The last few years, I've made sure I have decent reading material around the toilet. A good Rock/Metal biography has become my favorite genre to read, as I generally avoid fiction all together. I've managed to read the following bios:

Tony Iommi (autobiography, ends around 2012?)
Motley Crue's Dirt (all four of them chime in with their various recollections/backstabbings)
Lemmy (autobiography, ends in the early 2000's)
Al Jourgenson (autobiography ends in the early 2010's, he was still married and worshipping his wife. They're now divorced)
Dave Mustaine (autobiography which also ends in the early 2010's)
Karl-Ulrich Walterbach/Noise Records (not really a straight bio, as the writer gave equal print to the various bands Noise signed as much as the label head Walterbach, published last year. Tom G. Warrior fucking HATES him!)
Brian Slagel/Metal Blade Records (autobiography, also published last year)

I have the Rudy Sarzo and Max Cavalera biographies queued up as next. Also, the second Artie Lange autobiography, 'Crash and Burn' might as well been a rock and roll biography.

I'm currently reading this one, which is the first one I kind of feel pangs of embarrassment reading. "Bon: The Last Highway"



The book recalls the last three years of Bon's life, primarily for the tours of the USA around 'Let There Be Rock', 'Powerage' and 'Highway to Hell' and then his death in London. The embarrassment is that the book takes in the accounts from mostly groupies and hangers-on of those times, which is kind of a necessity because the Young brothers (including George at that time) ran the band to where they were very tight-lipped publically about the inner workings of their organization. Nowadays people in the industry refer to them as "The Young Mafia" because they will threaten legal litigation to anyone who has ever worked in or around the band and sue them into life-long poverty if they get any whiff of defamation. They imply that Phil Rudd was slated for an interview until "The Young Mafia" got to him.

This mostly paints a picture of Bon being the lovable guy who was willing to help anyone he ran across, except ultimately for himself, that we all knew he was. You get a lot of testimonies of Bon's incredible partying endurance, AC/DC blowing away every band that ever headlined above them during that 1977-79 period and their inability to score a "hit" on American radio until 'Highway to Hell'. Getting a hit on American radio was the whole key to making it. At that time they were a weird band that won over everyone they played shows to, but without that hit, you were just playing to the same couple thousand people in every town.

There are other so-called revelations I won't spoil, but I will say seeing this photo of Bon's ex-girlfriend, Silver Smith, the gal who inspired the songs "Gone Shootin'", "Up to My Neck in You" and "Kicked in the Teeth" on 'Powerage' made me very happy.

It's been five or six years since I finished Tony Iommi's 'Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath'. The thing that resonates with me the most is what a gentleman and humble guy Tony is throughout it. He's kind of settled into this stately grandfatherly figure over the last couple of decades, but I can remember when the metal press was anything but kind to the guy in the 80's & 90's, with his feuds with Ozzy and Dio, playing those gigs in South Africa that one time and trotting out inferior versions of Black Sabbath. In reading this, he generally seems like a pretty good guy who was just trying to earn a paycheck throughout although I don't really recall a lot about those murky mid-late 80's years. What was incredible was reading about his comeback from having the ends of two of his fingers on his fret hand sliced off during his last shift at his factory job! Basically he forged on when most would have quit and experimented with methods that would enable him to play through his disability and basically go on to invent heavy metal! It's a cool book, that I feel like I need to dig out of storage and revisit very soon!

The Dirt was astounding. The credit on that goes to Neil Strauss (sp?) for weaving all of that together, in that the band allowed him to interview the entire band in a no-holds-barred way and publish what he thought the was true to the narrative to the entire history of the band.

I'm currently reading Slayer 66 2/3: The Jeff and Dave Years.



It's good timing, as I'm seeing SLAYER on their farewell tour in seven weeks. It's a lot like the Bon Scott bio in that it's written by an unapologetic fanboy with a lot of amateurish parts popping up. There are still a lot of cool early stories popping up (I'm only about 1/3rd of the way in, just before Dave's first departure from the band). As if I could not appreciate the band any more, the author points out how truly groundbreaking they were in creating the 80's "crossover" scene in Southern California in that they were fearless in playing and openly recommending their fans to play with pure punk rock bands. None of the other fledgling thrash titans; Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Exodus, Hirax, Overkill, etc... were doing that. The band definitely opened the doors for a lot of killer shit that followed them, some of which is not completely obvious as the author attributes the success of Public Enemy and Nirvana's 'Nevermind' to SLAYER's 'Reign in Blood', which really is not a reach if you follow the thread in this book.

I also got a greater appreciation for Jeff Hanneman in this book. I always thought he was the greatest member of the band and this bio definitely raises his stock even higher.

I think the author definitely takes the side of KK, Jeff and Tom vs. Dave, which has been a constant thread throughout their history. I think he fails recognize what a spoiled brat KK is (he never had to hold a regular job in his life) and that Dave had the most traditional upbringing of the band (who actually worked as a shoe store employee as a kid), but that's just me reading between the lines.

Anyway, I'm not done with it yet. I do like it so far, but it isn't a five star book. I'll always try to read any book about the giants, which SLAYER qualifies as in my book.

I while ago I read an Iggy Pop bio I got at the local library. I think it was called open up and bleed. It was cool, I didn't know much about the Stooges other than about the records and the MC5 connection, but this added some more insight and I liked it.

I read the Jim Morrison/Doors one, No One Gets Out of Here Alive...like 30 years ago.

I read a few Hendrix books, a couple Beach Boys a bunch of Beatles.

Not long ago I read a book about the Rolling Stones/Altamont. "Altamont
The Rolling Stones, the Hells Angels, and the Inside Story of Rock's Darkest Day"  I recommend this one it's really well written and very interesting.

I also read one about Arthur Lee/Love. I thought that one was really interesting as well.

I also recently got the Steven Tyler autobiography from a thrift store. Tried to start reading it twice and the writing is really flowery and he's talking about his parents and growing up. Haven't been able to get into it yet, but I would like to learn about to 70's Areosmith stories.

Enjoying audiobooks lately.

Finished up Altimont the other day. Solidly enjoyable until it fixates on the stabbing murder. Part of the story but lost my interest.

Won�t come close to finishing �When Giants Walked the Earth� on Zeplin. They give you a week on library rentals through Overdrive. It�s a 19 disc package.. brutal on their legacy, interesting to get more perspective on their song lifting and perceived motivation. Meticulously researched.. it�s got me listening to a lot of old blues.

Quote from: Mr Red on July 07, 2018, 03:09:11 AM

KK Downing's book is coming out in September! You know I'll be all over this!

This book seems to get quite a bit of publicity at the moment, as we are nearing the release date.

You know, I feel a bit conflicted about this book. Not that I've read it, and I'm probably not going to either, but I'm conflicted in the sense that this books seems to be born out of KK's recent financial troubles. I have a feeling that had his golf course/golf resort succeeded as planned, we would've never seen this book. In connection with his recent sale of his music rights, or whatever it was, there seems to be a trend going on here. I got the same impression once he started talking about their latest album, talking about his disappointment in not being asked to re-join and so on. I don't think he is even interested in rejoining, really, but the publicity helps promote his book. If he was that eager to join, after he quit the band on his own accord, I feel he could've reached out to the band after Glenn's diagnosis was made public, and could've said: "I'm really sorry to hear about your situation Glenn, if you need me to step into the band to help out, I'm fired up and ready for the job".

From the publicity I've read (and it may just all be a storm in a teacup, stirring sh%�%t just to sell a book) it seems that there may be some negative things in this book about the other band members that probably should've stayed within the band. Of course, everyone is entitled to voice their opinions and experiences, but I feel that for those out there who idolize Priest, as most of us tend to do with our personal heroes, it is a bit of a shame if all of this turns into a mudslinging contest, instead of just letting the legacy of the music speak for itself. I feel that had KK not been in such dire straits financially, he would've left the legacy alone like he has until now. And that is why I feel conflicted. KK has always come off as a gentleman to me, and that is why this strikes me as such an uncharacteristic odd move on his part, possibly explained by the financial situation.

I'm about 100 pages into the book and nothing really controversial has come up yet regarding the classic Judas Priest lineup. He did mention (and Blabbermouth.net ran a big byline about it) that Glenn Tipton wasn't always easy to get along with, but KK attributed that to Glenn being a more reserved person, while KK was a loose, jokey sort. The book so far is actually really interesting and well written. The thing that I can tell is going to drive me crazy is that he really doesn't dig into the band's creative processes much. I just finished where he described making 'Sin After Sin' in TWO paragraphs, which will drive many mad. I sneaked a peek at the next chapter and it covers making ALL of their albums in the 80's! That's kind of crazy. I'd expect a chapter per album, at least the classic ones. It's basically what Tony Iommi and Lemmy did in theirs.

I know I missed it when it happened, but KK did reach out to the band when Glenn's diagnosis went public, but the band told him they were not interested because he would have to learn Glenn's parts, which would have been weird. I guess Downing did pitch a bit of a fit about this in the press, with each side (mainly Hill, who started the band with Downing) trading jabs at each other through the press.

I don't know if Downing's bankruptcy had anything to do with making the book. The money certainly wouldn't hurt, but I don't think people at his level of celebrity make a killing off of books. My guess is it didn't factor in the writing, because Downing has been playing the historian for the band for years with his posts and videos on his "KK's Steel Mill" page on Facebook. My guess is that he's just bored and is regretting his decision to retire now. He recently sold his publishing to his share of the music, I imagine that was enough to bail him out of his financial straits.

Haha, as soon as I post about the KK book being gentle, the mudslinging starts the next time I pick it up! Mudslinging, but albeit gently (so far).

Really though, overall the book is aces, especially for the JP fanatic that I am.

That would be very low on my list. 

I'm loving the KK book, but I'm on my last 50 pages, so I ordered the highest rated CCR bio on Amazon tonight because it's apparently one of the saddest stories in rock lore.

I'll probably grab the Pete Way (UFO), Stephen Pearcy or Ace Frehley bios before I get down to the Maynard/blowhard level. I like reading about the trainwrecks. 

I also feel like I owe it to myself to read one of the tabloid-ish books about Alice in Chains, like the AC/DC one I referenced above.

Also, I haven't read any of Henry Rollins, and he can fill a wing of a library himself.

I saw the Rob Halford is going ahead with his own bio, which should be awesome. I really enjoy the KK book, but there are blanks to be filled and to his credit, KK never slams Rob. The biggest reveal has been what a piece of work (shit) Ken's dad growing up in poverty in industrial England.