Rawk of Ages – why reading about music is such fun

Prime TV has just started a brilliant documentary Seven Ages of Rock. The first episode romped through the 60s with cameos from such luminaries as Robbie Robertson, Roger Daltrey, Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones. Watching Keith Richards pick out some blues chords was alone worth the price of admission. It’s not too late to tune it (and turn on etc).

There’s nothing more satisfying than a  good book of music criticism or interesting music related biographies/memoirs. They combine entertaining reading with a desire to listen to music. One train later by Andy Summers (guitarist with The Police) is a wonderfully written book, and an insight into music from way back in the days of skiffle (also where The Beatles began).

On a more naughty note there’s Let’s spend the night together by the irascible Pamela des Barres. It tells the story of the supergroupies and muses like Cynthia Plaster Caster and other band aids who are so much part of the rock star dream.

Also on my reading table is The rest is noise. It looks like a meaty tome:

A sweeping musical history that goes from the salons of pre-war Vienna to Velvet Underground shows in the sixties … Taking as his starting point a production of Richard Strauss’s Salome, conducted by the composer on 16 May 1906 with Puccini, Schoenberg, Berg and Adolf Hitler seated in the stalls, Ross suggests how this evening can be considered the century’s musical watershed rather the riotous premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring seven years later.

And for a more modern movement, why not sample Everybody hurts: a guide to emo culture.

• See Music – history and criticism for more musical analysis
• Biographies/memoirs of singers
• Biographies/memoirs – musicians
• Music documentaries
• Blog post on music autobiographies from Simon Sweetman’s Blog on the Tracks (great NZ music blog on Stuff). Sweetman is a freelance writer/reviewer who covers music for The Dominion Post.