To mark the 40th year of Relix, we are going to run a series of Relix 40 lists in the magazine and online that cover a variety of topics. Last week we recommended 40 novels with music themes (For more Relix 40 lists Click here). Today we highlight 40 entertaining and enlightening memoirs and non-fiction books. While not on this list we also wish to salute books by former Relix editor Jeff Tamarkin- Got a Revolution!: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane, along with Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped (which I wrote with Relix editor Josh Baron) and Jesse Jarnow- Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock.

The books listed below appear in order of publication.

Greil Marcus Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock’n’Roll Music (1975)

Robert Palmer Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta (1981)

Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe Miles: The Autobiography (1989)

Fredric Dannen Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business (1990)

Bill Graham and Robert Greenfield Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock And Out (1992)

Dave Marsh Louie Louie: The History and Mythology of the World’s Most Famous Rock ’n Roll Song (1993)

Levon Helm with Stephen Davis This Wheel’s on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band (1993)

Peter Guralnick Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley (1994) and Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (1999)

Fred Goodman The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, and Springsteen and the Head-on Collision of Rock and Commerce (1997)

John F. Szwed Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra (1997)

Richard Gehr and Phish The Phish Book (1998)

Blair Jackson Garcia : An American Life (2000)

Richard D. Smith Can’t You Hear Me Callin’: The Life of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass (2000)

Chuck Klosterman Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota (2001)

David Hajdu Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina & Richard Farina (2001)

Michael Azerrad Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 (2001)

Dennis McNally A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead (2002)

Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?: The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music (2002)

Bob Dylan Chronicles, Volume One (2004)

Bob Spitz The Beatles: The Biography (2005)

Phil Lesh Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead (2005)

Eric Clapton Clapton: The Autobiography (2007)

Rob Sheffield Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time (2007)

Al Kooper Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards (Revised, 2008)

Sheila Weller Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—and the Journey of a Generation (2008)

Steve Knopper Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age (2009)

Terry Teachout Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong (2009)

Keith Richards Life (2010)

Patti Smith Just Kids (2010)

Tommy James Me, The Mob and the Music (2010)

Alan Paul Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues, and Becoming a Star in Beijing (2011)

Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution (2011)

David Browne Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970 (2011)

Robert Greenfield The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun (2011)

Gregg Allman with Alan Light My Cross To Bear (2012)

Neil Young Waging Heavy Peace (2012)

Pete Townshend Who I Am: A Memoir (2012)

RJ Smith The One: The Life and Music of James Brown (2012)

Sylvie Simmons I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen (2012)

Will Hermes Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever (2012)