Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor [Paperback]

Al Kooper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1998

Frank, funny, and illuminating reminiscences about the life and lively adventures of the legendary Al Kooper, and many other of rock 'n' roll's greatest stars, fill these tell-all pages. Kooper continues to produce music and tour with his band. 60 illustrations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Billboard Books (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823082571
• ISBN-13: 978-0823082575
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,096,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you have even the slightest inclination..., January 15, 2002

By 

Chuck Nyren "Author of Advertising to Baby Bo... (Snohomish, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor (Paperback)

to buy this book, do so. It's a very funny, intelligent, brash autobiography by a true rock iconoclast.

Historically speaking, we all know the major influences of the middle-to-late sixties rock revolution - and nobody better personifies the link between the 'Brill Building' and what exploded musically and culturally back then.

Mr. Kooper presents himself as highly intelligent and rather dim-witted, super-talented and incompetent, ballsy and timid, humble and an egomaniac, sensitive and brutish, forgiving and revengeful -- sort of like a real human being! No whitewashing here. Plus, any rock star who pens his memoirs and makes a passing reference to Sven Nykvist with no footnote or explanation whatsoever gets five Amazon.com stars from me automatically.

So read the book.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who Knew?, February 13, 2002

By 

Bottles "Bottles" (Boulder, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor (Paperback)

I didn't know much about Al Kooper. I just like to read biographies. Who knew that this rock star had the rare ability to write an extraordinarily absorbing biography? Oh, and the trivia! Besides that now classic "Like a Rolling Stone" story, this guy had the gonads to play French Horn on "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Being a Horn player myself, that's practically impossible to imagine. Living vicariously through Al as he took risk after risk, freely admitting his failures along with his successes, was an inspiration to me. The only bummer is that the book had to end, but now I get to go discover more of this guy's music.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great read...again and again, January 22, 2002

By 

Glenn Fink (Arlington, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor (Paperback)

I must have read this book 4 or 5 times now and it's gotten to the point where I just leave it lying around the house, occasionally opening it to any page and reading from that point on. It's a cleverly written, hysterically funny account of Al's music biz shenanigans covering his entire career, a good 40 years. The bulk of the book deals with the first 15 years, up to 1972. Not just one story, more like several anecdotes strung together about name after familiar music artist name and what brought him together with these people, who ultimately come off as not too different from you or me from a human standpoint. The portions discussing crashing the fateful Bob Dylan session where they recorded "Like a Rolling Stone" is worth the price of the book alone. This is hands down my favorite rock and roll based book, regardless of writer or particular subject. It helps if you don't mind "hippie lingo" (and that's a pretty loose term; I didn't consider the lingo unusual until someone else picked up the book after me and mentioned it), but safe to say if you're a rock musician, you'll probably love it. I imagine anyone playing in a Boston band probably would love it.