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The most popular musician autobiographiestend to come from famous singers and guitar heroes. But drummers can tell a tale as well as anyone else. Here's a ten-pack of proof. awc ex-R accir help Tony Allen An Autobiggra7hy of the Mick Fleetwood PlaY On: Mac (2014) the I Master Drummer of Afrobeat (2013) "'Now, Then & Fleetwood succ but it's a pretty This second autobiography from Fleetwood Mac's 'Every musician has obstacles, cocaine-fueled dirt. ackn mall group that can relate to what Tony Allen ,founder doesn't skimp on the iBut to learn about own endured. Allen takes a very conversational tone in it's far more interesting iFleetwood's London rock scene in the :his memoir as he details a complex relationship trials in the as an aspiring pro admittedly short on :with Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and the constant i'60s, itechnique He meets his struggles to get his own musical career but long on ambition. McVie, they form the first happening amidst political corruption and civil war in his native rhythmic soul mate in bassist John Mac with blues-guitar visionary Peter Nigeria. Even after relocating to France in the'80s, Allen describes incarnation of Fleetwood goes on another slog until Lindsey being held back by a heroin addiction and subpar solo records. Green, and off Fleetwood walk into his life. Fleetwood's Redemption comes later in life as the drummer is embraced by Buckingham and Stevie Nicks musical pursuits is inspiring. musicians like Flea and Blur's Damon Albarn palpable passion for his

:Ginger Baker Hellraiser: Levon Helm This Whteel's on Fire: Levon ',TheAutobiography of the Woild's Helm and the Story of the Band (1993) ,Levon the swampy sound that 'G reatest D ru m mer (2009) Helm stoked ,helped go and enabled the Band to '|Hellraiser rolls and tumbles like Ginger Baker Dylan electric ,become units. islashing his way through "Toad." That Baker is still one of rock's most influential one, considering ,,here to share these tales'of musical and personal iiHelm's tale is a pretty amazing is amazing, given he came from the cotton fields of Turkey Scratch, ,,adventure and misadventure i folksy i"hi, on.time lust for chemicals. A passion for Arkansas, and he spins it in the disarmingly as though he's sitting at the kitchen' musical exploration, and later polo, kept him goin9. Baker takes style he was known for. lt's you about hearing Sonny Boy great pains to set the record straight on the course he charted, table up in Woodstock telling just what in fact he's doing in the from his jazzbeginnings tg Cream and Blind Faith to Ginger Williamson for the first time or "l Be Released." (Spoiler alert: He's running his Baker's Airforce to Fela, P.i.L., and beyond. verses on Shall fingers across the wires of an overturned snare drum.) Peter Criss Makeuq to Breaku7: My Life in and out of Kiss (2012) Joey Kramer Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting ,Rock (2009) with its depiction of rock-star highs (coauthoring Bottom at the Top n 1gg7 book WatkThis Way:The Autobiography and singing "Beth"), has-been lows (contem- :rf the ,,.of depression that ,plating suicide in 1994), and a stare-down with Arrotmith,the topic of the during ,mortality (male breast cancer), Peter Criss's :'sidelined bedrock drummer Joey Kramer xthe was danced around carefully, autobiography is a gripping account of a kid from Nin e Lives sessions graceful segue into the idescribed as a "blue funk" after the passing of his niooklyn's rise, fall, slight return, and iiiabusive such fancy footwork here. With autumn of his life. Either in or out of Kiss, Criss has been a major father. No nervous breakdown he suffered, player in the soap opera. But this book shows that there's another great detail, Kramer addresses the put in get healthy, and the sense of abandon- side to the "Catman" once the grease paint is off. the hard workhe to ment he felt from his bandmates and his then wife.

94 I Modern Drummer I tvtay 2oL5 Tommy Lee Tommyland (2004) rJacob Slichter 50 You Wanna Be a Rock ns his Motley Crrie bandmate Vince Neil once sang & Roll Star: How I Machine-Gunned a ,in "Home Sweet Home," Tommy Lee's life has been 'Roomfut of Record Executives and Other ,like an open book for the whole world to read, True Tales From a Drummer's Life (2005) what with the high-profile marriages, arrests, and Semisonic's drummer doesn't present his life story the like. His autobiography touches on all the bo much as he gives the uninitiated a glimpse into tabloid exploits but also serves as a reminder that once-prevalent and successful major-label none of that stuff would matter if Lee weren't an machinations-and the soul-draining fallout when accomplished drummer. For Cnie fans, the book's a no-brainer- those strategies stopped working. With musical tastes that leaned Lee puf ls back the curtain on all the chaos and creativity, with his toward funk and soul, Slichter wasn't really aiming to be the. dude-speak flow drummer in a big alternative rock band. He discusses how he acquired on the fly the chops necessary to hold ,it down for .Marky Ramone Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: Semlsonic, absorbing suggestions like, "Hit the hi-hat more 'My Life as a Ramone (2015) insistently, more like the Replacements than the Spinners," from It's fitting that Marky Ramone is the last Ramone band members and (gulp) A&R men alike. standing, because as his autobiography shows, a We learn how years 'he's survivor. before he .Ahm ir "Questlove" Thompson manned the kit for the iconic punks, he'd head- Mo' Meta Blues: The World According lined Cobo Hall in Detroit with his proto-metal to Questlove (2013) 11111ffi,t'.i[sp6l Dust, only to find himself back in Brooklyn as ,Long before Questlove was a hip-hop revolu- a working stiff shortly thereafter. By the mid-'80s he was an tionary, he was a music-obsessed nerd sticking out ex-Ramone who narrowly avoided prison after a drunk-driving :like a sore thumb in his hardened West accident. Putting down the sticks and working as a bike messenger rPhiladelphia neighborhood. The drums were his helped him get sober for good, which ultimately led him back to way out, and Ma' Meta Blues chronicles all the the Ramones. He grouses about the group never tasting the points along his head-spinning journey. Quest ties his formative success enjoyed by many ofthe acts it inspired, but he does years to specific albums, explaining with a musicologist's detail the acknowledge that the fact that he's still walking among us is its impact that records like the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique had on own reward. - hirn. Footnotes provide anecdotes behind the anecdotes and add context to his musings. This reads like a Questlove groove: steady on the 1 with lots of funky breaks. ts

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May 2015 | Modern Drummer I g5