Metallica, way back when.

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Everyone knows Metallica. But not everyone knows that Metallica was the product of a full-blown '80s thrash metal scene in the Bay Area -- a scene that fostered other notable local bands like Testament, Death Angel, and Exodus. These weren't the makeup-wearing pretty boys strutting around MTV playing diluted hard rock. They were misfits trying to push their music to the fastest, loudest, most chaotic edge they could find in sweaty S.F. and East Bay clubs. And a few of the bands, along with their L.A. peers like Slayer, eventually even found some mainstream notoriety, helping to establish this thrash-derived sound as the quintessential American heavy metal. Just look at the success of the Big Four tour.

A new book aims to capture the early days of this scene. In more than 400 photographs from Brian Lew and Harald Oimoen, Murder in the Front Row tells the story of Bay Area thrash in the '80s through pictures of such notable events as Clif Burton's first rehearsal and gig with Metallica, Dave Mustaine's tenure in an early edition of the band, Slayer's Kerry King performing onstage with Megadeth, and more. In addition to the live shots, there are also many pictures showing the raucous post-show parties -- the kinds of places where Metallica began to earn its old nickname, Alcoholica.

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Bob Mould, tonight at The Booksmith.

​In case you missed the post from our pals at SF Weekly's arts and culture blog the Exhibitionist, Hüsker Dü and legendary crank Bob Mould will be making an appearance at the Booksmith tonight, reading from his memoir See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody.

Mould wrote the book with Michael Azerrad, author of the definitive indie rock bible Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991. It's a no-holds-barred account of Mould's life -- before, during, and after his time with one of the seminal college rock bands.

Bob Mould appears Tue., June 28, at 8 p.m. at the Booksmith.

Let me preface this by saying that the new Prince biography isn't especially good, insightful or interesting. Jason Draper pretty much digs through the same scant published interviews that fuel all bios of our Purple Sex Dwarf.

Draper appears not to have interviewed anyone himself, and every thirty pages or so he writes a variation on the following sentence: "It was becoming increasingly clear that Prince might not have been the savviest of businessmen."

All that distinguishes this from previous entries in the genre is that Draper's book grinds on through a couple more 2000s Prince albums, a couple more 2000s Prince girlfriends, and a couple more 2000s Prince CD distribution schemes. (2009's underrated LotusFlow3r is only $4.99 at Target!)

Oh, and in 2011's most clueless bit of music criticism, it dismisses "Sexy M.F." as "a catchy riff in search of a song." And it has a weirdly unsympathetic view of black America:

"The whole thing was aimed squarely and transparently at black audiences, with song titles such as 'Black MF in the House' and artwork full of fast cars, scantily clad women, and gaudy jewelry."

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Those of you who enjoy a feel-good read and a hearty chuckle will be pleased to hear that Steven Patrick "Barrel of Laughs" Morrissey is in the process of finishing up his memoir. So, while we sit and genuinely hope for a chapter about the punctured bicycle on a hillside, desolate, that inspired "This Charming Man," we wanted to take a look back at some of the most shocking music memoirs in recent memory. You might want to consider reading these five if you haven't yet ... as long as you have a strong stomach.

1. Mackenzie Phillips, High on Arrival

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Fans of the Mamas and the Papas might want to look away now and the rest of you should probably pay special attention to your gag reflex, because this book, written by Papa John's daughter, Mackenzie, reveals that -- wait for it -- her crazy hippie of a father took it upon himself to have sex with her one night while she was wasted and passed out.
"My father was not a man with boundaries," Phillips attempts to reason. "He was full of love, and he was sick with drugs. I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father." We'd call that date rape, except dads and daughters don't go on dates. We'll be shuddering for the next year.

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Why these cats all up on this intentional fallacy nonsense?

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Jay-Z, everybody's favorite non-dot-com filthy rich person, is publishing a book tomorrow called Decoded, wherein he explains the references and stories behind thirty-odd of his own songs. But the dedicated exegetes over at Rap Genius have beaten him to the punch, annotating and commentating all of those, plus several dozen more. More >>

Rapping paper -- by rappingpaper.co.uk

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Just what does 50 Cent mean when he raps "I done come up and I ain't changed" in "In Da Club"?

What is Eminem talking about when he says he's "on a search to crush up a milkbone?"

And to what is 2Pac referring with the term "paper"?

We can help.





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​A summer reading list should be about more than Steven King and Jackie Collins. The Bay Area's growing canon of local music history books takes many twists and turns beyond straight-up non-fiction narratives, including even poetry and cookbooks. Not only is this collection of titles a wide-ranging look at our sonics, they are almost all suitable for the short attention spans of a perfect summer, when a book may just be a lazy dalliance that gets picked up now and then.

Cooking With the Dead: Recipes and Stories From Fans on the Road by Elizabeth Zipern

More than a cookbook, it's the most insightful look at the Deadhead culture and how so many people sustained themselves and each other both gastronomically and financially.

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Jennifer Chaney

Ayelet Waldman

​New York Times best-selling author and Berkeley resident Ayelet Waldman released a new book today called Red Hook Road. She and her husband, Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, have been called "a famous--and famously in love--writing pair."

Music is central to Red Hook Road. After a newlywed couple dies in a freak car accident on the way from the ceremony to the reception, the starkly different Tetherly and Copaken families grieve and heal together over four summers in the fictional town of Red Hook, Maine. The families find some relief in the surprise discovery that, like the grandfather in the Tetherly family, the Copakens' young, adopted niece is a gifted violinist.

I interviewed Waldman via e-mail to find out what music inspired her while writing this book. She wrote:

I listened to Bach -- the Fugues mostly. Also Steve Reich, who is my go-to guy when I'm writing. I like to listen to minimalist classical music when I write, because it has this propulsive quality that keeps me focused. I also play lots of Keith Jarrett, although sometimes the grunting and moaning gets to me.

Classical music plays a huge part in the novel. Bach's Chaconne is the soundtrack for a number of the most important scenes. Paganini's Caprices play a part, too, as does some of Schubert's Trout Quintet.

via www.ayeletwaldman.com

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Ezra Feinberg of band Citay will be playing acoustic this weekend at Amnesia bar.

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For those of you who earperk at any erudite-sounding (or free) event, this one's for you: McSweeney's publishing house is putting on "An All-Acoustic Summer Festival of Language and Thinking" this Saturday at Amnesia.

If the name isn't enough to get your inner bookworm wriggling with excitement, direct your attention to the slice of birthday cake centerpieced on the event flyer.

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​Over Christmas I finished what became my favorite novel of 2009: Chronic City. It's writer Jonathan Lethem's latest book, and it's about, among other characters, an out of work TV actor engaged to an astronaut trapped in space, an ex-rock critic crippled by paranoid fantasies, an anarchist-turned mayoral aide, and a giant tiger terrorizing Manhattan. Chronic City is one of those books that looses you less in action and more in the inner thoughts of its wacky actors (television and otherwise).

Lethem was in San Francisco last year discussing the book for City Arts & Lectures, and tonight that interview is being broadcast on KQED  (88.5) at 8 p.m. as part of its nightly City Arts & Lectures radio series.