What do musicians do after the first flush of fame, when their so-called “imperial phase” has passed? When they are the flavour of last month or, in the old Smash Hits parlance, their career is “down the dumper”? And why are musicians so poorly served by the industry which profits from their talents? Chewed up, spat out and even provided with a means of self-destruction should they be so inclined.
These are the respective questions asked by two insightful new music books. Exit Stage Left: The Curious Afterlife of Pop Stars by Nick Duerden charts with great affection the generally ignored, but surprisingly rich, later years in the biographies of a raft of successful musicians from Robbie Williams to Roisin Murphy. While Ian Winwood’s Bodies: Life and Death in Music is an intense examination of why the music business is bad for musicians’ health.
Duerden has written on arts and health for various publications and publishers. Winwood, meanwhile, has played chicken with his own mental and physical wellbeing in his thirty-year career as a rock journalist. He has partied harder than many of the musicians he covered on tour until it became clear that he was headed straight for the free bar in the sky unless he sought professional help. As such, Winwood’s book is a rollercoaster ride, personal, loquacious, unsettling and sometimes downright scary, however Duerden is a quiet listener and compassionate observer. Both approaches pay dividends.
Many of Duerden’s subjects – from James to Joan Armatrading, David Gray to Don McLean – would still be considered successful career musicians. Armatrading is a germane example of how to stay sane in a crazy industry, yet McLean is clearly relishing what would in most other professions be considered the retirement years.
At the other end of the scale, 90s popsters S Club 7 were reduced to personal appearances as S Club 3. Paul Cattermole hit the headlines again for all the wrong reasons when he was declared bankrupt and failed to sell his Brit Award on eBay. Dexys Midnight Runners’ frontman Kevin Rowland went from top of the charts to bottom of the barrel. But, he has clung on to the wheel of fortune to emerge as a respected elder pop statesman.
There is no one-experience-fits-all for pop stars who have, in the wise words of Nasher from Frankie Goes to Hollywood, “had your go on the swings”. Brian Nash, one of the Frankie “lads” behind Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford, was never going to be offered the chance of a post-Frankie solo career. Instead, he returned to his previous profession as an electrician before retraining as a funeral celebrant. He has no regrets.
In fact, some of Duerden’s most contented case studies are those who have left the music business and never looked back. Unlike some of his bandmates, Musical Youth frontman Dennis Seaton has emerged unscathed from his experience as a teen pop star and is now a fulfilled family man who trains businesses in the glamorous matters of ladder safety.
Some musicians have healed themselves – Boo Radleys’ frontman Sice is now a psychologist, while Towers of London singer Donnie Tourette emerged from a torrid period of industry manipulation as a qualified reiki therapist. If only some of the subjects in Bodies had recourse to the same professional help. Instead, author Winwood argues, their profession is largely to blame for their woes.
Where Exit Stage Left showcases a catalogue of lighter, ultimately hopeful human interest stories, Winwood’s book pulls no punches in its portrayal of the music industry as a predatory beast whose “employees” (there is no formal employer/employee relationship so no legal duty of care) are two to three times more likely to die a premature death than their peers in other lines of work. Bodies is a grim requiem for Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, Alice in Chains’ late frontman Layne Staley, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington and others.
Given his background as a longtime features writer for Kerrang!, Winwood’s focus is mainly on rock bands, although the culture of excess which still pervades the genre – even if the sex, drugs and rock’n’roll cliche is not so much flaunted nowadays – can be found throughout showbiz. As long as the free booze is flowing and your dealer is on speed dial there will always be casualties – not least Winwood himself, who indulged in the touring lifestyle as much as the bands he wrote about. Some of the most moving and disturbing passages in Bodies concern his slow descent into self-destructive behaviour which was only exacerbated following the sudden death of his beloved father.
Winwood is a brilliant, visceral writer with harsh words for the abusers and enablers, empathy for the kids who are sold a pig in a poke in the form of big dreams and one-sided record deals and admiration for the bands such as Biffy Clyro who have survived life in the eye of the heavy metal hurricane through strong bonds and a stable work ethic.
So while Bodies is a tale of rock’n’roll excess, it is not one which revels in the anecdotes. Those books have been written already and contributed to a dodgy mythology which Winwood sets out to challenge in this important, thought-provoking work.
Rating: 4 stars for both!
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