New Titles On Old Rockers
Memoirs! Memoirs! Get your hot new memoirs here! It may be a cliche, but there's something very soothing and predicatable when long serving members of the rock and roll establishment sit back and reflect on the wild and crazy times. 2012 has seen a bumper crop of both memoirs and biographies:
One of the most literary and thoughtful of the big 1960's rockers, Townshend has always delivered great interviews (often compared to Lennon and Bowie in his ability to always say something interesting) and has now delivered a great autobiography. There's a lot of glimpses of his troubling childhood, such as being sent to live with his mentally unstable grandmother at age 7, and the early days of his musical awakenings. Plenty of rock andecdotes to share, and overall a very open and honest view of his personal life's ups and downs. Fun fact: After the Who called it quits in 1983, Townshend took on an aquisitions editor position with Faber & Faber, and worked with William Golding and Ted Hughes.
Waging Heavy Peace: Neil Young
Neil Young has had a career that many of his 60's contemporaries would envy. Aside from some early 1980's mis-steps, Young has consistently created decent records, hasn't gone all soft, and tours regularly. His writing could use some work, or to be more specific, a team of editors. This book is a jumbled mess of anecdotes from the Buffalo Springfield, CSNY, and solo days, mixed with details on his electric car, toy train, and digital sound projects. A very frustrating read, but one page in five is decent. Fun fact: The Massey Hall 1971 concert film is actually the audio from Toronto and the visuals from an earlier show in Stratford, Connecticut.
Although Johnny died in 2004, his autobiography was just released this year. I was a huge fan of the Ramones at one point in my life and this book is the real deal for learning everything about their whole career. From the early days when Johnny worked construction jobs, to the band getting gigs, to the punk explosion in NYC, to working with Phil Spector, and the sad, final end to the band, this covers it all. Johnny was a bit of a mis-match with the punk world view; rather than extolling the virtues of a classless society free from the old way of doing things, he was actually a huge baseball fan, Ronald Reagan supporter, and life-long Republican. Fun fact: Johnny's Top 3 Singers of All Time: Elvis, Bing Crosby, Roy Orbison.
Mick Jagger; Satan from Suburbia: Philip Norman
In contrast to the other self-penned (supposedly) titles, this one is not an autobiography. Jagger is notorious for convenient amnesia and an unwillingness to delve into his past, and rarely opens up much in interviews. In 1983 he was given the largest advance in British publishing history (reportedly $5,000,000) to write his memoir, but after years of slow work the underwhelming manuscript was rejected and the advance repaid. So, Philip Norman has instead tackled creating the biography that should have been. It has lots of sex, lots of drugs, lots of music, and lots and lots of unflattering things to say about Jagger. He's cheap. He's nasty to women. He's aloof and uncaring. He's a fake. He tries too hard to stay cool. But he's also created some fantastic music, had a brief but decent run at acting, and managed to stay relevant and popular from the age of 19 to 69. Fun fact: Mick was often seen and heard crying his eyes out when he got into arguments with Chrissie, Marianne, and Bianca.
2 thoughts on “New Titles On Old Rockers”
“he was actually a huge baseball fan, Ronald Reagan supporter, and life-long Republican.” Good for Johnny! The guy had balls, and he played like it too. Loved his crunching guitar riffs. Great band! Great guitarist!
The Jagger book sounds like a sensationalized hatchet job. Yawn. Stay clear. He’s the best rock n’ roll singer of all time. I want to read about the Stones swagger and the great music, not the gossip.
“he was actually a huge baseball fan, Ronald Reagan supporter, and life-long Republican.” Good for Johnny! The guy had balls, and he played like it too. Loved his crunching guitar riffs. Great band! Great guitarist!
The Jagger book sounds like a sensationalized hatchet job. Yawn. Stay clear. He’s the best rock n’ roll singer of all time. I want to read about the Stones swagger and the great music, not the gossip.