This entertaining read is a collection of interviews with some of the most outrageous, unconventional and outspoken musicians of recent decades, including Adam Ant, Sinead O’Connor, Liam Gallagher, Chrissie Hynde, Marianne Faithfull, Evan Dando, Bjork, Snoop Dogg, Thom Yorke, Pete Doherty, The Prodigy, and many more. Although I’m not a fan of them all, they certainly said a lot of interesting things. The author met them multiple times, so we get her perspective of them over the years. Her book is a celebration of rock’n’roll mavericks and claims it was the end of an era. It’s not the first time I’ve read that there are no real rock stars now. Sylvia Patterson’s career in music journalism was when the magazines and papers were at peak influence. From the way she writes the interviews, she enjoyed meeting the artists and provoking them a little! It feels as if she is drawing a line under that era, celebrating how amazing it was, and recognising that the music industry and music journalism have changed. Sometimes it was fun to read, other times it was shocking or thought-provoking, depending on how the interview went and what was said. The author had a tendency to over-use certain words, such as blubbing and cackling. It had that music journalist tone, which occasionally irritates when you read a whole book of it, as I’ve found when reading similar books. The book is actually a follow-up to a previous memoir I’m Not With the Band, which I haven’t read, but I’d like to. In summary, if you’re fascinated by larger-than-life rock’n’roll characters, this read is for you.

Thank you to the publisher Fleet for the review copy via NetGalley.