Fred Toucher’s Book Club: Three Books Filled with Debauchery! – Toucher & Hardy
Hi, I’m Fred Toucher. I’ve received a lot of emails over the years from people asking me to suggest rock biographies to read. I have read dozens over the course of my life. I think the main reason for this is that rock stars are collectively the most messed-up people on the planet, so they made me feel better about my own bad habits. People who feel bad about themselves have a tendency to use other, more screwed-up people as measuring sticks to justify their own foibles.
If you are interested in the actual music of the bands and the meaning behind their lyrics, these books are not for you. These are the three books that are filled with the most debauchery. You will also notice that these are all oral histories. The reason isn’t completely that they are easier to read! Oral histories allow all band members and hangers-on to tell their own stories in their own words. Often they contradict each other, leading to disturbing revelations. Here they are in no particular order:
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk By Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
This book focuses mostly on the characters on the Lower East Side of New York City in the ’70s, such as musicians like the Ramones, Richard Hell, and Television. The Iggy Pop stories alone are worth the price and time required for the work. It goes all the way back to before the term “punk” was even invented (by author Legs McNeil!). The Andy Warhol factory days and the inception of the Velvet Underground are all covered. As a side note: Did you know that Andy Warhol made works of art out of pee? It’s true! You can see it for yourself at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Then save it for the top floor. Copper and other medals stained with pee. They are worth millions!
NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories By NOFX
NOFX is a punk band from California that formed in the ’80s. They started from nothing and ended up becoming quite popular. This oral history covers everyone who was in the band from their childhoods until the present day. The LA punk scene they came up in was gang and drug-infested. This book has plenty of violence. The star ends up being their drummer “Smelly,” who takes you through his horrible addiction to heroin. In fact, the name of the book is based on his living conditions while a young junkie in LA. This book has the most heartbreaking contradictory stories of any listed here. You know that band members are going to be hearing the truth about horrible and tragic events in their lives for the first time. Reading their half-true accounts makes the reality exposed by their fellow band members even more powerful.
The Dirt By Motley Crue and Neil Strauss
You probably watched the crappy Netflix movie based on the book. The problem was the movie was made with the band’s permission and the benefit of twenty years of hindsight. The book makes the band look way more real and, as a result, much worse. Read about Vince Neil killing the drummer of Hanoi Rocks in a drunk driving accident and getting away with it. Nikki Sixx dying and coming back to life after injecting a huge dose of heroin. Tommy Lee marrying famous women and then ruining everything. Mick Mars being sad! The band admits things here that they later had to walk back on. They were confessing to crimes! As much as their music is garbage, this book represents a time that will never be seen again. An age before the internet where rock n roll excess was not only tolerated but celebrated.
Enjoy!
Fred Toucher is the host of Toucher & Hardy, weekday mornings on 98.5 The Sports Hub. Follow Fred on Instagram: @fredtoucher
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