As I mentioned yesterday, I just finished reading Geddy Lee's autobiography, My Effin' Life. I also mentioned that I've never been a particularly big Rush fan, but the book made me interested in spending more time with their music. This is just one of several rock biographies I've read in recent months, and I've compiled some thoughts on each below.

Let's start with My Effin' Life, as it is freshest in my mind. This book was recommended to me by a friend who is a far bigger Rush fan than I. I love it when people listen to my recommendations, so when they recommend something to me, I try to give them a shot as often as possible even if they're outside of my comfort zone. I'm glad I took a chance on this one. While Geddy Lee goes on a bit too long - and he admits as much in the book - I found myself surprisingly affected by his story. Starting before he was born with his parents' experiences during the Holocaust, he traces a fairly complete version of his life through the origins of Rush through its end. Along the way, he's honest about some of his shortcomings and goes on many tangents. Some are fascinating. Others less so - I thought the book could have easily been 20 percent shorter. That complaint aside, My Effin' Life really worked for me, largely because of the way he chronicled his decades-long friendship with the rest of the band and their associates. When he writes about losing people close to him, especially when talking about Neal Peart's illness and eventual death, it really got to me. It could be because death has been far too present in the ether lately - today is one week since the tragedy at Annunciation Church in my city, and a lovely former coworker of mine passed just days ago - but his thoughts on mortality, aging, and friendships had me genuinely choked up.

Not long before My Effin' Life, I finished reading Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace. Again, I wasn't a big fan of the author's music - I came to this book because I really enjoyed the previous book by her co-author, Dan Ozzi (more on that below). I know this book means a lot to a lot of people, especially young trans people going through their own struggles with gender dysphoria. There were parts of this book that I found interesting, especially Grace describing the lengths she went to in order to express her gender identity before transitioning, as well as the ups and downs of Against Me!'s career. I don't think that Laura Jane Grace would disagree that she's been a difficult and prickly person at times, and as someone not too familiar with her music, spending a lot of time with her writing can be a bit tiring. Of course, that's my take as a cisgender man - I'm sure there are plenty of people who would value her transition story regardless of what they think of her music.

Laura Jane Grace's book was co-authored by Dan Ozzi, who write the excellent rock history Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore 1994-2007. Not an individual artist biography like the two books above, Sellout chronicles the stories of 11 bands who found themselves on major labels after the breakout success of Nirvana. I loved this book, despite once again dealing with many bands I've never really listened to, such as Jawbreaker, Jimmy Eat World, Thursday, and more. Nevertheless, it's a fascinating look at how the music industry used to react to breakout rock bands, and features many little asides about band I do love, like Neurosis and Skeleton Key. There's a new edition out that features additional content about bands like Cave In, Thrice, Cursive, and more. I may have to read this one twice.

I'm currently reading Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. At over 1,000 pages, it'll likely be a while before I have some thoughts to share on this one.
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I would love to hear recommendations on other rock biographies that I should check out!