So you want to be a rock 'n' roll memoirist

Neil Young isn't the only rocker vying for readers this fall. Inspired, no doubt, by the critical and commercial success of recent volumes by Keith Richards and Patti Smith (the latter of which won a National Book Award in 2010), a host of musicians have entered the memoir game of late, crowding bookstore shelves with backstage tales of guitars, groupies and how that No. 1 hit has always been misunderstood. Not all of these artists enjoy the respect showered upon Young and his classic-rock cronies. But in publishing, as in pop, light voices sometimes carry heavy loads.

By Mikael Wood

October 7, 2012