Books/ Writing about music

aghaller8 · Post by **aghaller8** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:03 pm

Hey guys,
a Professor asked me if I have any suggestions for a course called Music in Writing or something to that effect.

She mentioned Nick Hornsby, the Dylan Biography, and one about the roots of country music.

All I could think of was some Alan Lomax stuff, Land Where Blues Began, Woody Guthrie: a Life, and maybe something like the Child Ballads folk song collections, etc.

Any other ideas, I'd like this couse to be badass when I take it next semester.

Thanks.

Adam

floid · Post by **floid** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:26 pm

this is probably completely way totally off fromwhat you're looking for, but check out "Tragic Magic" by Wesley Brown - the best written jazz performance i've ever come across. Kerouac sounds like Hanson in comparison.

sears · Post by **sears** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 10:21 am

the aesthetics of rock, richard meltzer
the demolished man, alfred bester

klangtone · Post by **klangtone** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:55 am

I came across this:

http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available ... esis-1.pdf

a thesis on My Bloody Valentine's Loveless.
Haven't read it yet, but it sounds awesome!

Roy

joeysimms · Post by **joeysimms** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 12:01 pm

'psychotic reactions and carburator dung' - Lester Bangs
'feels like going home' - Peter Guralnick
'lipstick traces' - Greil Marcus
'really the blues' - Mezz Mezzrow
'up and down with the rolling stones' - Tony Sanchez

I don't know what I'd think of them now.. but, I liked 'em well enough at the time.

aghaller8 · Post by **aghaller8** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 12:15 pm

Awesome, I remembered Woody Guthrie too (Bound for Glory) & "A Life" by Joe Klein. Thanks

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:38 pm

The Doors , Danny Sugarman
I'm with the Band, Pamela Des Barres,
Buried Alive, Myra Friedman
Hammer of the Gods, Stephen Davis
Please Kill Me, Legs McNeil

craigb156 · Post by **craigb156** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:19 pm

Say Goodbye- Lewis Shiner (fiction about a moderately successful crash & burn)
Eclipse- John Shirley (sf about the end of the world at the hands of NeoCon fascists- one part of the resistance is a washed-up rocker guy)
The Can Book (awesome, awesome book) don't recall the writer.
It Came From Mepmphis- Robert Gordon- fav book on music ever.

Craig

bickle · Post by **bickle** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 7:23 am

I totally second Lipstick Traces! Life changing...

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 7:32 am

I think Greil Marcus is full of shit, but it's undeniable he's considered the gold standard for popular music criticism- especially his Dylan books.

I would definitely include "Our Band Could Be Your Life" Michael Azzerad.

jrsgodfrey · Post by **jrsgodfrey** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 7:37 am

I would add:

Revolution in the Head -- Macdonald
The Recording Angel -- Eisenberg

myleftfoot · Post by **myleftfoot** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:35 pm

another vote for "our band could be your life", by michael azerrad

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 4:32 pm

If you want to be a badass, here's my highbrow recommendation: "Composers on Music" edited by Josiah Fisk. I strongly recommend it as quick reading (eg, bathroom reading) It covers from Hildegard von Bingen (almost 1000 years ago) through to Karlheinz Stockhausen and others still living. Sorry, no Woody Guthrie or Leadbelly or anything like that in there. Just dead white males who used staff paper.

My lowbrow recommendation: Chuck Klosterman's "Fargo Rock City", or anything else by Chuck Klosterman. Fucking brilliant stuff.

I second the Lester Bangs, and I strongly second the recent Bob Dylan book. Don't bother with Greil Marcus or Richard Meltzer. IMO, those are the ultimate in dull pseudoacademic fluff. I think that Meltzer book was originally written as a satire anyway. It will make you sleepy.

Finally, W.A. Mathieu's books are a bit new-agey, but fantastic reading nonetheless on the feelings end of music performance. I recommend "The Musical Life". You won't find anything in there to scratch your Folkways itch, nor will you find anything on mic placement, but you will get a good dose of reflection on the relation between music and the human spirit (if you care about such things as the human spirit)

Lundy · Post by **Lundy** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:26 pm

'nother vote for our band could be your life. also, another vote for Nick Hornby (specifically, High Fidelity). Not sure how scientific you're getting, but I've been told the book This Is Your Brain On Music is just great. Good luck.

lg · Post by lg » Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:34 am

Tatertot wrote:If you want to be a badass, here's my highbrow recommendation: "Composers on Music" edited by Josiah Fisk. I strongly recommend it as quick reading (eg, bathroom reading) It covers from Hildegard von Bingen (almost 1000 years ago) through to Karlheinz Stockhausen and others still living. Sorry, no Woody Guthrie or Leadbelly or anything like that in there. Just dead white males who used staff paper.

i'll add a few to the WMWUSF (they're not all dead, and for sure some of them didn't use much staff paper) list, with an american bent:

american mavericks: musical visionaries, pioneers, iconoclasts (susan key)

john cage: silence- lectures & writings

the music of morton feldman (thomas delio)

composing a world: lou harrison, musical wayfarer (miller/lieberman)

music of conlon nancarrow (kyle gann)

harry partch: genesis of a music

steve reich: writings about music

terry riley: in c

la monte young: sound and light

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Books/ Writing about music

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