Cover of The First Five

The First Five

Rollins, a singer for the hardcore punk group Black Flag in the '80s, has emerged as a '90s post-punk renaissance man and a prolific writer. This voluminous collection of Rollins' first five books shows the evolution of a man grinding his way through the challenges of the independent music circuit. Includes High Adventure in the Great Outdoors, Bang!, Art to Choke Hearts, Pissing In The Gene Pooland One From None.

Subject
biography
Themes
music
Setting
1990s
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 399 pages
Form
poetry

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These suit anyone who liked The First Five. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Sick Bag Song Shares poetry, nonfiction, music
  2. Patti Smith Collected Lyrics, 1970-2015 Shares poetry, music, nonfiction
  3. Wilderness: The Lost Writings, Vol. 1 Shares poetry, nonfiction, music
  4. Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry Shares music, nonfiction

“People who read The First Five tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Bringing Metal to the Children: The Complete Berserker's Guide to World Tour Domination
  2. Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga
  3. The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records
  4. Daydream Nation

“If you want more of the same (biography about music), start with these.”

  1. Dancing the Dream
  2. Pass Thru Fire: The Collected Lyrics
  3. King Ink II
  4. The Passionate Eye: The Collected Writing of Suzanne Vega

“If it was the poetry that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Letters to Kurt
  2. King Ink
  3. Tarantula
  4. The Lyrics of Leonard Cohen

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. I, Shithead: A Life in Punk
  2. Why Be Something That You're Not: Detroit Hardcore 1979-1985
  3. My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor
  4. Banned in D C: Photos and Anecdotes from the DC Punk Underground