Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock ‘N’ Roll Survivor by Al Kooper
Diary of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star by Ian Hunter
All The Rage by Ian McLagan
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I found Ronnie Spector’s biography, Be My Baby, to be interesting, if a little obviously ghostwritten. Even if you’re not interested in girl groups, she interacted with a lot of major figures of the '60s and '70s. Of course, her marriage to Phil Spector was also soap opera-crazy.
I’ll second Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life. Simon Reynolds has written some terrific stuff as well: Rip It Up and Start Again (post-punk) and Energy Flash (rave and dance culture). I’m about to start George Harrison’s I Me Mine, so I’ll let you know how that goes.
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L-g-B, I am interested in the Spector one, and thanks for the second on Azerrad. However, I really disagree with Rip it Up. I love the topic and found the bands themselves fascinating, but I found the book itself to be awful. To me it felt like a dry recitation - I kinda would’ve preferred it to be more like a reference book, since it kinda felt like one. I enjoyed getting a deeper perspective on Gang of Four and Green Gartside (sp? of Scritti Politti - jeez what an arc he followed…), but it wasn’t half as readable as Azerrad, IMHO.
And **Quixotic ** I agree about the SRV book - I found it to be a very enjoyable read. It puts Stevie in the context of Texas blues, from T-Bone Walker and Albert King to Freddie King - and you learn about the burgeoning Austin music scene. And learning that Stevie was in a band with Steve Tobolowsky (imdb link - you know this guy from countless character roles in movies) is pretty funny…