Anyone know a good book on the history of hard rock and metal? Mainly interested in the formation of the genres in the late 60s through the 70s and 80s.

Thanks in advance!

I've never really looked for one that covers the basic history, but take a look at Martin Popoff's site (http://www.martinpopoff.com/html/welcome.html) to see if something catches your eye. I'd recommend looking at the older stuff, since his new stuff is basically just his interview archive dumped for posterity, and I've never been particularly fond of the oral history style.

and I know they're not books, but I'd recommend Sam Dunne's work with Banger films and banger TV. A good basic introduction.

Ugh. I would never recommend Popoff to anyone. He's a horrible writer.

I'm not a huge fan of his writing either, but if you're looking for a general book that isn't either band specific, or simply a collection of magazine articles, he's about the only one I've seen try and do history.

I also bought Louder Than Hell by Weiderhorn and Turman, but again, it's an oral history, not a critical history

Have you tried Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Paperback – April 1, 2011?

Yes.

The best and most concisely written is Garry Sharpe-Young's "Metal: The Definitive Guide."

It may be out of print, but it breaks things up into genres in an intelligent way and covers everything in detail from Black Sabbath, Metallica, Scorpions, Judas Priest and Slayer to Emperor, Venom, Mercyful Fate and Dimmu Borgir.

It's just Metal, but boy, is it detailed and covers many important acts including some you've heard little about,

As for Hard Rock/ Metal, as much as I hate to say it, because he truly is an awful writer, Martin Popoff's "Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal Volume 1: The Seventies" has album reviews of great Hard Rock from the late 60s to the late 70s.

You'll get good looks at Thin Lizzy, UFO, Free, Pat Travers Band, Humble Pie, Detective, , Triumph, Steppenwolf, Montrose and all kinds of cool acts who are far better than the Metal bands of the 80s.

The writing isn't as bad as most of his books, and it can be used as a good guide because he covers a lot of the lesser-known acts I dig.

Hey, it's IP!! That's great news.

Hope you're feeling better...

Better, yes.

All the way back...nope!

I know that's silly of me. It's only been about 12 days and I am finally moving around better, but they said 4-6 weeks for a reason.

I hope I get over the pain and soreness soon!

Glad to see you're doing better, Pete -- and thanks for the recommendations!

I haven't -- I haven't read anything at all, my interest in rock beyond the recorded music is just now really developing.

This is actually the most important aspect -- I've become interested in old school metal lately and I've been curious how such a different sounding genre was created and popularized. My interest in hard rock is related to this, since we've discussed "proto metal" bands like Zeppelin and Deep Purple.

Yikes, that book is $52 in paperback on Amazon. A little steep for me.

I have a bunch of Jim’s books here at the office. Just found volume 2 of this series. Looking at it now. He does a nice concise job with pictures, lineups, discography, recommended listening, underground materials and a nice synopsis of each groups history. Did you know bit on each group too. Starts with ”Accept” and ends with ”Y&T”.

Also found “The Merciless Book Of Metal Lists” . More for laughs I think.