Six essential rock-n-roll novels

For Flavorwire, Tobias Carroll named "six rock-n-roll novels that feature rock stars and wedding bands, local scenes and world tours, and inspiration both creative and personal — a primer of what the rock novel can address."

One book on the list:

Don DeLillo, Great Jones Street

Don DeLillo’s 1973 novel about a reclusive rock star named Bucky Wunderlick has much of what you might expect, given the author and subject: musings on the nature of celebrity and the overlap of art and commerce; surreal political declarations; ominous entities hovering over the proceedings. The novel intersperses Wunderlick’s account of his own self-imposed retreat to an apartment in a then-threatening East Village with lyrics and interviews, creating a fractured setting from which conspiracies emerge. DeLillo’s concept of the pop musician as corporate head anticipates everything from celebrity club appearances to Jeff Mangum’s periodic guest stints with affiliated bands to Jay-Z’s time as CEO of Def Jam.

Read about another novel on the list.

Also see: the ten best rock biographies, the four greatest rock ’n’ roll books, Tiffany Murray's top ten rock'n'roll novels, and the LA Times' 46 essential rock reads.

--Marshal Zeringue