The 20 best rock and roll memoirs ever (2024)

Rock and roll memoirs are a tricky thing to get right. More often than not, the act of writing about the excruciating highs and terrifying lows of being in a rock band can feel like an ugly batch of self-aggrandising tripe, boiled and brewed up only for the most diehard of fans to devour without gagging. It usually begins like a ‘rags to riches’ story but one where, more often than not, you’re wishing for a return to rags or, at the very least, a spectacular loss of riches.

Sometimes though, the words and thoughts of your favourite artist can not only shed some light on their lives and creative careers but also reveal the humanity that connects us all. The attainable moments of lie fans, artists and otherwise all face at one point or another. Other times they are just fantastic books. Here, we’ve got 20 of the greatest rock memoirs ever written by some of our favourite musical legends.

There are countless rock autobiographies out there, and all of them offer something for the diehard fan of said star. That said, some books have a way of reaching a hand over any generational barriers, fandom blockades or genre borders to provide a deeper understanding of the author and the world they see and live in. Sometimes they can even offer up a reflective moment for the reader too.

In the books listed below, we can see the very best of this perfect crossover. The perfect mix of vulnerability, honesty and rock ‘n’ roll debauchery is often too heady a mix to ignore, so why not dive right into these classic rock memoirs.

Naturally, they’re not quite what you were expecting.

20 greatest rock memoirs of all time:

20. Scar Tissue – Anthony Kiedis

Few lives have been as varied and wild as that of frontman Anthony Kiedis. The Red Hot Chili Peppers singer proved himself to be a generational voice long ago, but within Scar Tissue, we are given a glimpse into the trauma that provided him with the impetus to achieve such a spot in the history books.

Ravaged by drugs and as malleable, bruised and valuable as the titular organic matter, Kiedis provides a no-holds-barred look at his long and storied life. This isn’t for the faint-hearted but will provide you with a keen insight into Kiedis’ world.

19. Ghost Rider – Neil Peart

Most of the entries on our list are flecked with the kind of wild nights and crazy days that we’ve all dreamt of while professing ourselves to be the next rock star extraordinaire. However, in Rush drummer Neil Peart’s 2002 memoirs, things are a little sadder yet a little stronger. Following the tragic death of his daughter Selena in 1997, and then his wife Jackie just a year later, Peart took himself and his motorbike on a reflective journey of discovery.

Discovering how to deal with grief, how to walk around a new world and perhaps some of Peart’s most personal writing, Ghost Rider is a perfect accompaniment to any journey.

18. High Scool – Tegan and Sara

The 2019 memoirs from twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin have now been turned into a trendy new TV series which probably tells you all you need to know about this book. Gilded with the kind of frustration only teenage girls can really attest to have endured, the book also sheds light on how the pop duo broke out of their community in Alberta, Canada and became musical sensations.

Capturing high school, heartbreak and the beginnings of the higher echelons of pop they would reach, the book is written in alternating chapters, allowing both Sara and Tegan to put across their own views.

17. I Am Brian Wilson – Brian Wilson

A musical genius and one of music’s finest minds, the memoirs of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys are worth celebrating for two reasons. Firstly, to be given a glimpse into the mind that oversaw the spellbinding Pet Sounds is something we should all be chomping at the bit to experience. Secondly, there was a time when such a book seemed like an impossible dream.

Following his difficulty and struggles with his mental health, these words are cherishable. “Songs are out there all the time, but they can’t be made without people,” he says within the pages of his mercurial book. “You have to do your job and help songs come into existence.”

16. Girl in a Band – Kim Gordon

Few people are as neatly placed to comment on rock and roll in the modern age as Kim Gordon. Having escaped Southern California for the dizzying arty districts of New York City, Gordon would become a pivotal member of the no wave scene that proliferated those dirty streets. As an equally vital member of Sonic Youth, Gordon defies expectations and defines a generation.

These heady days among the city’s vibrant vaults of starving artists is where the majority of focus for Girl in a Band lay. It means all the guts of the grunge scene can be splattered across every page. Perfect reading for those hoping to get a view of the topsoil helping today’s rock plants bloom.

15. I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp – Richard Hell

Richard Hell is arguably the greatest rock star to ever live, who most people have never heard of. A poet at heart, the memoir focuses on his journey from somewhat goofy Kentucky kid, to New York poet to iconic rock and roller and every dirty turn in between. That journey is one of immeasurable value to music as a whole and any reader who picks up this book.

However, the memoir’s greatest payoff comes at the end when Hell meets a certain Tom Verlaine for the first time in years, only to sadly realise their immense difference and closeness, “We were like two monsters confiding.”

14. Many Years From Now – Paul McCartney

There was a lot of conferring about whether this book should be allowed in our list of the best rock memoirs of all time. After all, this is, technically, “an authorised biography”, meaning McCartney rarely put his own pen to paper. However, considering McCartney is one of the busiest men in rock and roll, we’ll let him off and include the Barry Miles-written Many Years From Now in our top 20 list.

The main reason is that within the book’s spines, McCartney provides some of the most succinct and crystalline visions of his time with The Beatles, including many insider notes to the conception and origination of their best songs.

13. The Autobiography – Chuck Berry

If you thought that emerging in the 1950s as one of the wildest and most wonderful Black pop stars, let alone perhaps the first of real rebellious merit, would lead to a storied life, then you’d be right. That’s exactly what we learn about in Chuck Berry’s 1987 memoir. But while there could be movie scripts written about his rise, this book details the racism and ranging hatred he experienced too.

Berry spent the 1960s in a jail cell while being beloved by the artists of the day, who had turned his style into a money-spinning monopoly on pop. It’s just one facet of the many threads of love and hate that make up Chuck Berry — the granddaddy of rock and roll.

12. Mo Meta Blues – Questlove

Some are moulded by music, and others are simply born to do it. Questlove is certainly the latter. Born into a family of touring musicians within the confines of Mo Meta Blues, we get to hear of how his love for music both drove him into his profession and almost crushed him when it nearly didn’t come together.

As well as brushes with pop royalty such as KISS, Prince and a host more, one of the pivotal moments in Questlove’s life is also perfectly captured — the moment he heard ‘Rapper’s Delight’ for the first time alongside his sister: “The two of us stared at the radio the entire time it was happening; it was our equivalent of the old radio drama The War of the Worlds. All the black kids in Philadelphia who were listening to the radio that day have the same story.”

11. Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl – Carrie Brownstein

Seattle is bristling with historical figures from the world of rock. Whether it is Soundgarden, Nirvana or Jimi Hendrix, the city is swirling with artistic intent. This could be a daunting prospect for some, but for Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein, it was simply a match with which to light the fuse of her explosive life.

Within Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl we hear her tale of trauma, the difficulty of living with a closeted dad and a mum who suffered from eating disorders and how the band, the riot grrrl scene, and essentially any other way she could make some serious noise, would alleviate Brownstein from her reality and allow her to forge her own path.

10. Face It – Debbie Harry

Memoirs tend to mature with time, as the stories, many as there are in Debbie Harry’s new-classic Face It, begin to fully unfold into the public consciousness. However, as soon as Face It landed in 2019, it grabbed attention and became an instant classic for both fans and non-fans alike.

Harry not only deliciously plays with her perception on the title of her book, no doubt a keen reference to the continued focus on her looks rather than her talent, but also delivers a razor-sharp recollection of being one of rock music’s ultimate icons. From the pits of CBGB to the top of the hill and back again, Harry has always fought for her crown, and she’s tough as nails here too.

“My Blondie character was an inflatable doll, but with a dark, provocative, aggressive side. I was playing it up, yet I was very serious.” In the book, Harry describes her journey, and we’re all happy to be along for the ride with her as our bodyguard.

9. Moonage Day Dream – David Bowie

Of course, David Bowie was never going to write a straightforward memoir as the world expected. The singer put so much of his evolving life in his music that to reveal anything more would feel a little over the top, perhaps even a little vulgar.

Therefore the singer fittingly used his famed persona Ziggy Stardust to help tell his story in 2002 with Moonage Daydream: The Life and Times of Ziggy Stardust—an extensive arthouse coffee table book full of images from Mick Rock. While the images are as striking and captivating as ever, it is the revelatory words from the Starman that really hit home.

The book has all the tidbits but with the added extra of his incredible posing. Really, what more could you want from David Bowie?

8. Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness – Ronnie Spector

Arguably one of the most potent voices of rock and roll’s early moments, Ronnie Spector was the lynchpin of The Ronettes and the ultimate 1960s powerhouse performer. As well as being a bright light of Motown, the late, great Spector was also trapped in one of the darkest marriages in music.

Famously married to the infamous record producer and convicted murderer Phil Spector, Ronnie was virtually held captive by the crazed producer for years. However, in this memoir, Ronnie is neither pitiful or ashamed, she is strong, bolshy and sharp as a tack.

Released in 1989, it’s one of the more personal and revealing memoirs on the list and shows off the shocking reality of being in an abusive relationship.

7. Le Freak – Nile Rodgers

If you ever wanted to chart the roots of modern pop music, then you should count Nile Rodgers’ autobiography Le Freak on your essential reading list. One of the most influential musicians of his generation, Rodgers, shares his account of the “sex, drugs and disco” of the seventies.

In the book, Rodgers takes a deep dive into the world of disco, unashamedly celebrating it at every turn, “We shared Afrobromantic dreams of what it would be like to have real artistic freedom,” he writes.

It’s one of the most descriptive and desirable visions of disco we’ve ever read.

6. Slash – Slash

If you wanted a whiskey-soaked retelling of one of the quickest rises to worldwide fame you’ve ever heard of, then Slash’s autobiography is about as good as it gets. The pages are dripping with Sunset Strip sleaze but that doesn’t stop the guitarist from offering some rather more reflective moments up for his audience too.

The book features some of the wrenching lows that accompanied Slash’s countless musical highs, like the time he nearly overdosed and was rushed to hospital with doctors having to restart his heart. What’s quite refreshing in this book is how open and lighthearted Slash is about his decadence.

“I had no remorse whatsoever about my overdose — but I was pissed off at myself for having died. The whole hospital excursion really ate into my day off.”

5. Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys – Viv Albertine

“Anyone who writes an autobiography is either a twat or broke. I’m a bit of both,” begins the perfect memoir from Viv Albertine.

If anybody ever has a line similar to this in their book, then you can be guaranteed a good read. The fact that the book came from Viv Albertine, one of the most heinously overlooked and wonderfully influential figures of music, means it is going to be bloody fantastic. In Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys, Albertine tells her tale of rock ‘n’ roll revelry in a man’s world.

It sees Albertine as a member of the Slits, her influential passage in the history of punk and her ultimate downfall to normality. While working as an aerobics instructor, Albertine experience motherhood, battles cancer, goes through a divorce and eventually circles back to her trusted friend — her guitar.

It’s visceral and voracious writing, enacted with the utmost care, creativity and good humour.

4. Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen

When The Boss, Bruce Springsteen delivered a previously-unannounced memoir in 2016, his fans flocked to book shops to grab a copy as soon as they could. When they started reading, they got a warm and friendly conversation with two friends — you and Bruce.

Springsteen not only uses humour throughout his book but often relies on it to illuminate the darker moments. The singer also manages to avoid the classic stories you’ve heard repeatedly in favour of the little-known facts that drive fans nuts.

There are versions of his tales involving Disneyland, Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan (not all at the same time) and they all ring out like a proud man spilling his guts at the bar. Jovial and joyous, it’s The Boss on a break and shooting the breeze.

3. Life – Keith Richards

When considering anything in the rock ‘n’ roll world, Keith Richards usually does it bigger and better. Whether it is riffs or rails of cocaine, the chances are good old Keef has done it way before you. In Life, Richards broke the seal and opened up a treasure trove of incredible stories from his time on the road.

The book is full of revelations that would give certain stars an entire career, while for Richards, they act as funny tidbits. Like the time he and John Lennon took an LSD road trip to Lyme Regis or when he once became the live-in nanny of a young child while on tour in Australia. It really is all in here.

Richards does offer a little on the bands and artists that inspired him, as well as how he met Mick Jagger for the first time. But aside from that, the personal revelations are a little thin on the ground. What it lacks in vulnerability, it makes up for in head-over-heels debaucherous tales from the glory days of rock.

2. Chronicles, Vol. 1 – Bob Dylan

When you think of Bob Dylan, the first thing that comes to mind is words. The singer-songwriter was more famed for his lyrics than his singing voice when he came onto the scene in the 1960s, and not much has really changed since. Yet nobody could have predicted such an impressive book from the freewheelin’ troubadour.

The rambling man does his best to keep on track but often recollections of his career jump from fragment to fragment, offering visions of his Minnesota boyhood to his dark moments in the eighties, we’re happy to jump around with Mr Dylan.

Perhaps the most integral moments in the book are the remembered moments of his early forays into music. Taking on the folk scene of New York was no mean feat, and he did so with aplomb going on to get his unwanted moniker of “the voice of his generation,” about which he says: “I was more a cowpuncher than a Pied Piper.”

1. Just Kids – Patti Smith

It just so happens that the greatest rock and roll memoir of all time is one of the more unusual you’ll ever read. Not because the author, the punk poet Patti Smith, leaves anything out but because she focuses on one relationship. The love she shared with the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

Through her relationship with Mapplethorpe, we are treated to everything a good rock memoir should have; the origin of their creativity, the way they discovered their expression, the struggles to be heard and the satisfaction of achieving your dream. The real victory for the reader, though is how none of these really matter without the love and understanding of one another.

In the book, Smith offers up the purity of finding your soul mate and that despite their very similar interest in men, she and Mapplethorpe negotiate their dreams always thinking of each other and hoping that their love will remain. Smith is warm, friendly, open, honest and ultimately thankful for her time with Mapplethorpe.

It not only works as a fantastic memoir but as a fantastic book, full stop. If you love Keith Richards, then Life is a dream. If you love The Boss, then Born To Run will be everything you ever wanted. But you need to have zero love for Patti Smith or Robert Mapplethorpe to think this may be one of the greatest rock memoirs ever written.

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