Features

The Relix 40: Words and Music (40 Non-Fiction Books)

To mark the 40th year of Relix, we are going to run a series of Relix 40 lists in the magazine and online that cover a variety of topics. Last week we recommended 40 novels with music themes (For more Relix 40 lists Click here). Today we highlight 40 entertaining and enlightening memoirs and non-fiction books. While not on this list we also wish to salute books by former Relix editor Jeff Tamarkin- Got a Revolution!: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane, along with Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped (which I wrote with Relix editor Josh Baron) and Jesse Jarnow- Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock.

The books listed below appear in order of publication.

Greil Marcus Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock’n‘Roll Music (1975)

Robert Palmer Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta (1981)

Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe Miles: The Autobiography (1989)

Fredric Dannen Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business (1990)

Bill Graham and Robert Greenfield Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock And Out (1992)

Dave Marsh Louie Louie: The History and Mythology of the World’s Most Famous Rock ‘n Roll Song (1993)

Levon Helm with Stephen Davis This Wheel’s on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band (1993)

Peter Guralnick Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley (1994) and Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (1999)

Fred Goodman The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, and Springsteen and the Head-on Collision of Rock and Commerce (1997)

John F. Szwed Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra (1997)