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Search - List of Books by Henry Rollins

"I don't mind The Boss. I think he's an honest guy. I have some of his records, not all of them. I've met a couple of the E-Street guys, and they seem really cool." -- Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins (born Henry Lawrence Garfield; February 13, 1961) is an America singer-songwriter, raconteur, stand-up comedian, spoken word artist, writer, publisher, actor, radio DJ, and activist.After joining the short-lived Washington D.C.-based band State of Alert in 1980, Rollins fronted the California hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1981 until 1986. Following the band's breakup, Rollins soon established the record label and publishing company 2.13.61 to release his spoken word albums, as well as forming the Rollins Band, which toured with a number of lineups until 2003 and during 2006.

Since Black Flag, Rollins has embarked on projects covering a variety of media. He has hosted numerous radio shows, such as Harmony In My Head on Indie 103, and television shows, such as The Henry Rollins Show, MTV's 120 Minutes,and Jackass. He had a recurring dramatic role as a white supremacist in the second season of Sons of Anarchy and has also had roles in several films. Rollins has also campaigned for various political causes in the United States, including promoting marriage equality for LGBT couples, World Hunger Relief, and an end to war in particular, and tours overseas with the United Service Organizations to entertain American troops.
Rollins has since replied that "no, the training was just basically a way to push myself."


Rollins Band and solo releases

Before Black Flag broke up in August 1986, Rollins had already toured as a solo spoken word artist. He released two solo records in 1987, Hot Animal Machine, a collaboration with guitarist Chris Haskett, and Drive by Shooting, recorded as "Henrietta Collins and the Wifebeating Childhaters"; Rollins also released his second spoken word album, Big Ugly Mouth in the same year. Along with Haskett, Rollins soon added Andrew Weiss and Sim Cain, both former members of Ginn's side-project Gone, and called the new group Rollins Band. The band toured relentlessly, and their 1987 debut album, Life Time, was quickly followed by the outtakes and live collection Do It. The band continued to tour throughout 1988; 1989 marked the release of another Rollins Band album, Hard Volume. Another live album, Turned On, and another spoken word release, Live at McCabe's, followed in 1990.

Rollins and Weiss released Fast Food For Thought, an EP by their one-off side project Wartime in 1990. It was sonically in many ways more reminiscent of Weiss's work with Ween than the Rollins Band. The music, while heavy and driving, had a distinctly psychedelic bent, culimnating in the final track, a cover of "Franklin's Tower" by The Grateful Dead. Early pressings were simply credited to "Wartime" while later releases added the phrase "featuring Henry Rollins" to the cover.

1991 saw the Rollins Band sign a distribution deal with Imago Records and appear at the Lollapalooza festival; both improved the band's presence. However, in December 1991, Rollins and his best friend Joe Cole were accosted by gunmen belonging to the Venice, CA gang, the Venice Shoreline Crips, outside Rollins's home. Cole was murdered by a gunshot to the head, but Rollins escaped without injury. Although traumatized by Cole's death, as chronicled in his book Now Watch Him Die, Rollins continued to release new material; the spoken-word album Human Butt appeared in 1992 on his own record label, 2.13.61. The Rollins Band released The End of Silence, Rollins's first charting album.

The following year, Rollins released a spoken-word double album, The Boxed Life. The Rollins Band embarked upon the End of Silence tour; bassist Weiss was fired towards its end and replaced by funk and jazz bassist Melvin Gibbs. According to critic Steve Huey, 1994 was Rollins's "breakout year". The Rollins Band appeared at Woodstock 94 and released Weight, which ranked on the Billboard Top 40. Rollins released On the Road with Black Flag, a double-disc set of him reading from his Black Flag tour diary of the same name; he won the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Recording as a result. Rollins was named 1994's "Man of the Year" by the American men's magazine Details and became a contributing columnist to the magazine. With the increased exposure, Rollins made several appearances on American music channels MTV and VH1 around this time, and made his Hollywood film debut in 1994 in The Chase playing a police officer.

In 1995, the Rollins Band's record label, Imago Records, declared itself bankrupt. Rollins began focusing on his spoken word career. He released Everything, a recording of a chapter of his book Eye Scream with free jazz backing, in 1996. He continued to appear in various films, including Heat, Johnny Mnemonic and Lost Highway. The Rollins Band signed to Dreamworks Records in 1997 and soon released Come in and Burn, but it did not receive as much critical acclaim as their previous material. Rollins continued to release spoken-word book readings, releasing Black Coffee Blues in the same year. 1998 saw Rollins released Think Tank, his first set of non-book-related spoken material in five years.

By 1998, Rollins felt that the relationship with his backing band had run its course, and the line-up disbanded. He had produced a Los Angeles hard rock band called Mother Superior, and invited them to form a new incarnation of the Rollins Band. Their first album Get Some Go Again, was released two years later. The Rollins Band released several more albums, including 2001's Nice and 2003's 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three. After 2003, the band became inactive as Rollins focused on radio and television work. During a 2006 appearance on Tom Green Live!, Rollins stated that he "may never do music again".

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This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Henry Rollins", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
Total Books: 45
Alien [Vignette Series, Vol 2] (Paperback)
Art to choke hearts
Art to Choke Hearts (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9783934790032
ISBN-10: 3934790038
  ?

Art to Choke Hearts and Pissing in the Gene Pool
Art to Choke Hearts and Pissing in the Gene Pool (Paperback)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9781880985014
ISBN-10: 1880985012
  ?

Black Coffee Blues
Black Coffee Blues (Paperback)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780753510353
ISBN-10: 0753510359
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  ?

Broken Summers
Broken Summers (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781880985755
ISBN-10: 1880985756
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction, Humor & Entertainment
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 1

Do I Come Here Often
Do I Come Here Often (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780753510407
ISBN-10: 0753510405
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 3

Do I Come Here Often Black Coffee Blues Pt 2
Do I Come Here Often Black Coffee Blues Pt 2 (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9781880985489
ISBN-10: 1880985489
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction
  ?

A Dull Roar What I Did on My Summer Deracination 2006
A Dull Roar What I Did on My Summer Deracination 2006 (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781880985793
ISBN-10: 1880985799
Genre: Humor & Entertainment
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 2

Everything
Everything (Audio CD)Audio Cassette
ISBN-13: 9781880985410
ISBN-10: 1880985411
  ?

Eye Scream
Eye Scream (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781880985328
ISBN-10: 1880985322
Genres: Nonfiction, Humor & Entertainment
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 3

Fanatic Songs Lists and Notes from the Harmony In My Head Radio Show
Fanatic Songs Lists and Notes From the Harmony in My Head Radio Show (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781880985786
ISBN-10: 1880985780
Genre: Humor & Entertainment
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 2

Get in the Van
Get in the Van (Paperback)Audio CD
ISBN-13: 9781880985762
ISBN-10: 1880985764
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Humor & Entertainment
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 7

Get in the Van On the Road With Black Flag
Get in the Van on the Road with Black Flag (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9781880985236
ISBN-10: 1880985233
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 1

Get in the Van  On the Road With Black Flag/Cassettes
Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781889307374
ISBN-10: 1889307378
Genres: Arts & Photography, Biographies & Memoirs, Humor & Entertainment
  ?

Henry Rollins  The First Five
Henry Rollins the First Five (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781880985519
ISBN-10: 1880985519
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction, Humor & Entertainment
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
 2

Occupants
Occupants (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9781569768150
ISBN-10: 1569768153
Genre: Arts & Photography
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 1

One From None Collected Work 1987
One From None Collected Work 1987 (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781880985045
ISBN-10: 1880985047
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 4

Pissing in the Gene Pool
Pissing in the Gene Pool (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781880985007
ISBN-10: 1880985004
Genre: Science & Math
  ?

The Portable Henry Rollins
The Portable Henry Rollins (Paperback)Paperback, Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780375750007
ISBN-10: 0375750002
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Literature & Fiction, Humor & Entertainment
  • Currently 2.8/5 Stars.
 3

A Preferred Blur Reflections Inspections and Travel in All Directions
A Preferred Blur Reflections Inspections and Travel in All Directions (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781880985816
ISBN-10: 1880985810
Genre: Humor & Entertainment
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 1

Real Conversations No1
Real Conversations No1 [Henry Rollins Jello Biafra Lawrence Ferlinghetti Billy Childish - Real Conversations Re/Search] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781889307091
ISBN-10: 1889307092
Genres: Arts & Photography, Nonfiction, Humor & Entertainment
  ?

Smile You're Traveling [Black Coffee Blues Part 3] (Paperback)
Smile You're Travelling [Black Coffee Blues 3] (Paperback)