Disclaimer: Many people think this book sucks. It was written by Led Zeppelin’s long-time tour manager, who does self-promote throughout this book. Stairway to Heaven is not really about the music, but more about the band’s off-stage antics while on tour (including the infamous “Mud Shark” incident).

All I can say is that I first read this book when I was about 15, and it was the coolest thing I’d ever read. It made me want to be a rock star and destroy hotel rooms and have my way with groupies. What more could you want from a book?

The Book: Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored
The Author: Richard Cole
The Run-Down: No one knew Led Zeppelin like Richard Cole. The band’s tour manager for more than a decade, Cole was there when they burst onto the music scene, achieved cult status, cut platinum records, and transformed popular music. Second only to the Beatles in sales for years, Led Zeppelin was rock’s premier group. But unlike the boys from Liverpool, the excitement of this band”s music was matched by the fever pitch of their antics on and off the stage….

In hotel rooms and stadiums, in a customized private Boeing 707 jet and country estates, Richard Cole saw it all — and here he tells it all in this close-up, down-and-dirty, no-holds-barred account that records the highs, the lows, and the occasional in-betweens. This revised edition brings fans up to date on the band members’ lives and careers, which may be a little quieter now, but their songs remain the same.

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The Book: Guitar Heaven: The Most Famous Guitars to Electrify Our World
The Author: Neville Marten
The Run-Down: Guitar Heaven is the first book of its kind. Unlike most guitar titles, which serve more as two-dimensional resource guides, this book evokes the musical atmosphere and tells the stories of 50 legendary electric guitars.

Guitar Heaven is organized alphabetically by manufacturer, and each featured guitar is presented over two or three spreads, accompanied with quotes from guitar icons on why it was their instrument of choice. Guitar authority Neville Marten provides insightful text on the impact of the selected instruments, why it rose to its revered status, and the relationship between the guitar and its famous owner.

Gorgeous color photography, specially commissioned for this book, shows the instruments as objects of beauty, on their own and in the hands of guitar masters. Summary boxes are provided for each guitar, providing a information on its construction, technical features, musical styles each allows, and a list of well-known musicians associated with the instrument.

The book also contains a forward by legendary Queen member Brian May.

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The Book: Slash
The Author: Slash with Anthony Bozza
The Run-Down: From one of the greatest rock guitarists of our era comes a memoir that redefines sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll

He was born in England but reared in L.A., surrounded by the leading artists of the day amidst the vibrant hotbed of music and culture that was the early seventies. Slash spent his adolescence on the streets of Hollywood, discovering drugs, drinking, rock music, and girls, all while achieving notable status as a BMX rider. But everything changed in his world the day he first held the beat-up one-string guitar his grandmother had discarded in a closet.

The instrument became his voice and it triggered a lifelong passion that made everything else irrelevant. As soon as he could string chords and a solo together, Slash wanted to be in a band and sought out friends with similar interests. His closest friend, Steven Adler, proved to be a conspirator for the long haul. As hairmetal bands exploded onto the L.A. scene and topped the charts, Slash sought his niche and a band that suited his raw and gritty sensibility.

He found salvation in the form of four young men of equal mind: Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler, and Duff McKagan. Together they became Guns N’ Roses, one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands of all time. Dirty, volatile, and as authentic as the streets that weaned them, they fought their way to the top with groundbreaking albums such as the iconic Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion I and II.

Here, for the first time ever, Slash tells the tale that has yet to be told from the inside: how the band came together, how they wrote the music that defined an era, how they survivedinsane, never-ending tours, how they survived themselves, and, ultimately, how it all fell apart. This is a window onto the world of the notoriously private guitarist and a seat on the roller-coaster ride that was one of history’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll machines, always on the edge of self-destruction, even at the pinnacle of its success. This is a candid recollection and reflection of Slash’s friendships past and present, from easygoing Izzy to ever-steady Duff to wild-child Steven and complicated Axl.

It is also an intensely personal account of struggle and triumph: as Guns N’ Roses journeyed to the top, Slash battled his demons, escaping the overwhelming reality with women, heroin, coke, crack, vodka, and whatever else came along.

He survived it all: lawsuits, rehab, riots, notoriety, debauchery, and destruction, and ultimately found his creative evolution. From Slash’s Snakepit to his current band, the massively successful Velvet Revolver, Slash found an even keel by sticking to his guns.

Slash is everything the man, the myth, the legend, inspires: it’s funny, honest, inspiring, jaw-dropping . . . and, in a word, excessive.

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Although books written about guitars outnumber drum and percussion books by about 10 to 1, there are still some gems if you’re a drummer.

This book, Zildjian: A History of the Legendary Cymbal Makers, does a great job of telling the story of the the oldest family-owned business in the United States, now in its 14th generation.

Details from the early 20th century are especially interesting as Zildjian hooked up with many of the emerging jazz drummers of the day, cementing the company’s foothold in this market.

The Book: Zildjian: A History of the Legendary Cymbal Makers
The Author: Jon Cohan
The Run-Down: Filled with never-before-seen photos, memorabilia and recollections from legendary drummers, this book tells the exciting story of the world’s most popular cymbal company on the occasion of its 375th anniversary, from its beginnings in 17th-century Turkey to today. Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Max Roach, Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Dennis Chambers, Steve Gadd and Nell Pert are among the many great innovators who have crashed, splashed, choked, gonged and ridden Zildjians to make music history on some of the most ground breaking recordings of this century. See what these stars and the Zildjian family today have to say about these premium cymbals so rich in history.

Check out more music-related books at the BiblioPipe Music Media Library.

I’m going to do my best to recommend books I’ve actually read for the Book Club. This is one of them. In fact, I’ve probably read every book every written about Fender (I used to work in their marketing department, so I had to be an expert).

I can honestly say that this is my favorite “Fender” book. Although I appreciate an author who can painstakingly detail the evolution of Fender headstocks, logos, and the number of winds on their pickups, those books are really a dime a dozen. This book was written by Forrest White, an insider (Fender’s only General Manager during the Leo years), and really gives great insight into the early history of the company and the mind of Leo Fender.

The Book: Fender: The Inside Story
The Author: Forrest White
The Run-Down: Even though Leo Fender never learned how to play a guitar, he was the first to make the electric solidbody guitar a commercial success. Despite his low-key style and conservative roots, his radical designs for guitars and amplifiers altered popular music forever.

Much has been published about the Fender Electric Instrument Co., but Leo always wanted its story to be told “just the way it happened.” Now, Forrest White, his friend and only general manager, offers a behind-the-scenes look at this company. In his down-to-earth style, White traces the company’s entire history, from Leo’s beginnings as a radio repairman up to the eventual sale of Fender to CBS and beyond. In between are stories about the development of the Telecaster, Precision Bass and Stratocaster, as well as insights into Leo Fender’s unique personality.

Fender: The Inside Story is packed with more than 100 historic photos and illustrations; instrument diagrams and specifications; and anecdotes about artists such as Merle Travis, Bob Wills, Speedy West, and Tex Ritter. Here is the book that sets the record straight and dispels the myths about the Fender Electric Instrument Co., a company that forever changed the look, sound, and personality of American music.

Check out more music-related books at the BiblioPipe Music Media Library.

You’ll be noticing a few new features around GearPipe in the coming weeks. Hopefully you checked out the recent Best-Selling Electric Guitars post. This is just a quick way to show you what’s hot right now and give you a head-start on your research.

The Book Club is another new category that I think you’ll enjoy. I know that when I want to take a break from serious reading, a music-related book (usually band or musician bio or a gear book) is always good way to escape.

In addition to building up your repertoire of conversation starters, reading can actually help you with your playing, too. Sometimes I find that learning about a particular player’s theory about playing can do as much for you as learning about their technique.

The first edition of the GearPipe Book Club is a good example of this. Eric Clapton is a player who is known as much for the notes he doesn’t play as the notes that he does.

The Book: Clapton: The Autobiography
The Author: Eric Clapton
The Run-Down: “I found a pattern in my behavior that had been repeating itself for years, decades even. Bad choices were my specialty, and if something honest and decent came along, I would shun it or run the other way.”

With striking intimacy and candor, Eric Clapton tells the story of his eventful and inspiring life in this poignant and honest autobiography. More than a rock star, he is an icon, a living embodiment of the history of rock music. Well known for his reserve in a profession marked by self-promotion, flamboyance, and spin, he now chronicles, for the first time, his remarkable personal and professional journeys.

Born illegitimate in 1945 and raised by his grandparents, Eric never knew his father and, until the age of nine, believed his actual mother to be his sister. In his early teens his solace was the guitar, and his incredible talent would make him a cult hero in the clubs of Britain and inspire devoted fans to scrawl “Clapton is God” on the walls of London’s Underground. With the formation of Cream, the world’s first supergroup, he became a worldwide superstar, but conflicting personalities tore the band apart within two years. His stints in Blind Faith, in Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and in Derek and the Dominos were also short-lived but yielded some of the most enduring songs in history, including the classic “Layla.”

During the late sixties he played as a guest with Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, as well as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and longtime friend George Harrison. It was while working with the latter that he fell for George’s wife, Pattie Boyd, a seemingly unrequited love that led him to the depths of despair, self-imposed seclusion, and drug addiction. By the early seventies he had overcome his addiction and released the bestselling album 461 Ocean Boulevard, with its massive hit “I Shot the Sheriff.” He followed that with the platinum album Slowhand, which included “Wonderful Tonight,” the touching love song to Pattie, whom he finally married at the end of 1979. A short time later, however, Eric had replaced heroin with alcohol as his preferred vice, following a pattern of behavior that not only was detrimental to his music but contributed to the eventual breakup of his marriage.
In the eighties he would battle and begin his recovery from alcoholism and become a father. But just as his life was coming together, he was struck by a terrible blow: His beloved four-year-old son, Conor, died in a freak accident. At an earlier time Eric might have coped with this tragedy by fleeing into a world of addiction. But now a much stronger man, he took refuge in music, responding with the achingly beautiful “Tears in Heaven.”

Clapton is the powerfully written story of a survivor, a man who has achieved the pinnacle of success despite extraordinary demons. It is one of the most compelling memoirs of our time.

Check out more music-related books at the BiblioPipe Music Media Library.