Rock & Roll Globe’s Best Rock Books of 2025

It should really be “best sampling of rock books,” because there are seemingly always new rock tomes being issued, cluttering up the bookshelves.

Really, who has time to read them all? And there are already goodies to look forward to coming out next year, including memoirs by Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil and Hole’s Melissa Auf der Maur.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Here are my picks of the books I enjoyed the most.

 

Strange Journey: The Illustrated History of The Rocky Horror Picture Show by Linus O’Brien (Insight Editions)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show isn’t just the king, er, queen of cult movies. It’s also one of the best rock musical films ever made (because the soundtrack actually rocks). Now comes the definitive tome about how this movie monster was created, from its days as a stage show, to its original flop as a film, then its unprecedented resurrection. This lavishly illustrated oral history expands on the documentary Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, directed by Linus O’Brien, the son of Rocky Horror creator Richard O’Brien. The most interesting section covers Rocky Horror’s scrappy beginnings, revealing how the show was basically cobbled together in just a few weeks, with no expectation of longevity, with classic songs like “The Time Warp” were whipped together overnight. Yet from small acorns, mighty oaks can grow, and it’s great fun getting such an up-close-and-personal look at Rocky Horror’s rise This book is part of the two volume set the Official Rocky Horror Late Night Double Feature: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, the other volume being a copy of the stage show’s script.

 

Defying Gravity: Jordan’s Story by Jordan Mooney with Cathi Unsworth (Omnibus Remastered)

The punk rock movement of the 1970s was about transformation: out with the old (especially hippies and all that flower-power nonsense) and in with the new. Thus the transformation of Pamela Rooke, from the small seaside town of Seaford in East Sussex, England, into that awe-inspiring creation known as Jordan (a surname being superfluous). With her bleached spiky hair or a bouffant that added another foot to her height, as well as her arresting makeup, she naturally found her way to Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s London shop Sex, where her appearance and unique fashion sense provided beaucoup d’inspiration. Jordan’s compelling book is a no-holds-barred account of those heady years, with additional commentary from friends along the way. Originally published in 2019, this is a reissue that’s part of the “Omnibus Remastered” series, though it must said the reissues are smaller-sized books than the originals, with even smaller print that can be difficult to read.

 

Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival by Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour (St. Martin’s Press)

A return to the glory days of the Lollapalooza festival’s reign in the 1990s, presented in an easy-to-digest oral history format. In those halcyon years, the announcement of the next Lollapalooza lineup was as big a deal as the day Oscar nominees were announced. From the Butthole Surfers’ Gibby Haynes firing off a shotgun during the first year of the festival to Hole’s Courtney Love punching Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna in the face on the opening day of the 1995 festival (“I feel like Courtney was the person who felt like the rules did not apply to her,” says stage manager John Rubeli), you get the inside scoop from those who there; band members, festival organizers, and those pesky journalists. Whatever year you attended, or even if you didn’t, you won’t be disappointed in the wild stories related here.

 

Shouting Out Loud: Lives of The Raincoats by Audrey Golden (Da Capo Press)

Despite the band’s minimal output (between 1977 and 1984 the group released just three studio albums), The Raincoats’ legacy looms large in indie rock circles. Indeed, the band might have faded into the mists of time had Kurt Cobain not written adoringly about them in his liner notes for the 1992 Nirvana compilation Incesticide, which led to the reissuing of The Raincoats’ catalogue the following year, and their eventual reunion. Golden lovingly unravels their story, through all the lineup changes and their sporadic work into the 21st century. All while holding on their credibility, as alternative rock crashed the mainstream.

 

The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership That Rocked the World by Peter Guralnick (Little, Brown and Company)

The acclaimed Elvis biographer Peter Guralnick (Last Train to Memphis, Careless Love) here sets his sights on the man who ushered the King to the world stage; Tom Parker, his manager. And, unexpectedly, his story flies in the face of the accepted narrative, that Parker was the Machiavellian villain who loused up Presley’s career by shoving him into lousy movies and refusing to let him tour overseas. Instead, Guralnick argues, he was a man who tried to do his best for a client who became increasingly difficult to work with over the years, the Parker/Presley relationship degenerating into a veritable folie à deux by the end. There’s also a collection of Parker’s letters included, providing further insight. 

 

Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses by Peter Wolf (Little, Brown and Company)

Peter Wolf may be best known as the lead singer for the J. Geils Band (“Centerfold,” “Love Stinks” — remember?). But his time with the band takes something of a backseat in this highly entertaining memoir. And understandably so; who wouldn’t rather hear about Wolf’s encounters with Marilyn Monroe (as a child, he sat next to her in a movie theater), David Lynch (the two were college roommates; Wolf still owes him rent!), John Lennon and Harry Nilsson (at — surprise! — an alcohol-drenched recording session), not to mention his marriage to Faye Dunaway. And then there are his moments with John Lee Hooker, Andy Warhol, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Alfred Hitchcock — an enviably broad palette of folks. Wolf also has a keen eye for detail (“Mr. Cukor [film director George Cukor] became nostalgic after his second Dubonnet”), which adds to the memoir’s charm. If you’re interested in music, film, and entertainment, it’s the kind of book you can enjoy even if you’ve never heard of Wolf’s band. 

 

Dressed in Black: The Shangri-Las and Their Recorded Legacy by Lisa Mackinney. (Verse Chorus Press)

Everyone knows (or should know) the Shangri-Las classic single “Leader of the Pack,” with its potent melodrama, sound effects, and tragic ending. But there’s never been a decent account about the sob sisters of musical soap opera until now, and it proves to be a fascinating story matching any of the high drama in their songs. Lisa Mackinney has a forensic eye for detail, as you’d expect from someone how describes her book as “the culmination of an obsession.” You’ll learn about songs you’ve never heard of, the truth behind the self-mythologizing of producer/songwriter George “Shadow” Morton, and the Shangri-Las’ own times of tragedy. Now put on “I Can Never Go Home Anymore” and keep your Kleenex handy.  

 

Tearing Down the Orange Curtain: How Punk Rock Brought Orange County to the World by Nate Jackson and Daniel Kohn (Da Capo Press)

Jim Decker of Huntington Beach punk band The Crowd: “In the beginning it was house parties. It’s one real downfall of the youth of today is that they’ll never experience that raging 150-person, three-band, five-kegger house party when your mom and dad were gone.” Ah yes, the good old days. Like to catch up on what you missed? Here’s the first history to chronicle the development of the Orange County punk scene from its raucous beginnings as embodied by the likes of T.S.O.L. and Social Distortion all the way up to the mainstream success found by bands like the Offspring and No Doubt. Jackson’s and Kohn’s text is so lively you can almost feel the spit and sweat flying by you, and they’re able to extract entertaining nuggets from their interviewees, like this admission from Jerry Roach: “Bottom line when it came to the money and paying bands — I needed it and they didn’t.” 

 

Power to the People: John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory and Special Guests by Simon Hilton (Universal Music Ltd.)

It’s typical for CD box sets to have some kind of booklet included in the package. But most of them aren’t hardcover books that run to 200 pages, like this one does. It takes a deep dive into every track in this 9 CD (and 3 Blu-ray) set, examining the songs themselves, and the recording sessions, TV appearances, and concert dates, as well as other subjects, like Lennon’s battle to secure his green card. There are copious interviews with just about everybody who was involved with Lennon and Ono during this hectic 1971-72 period (drawing on archive interviews in Lennon’s case), and a wealth of visual material. This was the era that saw the release of Lennon and Ono’s most misunderstood album, the politically-themed Some Time in New York City, and the book gets you to appreciate the record in a whole new light. Yes, it’s only available as part of the box set, but hey, you get all that music too. It’s worth splurging for.

 

The Uncool: A Memoir by Cameron Crowe (Avid Reader Press)

This book is the hardcover version of author/director/screenwriter Cameron Crowe’s film Almost Famous; they’re both love letters to his career as a journalist. It’s a lifestyle that will make any contemporary music journo’s mouth water, as Crowe hobnobs with the Eagles, Gregg Allman, Kris Kristofferson, David Bowie and scads of others (gee, magazines and/or record companies really footed the bill for that kind of thing?). And when his journalism scoops dry up — bam! — there’s a film career waiting for him. Lucky duck! Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing, especially when Cameron opens up about his family history. But ultimately, this is a story about the triumph of the human spirit, set to a brilliant soundtrack.

 

AUDIO: The Raincoats “Lola”