the obvious one but true

but some of them were quite a while ago so they might be shit looking back on them now. I remember enjoying the marilyn manson autobiography, 'long hard road out of hell' when i was 18.
Also 'Cash' by johnny cash was a good read as i recall, plus they mention it in high fidelity.

It's pretty much verbatim transcripts of interviews with the original people, with no editorial input.

Otherwise, The Real Frank Zappa Book by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhiogrosso. Very, very funny (whatever you think of the guy's music).

I recently read The Secret Life of a Teenage Punk Rocker: The Andy Blade Chronicles and it's excellent. It's centred around the '77 punk scene, focusing on a short-lived punk band called Eater. I seriously recommend this book to anyone.

or Songs that Saved your Life if you're a Smiths geek.

by Steven Blush

http://tinyurl.com/2bwqzu

Excellent book, highly informative. Have read it countless times now.

deffo for me

My favourites are:

Rip It Up And Start Again
England's Dreaming
Our Band Could Be Your Life
The Last Party

by David Katz

Covers the entire history of Jamaican popular music, an incredible read.

It's a tie between 'Get In The Van' and the 'The Dirt'. Read them both back to back and it's a pretty interesting contrast.

is a great read for anyone who thought they new a lot about a lot about alternative music.
The Dark Stuff - Nick Kent has some really enlightening interviews. I'm halfway through the epically massive Shakey - Neil Young's Biography and its a unbelievably detailed and through.

Sitting on my shelf waiting to be read is Rip It Up and Start Again
Tighten Up! The History of Reggae in the Uk
45

Hard to pick a favourite, gonna go with Shakey because of its sheer scale and encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject matter.

Only music book I've returned to time and time again. Cope's writing is brilliant - hilarious, passionate and informative. Turned me on to loads of new stuff. Shame it's out of print now.

Just finished reading "Eye Mind" about the 13th Floor Elevators. It's a fascinating story, but the writing could have been better.

I'm re-reading at the mo. So brilliant.

More factual type music books - Last Party.

nothing feels good by Andy Greenwald

&

20 years of alternative music by the journalists at Spin (AMAZINGZZ)

is a great call.

I also really enjoyed Mark Radcliffe's one.

"The Last Party" by John Harris

"Our Band Could Be Your Life" by Michael Azerrad

"My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For the Prize" by David Cavanagh

AMAZING!!!

Let it Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs
The Dark Stuff
Heavier than Heaven (Kurt bio)

Bob Dylan's autobiographies made me chortle.

as it's more personal, but I just got 'TRhings the Grandchildren Should Know' by Mark Oliver Everett (Eels frontman) and it's brilliant, highly recommended to anyone interested.

Motley Crue's 'The Dirt' is my fave. As well as taking some of the same situations from each of the band members' skewed perspectives, there are also opinions from people who Motley have trodden on and been associated with in their lives, including a few chapters by Tom Zutant.
It makes for a great book as you get a sense of the rock-and-rollercoaster from many angles.

for tho thats been mentioned.

A VERY close second is the Faber Book of Pop. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! im surprised it hasnt had a mention yet. Lots of excerts(spelling?) and sections from other books/articles/interviews with tons of people aiming to cover the entire history of pop. Really gives you an insight to the nature of the beast and turned me on to a lot of other music writers and books. Buy it!

Beneath the underdog, the Charles Mingus AutoBiog is worth an honourable mention her. its nuts.

Im considering the Iggy Bio:let it bleed. ANyone read it? is it any cop?

Marc Radcliffe - Showbusiness and Stuart Maconie - Cider With Roadies are also very entertaining.

Reactions and Carburetor Dung. IMO Lester Bangs was the best music writer ever. He totally makes you want to rush out and buy/listen to whatever it is he's writing (ranting?) about. Ace.

and wonderland avenue by danny sugerman. full of outrageous stories about the doors and iggy pop. genius.

Funny

the Lester Bangs biography left an impression on me (and his collections). Also the Flaming Lips book by the same writer was quite good - though most of what was covered was in the documentary.
The go-betweens biography.
the 33 and a third book on Paul's Boutique is really interesting.
need to read rip it up!

FUCKING BRILLIANT.

But The COUM/Throbbing Gristle one 'Wreckers of Civilisations' is good.

Miles Davis biography.

And Revolution In The Head is pretty good for 60's bits, once you get away from how the cymbal sound on yellow submarine was captured.

is pretty good, stupidly emotional.

God i miss that man.

Head On / Reposessed. Even if you're not a big Cope or Teardrop explodes fan (which I wasn't when I read this) its one hell of a read, unputdownable if thats a word..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Head-Repossessed-Julian-Cope/dp/0007197756/ref=pd_bbs_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205507025&sr=8-10

Hell Bent for Leather - Seb Hunter
The Dirt - Motley Crue

by Johnny Green, Garry Barker, and Ray Lowry, second only to Head On/Reposessed as mentioned earlier on this thread.

A truly staggering fly-on-the-wall read of one of the most important punk bands early gestation and subsequent rise to stardom. Essential music reading.

... read David Toop's Ocean of Sound inspiring and crosses the genres- GET THIS! Really hard to describe but it's almost like a book which is music in itself- if that doesn't sound too pretentious- it moves easily from the likes of Kate Bush to Sun Ra to...

Also, been reading Julian Cope's Japrock sampler- really good so far.

I too am a total sucker for Rip It Up... and Our band could...- both are brilliant.

Other ones recommended: Punk: Colegrave and Sullivan, Fistful of Gitanes (sp?)- Serge Gainsbourg biography and err... Hellfire- Jerry Lee Lewis biography!