drummer biographies & autobiographies

davor

davor

Senior Member
Hello, just wondered if anyone has any good recommendations? there's a few "best of" lists on the search I did online, but I'd rather get some informed opinion for folks on here!
 
I liked the Hal Blaine, Earl Palmer and Charles Connor autobiographies.
 
Beware of Mr. Baker

Here's the trailer



Here's the full movie
 
Hi Davor, these our my opinion on the following books.

Mick Fleetwood book called, Fleetwood My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac.

Five out of Five Stars, ISBN 0-688-06647-X


Nick Mason book called, Inside Out a personal history of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason.

Five + out of Five Stars, ISBN 13-978-0-8118-4824-4


Phil Collins The Definitive Biography.

Five out of Five Stars, ISBN 0-684-81784-5


Joey Kramer book, Joey Kramer Hit Hard. Story of him hitting rock bottom while at the top.

Four out of Five Stars, ISBN 978-0-06-156660-8


Mark Herndon book, The High Road.

Four out of Five Stars, ISBN 978-1-936442-23-2
 
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blinky said:
I really liked Bill Brufords autobiography.
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Loved that book. It's not often a musician doesn't seem to hold back in any way. His story about Al Di Meola infuriating Tony Levin and Levin's reaction is gold.

I recently read Oasis: The Truth: My Life as Oasis's Drummer by original Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll, even though I'm not an Oasis fan and the few songs I do like by them are, I think, after he left. But the book was pretty highly acclaimed so I gave it a try and found it quite engaging, for the most part, as the story of a guy who's just always wanted to play drums and finally got his chance, and the trials and tribulations of long tours with audiences who don't care, and then starting to hit the big time, and the way it can tear a band apart. Not exactly a unique story, but all the more relatable for it.

I also finally got around to reading Dear Boy: the Life of Keith Moon by Tony Fletcher. Extremely illuminating and oh so sad.
 
If you want to go old school psychedelic-60's, check out Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzman's book (Amazon), Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead
 
I really like Hal Blaine and Mick Fleetwood audio biography.

There is a pretty good biography book about Keith Moon I enjoyed.

The Joey Krammer book is a good read, and I applaud him for writing it, but it's terribly edited. My copy had a ton of spelling and grammar errors, and having tons of bolded sentences really annoying.

I was disappointed in the Kenny Arnoff book. He spent so much time talking about what he did, very little about WHY he did it. And he glossed over many of the ups and downs of his personal life, and flat out didn't mention his obsession with his health (healthy eating habits, working out, etc). It was more like a giant resume, with a few tid bits of what else happened to him along the way.
 
force3005 said:
Hi Davor, these our my opinion on the following books.

Mick Fleetwood book called, Fleetwood My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac.

Five out of Five Stars, ISBN 0-688-06647-X


Nick Mason book called, Inside Out a personal history of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason.

Five + out of Five Stars, ISBN 13-978-0-8118-4824-4


Phil Collins The Definitive Biography.

Five out of Five Stars, ISBN 0-684-81784-5


Joey Kramer book, Joey Kramer Hit Hard. Story of him hitting rock bottom while at the top.

Four out of Five Stars, ISBN 978-0-06-156660-8


Mark Herndon book, The High Road.

Four out of Five Stars, ISBN 978-1-936442-23-2
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I really liked Bill Brufords autobiography.
 
Bill Bruford’s Autobiography is a great look into one of the first, original prog rock drummers. He definitely comes off snobby.

Mick Fleetwood’s autobiography is really helped me understand what went on in the early years (Then Play On is one of my all-time favorite albums).

If you’re a Charlie Watts fan, I recommend Keith Richards’ auto biography. The story about hotel incident with Jagger helped Watts become one of my heros.

If you’re a fan of The Who, the Pete Townsend autobiography isn’t very good. Too much about how amazing his ideas were. Not enough about playing with the best rhythm section in rock history.

I will get the Nick Mason book, and the Aronoff book. Thanks for the tip.

Edit: Abe Books is a great site for used books.
 
Bruford's is my favorite, but then again he's my favorite drummer so there. And yes, the Levin/DiMeola story is worth the price of the book alone!

Also really good was "So You Wanna be a Rock & Roll Star" by Jason Slichter from the band Semisonic (late 90's hit "Closing Time"). Brutal take on how you are on the top of the mountain one day and then it's all over. Better to have loved and lost I guess, but for all of us that grew up dreaming to be rock stars, it made me wonder how a person copes with that let down.
 
cbphoto said:
If you’re a fan of The Who, the Pete Townsend autobiography isn’t very good. Too much about how amazing his ideas were. Not enough about playing with the best rhythm section in rock history.
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That book was horribly edited.

So many sections, just as it's getting good, it just stops and goes to the next chapter. Even Pete has said in interviews things he wrote were edited out.

I'd love to read Pete's unedited original manuscript. But I doubt that will ever be released.
 
PorkPieGuy said:
Beware of Mr. Baker

Here's the trailer



Here's the full movie
Click to expand...
I highly recommend this movie - it's pretty raw and doesn't sugar coat anything - it's Ginger Baker for all of his greatness and all of his flaws, but I think it gives you a pretty good idea of who the man is, for everything he is and was, and everthing he isn't and never was.
 
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