guardian 2 |
| 261 | The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970 | Mark Lewisohn | Goodreads |
| 262 | The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings on Rock Music | Billboard | |
| 263 | The Death of Rhythm and Blues | Billboard | |
| 264 | The Disco Files 1973-1978: New York’s Underground, Week by Week | Billboard | |
| 265 | The Doors | The Doors | Goodreads |
| 266 | The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon | Culture Creature | |
| 267 | The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs | Culture Creature | |
| 268 | The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs | Greil Marcus | About Great Books |
| 269 | The History of Rock: A Definitive Guide to Rock, Punk, Metal, and Beyond | Parragon Books | About Great Books |
| 270 | The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock | Billboard | |
| 271 | The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall: A Fairytale of Grimm Art | Ki Longfellow | Goodreads |
| 272 | The Jim Morrison Scrapbook | James Henke | Goodreads |
| 273 | The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the demise of English rock | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 274 | The Longest Cocktail Party: An Insider’s Diary of the Beatles, Their Million-dollar Apple Empire and Its Wild Rise and Fall | Every Record Tells A Story | |
| 275 | The Love Song of Jonny Valentine: A Novel | Billboard | |
| 276 | The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles | Peter Brown | Goodreads |
| 277 | The Music of Black Americans: A History | Billboard | |
| 278 | The One: The Life and Music of James Brown | Billboard | |
| 279 | The Ossians | Doug Johnstone | The Guardian 2 |
| 280 | The Rap Yearbook | Billboard | |
| 281 | The Real Frank Zappa Book | Frank Zappa | Goodreads |
| 282 | The Recording Angel: Music, Records and Culture from Aristotle to Zappa | Billboard | |
| 283 | The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century | Billboard | |
| 284 | The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise | Brix Smith Start | Radio NZ |
| 285 | The Rock & Roll Alphabet | Read Brightly | |
| 286 | The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll: The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music | Rolling Stone Magazine | About Great Books |
| 287 | The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory | Billboard | |
| 288 | The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll | Billboard | |
| 289 | The Tao of Wu | The RZA | Rolling Stone |
| 290 | The World | s Greatest Music Festival Challenge | The Current |
| 291 | This Is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl | Paul Brannigan | Goodreads |
| 292 | This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography, And Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx | Nikki Sixx | Goodreads |
| 293 | This Is Your Brain on Music | Billboard | |
| 294 | This Wheel’s On Fire | Levon Helm | Esquire |
| 295 | Ticket to Ride | Culture Creature | |
| 296 | To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles | Marc Eliot | About Great Books |
| 297 | Tommyland | Tommy Lee | Goodreads |
| 298 | Touch Me I’m Sick | Charles Peterson | Sixty Hotels |
| 299 | Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division | Deborah Curtis | Goodreads |
| 300 | Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout | Billboard | |
| 301 | Trouble Boys: The True Story of The Replacements | Billboard | |
| 302 | Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years, Vol | Billboard | |
| 303 | Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting | Billboard | |
| 304 | Two new accounts of the Clash | The Current | |
| 305 | U2 at the End of the World | Bill Flanagan | Goodreads |
| 306 | U2 by U2 | U2 | Goodreads |
| 307 | Up and Down With the Rolling Stones | LA Times | |
| 308 | Vagina | Naomi Wolf | The Savvy Reader |
| 309 | Van Halen Rising | Greg Renoff | About Great Books |
| 310 | Vinyl: A History of the Analogue Record | Richard Osborne | The Guardian |
| 311 | Violet’s Music | Read Brightly | |
| 312 | Visions of Jazz | Billboard | |
| 313 | Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith | Aerosmith | Goodreads |
| 314 | Wetlands | Charlotte Roche | The Savvy Reader |
| 315 | What Happened Miss Simone? | Alan Light | Radio NZ |
| 316 | What Is Punk? | Read Brightly | |
| 317 | What You Want Is in the Limo | Michael Walker | About Great Books |
| 318 | When the Beat was Born | Read Brightly | |
| 319 | Who Was…? Series | Read Brightly | |
| 320 | Wonderland | LA Times | |
| 321 | Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë | The Guardian 2 |
| 322 | Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis Jr | Billboard | |
| 323 | Yesterdays: Popular Song in America | Billboard | |
| 324 | You Don’t Love Me Yet | LA Times | |
21 Best Rock History Book and Biography Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| About Great Books | 50 Great Books About Rock & Roll Music – About Great Books |
| Billboard | Music Books: 100 Best of All-Time | Billboard |
| Culture Creature | Best Music Books: Essential Reading For Any Music Lover |
| Esquire | The Rawest and Rowdiest Rock n’ Roll Memoirs – Esquire |
| Every Record Tells A Story | The Top 50 Greatest Music Books…(1-25) – Every record tells a story |
| Gold Men Project | Band Books: Autobiographies from Rock ‘n’ Roll Groupies – The Good … |
| Goodreads | Best Books on Rock and Roll (660 books) – Goodreads |
| LA Times | 33 1/3 essential books that rock – Los Angeles Times |
| Louder Sound | 10 Music Books Every Rock Fan Should Read | Louder |
| Please Kill Me | Legs McNeil’s List of the Ten Best Rock & Roll Books – Please Kill Me |
| Radio NZ | The best music books of 2016: a rock’n’roll reading list – Radio NZ |
| Read Brightly | Picture Books for Rock and Roll Parents and Their Kids | Brightly |
| Rolling Stone | Rob Sheffield on 25 Greatest Rock Memoirs of All Time | Rolling Stone |
| Sixty Hotels | The Best Rock ‘n’ Roll Photography Books – SIXTY Hotels |
| Spy | The Best Musician Biographies for Rock and Roll Fans | SPY |
| The Current | Rock and Roll Book Club | The Current |
| The Daily Beast | Paul Muldoon’s Book Bag: Five Best Rock ‘n’ Roll Books |
| The Guardian | Bob Stanley’s 10 best music histories | Books | The Guardian |
| The Guardian 2 | Tiffany Murray’s top 10 rock’n’roll novels | Books | The Guardian |
| The Savvy Reader | Top 10 Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll Books – The Savvy Reader |
| Top Tenz | Top 10 Books About Rock and Roll – Toptenz.net |
