A first-rate rock-'n'-roll history with enough lively detail and thoughtful analysis to put to shame the marginalization of women rockers decried by Gaar (editor of the music magazine The Rocket). Tracing the growth of the industry from its roots in late-40's rhythm and blues through today's video-driven stylings, Gaar exposes the consistent double bind of women ``frequently not seen as having the commercial potential of a male artist, and so...not given the chance to demonstrate that they could indeed sell records.'' Though saddled with an unshakable novelty image, women- -from Willie Mae Thornton (whose 1953 hit, ``Hound Dog,'' written for her, far predated Elvis's version), through the ``girl groups'' of the 1960's and the 1970's singer-songwriters, to the legions of punk, post-punk, pop, and rap performers of the past decade—have nonetheless established themselves as durable hit-makers. Drawing on the often rueful comments of her subjects (``You weren't really expressing yourself creatively, past proving to the world that girls could play like guys,'' recalls one), and on an extensive knowledge of both the artistic and business aspects of the music world, Gaar ably grounds her study against the larger context of social change, including the waxing and waning tides of feminism and prejudice. Most poignant is the odd juxtaposition of late performers Karen Carpenter and Janis Joplin, the former ``destroyed by the limitations inherent in playing the role of the good girl as Joplin had been destroyed by the limitations in playing the role of the bad.'' A number of minor inaccuracies (e.g., incorrectly marrying off Grace Slick and Paul Kantner) and some iffy grammar are rare weak points in an otherwise excellent, unusually comprehensive social and musical chronicle. Essential reading for rock fans—particularly those with large record collections and open minds. (Sixty b&w photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Oct. 23, 1992
ISBN: 1-878067-08-7
Page Count: 450
Publisher: Seal Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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