"Our Book of the Year changes how we think about music memoirs, how they are structured and what they tell us...It tells us what it is to be creative and sustain this over a long period, and of a particular indefatigable individual who will go further than anyone else."
A wealth of written legacy empowering our celebration of music history and today's evolving scene. Just like our favourite albums, 2024 has seen another myriad of titles fly in and out of our shelves, reflecting our community's appetite for specialist music publishing. Passionate memoirs, poetry collections, creative biographies or behind-the-scenes of your favourite cult hero, our music world is increasingly well documented and we have a multitude of artists and independent publishers to thank for this.
With this year's list amplifying the voices and stories of Lawrence, Radiohead, Neneh Cherry, Arthur Russell, The Cure, Kathleen Hanna, MF DOOM and more, we are sure you will uncover a staple new read amongst our selection, a fresh set of printed works offering eye-opening perspectives to connect us with the music we love.
Scroll on down to discover 20 beautifully produced books which have stood out as the best reads of 2024, including Rough Trade Exclusive editions, signed copies, special posters or postcards and unseen photography.
Will Hodgkinson - Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence
Exclusive signed copies with an extra 5000-word chapter. Limited to 250 copies
“I am a songwriter. It is what I must do. However long I have to sit in this room with no money, no matter how many times the police break down my door to check I’m still alive, I cannot admit I’m not an artist.”
Lawrence
Over 40 years of near fame with Felt, Denim and latterly Mozart Estate, pop auteur Lawrence has always pushed forward, creating, inventing and not looking back. Journalist, author and music writer Will Hodgkinson captures how sometimes a story of perseverance can be more inspiring than a story of success in Street Level Superstar. Long walks in the rain, a Charli XCX show, Glastonbury, a few blazing rows and Costa Coffee, Street Level Superstar is a passionate biography created after Hodgkinson spent a year treading the streets of London in Lawrence's shadow. Considering Lawrence's feedback during the writing process, Hodgkinson builds an engaging but straightforward picture of Lawrence's life with the focus on his life choices and movements, in place of a full cast of colourful characters. Not only does Street Level Superstar read as an astute character study but also the reality of pop stardom and successes in the music industry. This insight is in safe hands with pop historian Hodgkinson, author of the acclaimed In Perfect Harmony: Singalong Pop in ’70s Britain, which topped various end-of-year lists in 2022.
We are thrilled that alongside crowning Street Level Superstar as Book of the Year, we are able to share a Special Edition with a 5000-word bonus chapter entitled 'The Making Of', in which Sian Pattenden interviews Will and Lawrence about the whole process, unmissable for its captivating honesty.
"This book changes how we think about music memoirs, how they are structured and what they tell us. It's Will Hodgkinson's book but it's Lawrence's book too. It reveals as much about the author as the subject. It's a walk, a series of encounters; It tells us what it is to be creative and sustain this over a long period, and of a particular indefatigable individual who will go further than anyone else."
Rough Trade
READ NOW: In Conversation with Will Hodgkinson
Kathleen Hanna - Rebel Girl
Rough Trade Exclusive signed copies.
Legendary Bikini Kill and Le Tigre front woman Kathleen Hanna presents a candid document of her formative years, the trauma and happenings which have fuelled her revolutionary spirit and voice within the riot grrl movement. Titled Rebel Girl after Bikini Kill’s biggest anthem, this autobiography strikes as strong a chord as Hanna's music, a raw reflection of dealing with and standing against male violence. The bleak moments are balanced with accounts of Hanna's most cherished moments and friendships with her bandmates Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Billy Karren; Kurt Cobain; her introduction to Joan Jett and falling in love with Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys.
Neneh Cherry - A Thousand Threads
Rough Trade Exclusive postcard portfolio.
A beautiful unravelling of a life in music and the cultural connections which Neneh Cherry has been part of and nurtured across Sweden, New York, Bristol and London. A story never centred on one location or one home, Cherry is a cat with nine lives as she reflects on the highs and lows of her own personal history and how music has always been the constant. Wonderous snippets and stories of the creative energy fostered in her early bands and collaborations with Rig Rig + Panic, The Slits, Massive Attack and her own unstoppable solo career. Equally important to this memoir is its story of family and motherhood, a vital experience shaping Cherry's life with poignant reflections of her artist mother Moki and stepfather, the great jazz musician Don Cherry. Some particularly great reflections on the West London music scene and Portobello Road in the 1970s, also home to the first Rough Trade, a birthplace and creative hub for some of our most treasured music or genres of all time.
Prize Draw for signed Neneh Cherry vinyl
William and Jim Reid - Never Understood: The Story of The Jesus and Mary Chain
Record store exclusive version signed by William and Jim Reid. Features alternate cover artwork by William. Housed in a bespoke slipcase designed by William.
Drink, drugs, and the pressure of success. William and Jim Reid impart an access-all-areas account of the journey of The Jesus and Mary Chain. A love letter to the Scottish working-class family, the brothers rewind back to the front room of their parents' East Kilbride council house and track the sibling politics of forming a band together from that moment.
A fully immersive style written with the help of music journalist Ben Thompson, Never Understood is highly revealing of the 80s music business, a brotherly feud comparable to Oasis, told with a modesty and honesty which makes it an easygoing read. A great rock biography for connecting the fans to their beloved band.
Colin Greenwood - How to Disappear: A Portrait of Radiohead
Signed by Colin Greenwood, accompanied by an exclusive 32-page booklet of 'Light Show', photographed by Colin Greenwood. Housed in a cloth slipcase.
"For years now, I’ve been taking fugitive snaps of my band, Radiohead. I’ve tried to catch out my friends with my small black Yashica T4 Super. They are so lost in their own moment of performance that they don’t see me with the camera."
Colin Greenwood
A very thoughtfully constructed collection of photography. Bassist Colin Greenwood demonstrates his talent outside of music, capturing the essence of his legendary band through a set of intimate images that really reveal the band's inner workings. Accompanied by a 10,000-word essay compiling some of the stories and memories of the band's 'middle years', representing "the joy and doubt and confidence and uncertainty" they would oscillate between.
Moon Unit Zappa - Earth to Moon
Signed copies including Rough Trade Exclusive Moon Unit tea
Moon Unit Zappa, daughter of musician Frank Zappa and his 'manager' Gail, reflects on a wildly unconventional upbringing and her complicated relationship with her parents. Moon divulges a real portrait of the 70's Laurel Canyon household, illuminating the darker side of growing up around the commonly perceived free-spirited '70s rockstar lifestyle, marred by her father's misogyny and promotion of infidelity.
An incredibly well-written piece of work with a lyrical approach, Moon digs deep to address Frank Zappa's emotionally distant style of parenting and whether her life paid the price of his commitment to his creative urges. The ultimate question is: "Is genius worth the collateral damage?"
Simon Raymonde - In One Ear: Cocteau Twins, Ivor Raymonde and Me
Rough Trade Exclusive limited copies. Hand-numbered and signed by Simon Raymonde. Includes 4 exclusive art cards, Designed by Chris Biggs of 4AD plus an extra chapter: How To Run An Indie Label.
Bella Union co-founder and former Cocteau Twins member Simon Raymonde looks back on a career in music, heading right back to childhood and his relationship with his father the legendary producer, musician and arranger Ivor Raymonde. In a highly conversational style, Raymonde journeys through his rise to prominence and his time with Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil, developing acoustic neuroma which left him partially deaf and his role in establishing the thriving indie label Bella Union, nurturing the careers of acts such as Father John Misty and John Grant.
Jeffrey and Steven McDonald - Now You’re One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross
Signed books and postcard.
Another family affair. Brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald aka Red Kross unravel their wild rise to becoming one of the most important rock bands of modern music. Written with esteemed music journalist and true Red Kross fan Dan Epstein, this is also an oral story of the early LA punk scene and Hollywood, with humorous anecdotes taken from interviews, illustrating the band's real personality. A memoir for the hardcore fans.
Chris Stein - Under A Rock
Signed bookplate and postcard.
A no-holds-barred autobiography. Chris Stein lays all cards on the table in his straight-talking memoir, from his bohemian upbringing to epitomising New York Cool with Blondie. The Blondie guitarist discusses the band's Parallel Lines glory days but also shares great detail on the lowlights, of this lifestyle; refusing to glamourise his battles with addiction or success the whole way through.
Caroline Coon - Nothing to Lose, Punk 1970s
Signed by Caroline.
"I celebrate the success of punk, especially for the way that space was created for women and, as Ruth Adams (reader in Cultural and Creative Industries at Kings College) maintains: punk bands, with their support for Rock Against Racism, changed our white national identity by imagining “a multicultural, post-colonial future [...] which to a large extent has come to pass."
Caroline Coon
A striking visual documentation of the early days of punk by counter-culture artist/photographer and feminist icon Caroline Coon. Capturing the explosion of punk amidst mid-70s unrest Coon's photos featuring Joe Strummer, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Poly Styrene (X-Ray Specs), Ari-Up (The Slits) amongst an amazing array of characters, celebrating the success of punk. An unmissable addition to the wonderful Cafe Royal Books collection which we love at Rough Trade, a unique approach to zines making artwork especially accessible to music lovers and a wider audience.
Jon Savage - The Secret Public: How the LGBTQ+ Aesthetic Shaped Pop Culture, 1955-1979
Signed bookplates and postcard.
A sharp and meticulously researched chronicle which brings an immense amount of vital detail to the often-erased history of LGBTQ+ communities in music. From the ambiguous sexuality of stars such as Little Richard in the 1950s through to David Bowie, glam rock and Sylvester's You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real). Jon Savage explores the power and influence of disco and club life in New York at the end of the 70s, revealing that LGBTQ+ liberation is at the heart of post-war pop music and culture.
Richard King - Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, A Life
Signed by Richard King. Rough Trade Exclusive reproduction flyer designed and screen printed by Tom Lee, Arthur's partner.
Delving into Arthur Russell's mind-blowing eclecticism is an inspiring and uplifting endeavour. With Richard King's biography: Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, A Life we are provided with the best opportunity to better understand his mysterious works. This landmark publication curates the ephemera and documentation found in both Arthur’s and other private archives, featuring hand-written scores, lyrics, photos, letters drawings and original interviews with Arthur’s collaborators, contemporaries, family and friends. A striking portrait of visual evidence as well as oral history.
S. H. Fernando - The Chronicles of Doom
Signed bookplates and exclusive stickers.
The man behind the mask. Acclaimed music writer (The New York Times, Rolling Stone) and author of The New Beats: Exploring the Music, Culture & Attitudes of Hip-Hop. S.H. Fernando dissects the creative force of MF DOOM. Drawing on his impressive hip-hop expertise Fernando embarks on an essential exploration of DOOM's personas, projects, tracks, and lyrics, resulting in a comprehensive portrait of the masked villain. Broken into five sections The Man, The Myth, The Mask, The Music and The Legend and drawing exclusive interviews with those who worked closely with DOOM. This thorough account is superbly written and highly digestible. The words of a true fan and not just an academic, achieving an intimate approach to the biography.
Kristin Hersh - The Future of Songwriting
Signed bookplates.
Songwriting powerhouse Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave) examines the art of song and her relationship to commerciality as an artist. Sharing anecdotes from her four-decade-long career, conversations with friends and plenty of questions, this essay-length meditation is both funny and considerate, challenging its readers to think about the possibilities of songwriting. A great addition to Melville House's FUTURE series, a series of essay-length philosophical and political interventions by both emerging and established writers and thinkers from around the world.
Joel Gion - In the Jingle Jangle Jungle: Keeping Time with the Brian Jonestown Massacre
Signed copies and exclusive bookmarks.
A fresh perspective on life as a band, Brian Jonestown Massacre's Joel Gion tells the story of the band's first ten years, taking us behind the scenes of the DIG! documentary, an expose on BJM founder Anton Newcombe’s attempts to lead his band to success. Written from a personal angle, Gion's works present an intimate insider portrait, detailing the adventures and most zany tales of the band. All those years of keeping time with the BJM have given Joel a natural sense of rhythm as In the Jingle Jangle Jungle moves with the same effortless, swaggering storytelling verve, an aspect that will be so familiar to fans of the cosmic counter-culture of West Coast America.
Simon Reynolds - FUTUROMANIA: Electronic Dreams, Desiring Machines and Tomorrow’s Music Today
Signed by Simon Reynolds, bonus fanzine with exclusive cover "From Synthedelia to Memoradelia" and postcard.
A collection of compelling essays analysing the technological evolutions which have defined pop and electronic music and how this history intersects. From Donna Summer and David Bowie to Daft Punk, from Afrobeats and Atlanta trap Reynolds pulls up the profiles of artists and scenes to build a real listening guide to the most essential electronic and digital sounds.
John Cooper Clarke - WHAT
Signed bookplates.
An exceptional collection from the poet laureate of punk. The Manchester-born spoken word performer focuses his satirical wit on themes of everyday life, his sharp social commentary finding love in the mundane, i.e. the delights of Manchester’s Curry Mile, Tom Jones or Farah slacks.
JCC has a rhythm to be reckoned with, an understanding of language and pace which is still accessible, rooted in the values of post-industrial Northern English working-class life in a way that feels genuine and unaffected.
Johnnie Johnstone - Through The Crack In The Wall: The Secret History Of Josef K
Signed bookplates plus postcard
Through The Crack In The Wall is the first-ever biography of Josef K, celebrating their incredible music that helped shape the UK independent scene of the eighties. Drawing extensively on new interviews with the band members and those around them as well as contemporary press articles, the book explores the band’s inner workings and analyses their relationships with Postcard Records supremo Alan Horne, label mates Orange Juice, and manager Allan Campbell.
Paul Cox - The Cure: Stills
Signed copies and postcard
Photographer Paul Cox first encountered The Cure on Top of the Pops in 1980 and has been instrumental in capturing their story ever since. In Stills, Cox documents the bands 'changing faces' of The Cure during the post-punk and new-wave movements of the late ’70s and ’80s. Over 200 colour and 75 black-and-white demonstrate the band's changing fashion and lineups accompanied with captions written by the band's constant leading force: Robert Smith.
Stuart Murdoch - Nobody's Empire, A Novel
"Belle and Sebastian were a pop band that sprang out of infirmity' - that infirmity being ME"
Stuart Murdoch
The life-affirming debut novel by the Belle and Sebastian frontman. A part memoir, part fiction following a main character named Stephen in 1990s Glasgow, with the same chronic fatigue syndrome Stuart was diagnosed with in childhood. Almost serving as a coming-of-age memoir, this personal and poignant work is a powerful rumination on illness and a unique combination of its unique role in a path toward a life in music.
Browse and shop all Rough Trade Books of the Year in-store or online at Rough Trade.
Looking for more gift inspiration? Check out our guide to the best gifts for music lovers.