DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Musical biographies/autobiographies

I’m a sucker for those. I just read the one by Joe Perry, Aerosmith guitarist, and never knew Steven Tyler suffered with LSD problems (Lead Singer’s Disease). Quite the diva, he is, but I still think he’s a great rock singer.

I even read them if I don’t particularly like the artist’s music that much (the singer in Red Hot Chili Peppers, for example).

Maybe my favourite is It’s So Easy (And Other Lies), by GnR bassist Duff McKagan. Truly inspiring, and he’s a lot smarter, educated, and business-savvy than people might think.

Some others I would recommend:

Riders on the Storm (Doors drummer John Densmore), the real truth, and some much needed myth-bashing).

Waging Heavy Peace (Neil Young)

Livin’ Proof (Hank Williams Jr).

Rod Stewarts’s (can’t remember the name).

Just Between You and Me (April Wine’s Myles Goodwyn).

Bruce Springsteen’s (Born to Run, maybe?)


I don’t care very much about their personal lives or mis-adventures with sex, drugs and rock and roll (maybe the latter haha), I enjoy reading about their early years as kids, and the processes they went through writing, recording and touring.

If you are so inclined, name a few of yours -I don’t care what musical genre - it might give me some ideas.

CASH...the auto of Johnny Cash. The ups and downs of a ordinary man who led an extraordinary life.

Captain Trips….
“ Avid Dead fan and chronicler Sandy Troy probes Jerry Garcia's personal and professional life through childhood and adolescence, Summer of Love acid tests, drug busts, three marriages, a brush with death, and his comeback. Troy also traces the Dead's highs and lows and Garcia's musical relationships with songwriter Robert Hunter and other musicians in the Grateful Dead.”
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1204037.Captain_Trips

Classic Albums on PBS is an amazing series. It always centers around an album but has plenty of background info on the band.

https://www.pbs.org/show/classic-albums/

Pink Floyd ~ Dark Side
Fleetwood Mac ~ Rumours
Queen ~ Night At The Opera

All great.

Somehow my favorite is now missing from the site, but still on YouTube. What an amazing band and an amazing album!

"Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles", by Don Felder. Felder was one of the Eagles lead guitarists along with Bernie Leadon, and later, Joe Walsh. Felder was brought in when Don Henley and Glenn Frey decided to bust out of the "country-pop-rock" label that music critics had stuck on them. Its an autobiography that starts with Felder's humble beginnings in Gainesville Fl, and his rise to making millions of $$ with the Eagles. In the book, Felder name-drops and dishes on all his contacts along the way, including Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Duane Allman (who taught him slide guitar), and about Tom Petty being his guitar student and friend. But he really unloads on Henley and Frey for their heavy-handed rule over the rest of the band, making them feel like extras, or side-men. Don Henley, especially, comes out looking very bad. But it should be noted that Henley and Frey fired Felder from the band in 2001, and it was a bitter parting, so its possible this is just one side of the story. Definitely worthwhile reading for rock fans.

There was a book called "Jimi" that our local library had back when I was I HS, and I still remember parts of what I read. I'll have to try and find a copy. I couldn't put it down.

"Jaco" by Bill Milkowski (about the life of the greatest bass player to ever touch the instrument)

Red - Sammy Hagar was really good. Another guy who is very smart and business savvy.

Slash's from GnR was really good to, talked a lot about his upbringing, but it jumped around a lot, which for me made it difficult.

I enjoyed that bio too.

"Hey, Milkowsky- write it down!"

I heard that the Pastorius estate is unhappy with some of what Milkowsky wrote. I especially enjoyed the accounting of Jaco's early years (on the road with Wayne Cochran & CC Riders, his relationship with Tracy, etc.

Did you know there is a biopic out now?

The only two documentaries I've seen on him are "Jaco" by Robert Trujillo and "Jaco: The Lost Tapes".

I think it was the Trujillo one I was mentioning. Haven't seen it yet.
What does your Rotten Tomato meter say about it?

Entwhistle is the greatest bass player bar none.

If you knew Jaco's playing, depth of music theory/writing/arranging, innovative right-hand touch/left-hand command of the fingerboard- and overall influence on the bass playing world, you wouldn't make such a comment. 2 whole generations of world-class working pro bass players all say the same thing as Bootsy Collins, when they talk about Jaco's influence:

"Before Jaco, bass didn't know what it was yet."

I get the love for JE, but it's not even close. No other player pushed the boundaries of what could be conceived and played on an electric bass than John Francis Pastorius.

45 years ago, a punk kid in his 20's laid this down on an album that changed the way ALL bass players viewed their instrument of choice.

One player.
One bass.
One take.
Zero overdubs.

Listen to this marvel a few times, and you'll start to understand how this musician's mind worked. Start to understand.




...and in this cut, Pastorius not only sets the bar for laying down basslines and comping, at 2:35, he plays a solo on a Fender Jazz Bass that redefined what could be done on the instrument.




I'm sorry, my friend... but John Entwhistle didn't even know that bass could do this stuff.
Jaco not only redefined what an electric bass could do, he also redefined its role in a band (Google: "Word Of Mouth Bands")


.02,
a music guy by trade and training

The first concert I went to was The James Gang, Humble Pie and Babe Ruth. Killer show!

Another pretty decent biography (for Grateful Dead fans) is "Living with the Dead" by Rock Scully. It mostly details tour and travel bus type stuff along with Garcia's health, etc.

sound city, not about one band but many that used this studio, Very good.

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The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne