Rock Novels
 

I'm in the process of reading my way through the subgenre of Rock Novels. There are two that I've liked best, so far. The first is called Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen. It's a fun mainstream mystery about a dead rock star, his wild widow, eccentric band mates, and the lost tracks to a comeback album. The second is Trevor's Song by Susan Helene Gottfried. This one has an authentic feel for what goes on behind the scenes in the not-so-private lives of a headline rock band. If you can recommend any other Rock Fiction titles, I'd like to check them out.

Aww, RJ, thanks!

That Carl Hiaasen is a new one by me -- and I thought I'd read all of his books! (Watch it be the one sitting on my night table!) I'm going to have to add it to my list of Rock Books over at my website.

btw, folks reading this... RJ's books are darn good, too. Like, don't miss 'em good.

HAMMER OF THE GODS. Led Zeppelin. AWESOME READ. Very fun to read. You won't want to put it down!

True. I read it many years ago. However, it's considered non-fiction. Not a novel.

Heart Shaped-Box by (Stephen King's son) Joe Hill. There's a lot of Rock references in Stephen King's Novel, IT. And The Stand. I've not read many novels specifically with rock as the theme other than that.

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Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede
A wonderfully weird book about a Buddy Holly lookalike who was conceived on the day Buddy Holly died and what happens to him once the real Buddy Holly appears on TV and tells the world that he's alive and well and living on one of Jupiter's moons.

That sounds really deliciously goofy. I'm going to have to track it down. And steal Heart-Shaped Box back from my parents. I loaned it to them a year ago when my dad hurt his back and couldn't do much more than lay around and read. Needless to say, he got better before he read that one.

Kill Your Friends by John Niven

It's about an opinionated asshole of an A&R man in late 90s London who will walk over anybody who gets in his way at becoming head of the record label.

Read it in 2 days it was that good.

One of Anne Rice's novels has a rockstar/vampire story. Whichever book Queen of the Damned is is based on.

Actually, it was Lestat who was the rock star. The book was The Vampire Lestat

Ok. I knew there was one. Just trying to help :) I read Interview and Memnok the Devil. Think that's the title, its been 15 years!

I appreciate the help. I read the books so many years ago, I tend to not think of Anne Rice first, either!

Again, I'd recommend Stephen King's IT. has tons of musical references and themes. Seriously good book. a tomb. but fun. I'd recommend the Dark Tower series regardless of if you're specifically looking for rock themes. There are tons of Rock themes and influences in that series.

A rock theme and a rock and roll novel are two different things, though. We'd need RJ to stop back in, but to me, a rock and roll novel has to have music and/or musicians prominently in the story, not as a theme.

Although you ARE giving me something to think about. Maybe I DO need to expand my definition. Hmmm.

I recently read a collection of fiction short stories written by rock musicians called Carved in Rock. Some of the musicians include Ray Davies, Joan Jett, Jim Carroll, Peter Townsend, Graham Parker, and Ray Manzarek. There's a wide range of quality, but some of them give an interesting perspective on the creative minds behind the music.

Skipp/Spector's The Scream is about a serial killing rock band, IIRC

I read a rock novel I enjoyed last weekend called Ladies and Gentlemen ... The Redeemers. It’s about a former recording company talent scout whose fall from grace was so severe that he landed on a heating grate in San Francisco, and took up residence. He reconnected with his love for music after meeting a surly blind street musician while hustling subway passengers. He goes about recruiting a very diverse collection of musicians in an attempt to realize his dream of taking a band to the top.

Yes, RJ! I've been hearing about this book, and since I'm such a goddess of rock fiction (Yeah, gag along with me. I'm being ironic and goofy), the author's contacted me about reviewing his book. I need to get on that, in fact... sheesh. Too much to do of late!

Just finished LEXICON DEVIL: Basically the life and times of Darby Crash from THE GERMS. Really excellent read, lots of cool rock n roll stories and huge names in both rock and punk. Most people wouldn't suspect it but Darby Crash had a genius I.Q. and was a very misunderstood individual. Really good book even if you don't enjoy punk rock.

Heroin Diaries would be the quintessential one, no?
I got Keith Richard's new autobiography. Have yet to crack it but this sort of thing rarely disappoints.

I'm assuming all would probably lean towards good reads for pure rock n roll stories. Not overly fond of Richards or Sixx but i can see their life stories as being deemed a good read.

Well, Lexicon Devil, Heroin Diaries, and Keith Richards are all non-fiction books. By its definition, a novel is fiction. So none of those technically count for rock novels.

But they all sound like good reads. Heck, I told a writer friend of mine to read The Heroin Diaries just last week.

Lestat was such a douche

but thnx 2 Urbz and Jansz, those books sound great

oh. silly me.

I did the same thing. Rock n Roll man Rock n Roll. :band:

:)

I recently read a collection of short stories called "Carved in Rock." They're all fiction written by rockers or people in the industry, such as Peter Townsend, Ray Davies, Eric Burdon, and Ray Manzarek. Some are good, some not so hot. But it's interesting to how they relate to another art form.