Category: Reviews – Books
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NOFX and Jeff Alulis – The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories
NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories NOFX and Jeff Alulis As “Fat” Mike Burkett says himself in the final chapter of NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories, “I guess when a person tells one fucked-up story it sounds believable, but a series of fucked-up stories back to back sounds to weird to be…
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Let’s Go To Hell by James Burns
Whether it was because of the book’s great quality or simply because it was the first to address the merits of the bands which erupted out of the American underground music scene in the 1980s, Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life truly did set a standard that any other book which intended to…
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BOOK REVIEW – The Explosive Early Years of the NWOBHM
Wheels of Steel: The Explosive Early Years of the NWOBHM by Martin Popoff (Power Chord Press) It’s now over 20 years since Riff Kills Man! hit the shelves, and, amazingly, Martin Popoff’s output appears to have gone into overdrive. He’s written or co-written over 50 books at this point, and banked interviews with every metal…
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Mick Wall’s Getcha Rocks Off (book review)
Writing about music now is very different from Mick Wall’s decades of involvement in the music industry, working both in PR and as a writer. Then it was very hands-on. Wall was part of the action. Now it’s digital and antiseptic, with less and less human interaction (much like all life is becoming now). It’s…
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The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll
Book review The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll (Penguin) I remember the first time I read The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll. I was in eighth grade and a girl in my home room handed me her copy to borrow. I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect, at first – I didn’t know anything about it,…
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Love Becomes A Funeral Pyre: A Biography of The Doors
Book by Mick Wall Published by Orion There can be no doubting the influence of The Doors on our beloved genre of heavy metal. Danzig’s first four albums (i.e The good ones!) are highly influenced by The Doors and thus brilliant (for proof, compare any of these four albums with the vile industrial influenced fifth…
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No Simple Highway – A Cultural History of The Grateful Dead
I would never have considered myself the ideal critic to review Peter Richardson’s No Simple Highway – or any book about The Grateful Dead, for that matter. Growing up, it wasn’t so much that I wasn’t interested in The Dead (I listened to lots of different kinds of music), it’s just that the band wasn’t…
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Season of the Witch: How The Occult Saved Rock and Roll by Peter Bebergal
Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll is epic in every sense of the word. Author Peter Bebergal sees the influence of the occult in rock music from The Beatles to Black Sabbath and beyond. From Elvis to Led Zeppelin, he explains how the occult has not only provided fuel for rock music, but is an integral…
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Scott Ian – I’m The Man
I met Scott Ian in Dublin years ago when Anthrax were playing there. He doesn’t mention this in his book but I supposed he’s saving that for his next book (NOT! See what I did there, Anthrax fans?). He was a very nice chap, physically small but with very good manners (I’m with Lemmy all…
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Black Sabbath: The Vault by Paul Elliot
Without Black Sabbath, I wouldn’t be writing this and you wouldn’t be reading this… it’s that simple. Published by Carltonbooks, (available to order here). “Written by a leading music journalist and illustrated throughout with rare and previously unpublished photographs, Black Sabbath: The Vault is the ultimate interactive celebration of the iconic rock group. Featuring 20…