I have a passion for music. My earliest memories are of my childhood being soundtracked by Dad’s love of Elvis, Queen, and Steve Miller. And then the eighties came, and I was mesmerised on two fronts – rock music and pop music. The former led to me picking up a guitar, forming a band, and seeing scores of rock bands perform, which in turn led three decades later to me writing about this amazing time in I Was A Teenage Rock Fan. The latter led to even more bands, a series of DJing opportunities, and eventually writing my recently published Gary Numan biography. I hope you enjoy the books.
Nearly twenty years ago, I wondered why nobody had written about being a rock fan in the nineteen-eighties, and then I came across Seb Hunter’s Hell Bent for Leather.
Hunter’s story was very similar to mine (we’re of a similar age and based in the UK), but whereas I still love the music and look back on my ultimately futile rock star aspirations with a certain sense of pride and warmth, Hunter is dismissive of his more successful attempt, and embarrassed by his allegiance to the spandex and six strings.
So why recommend this book, I hear you say? One word – passion. His stories and opinions, though I may not agree with all of them, clearly come from the heart and cut through his often cynical but incisive narrative.
Seb Hunter wasn't just a heavy metal fan. He was a blind devotee who threw away his education and future prospects to become a rock star. In Hell Bent for Leather, he reaches into the most embarrassing depths of the family photo album to reveal his Wayne's World-esque teen years, taking readers on a (very loud) musical journey from his first guitar to his first gig and on, through groupies, girlfriends, too many drugs, spiraling egos, musical differences, and finally, the end of the dream -- and a much-needed haircut.In this nostalgic look at heavy metal culture, Seb Hunter has…
Klosterman was brought up in a very different locale to Seb Hunter and myself – the tiny (population 498) town of Wyndmere, North Dakota – and Fargo Rock City provided an interesting juxtaposition to our UK stories.
The thing we all shared, though, was a passion for big riffs and bigger hair. While he didn’t want to be a rock star per se, Klosterman did immerse himself in the culture and ended up writing about it, earning his place on this list. Though some of his opinions won’t win him many feminist friends, his passion and enthusiasm for the genre make his book essential reading.
Powered by a sharp and wholly original voice, Chuck Klosterman delivers a real-life High Fidelity in this savvy, deliriously funny memoir of growing up a shameless heavy-metal devotee in 1980s North Dakota. The year is 1983, and Chuck Klosterman just wants to rock. But he's got problems. For one, he's in the fifth grade. For another, he's mired in rural North Dakota. Worst of all, his parents aren't exactly down with the long hairstyle which said rocking requires. Luckily, his brother saves the day when he brings home a bit of manna from metal heaven, Shout at the Devil, Motley…
If you’re already aware of The Dirt (the book or the Netflix series), you know why it’s on my list, but for those who aren’t and may be thinking, “Hang on, Motley Crue didn’t want to be rock stars, they were rock stars,” then it’s the earlier chapters that we’re interested in.
Back when they were living in squats, playing backyard parties and spending more on guitar strings and booze than food. Told in their own words and voices, you really feel the hunger, the yearning, and the sheer desperation to succeed. Motley fought through poverty, adversity, and apathy to finally make it to the top, and then their story really gets interesting.
Celebrate thirty years of the world's most notorious rock band with the deluxe collectors' edition of The Dirt-the outrageous, legendary, no-holds-barred autobiography of Motley Crue. Fans have gotten glimpses into the band's crazy world of backstage scandals, celebrity love affairs, rollercoaster drug addictions, and immortal music in Motley Crue books like Tommyland and The Heroin Diaries, but now the full spectrum of sin and success by Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, and Mick Mars is an open book in The Dirt. Even fans already familiar with earlier editions of the bestselling expose will treasure this gorgeous deluxe edition. Joe…
Stop. Before you say, “Spandau Ballet? Rock Stars?” let me, or even better, Martin Kemp (in his book) tell you that he and his Blitz Kid brothers gave Motley a run for their money in their eighties rock star behavior, so yes, he’s on my list.
He’s also not so different from Seb Hunter and I, in that he wanted to be in a band, just like his friends Steve Strange, Midge Ure, Boy George and George Michael (their names may be familiar). Again, it’s his passion for the era that makes this compulsive reading as he chronicles the rise and fall of Spandau as well as a lot of the same social histories that I cover in my book, but from the VIP side of the velvet rope.
Ticket to the World is a joyous, nostalgic celebration of 80s culture from one man at the centre of it all.
New Year's Eve, 1979. My family and I stand arm in arm around our Formica kitchen table, counting down to the new decade with each televised chime of Big Ben. We have no idea what is about to hit us, no idea of the seismic waves of change approaching.
The 80s transformed life as we knew it. Music, style and culture exploded in a haze of dayglo colour. There were hardships, but there were opportunities too. And I lived…
If I gave you a script of Stephen Pearcy’s younger days as a potential movie of the week you’d laugh me out of the room for it being too far-fetched.
Pearcy caught the wannabe rock star bug early like I did, and being based in LA it was almost a given that he’d follow his heroes Van Halen to stardom. Then his mum moved them to San Diego, he discovered drugs, and he was hit by a car, ending up in a hospital bed for months. Game over, no? No.
His drive, ambition, determination and, yes, passion to become a rock star led to his full recovery and the formation of Ratt, who sold approximately eight million more records than I did in my attempt at stardom. Fascinating reading.
In the mid-1980s, Ratt, alongside Motley Crue, Poison, and Quiet Riot, were laying down the riffs and unleashing the scissor kicks that would herald the arrival of music's most flamboyantly debauched era. Now with Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll, Ratt frontman and chief rabble-rouser Stephen Pearcy divulges all the dirty details of the era when big-haired bands ruled the world.
Stephen was primed for a life of excess from an early age-his father died of a heroin overdose when he was twelve, and by the age of fifteen, Stephen was himself a drug addict. When Stephen met the thrill-seeking Robbin…
It’s 1985. Live Aid feeds the world, Marty McFly goes Back to the Future, and fifteen year old me makes a discovery that changes my life forever – rock music! Part memoir, part social history, join me on my quest to become a teenage guitar hero as we journey through the eighties rock scene, and its wider impact on society. Along the way we’ll take in early gigs by today’s biggest rock bands, fall foul of US border guards, narrowly avoid death in a Leicestershire field, and get caught up in a riot at Rock City. We’ll also encounter acronyms like AIDS, MTV, and the PMRC and discover why they, and an Australian soap opera, had such an impact on the eighties rock scene.
I’m an OB/GYN, passionate about adventuring beyond what’s expected. This has led me to pivot multiple times in my career, now focusing on writing. I’ve written a play, The Post-Roe Monologues, to elevate women’s stories. I cherish the curiosity that drives outer and inner exploration, and I love memoirs that skillfully weave the two. The books on this list feature extraordinary women who took risks, left comfort and safety, and battled vulnerability to step into the unknown. These authors moved beyond the stories they’d believed about themselves–or that others told about them. They invite you to think about living fuller and bigger lives.
Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.
The team attempts a new route up the East Face without the use of supplemental oxygen, Sherpa support, or chance for rescue. When three climbers disappear during their summit attempt, Zieman reaches the knife edge of her limits and digs deeply to fight for the climbers’ lives and to find her voice.
The plan was outrageous: A small team of four climbers would attempt a new route on the East Face of Mt. Everest, considered the most remote and dangerous side of the mountain, which had only been successfully climbed once before. Unlike the first large team, Mimi Zieman and her team would climb without using supplemental oxygen or porter support. While the unpredictable weather and high altitude of 29,035 feet make climbing Everest perilous in any condition, attempting a new route, with no idea of what obstacles lay ahead, was especially audacious. Team members were expected to push themselves to their…
