Classic Rock Stories : The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time

by Tim Morse

The first time on the open road with Dad's beat-up clunker and a brand-new driver's lecense. That first kiss. Practicing Steve Tyler moves in the garage. Lazy summer days with nothing to do but hang out with a group of friends and the radio. Classic Rock. In Classic Rock Stories, classic rockers reveal the sometimes painful, sometimes accidental, and often hilarious process of creating the songs that you can still sing aloud. In their own words, rockers like Pete Townshend, John Lennon, Stevie Nicks, Elton John, and Keith Richards tell about the drugs, the pain, the love gone bad, and the accidents that resulted in the hits.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

212 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 1998

Reviews

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, how I loved this book!
The stories behind the songs have always intrigued me, and some of these tales were just plain funny.
I have always wondered where Iron Butterfly came up with In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, and now I know.
Doug Ingle was drunk and slurring his words and In the Garden of Eden came out of his mouth as gibberish - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
Also, I was surprised by how many of the singers hate their most famous songs.
Robert Plant said that "I truly loathed it." when asked about Stairway to Heaven.
There is so, so much more in this book and I highly recommend it to fans of old school rock n roll.

[Mauoijenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book broken down by songs and thoughts on them from the writers/singers, from The Who, Joni Mitchell, Alice Cooper, John Lennon, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Stevie Nicks. I found it very enjoyable to read. A great inside for fellow Classic Rock lovers.

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Classic crock of lame stories with not much insight.

[Renegade Librarian Extraordinaire · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started playing bass, I took lessons from this old-school rocker guy. He was a Beatles Superfan before that was an actual term to describe someone who is obsessed with something. I remember he had all this memorabilia... He was also a wealth of information about classic rock of the 60s-80s, the stories behind the songs, and the bands who recorded them. And not just Beatles tunes either (although those stories generated the most enthusiasm).

He'd show me the groove for, say, a Have You Ever Seen the Rain and then say, "Now let me tell you about CCR..."

So I not only learned a thing or two about playing bass, but also all kinds of dark and twisted and sometimes amusing stories behind the music. Stories I'm sure were at least mostly true, because, you know, this cat was there, man! (Like the time there was this BIG anti-drug concert overseas featuring all these huge bands and Aerosmith was apparently the only band on the roster who was not on drugs because they'd just gone through rehab and gotten "clean". Ironic...see).

It was like getting a free weekly lesson in Rock History while paying to learn an instrument. Those classes were fun.

Reading this book reminded me of those lessons. Highly entertaining and educational. But mostly entertaining.

(Although I do think some of the featured musicians were still on said drugs [see above] when they told the stories behind their songs. Because some of the responses didn't make a bit of sense. That could also be due to poor editing, but I suspect the former.)

[Russ Bertetta · Rating 1 out of 5]

A quick but disappointing read to start my challenge. All Morse did was gather old interviews given by the writers, singers, producers of these songs and reprint them under one cover. If you're a fan of "Classic Rock" you're probably familiar with most of the stories surrounding these songs. I learned a few new things about some of the songs but I was familiar with most of the stories. Glad I got it as a Christmas present so I didn't have to waste the money.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty enjoyable and informative. The many songs talked about are mostly from the 60s and 70s. A little before my time for some of them. I started to lose interest about half way through the book.
This book is the author's opinion of greatest songs. There are so many more songs not in this book.

[Dan Baum · Rating 2 out of 5]

As bedside reading goes, this one is pretty light and requires no commitment. It’s a compilation of interview excerpts and quotes that run from mildly entertaining to funny. Amusing in the moment but easily forgettable.

[Dennis Kauffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to learn the history of some of the most popular rock, now classic rock, songs. The inspiration and thoughts behind them from the writers and musicians. It's a bit dated on the 'where are they now' section having been written in 1998.

[Johnny Tunstall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Given I couldn't write a book, I deeply respect anyone who can. This was a copy and paste job. With horrible spelling errors. Somethings I found helpful in helping me learn how the songs were written, but mostly not. Blah Blah Blah.

[Sue Strazy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little book with a few interesting tidbits.

[Heather Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had recognized more of the song titles, I would have enjoyed more.

[Jawknee Rustle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read.

[Bill Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about classic rock. What's not to like ?

[Mary Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have used a little more detail, but what can you expect from rock musicians? Many of them are quite inarticulate, letting their music do the talking!

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so the compiler is a bit of an airhead. And I definitely could've done without his little top-10 bit at the end (don't know why everybody seems to feel the need to do that sort of thing). But the quotes were a lot of fun--and there were a bunch of songs too (even a few I'd never heard of). I have no idea what I was crabbing about in my earlier review...

[FIRST READING: * * * That's classic-rock stories...actually, it's just the guys telling how they came up with their songs (and sometimes not even the songwriters). Some of the stuff seemed to be put in the wrong categories/chapters. It could've been a lot longer (more compendious). And sometimes the quotes were pretty canned--or contrived; obviously taken out of some book long after (and maybe even taken out of context).]

[Reba · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of this book was so much better than the reality. There were a few gems and good stories, but most weren't that engaging or revealing. I wish I had counted the number of times a singer and/or songwriter's comment was, "It just happened", "It didn't really mean anything", or "It just came to me and I wrote it". Still, I don't regret reading it, the more I can learn the better and this book did introduce me to some bands and singers that I had never really taken the time to listen to.

[Bill Ibelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up at a yard sale for a quarter. Definitely got my money's worth and then some. Fun read. Little snippeds of the greatest mucisians of the rock era talking about the origins of their songs. Done in short blues, so best red in little snippets while eating breakfast etc. Not all of the stories are interesting, but the investment of time is minimal, and the ones that are intresting are really fun to read.

[dirt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked out this book and Led Zeppelin's Metaphysically Graffiti album to educate myself about Classic Rock. This is a genre I don't know much about except for Bob Dylan & Jimi Hendrix. There are some pretty good classic rock songs, not too shabby. Classic Rock is white people's gift to the world.

[John E · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book. Lots of little stories by the songwriters/singers/arrangers of the songs comment on various parts of the process of turning an idea into a song that resonates. I kept it in my car to read a few stories while waiting for my wife to shop -- easy to put down for a while since there is no continuity from one story to the next.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time by Tim Morse (St. Martin's Griffin 1998)(nonfiction). Brief comments from the artists about the writing/recording/ performing of some of the classic rock songs from the later half of the twentieth century. My rating: 7/10, finished 12/9/14.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good but it wasn't A#1 like I expected it to be. Sure, it featured some of rock's greatest songs. Yet, at the same time, the author seemed to be prejudiced towards certain bands and his facts were pretty much wrong in certain cases. Sadly, it brought down my view of the book. I was bonkers for the book before I saw the errors. That's why I gave it such a low score.

[Michael Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slight but enjoyable read about the songs that have created the sountrack of my life.

[Ronda]

Loving this book so far. So fascinating!

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read, entertaining and enjoyable

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read, many of the comments didn't particularly have much to do with the stories behind the songs they were supposed to be about, though...

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's really good for what it is ; short brief descriptions of classic rock song origins that's it and not a lot more

[Murray · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very superficial look at various songs.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good bathroom book imo.

[Mike Hood]

Lots of fun learning how "genius"in rock happens! Take it for what it is.

[Melissa Guimont]

If you ever wondered what some of those songs you sang your whole life is about, this book is for you. You can relate to most of them, but did you ever think about the lyrics? I never knew what some of these songs were about while I sang along. This gives you a quick glimpse into the mind of the artists and makes you look at a song in a whole new light.