Book: ROCK n’ ROLL MYTHS – By Gary Graff & Daniel Durchholz

Shane | 20 June 2013 | Reply

Published by Voyageur Press/Capricorn Link
Released 2012
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7/10

Never a day goes past that the die hard rockers amongst us don’t ponder one of the many myths of rock n’ roll’s hinterland.

Did Led Zeppelin sign a deal with the devil?
Did Alice Cooper commit fowl play?
How did Gram Parson’s corpse come to burn in the desert?
Did Kurt Cobain write Hole’s Live Through This album?
Did John Lennon and Brian Epstein really… you know…?
Was Donna Summer self-lovin’ in the studio?
Was Puff The Magic Dragon one toke over the line?
Did Hendrix put LSD in his headband?
Did Stevie Nicks have a bump of ‘backdoor’ blow?
Really? Keith Richards had a snort of his Dad’s earthly remains?
Did Rod Stewart really have a stomach full of… ewwwww!
Was Pink Floyd off to see the wizard?

These are just a handful of the chapter titles of this intriguing little book. Other larger than life characters that crack a Guernsey include Frank Zappa, Johnny Cash, Robert Johnson, Sid Vicious, Kurt Cobain, George Jones, America, Willie Nelson, Weird Al Yankovich, Ozzy Osbourne and many more – so you can see that their definition of ‘Rock n Roll’ is pretty broad for a start.

Most of the stories we have heard before, so this book is primarily for the casually interested rather than the hardcore rocker, but there is still plenty of interesting factoids even for a diehard like myself, and Graff & Durchholz have an wit and charm to their writing, so even when we know the ending, the journey is likeable enough.

For those who think rock is so crass and scary and demonic that it deserves picketing and burning, though – this book is an essential reference tome to reassure you that it’s YOU, not THEM that is the problem.

Well, most of the time…