Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Recommend me some bass/music realted autobiographies please


horrorshowbass
 Share

Recommended Posts

The Stevie Ray Vaughan one "Caught In The Crossfire" is a good read and the Guy Pratt book is very funny!

No one has mentioned "The Dirt" by Mötley Crüe! Very entertaining and will amaze you with the quite awe inspiring dumbness of the protagonists...!

Edited by peteb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read the Joe Zawinul biography "In a silent way" by Brian Glasser, recently. It's very detailed and really interesting.

It is quite bass related too, goes into quite a lot of depth about the various bassists in weather report.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1371544572' post='2115163']
The Stevie Ray Vaughan one "Caught In The Crossfire" is a good read and the Guy Pratt book is very funny!

[b]No one has mentioned "The Dirt" by Mötley Crüe! Very entertaining and will amaze you with the quite awe inspiring dumbness of the protagonists...![/b]
[/quote]

It's a great read, and also quite sad, the author tells the story really sympathetically, it's not all about drugs, drink and pooching groupies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"The Dirt" is a great read, and Nikki Six's "Heroin Diaries" is also very readable and eye-opening.

Last bassist autobiog. I read was Jah Wobble's "Memoirs Of A Geezer", which I thought was excellent.

You're bound to find some "33 1/3" books you'll enjoy, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two good ones.
"Falling and Laughing, the restoration of Edwyn Collins" by his Mrs Grace Maxwell ( great feel better read)

and
"Confessions of a heavy metal addict, hell bent for leather" by Seb Green
the story of any one of us here and really quite moving But at times laugh out loud in a "Oh God I've done that type of way"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gene Simmons from Kiss wrote the most boring of the 3 original Kiss members autobiographies. I was a big fan so found it ok. I really liked Duff McKagan's book and found it quite inspiring.

For the best car crash read, go to the 60s soul stars - Bettye Lavette's starts with her pimp dangling her out of a New York tower block and then manages to pick [b]up[/b] the pace! Likewise Bobby Womack's is equally unsubtle starting with his ex-wife trying to kill him. Makes the wild men of hard rock seem quite straight by comparison.

I can't remember the title but the ex-Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison did a book about his experiences and being passed over that was kind of interesting but typing this 10yrs later clearly not that memorable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

+1 Ska-d for Life by Horace Panter

+1 Beneath the Underdog by Charlie Mingus

+1 Memoirs Of A Geezer by Jah Wobble

Other good books I have enjoyed written by or about bass players:

Riding Shotgun by Gerry McAvoy [color="#FF0000"]-[/color] a great autobiog from Rory Gallagher’s right hand man for 20 years.

Japan and Self Existence by Mick Karn – written a couple of years before Mick died, it is more like a cathartic work of art than a book.

Composing Himself by Jack Bruce - I enjoyed this book for the brilliant history of the British jazz, blues and rock scene in the ‘60s where Jack played a massive part.

Searching for the Sound, my Life with the Grateful Dead by Phil Lesh - interesting to read about the exceptional lengths the Dead went to in order to create their unique live sound.. one set-up for Phil's bass rigg included his pick-ups and bass wired in such a way that each individual string was isolated and played through its own amp and stack of speaker cabinets.

My Bass and other Animals by Guy Pratt - very entertaining, Guy has more than a few tales to tell.

I am half way through, and really enjoying, The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten, which was also mentioned by Grangur previously on this thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Standing in the shadows of Motown ! (If it has been mentioned sorry!) if you love James Jamerson and Motown you'll love this! Ge the DVD as well! Also a load of his best work being played by some of the best right now, marcus miller, pino palladino etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

And if you're fed up with all those "real-life stories" and want some fiction for a change then try "Espedair Street" by Iain Banks, which is possibly the best fictional account of being in a band ever. And it's main character is the bass player.

Edited by BigRedX
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Slash and Anthony Kiedis ones mentioned are both decent reads. Lemmy's "White Line Fever" is light but enjoyable too. I've got "Dream Brother" which is a biography of Jeff and Tom Buckley, tells their stories in parallel, a chapter on each. That was a great read, although being a big fan of Jeff, his chapters held my attention more. Don't bother with Scott Weiland's excuse for an autobiography though, load of old bollocks :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...