Grit, Noise, and Revolution: The Birth of Detroit Rock 'n' Roll
Found this one when googling on Ron Asheton and the Stooges yesterday. The title pretty much says it all - sample pages can be viewed on Google Books.
Grapes from Thornbushes
Alissa Ordabai's fictional tale of the back-stabbing London underground rock scene. Having been there and done that the first chapter teaser I've just read on MySpace is eerily familiar ....
2 comments:
I read Grit a few months ago. It's not perfect. It goes more in-depth about who played what show where than it does what inspired the bands, and it stops after the 60s, when I think it would have been useful for the author to talk about the influence of the 60s music on the current wave of Detroit rock. But it's certainly a good read, and as far as I know it's the only book on the subject.
I'd like to read Grapes - I know practically zip about the London rock underground, but if it evokes time and place well, that won't be an impediment.
I don't think there are any books dedicated to the London rock scene, probably as it's never really produced anything truly influential. Sure, a book on the 1980s era could be viable but the Dogs D'Amour, Quireboys etc are hardly on a par with what NY has offered (eg the Dolls, VU), or Detroit or LA.
'Hell Bent For Leather' touches on it, but as that's primarily one man's memoir there's scant detail.
Of course London did have punk in the 1970s ('England's Dreaming') and a notable hand in BritPop in the 1990s ('The Last Party'), but we were very much looking to the US inbetween.
Mr Moon might jump in to wax lyrical about Madchester or the goth scene in Leeds ...
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