It’s the season for autobiographies from aging rockers. Between now and December, tell-alls from none other than Neil Young, Pete Townshend, Rod Stewart, Morrissey, Peter Hook, Willie Nelson, the Rolling Stones and, um, Ke$ha will be released.
At the ripe old age of 25, Ke$ha is by far the youngest of the lot, so we look at how her upcoming My Crazy Beautiful Life potentially measures up to Young's recently released Waging Heavy Peace.
Ke$ha
Autobiography: My Crazy Beautiful Life
Release date: Nov. 20
D.O.B.: March 1, 1987
Total number of albums: two
Debut album: Animal (2010)
Breakout moment: while she first sang backup on Paris Hilton’s "Nothing in This World" in 2006, Ke$ha's official breakout song came when she sang the hook on Flo Rida’s 2009 hit "Right Round." Co-produced by Dr. Luke, that song established a partnership that is to blame for such phonetically challenged hits as "Tik Tok" and "We R Who we R."
Reason for the autobiography: "Sometimes, it feels as if the last few years have encompassed a few decades,” the 25-year-old said in a statement, perhaps by way of justifying a full book based on the part of her life that is usually covered within the first few chapters of most musicians’ biographies. “You might have heard my voice on the radio, seen me onstage and on the red carpet, or in a music video, but that's only a part of the story,” she said.
Selling point: it promises to be illustrated and have lots of pictures.
Neil Young
Autobiography: Waging Heavy Peace
Release date: Sept. 25
D.O.B.: Nov. 12, 1945
Total number of albums: 36, not including compilations, live albums or releases with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
(Solo) debut album: Neil Young (1968)
Breakout moment: by the time Young released his solo debut to mixed reviews, he had already established a following for his Buffalo Springfield and CSNY work, but it wasn’t until his third album, 1970’s After the Gold Rush, that he would have his first Top 40 hit. Only Love Can Break Your Heart, which, according to the 2003 biography Shakey, was written in response to Graham Nash’s split with Joni Mitchell, peaked at number 33 on the charts and has been covered by numerous bands over the years.
After the Gold Rush is now considered one of Young’s masterpieces and Rolling Stone, Time, Q and Pitchfork have all rated it in the Top 100 albums of all time.
Reason for the biography: forget about the demand for classic rockers to pen their life stories or that desire to settle a longstanding score. Young writes that the real reason for Waging Heavy Peace was because he broke a toe in the summer of 2011, which kept him from touring.
"This book is one thing that I am doing to stay off the stage," he writes. "I have to slow down. That's why I am writing this book now."
Selling points: everything you wanted to know and more about Young’s pet projects, including electric cars, trains and his digital music service Pono, with the added bonus of learning the reason for his propensity to wear plaid. Spoiler Alert: “I love plaid shirts,” Young writes.
Related:
Neil Young shows David Letterman his Pono