100 books like On the Road with the Ramones

By Monte A. Melnick, Frank Meyer,

Here are 100 books that On the Road with the Ramones fans have personally recommended if you like On the Road with the Ramones. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of I Slept With Joey Ramone: A Punk Rock Family Memoir

Uli Hesse Author Of The Three Lives of the Kaiser

From my list on life in a dysfunctional family (i.e. The Ramones).

Why am I passionate about this?

I've written about a dozen books, all about football (or soccer, depending on your denomination), but that was never the plan. The plan was always to write about music. The first piece I ever published in a proper magazine was a profile of Wayne Kramer, formerly of the MC5. It ran in the German edition of Rolling Stone. The honeymoon didn't last long, though, as I gradually ran out of ideas what to pitch to the magazine, until one day I asked: "Would you be interested in a non-music piece about how football has grown out of the Dark Eighties and become hip?" They said yes, and that was that.

Uli's book list on life in a dysfunctional family (i.e. The Ramones)

Uli Hesse Why did Uli love this book?

When I got into the Ramones as a teenager in 1984, I already knew that despite seemingly sharing the same surname, they weren't actually brothers.

What I didn't know for a long time was how dysfunctional this ersatz family really was, as epitomised by the fact that the two most visible members – Joey and Johnny – couldn't have been any more different as people... and didn't even talk to each other.

This book adds another layer to an already incredible tale by also delving into the story of Joey's real-life family, as it was penned by Joey's brother Mickey, hence the title. It also adds something that is sorely missing from the books written by Johnny and Dee Dee: tenderness and warmth.

By Mickey Leigh, Legs McNeil,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Slept With Joey Ramone as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“A powerful story of punk-rock inspiration and a great rock bio” (Rolling Stone), now in paperback.

When the Ramones recorded their debut album in 1976, it heralded the true birth of punk rock. Unforgettable front man Joey Ramone gave voice to the disaffected youth of the seventies and eighties, and the band influenced the counterculture for decades to come. With honesty, humor, and grace, Joey’s brother, Mickey Leigh, shares a fascinating, intimate look at the turbulent life of one of America’s greatest—and unlikeliest—music icons. While the music lives on for new generations to discover, I Slept with Joey Ramone is…


Book cover of Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone

Uli Hesse Author Of The Three Lives of the Kaiser

From my list on life in a dysfunctional family (i.e. The Ramones).

Why am I passionate about this?

I've written about a dozen books, all about football (or soccer, depending on your denomination), but that was never the plan. The plan was always to write about music. The first piece I ever published in a proper magazine was a profile of Wayne Kramer, formerly of the MC5. It ran in the German edition of Rolling Stone. The honeymoon didn't last long, though, as I gradually ran out of ideas what to pitch to the magazine, until one day I asked: "Would you be interested in a non-music piece about how football has grown out of the Dark Eighties and become hip?" They said yes, and that was that.

Uli's book list on life in a dysfunctional family (i.e. The Ramones)

Uli Hesse Why did Uli love this book?

Marky's drinking almost managed to do what even the hate-love-hate triangle between Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee couldn't do, namely derail the band.

But what makes his book truly special for me is not so much his account of what he calls his "dog days" but his life before becoming a Ramone. He was in a hard rock band called Dust, he played in Richard Hell's Voidoids and he auditioned for the New York Dolls. If he had gotten this job, and he came very close, he would have been in no less than three seminal and legendary New York bands. 

By Marky Ramone, Richard Herschlag,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Punk Rock Blitzkrieg as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When punk rock reared its spiky head in the early seventies, Marc Bell had the best seat in the house. Already a young veteran of the prototype American metal band Dust, Bell took residence in artistic, seedy Lower Manhattan, where he played drums in bands that would shape rock music for decades to come, including Wayne County, who pioneered transsexual rock, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids, who directly inspired the entire early British punk scene. If punk has royalty, Marc became part of it in 1978 when he was anointed 'Marky Ramone' by Johnny, Joey, and Dee Dee of…


Book cover of Hey Ho Let's Go: The Story of the Ramones

Uli Hesse Author Of The Three Lives of the Kaiser

From my list on life in a dysfunctional family (i.e. The Ramones).

Why am I passionate about this?

I've written about a dozen books, all about football (or soccer, depending on your denomination), but that was never the plan. The plan was always to write about music. The first piece I ever published in a proper magazine was a profile of Wayne Kramer, formerly of the MC5. It ran in the German edition of Rolling Stone. The honeymoon didn't last long, though, as I gradually ran out of ideas what to pitch to the magazine, until one day I asked: "Would you be interested in a non-music piece about how football has grown out of the Dark Eighties and become hip?" They said yes, and that was that.

Uli's book list on life in a dysfunctional family (i.e. The Ramones)

Uli Hesse Why did Uli love this book?

The first proper book about the Ramones came out in 1993 and was written by Jim Bessman.

It's not without merit, but as an authorized biography, produced in collaboration with the band, it fails to cut really deep. Ten years later, when the respected English journalist Everett True (not his real name, which lends a nice touch to this tale of four fake brothers) put pen to paper, things were very different.

The band had broken up and two founder members were dead. Maybe that's why it's such a harrowing read in parts – the details of Joey's death are particularly poignant, not least because True is clearly in his camp, not Johnny's. I think definitive is the unavoidable term here.

By Everett True,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hey Ho Let's Go as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The death of Joey Ramone in the summer of 2001 and Dee Dee Ramone in June 2002 provided ample evidence of the high regard that his band was held by fans and critics. Once regarded as a joke, their music little more than an adrenaline rush of one minute five second noise, The Ramones have come to be regarded as having influenced almost every star struck guitarist who knew just three chords and wanted to write a song.


Book cover of I Know Better Now: My Life Before, During and After the Ramones

Uli Hesse Author Of The Three Lives of the Kaiser

From my list on life in a dysfunctional family (i.e. The Ramones).

Why am I passionate about this?

I've written about a dozen books, all about football (or soccer, depending on your denomination), but that was never the plan. The plan was always to write about music. The first piece I ever published in a proper magazine was a profile of Wayne Kramer, formerly of the MC5. It ran in the German edition of Rolling Stone. The honeymoon didn't last long, though, as I gradually ran out of ideas what to pitch to the magazine, until one day I asked: "Would you be interested in a non-music piece about how football has grown out of the Dark Eighties and become hip?" They said yes, and that was that.

Uli's book list on life in a dysfunctional family (i.e. The Ramones)

Uli Hesse Why did Uli love this book?

There are many more books about the Ramones than I have listed or mentioned, from a small tomé about Joey by a Finnish super fan called Heaven Needed a Lead Singer to a 630-page volume (that weighs 5.5 pounds!) by a German super fan. And still this biography took everyone by surprise when it suddenly landed in bookstores five years ago.

Despite playing more than five hundred shows as a Ramone, Richie "has remained a mystery, his tale untold", as the dust jacket has it. Well, not anymore, of course. Now we know who was the only Ramone who had the guts to stand up to Johnny.  

By Richie Ramone, Peter Aaron,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Know Better Now as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It's 1982 and the Ramones are in a gutter-bound spiral. Following a run of inconsistent albums and deep in the throes of internal tensions the legendary quartet is about to crash and burn.THEnter Richie Ramone.THThen a 26-year-old from New Jersey named Richard Reinhardt he's snapped up by the group to be their new drummer and instantly goes from the obscurity of the underground club scene to membership in the most famous punk-rock band of all time revitalizing the pioneering outfit with his powerful precise and blindingly fast beats a composing classic cuts like the menacing anthem Somebody Put Something in…


Book cover of I Swear I'll Make It Up to You: A Life on the Low Road

Marilyn Davis Author Of Finding North: A Journey from Addict to Advocate

From my list on memoirs of drug and alcohol addiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

I used my first chemicals at age nine. Why? To change the way I felt about myself and my life. It was the beginning of using externals to fix an internal problem. A 74-year old Native American found me at ten months in recovery. He showed me a path to follow, including opening a house of healing for other women. His teachings, spiritual principles, and a lot of work helped me achieve 32 years in recovery.

Marilyn's book list on memoirs of drug and alcohol addiction

Marilyn Davis Why did Marilyn love this book?

In 1992, Mishka Shubaly survived a mass shooting at his school, his parents divorced, his father abandoned him, and he swore he would right all the wrongs for his mother. Instead, he began a love affair with the bottle and barely crawled out, but he did, and we cheer him on at each twist and turn in his journey.

By Mishka Shubaly,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Swear I'll Make It Up to You as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An odyssey of family, heartbreak, violence, punk rock, brokenness, broke-ness, sex, love, loss, drinking, drinking, drinking, and an unlikely savior: distance running.A misfit kid at the best of times, Mishka Shubaly had his world shattered when, in a twenty-four-hour span in 1992, he survived a mass shooting on his school's campus, then learned that his parents were getting divorced. His father, a prominent rocket scientist, abandoned the family and their home was lost to foreclosure. Shubaly swore to avenge the wrongs against his mother, but instead plunged into a magnificently toxic love affair with alcohol.Almost two decades later, Shubaly's life…


Book cover of Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood

Zoë Howe Author Of Barbed Wire Kisses: The Jesus and Mary Chain Story

From my list on music biographies written by women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a music biographer, and whenever I’ve hinted that the world of rock biography is a bit of a boys’ club, someone will bark names of famous female musicians who’ve written autobiographies at me. All brilliant, but biography is a different animal. It demands sensitivity, trust, intuition, empathy: the writer is presenting the story of another, wooing a publisher, balancing multiple perspectives, being a detective, asking strange questions, penetrating the skin, probing often forgotten places. Female music writers frequently face assumptions ranging from the dismissive to the salacious before being neatly sidelined, but this is changing – slowly.  I wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate some rare queens of the art here.

Zoë's book list on music biographies written by women

Zoë Howe Why did Zoë love this book?

The definitive, authorised Johnny Thunders biography, beautifully written by a beloved confidant of the late New York Doll. With a star like Thunders, lesser writers would give in to the temptation to mythologise, but Antonia is a balanced, clear-eyed biographer, presenting her friend’s complex story with style, compassion, grace, and honesty. Nina is the bohemian queen of decadence and rock ‘n’ roll’s darker side, and this book is one of many jewels in her crown.

By Nina Antonia,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Johnny Thunders as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The official biography of the New York Dolls and Heartbreakers' guitarist. ‘Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood’ is the cult bible of all things Thunders. It is the definitive portrait of the condemned man of rock'n'roll, from the baptism of fire and tragedy that was the New York Dolls, through the junkie punk years of the Heartbreakers and beyond. It is an unflinching account of a unique guitarist whose drug problems often overshadowed his considerable style and talent. Johnny was a hugely influential figure in both the glam-rock and punk eras and his music and style still resonates today.

Nina Antonia…


Book cover of Strange Cures

Mike Hipple Author Of Lived Through That: '90s Musicians Today

From my list on music memoirs that aren't necessarily about music.

Why am I passionate about this?

Sadly, I was born without an ounce of musical talent. After realizing I was never going to effortlessly play the guitar or sing in tune, I focused a lot of my energies on listening to music. I came of age in the 80s and the rise of MTV brought loads of fantastic music to explore: punk, new-wave, post-punk, pop. My love for music grew and expanded as I grew up in the 90s. It was those I reached back to musical memories in creating my books, 80s Redux and Lived Through That. I also host a popular podcast called Lived Through That that combines my love of music and storytelling.  

Mike's book list on music memoirs that aren't necessarily about music

Mike Hipple Why did Mike love this book?

Before taking a darker turn in the second half, this book almost reads like a Steven Spielberg movie: wise grandmother advises her young grandson to stick his hands in cow patties out in the field to rid himself of warts. After this hilarious beginning, the book goes into detail on Zabrecky’s rise through the Los Angeles music scene of the early 90s, finding some success with his band Possum Dixon, the inevitable lure of drugs, and a surprising third act. This book reads almost like fiction and you’ll likely read it in a sitting or two, it’s well-paced and well-written.

By Rob Zabrecky,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Strange Cures as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Strange Cures is a turbulent, against-all odds memoir of self-discovery, success, failure, and reinvention, told by one of LA's most interesting natives. With an unflinching gaze, musician/magician/actor Zabrecky recounts his bizarre coming-of-age tale and his quest to find a place in the arts--and the world.

The author reveals a young life filled with both physical miracles and subversive role models, including an uncle who impersonated an FBI agent and, in a drunken delusion, shot and nearly killed him. He takes readers on a roller coaster ride through the nascent days of Silver Lake's music and art community, as seen through…


Book cover of The Gospel According to St. Rage

Adam Oster Author Of The Agora Files - Part 1

From my list on independent books you’ve never heard of.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an independent author, I’ve been lucky enough to find a wealth of other independent authors out there. People who are doing things that aren’t quite mainstream. Artists who are experimenting with the written word and doing truly unique things. Where the world is filled with books made for the sole purpose of being turned into movies, these authors are creating works of fiction that are suited for the written word. Masterpieces that will make you think and want to find even more new forms of fiction. Simply put, independent authors are pushing books into new realms that you simply can’t find in the mainstream market.

Adam's book list on independent books you’ve never heard of

Adam Oster Why did Adam love this book?

Loser girl turned punk rock superhero... Those six words should sell you on The Gospel According to St. Rage alone. But that still doesn't do this book any sort of justice because this isn't really a superhero book. Sure, Barbara may have the powers to cause flocks of birds to release their...um...payload onto her enemies with the simple flick of a finger, but she's not out to save the world, she's just out to finally live the life she's been hiding from.

Eisenbrey brought me back to my own high school days with this book that feels like a punk rock song. To those days of trying to make friends, of trying to define who I am. And she does so with rock star class.

By Karen Eisenbrey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Gospel According to St. Rage as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

Meet Barbara Bernsen, Former Invisible Girl.

Barbara isn't your typical high school junior. She's been invisible since the third grade. But when a magic hat brings her back into the light, Barbara is ready to take on the world. First priority? Start an all-girl garage band. Miraculous super powers were never in her plan, but sometimes you get what you need. Bullies and school shooters don't stand a chance.

Yes, we all love Wonder Woman, Black Widow, and Jessica Jones, but Barbara is the hero her high school deserves.

Truth. Justice. Rock & Roll.


Book cover of Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed

Ian Gittins Author Of The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star

From my list on rock biographies that go the extra mile.

Why am I passionate about this?

After years as a London-based music journalist for publications such as Melody Maker, Q, and The Guardian, I turned to ghostwriting rock autobiographies and discovered how much more satisfying it is to tell someone’s full, unadulterated life story rather than to feed on carefully cultivated scraps gleaned from half-hour interviews. I never imagined anybody would be as lewdly transparent as my first memoir subject, Nikki Sixx, but many others have run him close—not least Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, in 2020’s appositely named Confess. Its follow-up, Biblical, is imminent. Does it go the extra mile? I don’t think it will disappoint…

Ian's book list on rock biographies that go the extra mile

Ian Gittins Why did Ian love this book?

It’s not an easy task to convey the carnal intensity and animal abandon of a performer whose default mode has always been unadulterated excess, but Paul Trynka’s masterful study of Iggy Pop hit the motherlode. Trynka went the extra mile and then some, tracking down hundreds of key witnesses to, and victims of, Pop’s creative chaos, and even attending his high school reunion (which is more than Iggy did). Jaw-dropping anecdotes were legion (taking a mid-gig dump behind the speakers, anyone?) and Trynka captured the driven essence of this brittle soul, perennially fighting the world while never even knowing why.

By Paul Trynka,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Iggy Pop as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Fellow rock stars, casual members of the public, lords and media magnates, countless thousands of people will talk of their encounters with this driven, talented, indomitable creature, a man who has plumbed the depths of depravity, yet emerged with an indisputable nobility. Each of them will share an admiration and appreciation of the contradictions and ironies of his incredible life. Even so, they are unlikely to fully comprehend both the heights and the depths of his experience, for the extremes are simply beyond the realms of most people’s understanding.”

—from the Prologue

The first full biography of one of rock…


Book cover of Fire in the Night Sky

AM Scott Author Of Lift Off

From my list on sci-fi adventures with strong teen heroines.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve published eleven classic-style space opera novels, a novella, and many short stories. Before becoming a writer, I spent twenty years in US Air Force in space operations; even though my books are light on science, I really was a rocket scientist! Plus, I’ve read science fiction since I was barely a teen, starting with Heinlein and McCaffery, and am always looking for my next favorite author!

AM's book list on sci-fi adventures with strong teen heroines

AM Scott Why did AM love this book?

Clair Johnson is determined to prove herself and find out what really happened to her mother. Neither of those things happen the way she expects. 

This is an easy read, with interesting world building, and a realistic set of characters. I enjoyed the setting, the friend group, and the intrigue a lot!

By Chris J. Pike, M. D. Cooper,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Fire in the Night Sky as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In a world of music videos on television, punk rock, and roller derby, the race for space is finally on in this young adult SF adventure!

The United Federation has set a goal of sending a manned rocket to the moon; but rival countries will stop at nothing to plant their flags first—no matter the cost.

For Claire Johnson, that cost might be her life.

The seventeen-year-old spunky waitress wants nothing more than to honor her mother's memory by gaining entrance to the United Federation Space Program and doing her part for the mission. Yet her father wants Claire as…


Book cover of I Slept With Joey Ramone: A Punk Rock Family Memoir
Book cover of Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone
Book cover of Hey Ho Let's Go: The Story of the Ramones

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