Music Books Of The Year

1. Beastie Boys Book
Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz (Faber & Faber)
As well as their profound impact on ’80s and ’90s alternative music, New York rap icons the Beastie Boys’ influence spread into art, fashion, film and publishing; a fact acknowledged by the contributions to this superb memoir from the likes of SNL star Amy Poehler and cult filmmakers Wes Anderson and Spike Jonze.
Beautifully assembled by band members ADROCK and Mike D, the book tracks the group’s metamorphosis from bratty, tabloid-baiting punks to socially conscious outfit, with the 1997 Free Tibet concerts – organised by the sadly departed Adam Yauch – a virtual who’s who of the decade’s most vital rock and hip-hop acts.
There are lovely details throughout, such as the revelation that Yauch became a massive Stiff Little Fingers fan on the back of the classic ‘Alternative Ulster’. A hugely compelling read.

2. Trouble Songs
Stuart Bailie (Bloomfield Press)
Belfast-based journalist Stuart Bailie gives an encyclopaedic look at the wide variety of music that was shaped by the Troubles. His book explores how protest songs in the late ’60s led very quickly to reprisals from security forces. In the decades that followed, death threats from paramilitaries struck at the heart of live music entertainment. Notably, The Clash were forced to cancel an ambitious gig in Derry because of a threat from the Red Hand Commandos. And most tragically of all, the Miami Showband massacre proved that even musicians weren’t exempt from the violence of the time.

3. Inner City Pressure – The Story of Grime
Dan Hancox (William Collins)
Eventually, we may look at the New Labour period – where the government oversaw an economic meltdown – through the lens of grime. In the depths of social depravation, artists like Wiley, Skepta, Dizzee Rascal and Stormzy helped propel a completely original art form into the cultural mainstream.
With hundreds of insightful interviews and some truly powerful analysis, Hancox’s tome might just become the definitive handbook on the genre. You’ll have a tough time putting it down.

4. The Death Archives: MAYHEM 1984 – 94
Jorn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud (Ecstastic Peace)
True, the lead singer killing himself and the guitarist being murdered shortly afterwards by a member of a rival group isn’t your typical rock ‘n’ roll career trajectory, but like so many bands before them, Norwegian death metallers Mayhem started making music as an antidote to their boring commuter town existences.
What’s striking, looking through this photo essay by their bassist, is just how faux the supposed ‘evil’ seems with blurry photos of the quartet sat on Ikea sofas. The afterword is supplied by Thurston Moore, a somewhat unlikely fan whose Ecstatic Peace imprint are the publishers.

5. The Secret DJ
(Faber & Faber)
The premise: a globally renowned British DJ goes completely anonymous and takes us through the dark, murky world of club life, going beyond the sweaty dancefloors of Ibiza, London, Berlin, Vegas, and into the heart of rave culture – warts and all. The result: an unnerving, eye-opening look at what happens when music fans embrace EDM, MDMA and a concoction of other acronyms, and DJs find themselves playing in front of thousands of people, giving-in to unfettered hedonism.

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6. Nothing Is Real
David Hepworth (Bantam Press)
7. Mars By 1980
David Stubbs (Faber & Faber)
8. Rory Gallagher: The Man Behind The Guitar
Julian Vignoles (The Collins Press)
9. To Throw Away Unopened
Viv Albertine (Faber & Faber)
10. Astral Weeks: A Secret History
Ryan H. Walsh (Penguin)