“Rock stars aren’t like you and me. They act insane and have insane things happen to them. They are more like feral, narcissistic animals than functioning members of society, and this is in part what makes them entertaining.”
-Jake Brennan (from Disgraceland)
“…on my tombstone when I go/Just put ‘Death by Rock and Roll’…”
Thus goes the line from the song “Death by Rock and Roll” by a band called The Pretty Reckless. Rock stars, more than any other kind of entertainers, tend to die quite young after living what can only be described as chaotic lives (probably because they are statistically more likely to suffer from things like bipolar disorder). A dozen renowned artists and their tragic, deadly experiences are the subject of Disgraceland: Musicians Getting Away with Murder and Behaving Very Badly, a new book by musician and music journalist Jake Brennan, based on his popular podcast of the same name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX6KILafIS0
Brennan does not delve deeply into probable causes of his subjects’ bad behaviour, nor does he offer clinical evidence; his is a more anecdotal approach. The book is not a true-crime police blotter, but rather a series of embellished, semi-fictionalized accounts of legendary rock and roll tragedies, each chapter cleverly tied together to the next by a common thread (like a reference to a song lyric or artist from the previous section), and goes full circle, beginning with “Fat Elvis” and ending with “Skinny Elvis”.
I have to say that Disgraceland was a disappointing experience. I enjoy reading behind-the-scenes show business stories, but the aforementioned embellishments and fictionalizations blur the lines between reality and fantasy; the real stories were more than intriguing enough, they did not require any dressing up. Case in point: The Phil Spector murder case is one of the featured pieces. I was looking forward to getting some details about the incident, but instead what I got was a made-up, incomprehensible and nonsensical rant Spector had with himself in his mansion that the author fabricated. And the book offers nothing new. The most interesting fact I did not know before reading Disgraceland was that Colonel Tom Parker’s real first name was Andreas, so I guess his parents had good taste in monikers.
What annoyed me the most about the book is Brennan’s breezy style that is the literary equivalent of chewing up the scenery, or the musical equivalent of too much echo and reverb on your guitar. Over-adorned sentences just to prove one can do it and believing that every trivial fact is important makes the book a boring slog and interferes with the pacing. Details are often repeated to no great effect other than the reader’s frustration.
Admittedly I am more of a Joe Friday, “just the facts” sort of reader, so it may be more a matter of personal preference; I acknowledge Brennan is trying to make an artistic statement and I can’t fault him for that just because of my hang-ups. While I feel he failed, at least his project “dared greatly” and had ambition.
Overall, however, I can’t really recommend Disgraceland: Musicians Getting Away with Murder and Behaving Very Badly. I would a rather have read a longer, more in-depth and straight-forward book, like Claudia Kalb’s Andy Warhol was a Hoarder.
Curtains Up reviewer Andreas Kessaris’s new book The Butcher of Park Ex and Other Semi-Truthful Tales (MiroLand) will be published on October 1. Pre-order here.
Twitter: @AKessaris
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreas_kessaris/
