Rock Memoirs ... Burning Up the Charts and a Local Twist

Recently, we wrote about how many Rock Star Memoirs are coming out lately.  The appetite for the delicious, scandalous and occasionally semi-sordid adventures of the rock 'n' roll elite just keeps increasing.  In fact, four rock memoirs are burning up the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller list:

• Rod by Rod Stewart
• Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of KISS by Peter Criss with Larry Sloman
• Who I Am: A Memoir by Pete Townshend
• Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young

Here's a few more music memoirs that are making headlines:

• Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin
• In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death and Duran Duran by John Taylor
• Luck or Something Like It by Kenny Rogers
• Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger by Christopher Andersen
• Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir by Cyndi Lauper

And these are just the newest ones!  There are tons of rock and musician memoirs and biographies in the library's collection.  But how about a local twist?  In the last few years, a number of books have come out about (and by) the musicians from the Minneapolis alternative music scene of the 80s and 90s.  Enjoy a little nostalgia for those days with these memoirs and biographies:

• See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody by Bob Mould - The musician behind the ground-breaking punk band Hüsker Dü describes his early passion for music; reveals his struggles with homosexuality and drug and alcohol addiction; and discusses his solo career and founding of the band Sugar.
• Husker Du: The Inside Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock by Andrew band to marry pop melodies with psychedelic influences and ear-shattering volume.
• The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: An Oral History by Jim Walsh - The inside story on one of the '80s most interesting and influential indie rock bands, from unlikely rise to slow implosion.
• Petal Pusher: A Rock 'n' Roll Cinderella Story by Laurie Lindeen - Set in the years between the meteoric launches of Madonna and Courtney Love, Petal Pusher takes readers on a stirring journey across rock and roll, from the big-haired 1980s to the grunge-filled 1990s.
• Babes In Toyland: The Making and Selling of a Rock and Roll Band by Neal Karlen - An eye-opening glimpse inside the world of contemporary rock music describes the discovery of a Minneapolis female band and follows them through the process of signing with a record label, recording a first album, and marketing and promoting their music.

Read ... and ROCK ON!