Book review: ANGRY, Scarred For Life by Karen Dewey

ANGRY – SCARRED FOR LIFE
Karen Dewey, 1994
7/10

By Shane Pinnegar

Angry Anderson defied an abusive upbringing to rise to fame as frontman of seminal Aussie pub rock icons ROSE TATTOO. Along the way he did the drink and drugs, he did the ladies, and he lived it as hard, rough and raw as his music.

He also changed. He found love, he had kids, he softened. He became a daytime TV star as almost a whistle-blower for social outrage – he reported on neglectful and abusive situations, he raised awareness for kids in need, for the lost ones who fell through the cracks of society, and he raised funds for communities as well.

This book focuses on Angry’s upbringing, and his early nineties work on Australia’s The Midday Show – don’t pick it up if you want dissections of Rose Tattoo’s albums and songs – there’s barely even a mention of his bandmates from one incarnation of the band to another.

Dewey is a solid writer though, and she had a solid brief – show Angry as a man who lived through shit and rose above. She does this admirably and for the human story behind Anderson’s career (up to 1994), this is a gripping – sometimes ebullient, sometimes tearful – read. What it isn’t, though, is the real story of the man and his work, and if Dewey had focussed the same attention on his music as she does on his childhood, sensational run ins with the seedier side of life, and his (in her eyes) redemption on daytime TV, then this would be an epic tome well and truly worthy of an overdue overhaul.

Category: Book Reviews