Rock 'n' Roll Fiction

Submitted by Fastnbulbous on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 01:52
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  1. Frank Portman * King Dork (2006)
  2. Brendan Halpin * Long Way Back (2006)
  3. Roddy Doyle - The Commitments (1987)
  4. Tom Perrotta * The Wishbones (1997)
  5. Jonathan Coe - The Rotters' Club (2001)
  6. Iain Banks – Espedair Street (1987)
  7. Nick Hornby - High Fidelity (1995)
  8. Brendan Halpin * Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2007)
  9. Alan Goldsher * The Record Haüs (2003)
  10. Alan Arlt - The Carpet Frogs: Music After Tomorrow (2001)
  11. Lewis Shiner – Glimpses (1993)
  12. Paul Ford – Gary Benchley, Rock Star (2005)
  13. Brian Costello * The Enchanters Vs. Sprawlburg Springs (2005)
  14. Joey Goebel – The Anomolies (2003)
  15. Richard Perez * The Losers' Club (2003)
  16. Louise Voss * To Be Someone (2001)
  17. Joe Meno * Hairstyles Of The Damned (2004)
  18. Jamie S. Rich * The Everlasting (2006)
  19. Andy Greenwald * Miss Misery (2006)
  20. Marc Spitz * How Soon Is Never? (2003)
  21. Andrew Collins * Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now: My Difficult Student 80s (2004)
  22. Jamie S. Rich * Cut My Hair (2000)
  23. Alan Goldsher * The True Naomi Story (2007)
  24. Alan Goldsher * Jam (2002)
  25. Kevin Sampson * Powder (1999)
  26. John Sellers * Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life (2007)
Author Comments: 

In most cases at least one main character is in a band. A couple exceptions, they're heavily involved in music, via a record store, journalist or DJ. Only the first few can be considered great, and the last few are kind of stinkers.

Rotters' Club
This is a pretty epic, complex story, involving a dozen characters from 1973-1977 (and briefly in the beginning and end, present day), union strikes, ira bombings, racism, affairs, death, disappearances, first crushes, athletic rivalries, racism, prog rock, experimental minimalism, punk rock and a band briefly called Gandalf's Pike. This might have made one of my all time favorites if it wasn't so soul-crushingly depressing in parts. It's good to mix some realism with the humor, but I think the fate of a couple of the characters was needlessly harsh and unlikely. Still, I recommend it.