Books about music: photo books, biographies, memoirs and genre histories

The definitive Monk biography: historian Robin D. G. Kelley spent over a decade on it and was the first to gain access to the family's archive. It dismantles the 'eccentric genius' myth and shows Monk as a well-read, family-rooted musician whose behaviour was largely shaped by bipolar disorder. Its portrait of San Juan Hill and the New York scene that birthed bebop is superb. It is long and at times overly detailed in its gig-by-gig chronicle, so it best suits readers who already know and love Monk. Among jazz biographies it sits at the very top.

Davis's own story, dictated to poet Quincy Troupe, running from bebop with Charlie Parker through Kind of Blue to the electric years and the 1980s comeback. Its power is the voice: raw, profane, arrogant and yet uncannily precise about music, bands and the search for a sound. It doubles as the best guide to his discography there is, because it explains why he kept abandoning each phase. The passages on drugs and especially on his treatment of women are hard to read – the book neither softens nor apologises for them. Essential for anyone who loves post-war jazz.

Half fiction, half essay: in short lyrical scenes Dyer 'improvises' on real episodes from the lives of Lester Young, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Ben Webster, Charles Mingus, Chet Baker and Art Pepper. Between them Duke Ellington keeps returning on an endless car journey, and the book closes with an essay on tradition and influence in jazz. It won a Somerset Maugham Award, and Keith Jarrett called it the only book about jazz he recommends to his friends. Anyone after facts and discographies will be disappointed, because Dyer invents on purpose. Anyone who wants to capture the mood of the music will find no better or shorter read.

Jazz scholar John Szwed wrote the best biography yet of Sun Ra, the composer and bandleader who claimed to come from Saturn. It traces Herman Poole Blount's path from Birmingham through Chicago swing bands to the cosmic Arkestra and its Philadelphia commune. Szwed takes Sun Ra's philosophy, Egyptology and Afrofuturism seriously and explains his influence on free jazz and later electronic music. At times it gets lost in minutiae and cannot fully tame the chaos of the Saturn Records discography. For anyone drawn to avant-garde jazz, it is still essential.

The founding essay by the poet LeRoi Jones (later Amiri Baraka), reading blues and jazz as a record of Black American history from slavery to bebop and the first stirrings of free jazz. It was the first time a Black writer argued so confidently that the music cannot be understood without its social and racial history. The writing is sharp and polemical and still provokes, although some of its verdicts on 'white' jazz and the Black middle class now feel simplified. It is neither a survey nor a record guide, but a book that changes how you hear jazz. For readers who want to understand why jazz meant more than music.

One of the strangest autobiographies in jazz: Mingus writes about himself in both first and third person, framed as a dialogue with a psychiatrist. Childhood in Watts, racism, music, love and a lot of exaggerated tales of sex and pimping blur into a kind of literary free jazz. You learn surprisingly little about the music and records, and the facts cannot always be trusted. What you get instead is a direct line into how one of jazz's greatest composers thought and felt. For Mingus fans and readers who can handle provocation; anyone wanting a conventional life story should pick a biography instead.

Billie Holiday's short, punchy autobiography, written with journalist William Dufty three years before her death. It covers her Baltimore childhood, prostitution, the first Harlem clubs, racism on tour with white big bands, heroin and prison. It is not reliable as fact – Dufty wanted her version of the story, and some material was softened under legal pressure. As a testament to her voice and attitude, though, it is irreplaceable, and it reads in one evening. An ideal first step; for detail, follow it with one of the later biographies.

The autobiography of the West Coast alto saxophonist, dictated to his wife Laurie, who wove in the voices of friends, family and fellow inmates. It is one of the most brutally honest books on addiction ever written: heroin, theft, years in San Quentin, with the music squeezed in between. Pepper retouches nothing, not even his own racism and selfishness, which makes it powerful but at times hard to stomach. The interleaved voices give it almost the feel of an oral history. Best for readers drawn to the human story behind jazz rather than musical analysis.

Pianist and musicologist Lewis Porter wrote a Coltrane biography that combines the life story with detailed musical analysis. Using documents and interviews with family and bandmates, it corrects many errors in earlier books and, above all, explains what was actually happening in the music – from 'sheets of sound' to A Love Supreme and the late free period. The analytical passages with notated examples will reward musicians; lay readers can skip them without losing the thread. The tone is sober, free of legend and pathos. The best choice for those who truly want to understand Coltrane.

The most widely read single-volume history of jazz, running from New Orleans through swing, bebop, cool and free jazz to the present. Gioia is a pianist himself and writes clearly about the music without burying the reader in theory. It works as a map from which to head off to the records and to more specialised books on each period. The price of its breadth is that recent and European jazz get less space and some chapters read like overviews. The ideal first jazz book for anyone who wants the whole story in one volume.

The British journalist and photographer Val Wilmer knew New York's free jazz scene from the inside, and this is still the best account of how that music came about and how its players survived. Alongside Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra, she covers loft concerts, self-run labels, money, drugs and the musicians' wives and partners whom other writers ignored. It is more reportage and portraiture than chronological history, so it sometimes jumps around. The 2018 Serpent's Tail edition put it back in the shops. Essential reading for anyone drawn to the spiritual and free jazz of the 1960s and 70s.

The ancestor of every music oral history: Shapiro and Hentoff stitched interviews and testimonies from Armstrong, Ellington, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie and dozens of others into the story of jazz moving from New Orleans through Chicago and Kansas City to New York. The musicians talk in their own words about clubs, gangsters, racism and how they learned to play. The book stops in the mid-1950s, so it catches modern jazz only at its start. Some of the memories are closer to legend than fact, which is part of the charm. Great for reading in short bursts and a good companion to Gioia's history.

This book of conversations, recorded by journalist Seán O'Hagan with Nick Cave during the pandemic, is more spiritual autobiography than conventional memoir. Cave speaks openly about the deaths of his sons, grief, faith and doubt, and how songs like those on Ghosteen and Carnage grow out of all that. You also learn a lot about his working methods, his collaboration with Warren Ellis and his journey from post-punk chaos to his current work. The Q&A format will not suit everyone, and there is little about the Birthday Party era. For many readers, though, it is one of the most powerful books a musician has ever published.

The New Yorker's music critic tells the story of 20th-century 'classical' music from Strauss's Salome through Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Shostakovich to Cage, the minimalists, Reich and Glass. Ross writes as a journalist rather than a musicologist, setting the music against politics, war and the Cold War and explaining it so that readers with no musical training can follow. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. For fans of art rock and the avant-garde it is the ideal bridge to Cage, Stockhausen and the minimalism that Eno, the Velvet Underground and krautrock drew on. It is a thick book and hurries through the final decades, but it reads like a novel.

The memoir of the co-founder of Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey, a COUM Transmissions performer and an artist who also worked in porn magazines as part of her practice. It offers an insider view of the birth of industrial music, the British avant-garde of the 1970s and the scandals around it. The strongest and darkest thread is her psychologically abusive relationship with Genesis P-Orridge, described without sentimentality. The style is matter-of-fact, almost diary-like, and some find the closing chapters on a quiet life with Chris Carter too conventional. One of the most acclaimed music memoirs of recent years.

The official Can book has two parts: an extensive biography by Rob Young (author of Electric Eden) and 'Can Kiosk', a collage of interviews, oral history and journals by keyboardist Irmin Schmidt. Young brilliantly explains how Can grew out of Stockhausen students and jazzmen, and how their collective improvisation and tape editing at Inner Space studio worked. Kitty Empire in the Guardian called it 'a cerebral book about a cerebral band'. Young's prose is at times ornate, and Schmidt's second part is mainly for die-hards. Still the best book on krautrock you can buy today.

Rather than a chronological life story, Zappa's autobiography is a collection of essays, anecdotes and rants written with the same sarcasm as his records. It covers his childhood near chemical plants in Baltimore, the early Mothers of Invention, his love of Varèse and classical music, and his famous fight against PMRC censorship before the US Senate. Much space goes to his views on politics, religion and the music business – funny, but sometimes dated. The albums themselves get less attention than a fan might expect. A great read for anyone who enjoys Zappa's humour and wants to understand how he thought.

Journalist Mike Barnes (The Wire, Mojo) wrote the most thorough biography of Don Van Vliet, creator of Trout Mask Replica and one of the strangest figures in the rock avant-garde. Built on interviews with former Magic Band members, it does not shy away from the dark side of the legend: the psychological control he exerted over his band. Barnes also writes perceptively about the music, its blues and free-jazz roots, and the painting Van Vliet eventually turned to. It may be too detailed for a newcomer, but for fans of Zappa and experimental rock it is a key text. Availability of new copies varies by market.

The newest and, for many critics, the best Lou Reed biography, by music journalist Will Hermes (Rolling Stone, NPR). Hermes was the first to work with Reed's archive and follows him from the Velvet Underground through Transformer, Berlin and Metal Machine Music to his late collaborations and his relationship with Laurie Anderson. Unlike earlier, more tabloid biographies, it focuses on the music, the New York art scene and Reed's queer identity. The Washington Post called it 'the only Lou Reed bio you need to read'. Scandal-seekers will find less here; readers after context will be satisfied.

Brian Eno's diary of 1995, the year he produced U2, worked with Bowie on Outside, curated exhibitions and devised installations. The entries alternate with long 'appendices' – essays on generative music, ambient, culture, technology and the value of mistakes. It is not an autobiography in the strict sense, but it is the best way into the mind of one of pop's most influential thinkers. The diary format means brilliant insights sit next to a fair amount of everyday trivia and small personal notes. Best read in instalments rather than in one go.

Musician and critic David Toop writes about ambient music in its widest sense, from Debussy and Erik Satie through John Cage, Brian Eno, Lee Perry's dub and Sun Ra to The Orb, Aphex Twin and the chill-out rooms of the 1990s. It is not a chronology but a loose drift through interviews, travel experiences and reflections on how music turned into environment. Toop connects things that rarely meet elsewhere and leaves you with plenty of listening tips. Readers who want a clear line and hard facts may get lost in the dreamlike structure. For listeners of Eno, krautrock and electronica it is an inspiring read.

The most complete English-language book on krautrock: Can, Neu!, Faust, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Harmonia, Tangerine Dream, Amon Düül and more. Stubbs presents them as a generation that wanted to start from zero after the war, building on neither the German past nor Anglo-American rock. It pairs well with the krautrock photo book already on this site. In places it is more about politics and culture than the records themselves, and some bands get less space. For anyone who wants to know where motorik, Kraftwerk and today's electronic music came from, this is the best place to start.

A book about the trio that built the strangest corner of British music after Throbbing Gristle: Coil, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound. Keenan, a long-time writer for The Wire, conducted long interviews with them and covers occultism, queer culture, collecting and home-recording experiments. It is a passionate, at times admiring book, so critical distance is sometimes missing. It is harder going if you don't know the music, but as a way into industrial and the 'wyrd' underground it has no rival. For lovers of the experimental who have already worked through Joy Division and Throbbing Gristle.

A collection of essays by the British critic Mark Fisher (of the k-punk blog), who popularised 'hauntology': the sense that pop culture has stopped imagining the future and only recycles the past. He writes about Burial, The Caretaker, Joy Division, Japan, Tricky and the Ghost Box label, and about how they connect to neoliberalism and depression. It is the most influential music criticism of the last twenty years, and since 2025 it has a Czech translation. The pieces are uneven, some are more about TV and film, and the theoretical vocabulary may put some readers off. For readers who want to think about why the music of the 1970s and 80s still pulls at us so hard.

The memoir of The Slits' guitarist is one of the best books ever written about punk. The first half is a vivid, funny and unsentimental picture of the London scene of 1976–79: the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Mick Jones, Sid Vicious and young women fighting for the right to pick up instruments. The second half follows life after the band – illness, IVF, a collapsing marriage and a return to music past fifty – and is just as strong. Albertine writes in short chapters with brutal honesty, including about sex and the body. Not just for punk fans but for anyone who loves a well-written memoir.

The canonical history of British punk, centred on the Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren and the SEX shop but covering the whole scene from the Clash and Siouxsie to the Buzzcocks and the fanzines. Savage was there as a journalist and sets the events against the social and political backdrop of 1970s Britain, Situationism and fashion. It is not just a gig chronicle but an explanation of why punk shook the whole country. The dense style and sheer number of names can tire a casual reader, and the American scene is barely present. If you read only one book about punk, make it this one.

Patti Smith's memoir of her friendship and love affair with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in late-1960s and 1970s New York. The Chelsea Hotel, Max's Kansas City, poverty, poetry and the slow search for her own voice culminate in the recording of Horses. Beautifully and tenderly written, it reads more like a literary memoir than a rock biography, and rightly won the National Book Award. Anyone expecting mainly CBGB and punk-scene stories may be a little disappointed – the music stays in the background. Otherwise it is one of the most widely read and loved music books of all.

Reynolds shows that the most interesting music came after punk: PiL, Joy Division, Gang of Four, The Pop Group, Talking Heads, Devo, Pere Ubu, Cabaret Voltaire, the Rough Trade and Factory labels, and also synth-pop and ZTT. Each chapter covers one scene or city, and together they make the best guide to post-punk there is. The book is full of ideas about why this generation wanted to change not only music but politics and art. The scope is huge, so not every chapter has the same depth, and the later sections on pop lose some tension. Required reading for anyone who listens to new wave and post-punk.

The most famous oral history in rock: American punk from the Velvet Underground, the Stooges and MC5 through the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Television and the Ramones at CBGB to the Sex Pistols' US tour. The story is told entirely through edited testimony from musicians, managers, photographers and groupies, so it reads fast and is brutally entertaining. There is a lot of drugs, sex and gossip and less of the music than some would like. British punk and later hardcore are largely absent. A Czech translation appeared as early as 1999, and the book is the perfect counterpart to Savage's.

Thirteen chapters on thirteen bands that built the American independent underground in the 1980s without the majors: Black Flag, Minutemen, Mission of Burma, Minor Threat, Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Fugazi, Mudhoney, Beat Happening and more. Azerrad shows how labels like SST, Dischord and Sub Pop, van tours and fanzines worked, which is DIY in practice. Each chapter is a self-contained story, so you can read it in any order. Structurally it is more a set of portraits, and some important bands are missing. A classic for fans of hardcore, noise rock and indie.

The memoir of Sonic Youth's bassist and singer, visual artist and icon of New York's no wave scene. Kim Gordon recalls her California childhood, arriving in 1980s New York, a band that fused punk, noise and contemporary art, and her encounters with Kurt Cobain and Kim Deal. The book is framed, though, by the end of her marriage to Thurston Moore – and therefore of the band – which she writes about coolly and painfully. Reader reactions are mixed: many want more music, and the style is sparse to the point of detachment. Still an important female perspective on alternative rock and the art world.

Ian Curtis's widow describes her life with the Joy Division frontman, from adolescence in Macclesfield to his suicide in May 1980. It is a deeply personal, sad book about epilepsy, depression, infidelity and how little those around him understood what was happening – and it became the basis for Anton Corbijn's film Control. You learn less about the music and recording than from band members' memoirs, but nowhere else is Curtis so humanly close. The perspective is understandably one-sided, which bothers some fans. As a companion to Joy Division's music, it is irreplaceable.

Johnny Rotten's 1994 autobiography focuses on his childhood in a working-class Irish family in London and, above all, on the short, explosive history of the Sex Pistols. Lydon's voice is caustic, funny and self-centred, but the book is greatly enriched by interspersed testimony from others – Paul Cook, Chrissie Hynde, Billy Idol and his own father. That gives it almost the feel of an oral history and a counterweight to the myths spun by Malcolm McLaren. Lydon naturally sees everything his own way and can be unfairly harsh on everyone around him. A punk literature classic.

Morrissey's autobiography was published directly as a Penguin Classic, which caused a stir in itself, and became an instant UK bestseller. The first third, on his 1970s Manchester childhood, Catholic school, glam and the New York Dolls, is brilliantly written and among the best in the genre. There is surprisingly little about The Smiths, while a bitter account of the court case with drummer Mike Joyce takes up a great deal of space. Written in one unbroken stream without chapters, its ego and score-settling will tire many readers. A fascinating, divisive book – essential for fans, a test of patience for others.

The memoir of Richard Hell – co-founder of Television, member of the Heartbreakers, frontman of the Voidoids and the man credited with inventing the ripped-T-shirt punk look. It follows him from Kentucky to New York, his beginnings as a poet, his relationship with Tom Verlaine and the golden era of CBGB up to the early 1980s. Hell is a writer first, so the book is well crafted, ironic and self-aware. It is also quite self-absorbed, heavy on sex and drugs, and some readers will be put off by his arrogance towards former bandmates. For anyone interested in New York proto-punk, though, a key testimony.

A daring essay that starts from Johnny Rotten's scream and looks for its roots in medieval heretics, the Dadaists of the Cabaret Voltaire, the Lettrists, Guy Debord's Situationists and Paris in 1968. Marcus does not tell the history of punk; he shows that the same urge to 'destroy everything' keeps resurfacing through history. It is one of the most influential books of rock criticism, but it is hard going: it jumps through time, repeats itself and contains more philosophy and art than music. It is easier to approach after Savage and Reynolds. For readers interested in how punk connects with the 20th-century avant-garde.

A selection of writing by the most famous rock critic of all, edited after his death by Greil Marcus. Bangs writes about the Stooges, the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Captain Beefheart, the Clash, free jazz and noise with such energy that the reviews become literature in their own right. It includes his famous running interviews and fights with Lou Reed, his report from the Clash on tour and his essay on racism in the punk scene. The pieces are long, overwrought and sometimes unbearably wordy, which is part of the style. For anyone who wants to know what music writing looked like in Creem magazine's prime.

A biography of the Detroit producer J Dilla, whose 'drunken', off-grid beats transformed hip-hop, neo-soul and modern jazz. Dan Charnas combines Dilla's life story – from Slum Village through work with A Tribe Called Quest, D'Angelo and Erykah Badu to his death at 32 – with a brilliantly clear explanation of rhythm and 'Dilla time'. It also shows how jazz players, drummers and producers worldwide embraced him after his death. The theory chapters on rhythm will not grip everyone, but for musicians and DJs they are the most valuable part. One of the best books on hip-hop and music production, full stop.

Tim Lawrence, author of the landmark disco history Love Saves the Day, wrote this biography of Arthur Russell – the cellist, composer and producer who bridged New York's minimalist avant-garde with disco and early house. It follows him from Iowa via a Buddhist commune and The Kitchen to the Paradise Garage, to Dinosaur L, Loose Joints and the intimate World of Echo. Russell died of AIDS in 1992 almost unknown, and only later reissues turned him into a cult figure. Lawrence is an academic, so the text is thorough and occasionally dry, but full of interviews with those around Russell. Essential for fans of experimental dance music.

The most detailed history of disco and 1970s New York club culture, built on hundreds of interviews. Lawrence starts with David Mancuso's parties at the Loft and moves through the Sanctuary, Studio 54, Paradise Garage, the first remixes and 12-inch singles to the backlash against disco. He shows that disco was created mainly by gay, Black and Latino New Yorkers and that house and today's DJ culture grew out of it. It is an academic book packed with names and details, so in places it reads like an encyclopedia. For disco and house fans it is the bible, and it pairs well with the Studio 54 photo books on this site.

A history of the DJ as a creator rather than someone who just plays records: from the first radio presenters through Jamaican sound systems, northern soul, disco at the Loft and Paradise Garage and hip-hop block parties to house, techno and superstar DJs. The authors talked to dozens of people who were there and write lightly and with humour, so it works as an introduction for newcomers too. It links topics that this site splits into several sections: soul, disco, hip-hop and rave. The breadth costs some depth, and the most recent chapters date fastest. For anyone who has stood behind the decks or in front of them.

Hip-hop as a culture, not just music: Chang starts in Jamaica and the burning Bronx of the 1970s and moves through Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, graffiti, breaking, Public Enemy and gangsta rap to the politics and activism around 2000. The music is tied to urban planning, policing, gangs and the media, making it a true history of a generation. It won an American Book Award. Readers looking mainly for album analysis and lyrics will find less of that, and the second half is more about politics than music. The best book on why hip-hop changed the world.

The autobiography of Chic's guitarist and producer, one of the architects of disco and modern dance-pop. Rodgers grew up in a bohemian Greenwich Village family with addicted parents, passed through the Black Panthers and Sesame Street, and with Bernard Edwards created Le Freak, Good Times and We Are Family for Sister Sledge. The book covers Studio 54, the music industry's racial prejudice, the 'Disco Sucks' backlash, and producing Bowie's Let's Dance and Madonna's Like a Virgin. Drugs and family drama take up much of it, so readers after detailed studio analysis will want more. Still the best insider book disco has.

Moby's memoir runs from a poor suburban childhood to the breakthrough of Play in 1999, with the focus on New York's 1990s rave and club scene. It is a funny, self-deprecating account of a teetotal Christian vegan DJing at clubs like Mars, making early techno hits and then gradually sliding into drink. It captures the spirit of early American rave, long before EDM went commercial. Moby can come across as overly self-pitying and the chronology jumps around, but it is a quick read. The sequel, Then It Fell Apart (2019), is darker.

Sociologist Joshua Gamson's biography of Sylvester, the Black queer falsetto singer whose hits You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) and Do Ya Wanna Funk, made with producer Patrick Cowley, laid the foundations of hi-NRG and electronic disco. It is also a portrait of 1970s San Francisco – the Cockettes theatre troupe, gay liberation on Castro Street and then the devastation of the AIDS epidemic. Gamson writes with empathy and a sharp sense of cultural context, though there is less musical analysis. An important book about where today's club culture came from. Less well known, but very highly rated by readers.

The memoir of the drummer and mastermind of The Roots, a DJ, producer and one of hip-hop's great record collectors. Questlove recalls his Philadelphia childhood, the Soulquarians collective with J Dilla, D'Angelo and Erykah Badu, and how a hip-hop band became the house band of Jimmy Fallon's TV show. The form is playful: emails and notes from his co-writer and manager cut into the text, and lists of favourite records are scattered throughout. Some will love that structure, others find it distracting, and there is little about his private life. A great book for fans of hip-hop as music culture and for crate-diggers.

The essential book on rave culture, by a critic who went to the parties himself. Reynolds takes the reader from Detroit techno and Chicago house through acid house and the second summer of love, hardcore, jungle, drum'n'bass and UK garage to German minimal and later strands in the expanded editions. He ties descriptions of the music to drugs, technology, club economics and politics, so you understand why rave was more than a night out. It is a long, dense book, and the author's love of the 'hardcore continuum' shows more than his feelings for other styles. For anyone who wants to understand electronic dance music, not just listen to it.

An oral history of Berlin techno from the fall of the Wall to the mid-1990s, told in the voices of the people who were there: Dimitri Hegemann, Westbam, Tanith, Ellen Allien and the crowds behind Tresor, E-Werk, Planet and the Love Parade. It captures the unique moment when a scene born in abandoned East Berlin buildings and unpoliced spaces made the city the capital of techno. It reads like an adventure story and complements the Tresor: True Stories book already on this site. The view is very Berlin-centric and focused on a handful of clubs, so don't expect wider context or musical analysis. For anyone who travels to Berlin to dance.

The first and still the best book on Detroit techno: Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson from Belleville, Underground Resistance, Carl Craig, Jeff Mills and the scene that produced a style now played worldwide. Sicko explains how Kraftwerk, funk, the radio DJ The Electrifying Mojo and a collapsing motor city produced futurist music. It is short and matter-of-fact, so it lacks Reynolds's literary flair and some passages read like a list of records. The 2010 second edition adds later developments. Great reading alongside the 313OneLove photo book on this site.

A cult and fairly wild book that reads Black music as science fiction: Sun Ra, Lee Perry, Parliament, Herbie Hancock, 1970s Miles Davis, Detroit techno, Drexciya, jungle and hip-hop as machines for inventing the future. Eshun effectively laid the foundations of 'Afrofuturism' in music criticism. He writes in an invented language full of neologisms and typographic experiments, so reading it feels like listening to a dense track. For some it will be a thrill, for others impenetrable theory. For experienced readers who have done the standard histories and want something radical.

The best book on Jamaican music and sound-system culture: from the first 'sets' of Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd in the 1950s through ska, rocksteady, roots reggae and dub to dancehall. Bradley, a British journalist of Jamaican descent, talked to producers, selectors and musicians and shows that the real heroes were not the singers but the sound systems, studios and basslines. He also explains the island's economics, politics and Rastafari well. Bob Marley gets surprisingly little space, which may disappoint some, and in places the book is crowded with names. The ideal text companion to the Bass, Mids, Tops and Dancehall photo books already on this site.

A report on the most obsessive record collectors in the world: hunters of shellac 78s from the 1920s and 30s who pay thousands of dollars for a single blues side. Petrusich, a New Yorker writer, joins them at flea markets, visits their collections and even dives into the Milwaukee River, where Paramount records are rumoured to lie. The book is funny and personal, and it also asks why people collect and what they are rescuing. Musically it is the world of pre-war blues and country, outside the site's main focus. For every vinyl collector who wants to look in the mirror.

A history of recording as a fight for 'faithful' sound: from Edison's phonograph and the 'live or recorded?' tone tests through tape, multitracking, the Motown and Abbey Road studios, dub, sampling and the CD to the loudness war and MP3. Milner explains the technology so anyone can follow and shows how each innovation changed the music itself. A bonus is the stories of engineers and producers who are usually overlooked in music history. Some technical passages drag, and the author has firm views on digital compression. For audiophiles, collectors and anyone who listens to how music sounds, not just what it plays.

Talking Heads' singer writes not a memoir but a book about how music is shaped by its setting, technology and money. Byrne explains why a Gothic cathedral, CBGB and a stadium each 'demand' different music, how recording changed composition, how the music business works and what an artist actually earns, and he uses his own career to show how he collaborates. It is an accessible, clever read full of ideas, and since 2025 it is available in Czech from Host. The chapters are uneven, and the parts on business and streaming date quickly. For anyone who makes music, promotes concerts or simply wonders why music sounds the way it does.

A personal history of northern soul by a Scottish journalist who, as a teenager, travelled to all-nighters at Wigan Casino, the Twisted Wheel and Blackpool Mecca. Cosgrove describes the hunt for rare soul singles from Detroit and Chicago, the acrobatic dancing, amphetamines, the clubs and their DJs, and the arguments over what counts as 'real' northern. He mixes facts with his own memories, so it feels alive, but it is one man's view. Readers who want a systematic history with every name and record will find less of that here. The ideal companion to the Northern Soul: An Illustrated History photo book already on this site.

Jan Pelc's book-length interview with Mejla Hlavsa, bassist and chief songwriter of The Plastic People of the Universe, is the key insider account of the Czech underground. Hlavsa talks about the band's founding in 1968, the influence of the Velvet Underground and Zappa, gigs in village halls, Ivan 'Magor' Jirous, the 1976 trial and the road to Charter 77. The expanded Maťa edition adds a foreword by Jirous, an afterword by Vratislav Brabenec and a chapter by Jiří Vanča on the band after 1990 and its 1999 US tour. The interview format is lively and immediate, but do not expect a tidy history. Essential reading for anyone wanting to understand Czech alternative culture; available in Czech only.

The most complete history yet of the Plastic People of the Universe and the Czech underground from 1968 to 1988, by Jaroslav Riedel, a long-time researcher and editor of the band's recordings and lyrics. Riedel draws on more than fifty interviews with Mejla Hlavsa, Ivan 'Magor' Jirous, Sváťa Karásek and others, plus band chronicles, diaries, letters, secret police files and court records. The book is close to scholarly and keeps a critical distance from the band's myth, including the controversial late-1980s concerts by Hlavsa's Garáž and Půlnoc. It may be too detailed for the casual reader, but it is the foundation for anyone interested in the 'second culture'. Check whether new copies are still available; second-hand copies sell for more.

Historian Miroslav Vaněk, founder of the Czech centre for oral history, describes how rock'n'roll, bigbít, the underground, punk and new wave in Czechoslovakia clashed with the regime from 1956 to the Velvet Revolution. He combines secret police and Communist Party archives, scholarly literature, eyewitness accounts and his own experience, and asks how far rock really contributed to the fall of socialism. Reviewers praise him for avoiding anecdote and judging carefully. It is an academic book, so it reads slowly and says less about the music itself than about politics. The best overall survey of the Czechoslovak rock alternative under communism.

A cult chronicle of Czechoslovak punk and hardcore before 1989 by Filip Fuchs, editor of the fanzine Hluboká orba. It maps the bands of the time, their songs, gigs and stories and the atmosphere of an era when the regime treated punk as an enemy, with period photographs. It ends with a list of punk, Oi! and hardcore bands. It is a fan's book for fans rather than a scholarly study, and the style reflects that. For anyone who wants to know what punk looked like behind the Iron Curtain, it is still the only comprehensive book.

A history of Czech jazz between the Soviet tanks of 1968 and the 'keys' jangled in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, by Lubomír Dorůžka (1924–2013), the doyen of Czech jazz writing and a literary translator. It describes how jazz, its musicians, festivals and labels survived 'normalisation', existing somewhere between the official scene and the grey zone. Dorůžka took part himself, so the book is also testimony and at times memoir. Readers without an interest in the Czech scene will find it too detailed, and today it is mostly found second-hand. A key book for anyone who listens to Czech jazz and jazz-rock of the 1970s and 80s.

The only comprehensive chronicle of Czechtek, the largest Czech freetekno teknival, held almost every year from 1994 to 2006 until it ended with a heavy police raid. Each year has its own chapter with data on the site, attendance, sound systems, police and media coverage, plus a flyer, a map and photos. The appendices include the Spiral Tribe and Shockraver manifestos, a piece on DIY culture and a list of Czech sound systems. It is an amateur documentation project with no real narrative or deeper analysis, published mainly as a cheap e-book. For anyone who went to free parties in the 1990s it is a valuable archive and a companion to the No System and Spiralled photo books on this site.

The Rolling Stones guitarist's autobiography, written with journalist James Fox, is one of the best-selling rock memoirs of all time. Richards recalls his Dartford childhood, his love of the blues, the founding of the Stones, the drug trials, the French exile while making Exile on Main St. and his complicated relationship with Mick Jagger. Unlike many rock books, it has a lot about the music itself – open tunings, riffs and how the songs came together. It is a long read, packed with anecdotes that sometimes repeat, and Richards naturally casts himself in a favourable light. A canonical book even for non-Stones fans.

The first volume of Peter Guralnick's two-part Elvis Presley biography, by America's most respected writer on 1950s music, blues and soul. It follows Elvis from his Tupelo childhood through the Sun Records sessions with Sam Phillips to his army induction in 1958 – the era when he was a revolutionary, not a parody of himself. Guralnick writes without tabloid sensationalism or fan worship, drawing on a huge number of interviews and a deep feel for the American South. The Sunday Telegraph called it 'the richest portrait of Presley we have ever had'. A long read, but one of the canonical music biographies; it continues in Careless Love.

The classic history of 1960s Southern soul: Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Solomon Burke, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and above all the Stax studio in Memphis and FAME in Muscle Shoals. Guralnick, America's most respected writer on roots music, builds it on long interviews with musicians, producers and label owners. He presents soul as music bound up with the civil rights movement, made jointly by Black singers and white session players. Motown's northern soul is largely absent, and the narrative is slow-paced and nostalgic. For anyone who loves soul and wants to understand where it came from.

In 1960 William Claxton traveled across America with the German jazz critic Joachim-Ernst Berendt and photographed not only the stars but also street musicians, churches and bars where jazz lived. The result is one of the most famous jazz photo books of all time – a broad document of what jazz meant in everyday life. Taschen's XL format suits the photos, but the book is heavy and large, so it's not bedtime reading. Among jazz books it has the best coverage in both rankings and reviews; the new printing is an ideal entry point into a collection.

Roy DeCarava was the first African American to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his jazz photos are not reportage but pure photographic poetry – dark tones, grain, mood captured rather than pose. The book was published alongside a major exhibition at the David Zwirner gallery and the printing is at the level of an art monograph. If you want one jazz book that also holds its own as art on the shelf next to Cartier-Bresson, this is it. Fewer “stars on stage,” more atmosphere of 1950s and '60s Harlem.

Jim Marshall, the photographer of Hendrix and Cash, shot the Newport and Monterey festivals in the 1960s – Coltrane, Miles, Monk, Nina Simone, but also the audience and backstage. The book has around 600 black-and-white photos, and several independent reviews praise it as one of the best jazz photo books at a reasonable price. Reel Art Press prints to a high standard and the binding is solid. Excellent value for money across the whole jazz section.

The sequel to the cult book by DJ Gilles Peterson and Soul Jazz Records boss Stuart Baker about spiritual and free jazz covers from the 1960s to the 1980s – independent labels such as Strata-East, Tribe and Black Jazz. The first volume is sold out and expensive on the secondary market; the second is available. Square LP format, covers reproduced at full size. Ideal for collectors of records as well as graphic design; there is less text, it's mainly about the visuals.

A photographic history of radical American jazz 1960–75 – the avant-garde, free jazz and its ties to the civil rights and Black Power movements. Soul Jazz Books made it into a large, lavishly illustrated book with period photos, posters and covers. Availability is running out – the last copies are in the US, in Europe often only secondhand. If you're drawn to Coltrane, Sun Ra or Archie Shepp, this is the context for their music.

Hundreds of jazz LP covers from the collection of Lisbon DJ Joaquim Paulo, with short commentaries and details about the designers and photographers. It's more a visual encyclopedia than an art book – Taschen also publishes it in a very cheap edition. A safe and inexpensive foundation for a jazz shelf, which you can also use as a list of records to buy. It's not a rare piece, but it's a joy to leaf through.

The official history of the Blue Note label for its 75th anniversary by Richard Havers – Francis Wolff on the photos, Reid Miles on the covers, Rudy Van Gelder in the studio. The book combines text with a wealth of archival material and covers, so it's both readable and beautiful. It's currently often sold out and awaiting a reprint; it can be found secondhand. Practically essential for a hard bop lover.

Studio photographs by Francis Wolff, co-founder of Blue Note, who photographed Monk, Coltrane and Art Blakey right at the recording sessions – it's his shots that make up the label's iconic covers. The Rizzoli book from the 1990s has long been sold out and holds a high price secondhand (Goodreads 4.67). If you find it in good condition, it's one of the most valuable pieces of a jazz collection. A cheaper substitute is the book Jazz Images by Francis Wolff.

Herman Leonard is the photographer who defined the visual image of bebop – cigarette smoke in backlight, Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington. This 2025 monograph is the newest and most accessible edition of his work. If you know the iconic photo of Dexter Gordon in a cloud of smoke, it's his. A great pairing with Claxton – Leonard is night and smoke, Claxton is sunshine and California.

A book about the visual language of the German label ECM – minimalist covers with photographs of fog, landscapes and abstraction, which became synonymous with “European” art jazz (Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Arvo Pärt). The publisher Lars Müller is known for precise printing. This is a book for people who buy records for the cover, too. Availability needs to be checked; it's probably running out.

Photographer Philip Arneill and DJ James Catchpole spent eight years mapping Japan's jazz kissa – small cafés and bars where jazz is listened to from records on expensive speakers in complete silence. Many of them have since disappeared, so the book is also a document of a vanishing culture. The nice standard edition with a slipcase costs around 40 £ (there's also a signed collector's version for 250 €, which I left out). The book received a lot of attention from design magazines; exactly what you're looking for.

A large-format album by photographer Katsumasa Kusunose about Japanese jazz listening rooms – interiors, sound systems, records and their owners. With a foreword by Devon Turnbull, the OJAS speaker designer behind the wave of “listening bars” in the West. It's a Japanese import on quality paper with an obi strip – a physically imposing piece, more expensive (around 140 $). If Tokyo Jazz Joints is reportage, this is the representative monograph.

A smaller photo collection/magazine about Japanese jazz kissa from 2022–23, which also lists the venues' addresses. It's not a luxury piece and I couldn't find any reviews of it, but it works as a practical guide if you were to go to Japan. Take it as a supplement to the two big kissa books.

From 1957 to 1965 photographer W. Eugene Smith lived in a New York loft where Monk, Zoot Sims and dozens of others jammed at night – he photographed them and recorded thousands of hours of tape. Sam Stephenson's book is the result of many years of research into this archive and received excellent reviews (Booklist, Publishers Weekly). Sold out, but available secondhand for reasonable money. There's also a documentary film on the subject, which you have in your film catalogue.

Mick Rock was Bowie's personal photographer in the Ziggy Stardust era, and this book is a selection from his 1972–73 archive – stage, backstage, make-up, private life. In rankings it's the most frequently recommended Bowie photo book (the Guardian included it as the only photo book in its selection of the best books about Bowie), Goodreads 4.61. The standard XL edition costs around 70 €, and there's also a small one for 20 €. I left out the signed limited edition.

Bowie, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis – Hipgnosis (Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell) designed the most famous art rock covers, including The Dark Side of the Moon. This book is a complete catalogue of their work with commentary on how the covers came about – how the cow on Atom Heart Mother or the burning man on Wish You Were Here were photographed. Available, reasonably priced, and a foundation for art rock.

The catalogue of the big 2017 Pink Floyd exhibition at London's V&A – archival material, stage design, covers, manuscripts. The book has a lenticular cover and is well made; reviews (Louder, The Arts Desk) are positive. The hardcover is sold out, so secondhand. Excellent for a Floyd fan; as a general art rock book, Hipgnosis is the better choice.

Johan Kugelberg, a curator and collector, compiled a visual history of the Velvet Underground in the context of the New York art scene and Warhol's Factory – posters, flyers, photos, documents. Reviews in Print and Artforum call it the best book about the VU. It's sold out and pricier secondhand, but it's a key title for art rock. The same author is behind Punk: An Aesthetic.

Max's Kansas City was the New York club where Warhol, the Velvet Underground, Bowie, Iggy Pop and later punk bands met – the link between the art and rock scenes. The book is richly illustrated with period photos and memories. Sold out, around 150 $ secondhand. A great companion to the VU book.

So far the only richly illustrated book about krautrock and kosmische music – Can, Neu!, Faust, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and their influence. Black Dog Publishing no longer exists, so it's secondhand. The quality of the texts is uneven, but the visual material (covers, photos) is hard to find elsewhere.

Toby Mott's slim catalogue of the visual side of Kraftwerk – covers, posters, merch. It's not a big monograph (98 pages, paperback), but a better Kraftwerk photo book doesn't exist yet. A supplement for the fan rather than a centerpiece of the collection.

Thom Yorke and artist Stanley Donwood published a book of drawings, sketches and artwork from the era of the Kid A and Amnesiac albums. It's more an art book than a music history, well printed, 364 pages. A gorgeous piece for a Radiohead fan; outside the core of your collection, but it fits well into art rock.

The first authorized visual book on Talking Heads, which the publisher Abrams is preparing for May 2027. Besides the standard edition (around 65 $), there will also be collector's editions – 150 $ and 350 $ according to the announcement; check whether those are signed. If you're interested in collector's editions, it's worth keeping an eye on the pre-order.

Bowie himself comments on Mick Rock's photos from the Ziggy era – his own notes on the individual shots make the book something more than a photo album. Bowie hand-signed the original 2002 edition, and it's extremely expensive; the 2022 anniversary edition is not hand-signed but carries the estate's stamp. Genesis prints to an exceptionally high standard (cloth, slipcase, an enclosed photograph). For a Bowie fan, a collector's pinnacle without the price of the signed version.

The complete graphic catalogue of the Manchester label Factory – Peter Saville's covers for Joy Division and New Order, posters, the interior of the Haçienda club (every product had a FAC catalogue number). Matthew Robertson put it together clearly and with a wealth of visual material. A key book for post-punk and graphic design alike, available and cheap (around 30 £), Goodreads 4.52.

A book of punk and hardcore flyers from California and across the US from the late 1970s and the '80s – Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Germs and hundreds of bands known only to locals. Raymond Pettibon and other designers created a DIY aesthetic here that influenced all of graphic design. On Goodreads it has the most ratings of all the punk visual books (4.23 / 400+). The 20th anniversary edition is available.

Anton Corbijn photographed and filmed Depeche Mode from 1986 on and defined their visual identity – this book sums up more than 30 years of collaboration. It has the highest Goodreads rating of all the books on this list (4.72). Taschen's XL edition is large and more expensive; there's also a small one for 20 €. A key book for new wave and for photography as such.

Kevin Cummins photographed Joy Division from their first gigs in Manchester – including the famous photo of Ian Curtis with a cigarette in snowy Hulme. Juvenes is the definitive selection of his shots. The standard edition is cheap (around 37 €) but selling out; there's also a limited edition of 100 copies with a signed photograph, which I left out because of the signature. Goodreads 4.54.

Johan Kugelberg and Jon Savage (author of the best book on British punk, England's Dreaming) compiled a visual history of punk – flyers, fanzines, covers, posters, with an essay by William Gibson. According to several sources, the best visual book on punk ever. It's sold out and costs 110 to 650 £ secondhand, so it's more a matter of hunting for a good opportunity. If you find it for reasonable money, grab it.

A visual history of Daniel Miller's label Mute Records – Depeche Mode, Cabaret Voltaire, Nick Cave, Yazoo, Moby. It links the post-punk and electronic scenes superbly, which is exactly your focus. Reviews (Exclaim, Scene Point Blank) praise it and bookshops recommend it too. Availability needs to be checked.

Barney Bubbles was the designer behind the covers for Stiff Records, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and Hawkwind – witty, subversive and hugely influential. Paul Gorman wrote the original book about him, Reasons to Be Cheerful, which is sold out; this is the expanded 2022 edition from Thames & Hudson. Essential for lovers of record covers and new wave.

Vaughan Oliver designed covers for 4AD – Pixies, Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil – and created one of the most recognizable visual identities in music. The archive from Unit Editions is a design gem with excellent printing; reviews in Eye and Creative Review. The 2023 reprint is on sale.

Chris Stein, Blondie's guitarist, photographed Debbie Harry and the New York scene around CBGB from the mid-1970s – intimately, from the inside. NPR and other media praised the book. Rizzoli hardcover, readily available. Great for new wave and New York punk.

David Godlis shot at CBGB at night without a flash in 1976–79 – Patti Smith, Ramones, Television, Richard Hell. Grainy, atmospheric photos; reviews in the Brooklyn Rail and Time. Availability needs to be checked; Godlis's newer titles tend to sell out.

The official chronicle of the New York club CBGB for its 30th anniversary, compiled by its owner Hilly Kristal – photos, flyers, bands' memories. Sold out, but cheap secondhand (around 26 $). A good companion to Godlis and Stein.

A book compiled by the members of the Clash themselves – their own memories and hundreds of photos, posters and documents. On Goodreads it has 4.29 from more than 1,200 ratings, which is a lot for a music book. Together with Pennie Smith's book it makes the ideal Clash pair.

Pennie Smith photographed the Clash in 1977–80, including the famous photo of Paul Simonon smashing his bass that's on the cover of London Calling. This 1980 book is her original selection. It came out as a paperback and today it's a secondhand item at 60 £ and up.

An encyclopedia of punk single covers 1976–80 – around 2,000 covers from Britain, the US and Europe, with accompanying text by Jon Savage. Sold out, secondhand only. A great catalogue for a record collector.

A facsimile of the first British punk fanzine, which Mark Perry published from 1976 – photocopied, handwritten, with the legendary drawing of three chords and the call to “now form a band.” The 2024 reissue is considered definitive. It's not a large-format art book, but a historically key document.

An encyclopedia of fanzines by Teal Triggs, a professor at UAL – from punk through riot grrrl to DIY graphics, with more than 750 examples. Reviewed in Eye Magazine. Probably sold out, secondhand.

A facsimile of issues 1–17 of Tony Drayton's legendary Scottish-London punk fanzine, published under Thurston Moore's (Sonic Youth) imprint. Record Collector described it as a great read. The year of publication and availability need to be checked.

A huge book (396 pages) about the New York club Studio 54, compiled by its co-founder Ian Schrager – photos of Warhol, Liz Taylor, Bianca Jagger, Grace Jones and the nights that defined disco. Rizzoli, large format, excellent printing. A disco gem which, unlike Bernstein's book, is still in print.

Photographer Marie Staggat shot more than 170 portraits of Detroit techno and house pioneers – Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Underground Resistance and dozens of lesser-known names. Among techno photo books it has the most media coverage (DJ Mag, Mixmag, RA, Crack, Fader, Vice). Currently available to order only (around 75 €).

Dave Swindells photographed London clubs in 1988–89, when acid house broke out – Shoom, Spectrum, the first raves. According to DJ Mag, RA and Time Out, these are the definitive photos of British acid house. The reissue came out in a limited run of 1,000 copies (unsigned) and is sold out, so secondhand.

A book about the legendary Berlin club Tresor, which was born in the vault of a former department store after the fall of the Wall and linked Detroit with Berlin. More than 400 never-before-published photos, flyers and faxes, printed in neon colors. Dazed called it “the big bang of Berlin techno.” A paperback, but big and heavy.

In the late 1970s Bill Bernstein photographed New York disco clubs – Paradise Garage, Studio 54, Xenon, but also small gay clubs and people on the dance floor rather than celebrities. The best photos of real disco nights according to AnOther, the Village Voice and others. Sold out, secondhand.

Frank DeCaro's big illustrated book about disco – the music, films, fashion and clubs, Rizzoli 2023. It's a more general overview than Bernstein's photo book, but it's in print and well printed. A good choice if you want disco on your shelf right away.

Architect John Leo Gillen covered the history of club architecture and design from the 1960s to today – Haçienda, Paradise Garage, Berghain and others, with 250 illustrations. Prestel prints to a very high standard. Both DJ Mag and Mixmag wrote about it. Ideal for you if you're interested in the spaces where dance music lives.

The catalogue of the Vitra Design Museum exhibition on club design from 1960 to today – 400 pages, 500 images, from Studio 54 to Berghain. The English edition is sold out; the German one can be bought in the museum shop. According to Dazed, one of the best overviews of the subject.

Peter J Walsh took photos inside Manchester's Haçienda in 1982–97 – the people, the DJs, the dance floor. The publisher IDEA is known for excellent printing; the reissue is limited to 750 copies and is not signed. DJ Mag, Mixmag, RA and Vinyl Factory all wrote about it. Around 30 £.

In the 1990s Seana Gavin was part of the free-party collective Spiral Tribe and photographed their illegal raves across Europe. The book received a huge response (i-D, 032c, ArtReview). All editions (limited to 750 copies each, unsigned) are sold out, so it's a hunt in secondhand shops.

Photographs of British raves in 1989, the “second summer of love,” by the Watson brothers. Authentic, amateur in the best sense of the word. Sold out, secondhand.

Vinca Petersen photographed the free parties and rave collectives of the 1990s across Europe – life in caravans, sound systems, community. Steidl is one of the best photography publishers in the world. 2020 reprint; check availability.

A Resident Advisor book about clubs as “sacred spaces” – photos and texts about the places where dance culture was born. Dazed wrote about it. Availability needs to be checked.

A collection of flyers from Chicago house parties 1983–89 – a visual history of the birth of house through graphic design. A smaller book (96 pages); the publisher and availability need to be checked. DJ Mag wrote about it.

New York nightlife flyers 1988–99 from powerHouse – club graphics from the period when house and the New York club scene were taking shape. Cheap and available.

A classic of rave graphics from 2000 – flyers from the American rave scene of the 1990s. Sold out, secondhand; the standard reference for a collector of club graphics.

Mark McNulty has been photographing the British club scene from acid house in 1988 through the superclubs of the 1990s (Cream, Ministry of Sound) to the present – 35 years of rave culture in one book. It's coming out now, on 5 November 2026, and the first edition is limited only: 303 paperback copies and 100 hardcovers with a signed photo (I'd skip those because of the signature). If you want a limited edition on dance culture, this is a fresh opportunity – when ordering, check that the paperback version doesn't include a signature.

A design history of high-end audio equipment by Gideon Schwartz (Phaidon) – speakers, amplifiers and turntables as art objects. Stereophile recommends it. An ideal companion to the jazz kissa books, where the sound equipment matters as much as the music.

Photographer Eilon Paz visited vinyl collectors around the world and photographed their homes, shelves and stories – 650 pages. A sequel to the successful first book; the standard edition is in print (skip the more expensive slipcased limited edition unless that's what you're after). For a record collector, both inspiration and a mirror.

Eilon Paz's first book about vinyl collectors (2015) – now sold out, but available secondhand. A classic of the genre that launched the whole Dust & Grooves project.

Photographers James and Karla Murray photographed the 33 best record stores in New York – storefronts, interiors, owners. Prestel 2025, available. A pleasant “travel” title for a collector.

An oral history of British sound systems by Joe Muggs with black-and-white portraits by Brian David Stevens – from Jamaican roots to dubstep and grime. Pitchfork included it among its books of the year. It's more a read with portraits than a big photo album.

Photographer Beth Lesser shot the Jamaican dancehall scene of the 1980s – sound systems, DJs, the audience, all in color. Soul Jazz Books published it in a large square format with about 400 photos. Excellent reviews (Record Collector, New York Review of Books).

Photographer and director Elaine Constantine (who made the feature film Northern Soul) produced an illustrated history of British northern soul – Wigan Casino, dancers, records, badges. Sold out, secondhand from 38 £.

Richard Barnes's 1979 book is considered the bible of 1960s mod culture – fashion, scooters, clubs, music, with plenty of period photos. It keeps being reprinted and is cheap.

Photographer Jan Ságl documented The Plastic People of the Universe and the Primitives Group in 1967–72 – psychedelic concerts that the regime later banned. 540 pages, a Czech-English edition from KANT. The most important photo book on the Czech underground and, at 699 Kč, a must-have.

A showcase of Czech music photography from the 1960s to the present, roughly 25 photographers, edited by Ondřej Bezr. A good overview of the domestic scene; the price needs to be checked.

Amateur jazz photos by Jaromír Roller from a family album – Šumperk, jazz festivals, the 1950s to the 1990s. A small, cheap book with an unexpected view of Czechoslovak jazz.

Kate Simon photographed Bob Marley and the Jamaican reggae scene in the 1970s – including the photo on the cover of Kaya. This is the standard 2023 edition (originally a signed Genesis limited edition). The best Marley photo book for reasonable money.

As a teenager Dennis Morris photographed Bob Marley on tour and later the Sex Pistols, and documented British reggae and punk – two scenes that intertwined in London. A 2025 retrospective; Rough Trade included it among its books of the year.

The definitive visual history of Motown by Adam White and Barney Ales – more than 1,000 illustrations, archival documents, photos. Excellent reviews and Goodreads 4.29. Buy the hardcover, not the paperback.

Vikki Tobak compiled contact sheets from photo shoots of hip-hop legends – you can see how a famous photo came about and what preceded it. An exhibition at ICP; Rolling Stone recommends it. Outside your main focus, but photographically exceptional.

Daniel Kramer photographed Dylan over a single year, 1964–65, when he went electric – including the cover of Bringing It All Back Home. The Taschen XL edition is beautiful and affordable. Outside the main focus.

A book from the archive of the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa – manuscripts, photos, documents from his whole career, 608 pages. The most comprehensive Dylan book. Outside the main focus.

Harry Benson accompanied the Beatles on their first trip to America and photographed the pillow fight in their hotel as well as the meeting with Cassius Clay. Taschen's standard edition is cheap. Outside the main focus.

The Beatles tell their story in their own words, with a huge number of photos and documents – the companion book to the Anthology documentary series. A cornerstone of every Beatles library. Outside the main focus.

The affordable version of the famous SUMO book about the Rolling Stones – 466 pages in XL format, photos from their entire career. Outside the main focus, but visually imposing.

The official visual history of Led Zeppelin, with photos chosen by the band members themselves. Cloth binding, 400 pages. Outside the main focus.

The best overview of Jim Marshall's work – Hendrix, Cash, Janis Joplin, Monterey, Woodstock. Outside the main focus; Marshall's jazz side is covered by the book Jazz Festival.

The official 50-year history of Iron Maiden with more than 1,000 illustrations – Eddie, covers, tours. Outside the main focus.

Linda McCartney photographed the Beatles, Hendrix, Jim Morrison and the 1960s New York scene – with unusual intimacy, because she was part of that world. Taschen's collector's edition is limited to 750 copies and already sold out, so it's secondary market only and the price is high; Linda died in 1998, so the book isn't signed by the author. I wasn't able to reliably verify whether an affordable standard edition exists. Outside the main focus, but exceptional as a collector's object.