Best books about music?

This likely belongs here instead of Literature, what are some good books ABOUT music? I'm not necessarily looking for biographies or autobiographies (they can be mentioned as well), just discussing various aspects about music (i suppose review books could count too).

As someone who loved Top 40 music growing up, I enjoyed reading John Seabrook's "The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory". It focuses on pop music (as in Top 40 music) and the industry/market/business behind it. 90% of the content is about pop music made in the past 20-odd years to make a point on how different the nature of pop music is during that period compared to the one before that. There are interesting stories about pop music history that indirectly say a lot about pop music that we listen today. Stories like Britney Spears, Max Martin, K-Pop, Dr. Luke and Spotify.

It's been a while since I last read it so I can't really recall and explain the book well. Fortunately, the book was kind of heavily publicised so several major mainstream media sources (like Washington Post and The Guardian) made some well-written reviews of the book. You can read the reviews to get a general gist of what the book is about. I'd like to add that the book might only serve a limited niche (folks who appreciate the beauty and humanity of the pop music world despite acknowledging its many obvious flaws)

Love for Sale by Robert Christgau is definitely one I'd recommend. Like the one tropeslave mentioned it's also about pop music history and its development as an industry, but with a specific focus on the States, starting with ragtime in the 19th Century. It just came out last year so it's pretty up to date.

How Music Works by David Byrne is another really good read if you're looking for something a bit broader in scope/subject matter. It's autobiographical in parts but mostly focuses on music theory.

edited 13th Nov '17 7:11:05 PM by KereruCulture

The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross, The Manual by Bill Drummond and Jim Cauty of The KLF, Rip It Up And Start Again by Simon Reynolds, Drew Daniel's 33 1/3 book analysing Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats, and John Cage's Silence are all worth a look.

edited 14th Nov '17 9:10:39 PM by JHM

May or may not count depending on your opinion but Soul Music does a great job at describing why we love music and why it matters a lot.

Henry Rollins' Get in the Van is well worth a read.

Ian Carr's bio of Miles Davis I heavily recommend. He does a nice job of analyzing Miles' music and is more forgiving of his later material than contemporary critics were.

Here Comes Everybody: The Story of The Pogues by James Fearnley (the accordionist) is probs my fave Pogues book rn.