Before there was Google, before there was video, before there were DVDs, there were books. Books were one of the only ways you had to get close to your favourite rock star. There were no vapid 30-second Entertainment Tonight interviews, in-store appearances, MTV or MuchMusic. If you were lucky a band might tour every two years and you would get a chance to see them. If you were really lucky they would write a book. Here are ten that are worth finding.


1. Billion Dollar Baby: Bob Greene

A columnist for the Chicago Tribune jumps on the 1973 Alice Cooper Christmas tour at the absolute height of Alice?s superstardom. Sex, drugs, rock ?n? roll?it?s all here. Greene starts out as a roadie and later stars in the show as Santa Claus who gets pummelled by Alice and the band each night. Who would have guessed that 15 years later I would be working with Alice, and 25 years later taking my son backstage to meet him? Long out of print, the book sells for up to $300 on eBay. Unfortunately my copy is in the hands of Philadelphia punk band The Interpreters, who borrowed it from my office many years ago. Hey Patsy, if you?re out there send it back!

2. Diary of a Rock ?n? Roll Star: Ian Hunter Lead
Singer for Mott the Hoople ? Ian Hunter

Ian Hunter was the lead singer and guitarist for the late, great Mott The Hoople. With the exception of an Ian Hunter song (?Once Bitten Twice Shy?) being butchered by Great White, Hunter is pretty well forgotten today. Diary Of A Rock ?n? Roll Star is Ian?s documentation of Mott?s 1972 tour across America in support of David Bowie. This is the charming British equivalent to Billion Dollar Baby and set in virtually the same era. There are more than a few Spinal Tap moments. Hunter and I once watched his guitarist Mick Ronson pass out into a plate of escargot late one evening in Toronto. Good times.

3. On A Cold Road: Tales of Adventures in Canadian Rock ? Dave Bidini

If you are going to tour Canada in a band, this is essential reading. Part diary of the Rheostatics tour with The Tragically Hip in 1996 and part reminiscences of Canadian rockers on the road, this is a fascinating read and a great insight in to the Canadian music industry. If you like this, pick up Bidini?s other books on hockey and baseball.

4. A Riot of Our Own: Night and Day with the Clash ? Johnny Green & Garry Barker

Lots of books have been written about The Clash, but this one is the most readable and about as close as you will ever get to seeing The Clash. As a part of the road crew, Green was with the band for most of their journey, chronicling it as both an insider on the tours and an outsider when it came to the performances on the road and in the studio.

5. So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star: How I Machine-Gunned a Roomful of Record Executives and Other True Tales from a Drummer?s Life ? Jacob Slichter

In the age of one-hit wonders, Semisonic?s ?Closing Time? was a textbook example. Built up by a music business that had no intention of artist development, the band was MTV?ed to the top of the charts and then pitched over the summit to make room for the next video wonder. Jacob Slichter was the well-read drummer for Semisonic and this is his first-hand account. You don?t need to be a fan of the band to read this one.

6. Black Vinyl, White Powder ? Simon Napier-Bell

I first got to know Simon when he was the manager for art rockers Japan. Little did I know that he would go on to manage Wham! or that he had been the manager of The Yardbirds. Simon is one of the most unique characters in English rock and this book covers his career from the ?60s through the ?90s. No punches are pulled.

7. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk ? Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

A great read of the roots of punk rock with homage being paid to Iggy and the Stooges and the MC5, as well as early New York scenesters like the New York Dolls, Television and the Ramones. Legs was founder of the Sniffin? Glue zine and a pivotal player in the New York scene.

8. Howling at the Moon: The Odyssey of a Monstrous Music Mogul in an Age of Excess ? Walter Yetnikoff with David Ritz

Walter was the obnoxious head of CBS Records during the record company heyday of the ?80s. It is because of executive egotists like him and Clive Davis losing sight of who the stars really were that modern-day labels are falling apart. Reading this book will explain the rise of the independents.




9. Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota ? Chuck Klosterman

How can you not love a kid whose life was changed by a Motley Crue album? This is the first of three Klosterman books and the most charming as his teenage years (and ultimately his entire life) are changed by hearing Shout At The Devil.

10.The Dirt: Confessions of the World?s Most Notorious Rock Band ? Motley Crue with Neil Strauss

With Motley Crue it was never an act: it was an obsession and a lifestyle. These guys were on 24 hours a day for 15 straight years. This is their story in all its gory detail. How they survived I?ll never know.