Words and Music: Our 60 Favorite Music Books

Unflinching artist autobiographies, early masters of rock criticism, and scene-defining oral histories—these books about bands could be your life. There’s no shortage of writing about music—or ways to write about it—and this is not a definitive be-all-end-all list as much as a starting point. All of these works lead to other worthy titles, undiscovered albums, and new ways of thinking about the sounds flowing into our headphones on a daily basis. There are chronicles of remarkable individual talents like Miles Davis, Neil Young, and Marvin Gaye, as well as histories of scenes and phenomena—the American 1980s indie rock underground, ’90s rave culture—that had musicians and fans banding together toward a common goal or sound. There are also more offbeat and untold stories, like Mountain Goats leader John Darnielle’s Black Sabbath–themed anti-coming-of-age novella Master of Reality or Dave Tompkins’ virtuosic recent history of the vocoder, How to Wreck a Nice Beach. And contextualizing criticism from originators Greil Marcus, Lester Bangs, Richard Meltzer, and Ellen Willis. (The great Robert Christgau is not included on this list because we feel his invaluable, 40-plus-year archive of album reviews and essays are best experienced through his highly searchable website.)