Top 10 Music e-Books

Blue Smoke: The lost dawn of New Zealand popular music 1918-1964
by Chris Bourke

This book is filled with wonderful photographs and tales from the early years of local music. The richness of its coverage saw it win the NZ Post Book of the Year Award in 2011.






Nirvana
by Everett True

A biography of Nirvana written by the music journalist who introduced Kurt to Courtney. Prior to this, True had already written for NME, Melody Maker, and Vox so he brings some writing power to the piece as well. As a result, this book provides a unique insight into the band and it's sudden end.





How to listen to pop music
by Nick Bollinger

Listener readers will already know Bollinger as their long-standing music critic. He's also been a gigging musician since the early 70s and hence has a love of music that comes through on every page of this book. It's part memoir and part meditation on how to get the most out of popular music.




Everyone loves you when you’re dead
by Neil Strauss

This is a wild set of tales from experienced music journalist, Neil Strauss. Over the course of the book, he makes Lady Gaga cry, is kidnapped by Courtney Love, and has a long drinking session with Bruce Springsteen. Strauss takes a high octane approach to his writing, as readers of his Motley Crue biography (The Dirt) will already know.
(Also available in a print version).




The Fallen
by Dave Simpson

Even if you only have a passing interest in The Fall, then you'll probably find this book entertaining. The author tracks down over forty different musicians (and non-musicians!) who've been in-and-out of the band since their inception in the late seventies. Even the most minor members seem to have surprising tale to tell - such as the manager of the Chemical Brothers who was convinced backstage at the Reading Festival to take the place of the band's missing drummer for their set!


How The Beatles rocked the Kremlin
by Leslie Woodhead

The Beatles music slipped into the USSR in the midst of the cold war and proved that there was an exciting culture to be discovered on the other side of the Iron Curtain. This book provides an interesting angle on why The Beatles were important and adds another aspect to their legacy.





How music works
by David Byrne

Byrne was the lead singer of quirky rock group, Talking Heads. Yet he's spent the last decade exploring more experimental territory with production guru, Brian Eno, and young indie starlet, St Vincent. His unusual explorations give him a great perspective to write about why humans are so attracted to melody and rhythm. An intriguing read for musicians and music lovers alike.


The importance of music to girls
by Lavinia Greenlaw

This book focuses more on Greenlaw's private journey, rather than making any attempt at music criticism or provide comment on the wider scene. However, her gradual drift from 60s rock to disco to punk does provide a window on how music can influence a person's life and her poetic style of writing adds some heft to the narrative.




Dylan goes electric
by Elijah Wald

The moment that Dylan broke from being simply a folk hero and began experimenting with rock influences is always portrayed as a turning point in his career. This focuses in on this crucial change and brings to life the shock and outrage that it invoked at the time. If the copy linked above happens to be unavailable, then another copy is available from our other eBook service.



by Nick Hornby

Nick Hornby is known for his 'lad-lit' novels about guys coming to terms with the pressures of adulthood, with his most famous novels being About a boy and High Fidelity. However, Hornby is also a music critic for the New Yorker and here he uses as discussion of his favourite songs to wax lyrical on the meaning of music and why some songs retain an important place in our lives, even after we've long since quit listening to them.