The 50 Greatest Rock Memoirs of All Time
Awesome rock & roll reads, from Keith Richards and Patti Smith to Slash and Nikki Sixx
Rob Sheffield
50. Steven Tyler: ‘Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?’ (2011)
49. Nikki Sixx: ‘The Heroin Diaries’ (2007)
48. Alice Bag: ‘Violence Girl’ (2011)
47. Billy Idol: ‘Dancing With Myself’ (2017)
46. Debbie Harry: ‘Face It’ (2019)
45. Rick James: ‘Glow’ (2014)
44. Elton John: ‘Me’ (2019)
43. Gucci Mane: ‘The Autobiography of Gucci Mane’ (2017)
42. Dean Wareham: ‘Black Postcards’ (2008)
41. Bobbie Brown: ‘Dirty Rocker Boys’ (2013)
40. Peter Hook: ‘Substance: Inside New Order’ (2016)
39. Neil Peart: ‘Ghost Rider’ (2002)
38. Tegan and Sara: ‘High School’ (2019)
37. Donald Fagen: ‘Eminent Hipsters’ (2013)
36. Joe Boyd: ‘White Bicycles’ (2006)
35. John Lydon: ‘Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’ (1993)
34. Gregg Allman: ‘My Cross to Bear’ (2012)
33. Boy George: ‘Take It Like a Man’ (1995)
32. Marilyn Manson: ‘The Long Hard Road Out of Hell’ (1998)
31. Luke Haines: ‘Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Role in Its Downfall’ (2009)
30. Brian Wilson: ‘I Am Brian Wilson’ (2016)
29. Robbie Robertson: ‘Testimony’ (2016)
28. Lemmy: ‘White Line Fever’ (2002)
27. Neil Young: ‘Special Deluxe’ (2014)
26. Henry Rollins: ‘Get in the Van: On the Road With Black Flag’ (1994)
25. Kim Gordon: ‘Girl in a Band’ (2015)
24. Jay-Z: ‘Decoded’ (2010)
23. Tommy James: ‘Me, the Mob and the Music’ (2010)
22. David Lee Roth: ‘Crazy From the Heat’ (1998)
21. Kristin Hersh: ‘Rat Girl’ (2010)
20. Morrissey: ‘Autobiography’ (2013)
19. Richard Hell: ‘I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp’ (2013)
18. Chuck Berry: ‘The Autobiography’ (1987)
17. David Bowie: ‘Moonage Daydream: The Life and Times of Ziggy Stardust’ (2002)
16. Rod Stewart: ‘Rod’ (2012)
15. Anthony Kiedis: ‘Scar Tissue’ (2004)
14. Ronnie Spector: ‘Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness’ (1989)
13. John Taylor: ‘In the Pleasure Groove’ (2012)
12. Paul McCartney: ‘Many Years From Now’ (1997)
11. Nile Rodgers: ‘Le Freak’ (2011)
10. Carrie Brownstein: ‘Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl’ (2015)
9. The RZA: ‘The Tao of Wu’ (2009)
8. Slash: ‘Slash’ (2007)
7. Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz: ‘Beastie Boys Book’ (2018)
6. Viv Albertine: ‘Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys’ (2014)
5. Keith Richards: ‘Life’ (2010)
4. Questlove: ‘Mo Meta Blues’ (2013)
3. Bruce Springsteen: ‘Born to Run’ (2016)
2. Patti Smith: ‘Just Kids’ (2010)
1. Bob Dylan: ‘Chronicles, Volume One’ (2004)
RE: Johnny Rotten’s autobiography
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.”
*Not included in this list, my two favorites:
Duff McKagan – It’s So Easy: and other lies
In his New York Times bestseller, Duff McKagan, founding member of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver, shares the story of his rise to fame and fortune, his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction, his personal crash and burn, and his life-saving transformation via a unique path to sobriety.
Mark Lanegan – Sing Backwards and Weep
A gritty, gripping memoir by the singer Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age, Soulsavers), chronicling his years as a singer and drug addict in Seattle in the ’80s and ’90s