Meet me in the bathroom - book recs

[tomlc]

Steven Van Zandt - Unrequited Infatuations is a fascinating read. What a life. 
 

Felix White - It’s always summer somewhere is also great, particularly if you’re into music and cricket. 

[Ben7amin_]

8 minutes ago, tomlc said:

Steven Van Zandt - Unrequited Infatuations is a fascinating read. What a life. 
 

Felix White - It’s always summer somewhere is also great, particularly if you’re into music and cricket. 

What if Given to the wild is one of your fave albums but you absolutely despise Cricket.

Still worth reading the book?

[Ben7amin_]

Rebooting this thread - as ive just finished the titular Meet Me In The Bathroom - was a good read took a while to get into the format - constantly referring back to the front to see who people were - definitely impacted what im listening to atm -  and made me very tempted to buy Interpol tickets.  

 

Got, So It Started There - by Nick Banks up next 

[Mardy]

4 minutes ago, Ben7amin_ said:

Rebooting this thread - as ive just finished the titular Meet Me In The Bathroom - was a good read took a while to get into the format - constantly referring back to the front to see who people were - definitely impacted what im listening to atm -  and made me very tempted to buy Interpol tickets.  

 

Got, So It Started There - by Nick Banks up next 

 

Seen the documentary of 'Meet in the Bathroom'? Nice companion piece, there's some really good early footage of the bands, and damn, do they all look so young. It's worth a watch. 

[Ben7amin_]

3 minutes ago, Mardy said:

 

Seen the documentary of 'Meet in the Bathroom'? Nice companion piece, there's some really good early footage of the bands, and damn, do they all look so young. It's worth a watch. 

 

Yeah i was definitely gonna watch it -  Don't supose you know anywhere its easily available channel, streaming service wise?  

[Yokel Again]

Read this after getting it for Xmas. Great book, would be interested to see the doc.

 

Question is, how many times did I have to keep referring back to the front of the book to remind myself who most of the contributors were!!??! I knew all the obvious ones but couldn't keep track of lots of new names!

Edited October 1, 2024 by Yokel Again

[Mardy]

1 minute ago, Ben7amin_ said:

 

Yeah i was definitely gonna watch it -  Don't supose you know anywhere its easily available channel, streaming service wise?  

 

 

I...er... borrowed...it from the internet. Drop me a PM and I might be able to sort you out...

[efcfanwirral]

1 hour ago, Ben7amin_ said:

Rebooting this thread - as ive just finished the titular Meet Me In The Bathroom - was a good read took a while to get into the format - constantly referring back to the front to see who people were - definitely impacted what im listening to atm -  and made me very tempted to buy Interpol tickets.  

 

Got, So It Started There - by Nick Banks up next 

The Nick Banks book is brilliant!

 

I've got the Blur documentary / Live at Wembley Blu-ray to watch at some point. Looking forward to the movie and to watching the show back as it was the day I was there 

[Quark]

Finished the REM book by Tony Fletcher while we were on holiday. It's quite a hefty tome but a really good read if you like the band.

 

On the David Hepworth Abbey Road Studios book at the moment, another interesting read

[Ben7amin_]

50 minutes ago, Quark said:

Finished the REM book by Tony Fletcher while we were on holiday. It's quite a hefty tome but a really good read if you like the band.

 

On the David Hepworth Abbey Road Studios book at the moment, another interesting read

Ive not read abby road but - how the LP saved our lives by DH was fantastic at some point I will read the rest of his books 

[Olshansky]

As someone who lives in new york and was here during the early aughts, I'm not a massive fan of Meet Me In The Bathroom for many reasons. But I think the author of that book was really intent on just making her own version of "Please Kill Me" - which, if you haven't read is a must must must read.  

 

I have to echo Patti Smith's Just Kids - should be required reading for everyone if you ask me. 

 

Others I've not seen mentioned- 

 

Kathleen Hanna: Rebel Girl 

- Fascinating and at times heartbreaking.  Whether intending to or not, she give you a lot of perspective on the whole "grunge" and seattle era. 

 

Kim Gordon: Girl In A Band 

- I think people don't understand Kim's involvement in the art world as well as the music world.  She was around for SO MUCH before Sonic Youth even happened.  

 

Sinead O'Connor: Rememberings 

- No matter what you think of her music, she lived a fascinating life.  

 

Tricky: Hell is Round The Corner

- the only biography I've read where he will hand the 'pen' over to a family member who was older/can provide better perspective on an event he was maybe too young to remember properly.  very intersting.

 

and if you want something a bit more academic, Alex Ross is fascinating to me.  "Listen to This" and "The Rest is Noise" were very good reads.  I should also mention Oliver Sachs, "Musicophilia" 

 

 

 

[charlierc]

20 hours ago, Olshansky said:

As someone who lives in new york and was here during the early aughts, I'm not a massive fan of Meet Me In The Bathroom for many reasons. But I think the author of that book was really intent on just making her own version of "Please Kill Me" - which, if you haven't read is a must must must read.  

 

Interesting. As someone who's never been to New York, I quite enjoyed the book. Helps I like a lot of the acts covered. You can detail reasons why you felt like it fell below your expectations - this is the closest we've got to a music book club after all aha.

 

Speaking of that era, Interpol guitarist Dan Kessler's brother Ted, who was a former Q magazine editor and NME writer, did a decent booked called Paper Cuts that I read on my recent holiday about how he stumbled into music journalism as a career, some anecdotes being on the job and the way Q just sort of disappeared during lockdown.

Edited October 6, 2024 by charlierc

[Kaboom Boxer]

A friend whose opinion I trust highly recommended Everybody Loves Our Town by  Mark Yarm in a similar oral history vein. 

[danbailey80]

On 10/1/2024 at 12:40 PM, Ben7amin_ said:

Ive not read abby road but - how the LP saved our lives by DH was fantastic at some point I will read the rest of his books 

For fans of Davis Hepworth 'Word in Your Ear' is a great podcast. It's with Mark Ellen.

[Ben7amin_]

Just finished Nick Banks book, has done nothing to suppress the desire to see Pulp on the Pyramid stage again!!    a bit slow at first but when the success starts to come the book really takes off. 

 

He speaks of Glastonbury very fondly in the book, did not know this but there secret set working title was "The Juicers" so lets hope that is on the line up next year.  

[Ben7amin_]

Read Ian Broudies book - Tomorrows here today -  Short book good read very well written I could even here it in scouse in my head. got Tim Burgess next - seem to the time when all the 90s acts write books 

[efcfanwirral]

The new Alex James one was very entertaining, and I'm currently going through the Simon Fowler lyric book. 

 

Got McCartney's lyric book in physical copy and the Ian Broudie, James Blunt and Mel C books on Kindle for the next few weeks. I always get into the music books at Christmas