Better to Burn Out: The Cult of Death in Rock N Roll [Paperback]

Dave Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1999

From Joe Meek, the brilliant rival of Phil Spector, who was cursed with a premonition of Buddy Holly's death and whose descent into Satanism and paranoia led to a gruesome murder/suicide, to Jonathan Melvoin, the Juilliard trained keyboard player who succumbed to the lure of heroin while touring with the Smashing Pumpkins, Better to Burn Out documents the deaths of the foot soldiers of rock'n'roll. This fascinating addition to the select shelf of musical necrographies - books about the deaths, not the lives, of their subjects - recounts more than seventy untimely, unexpected, and just plain unfortunate deaths, some in passing, some in depth, some in almost painful detail, drawn from well over a decade's worth of personal interviews and conversations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Untimely deaths have been a part of rock 'n' roll mythology ever since a chartered plane carrying Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper went down in an Iowa field in 1959. Thompson, a contributor to Rolling Stone and other magazines, offers a necrology of 60-odd more musicians who've met early demises. Giving short shrift to icons such as Kurt Cobain and John Lennon, he concentrates on lesser-knowns such as '60s Britpop star Ronnie Lane and punk guitarist Howard Pickup, moving from one artist to another without much regard for transitions. A typical chapter links Red Hot Chili Pepper Hillel Slovak, who died from a heroin overdose, to Kiss's Eric Carr, who succumbed to cancer, and Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury, who perished from AIDS. Whereas rock critic Greil Marcus, in his classic essay "Rock Death in the 1970s: A Sweepstakes," chided rock star excess and our fascination with it, Thompson rarely pauses to contemplate such questions, making only two implicit, and bland, arguments: first, that as glorious as the history of rock 'n' roll has been, several twists of fate might have made it even better; and second, that death is as likely to strike a disciplined star as it is a dissipated one. While this grim compendium, which includes a calendar of days on which stars have died, offers shock-value titillation to fans of the artists it chronicles, it's likely to hold little interest for anyone else. B&w photos.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560251905
• ISBN-13: 978-1560251903
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,834,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ...than fade away, December 10, 2006

By 

StrawberryFields360 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Better to Burn Out: The Cult of Death in Rock N Roll (Paperback)

First off this book takes a much different approach to chronicling the deaths of musicians. Not all are rock stars and the heavy hitters of Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, Elvis are not here (they are mentioned in the calender of rock and roll causalties at the end though), and to me that's a good thing who wants another book about them? instead you will find some of the lesser know casualties such as (Ian Curtis, Darby Crash, Stiv Bators, Marc Bolan, Jobriath) mixed with some more prominent(the day the music died, Cobain, Hutchence, Freddy Mercury)over 60+ musicians covered in detail. The way this book is written is neither cold hard facts or by a mourning fan, more like a mixture of both This book also tries to connect all deaths mentioned within a chapter by a association game (this guys was the producer for these two bands and then this person from one of the bands died). The deaths are described with such vivid detail, but not to the point of morbidity. Its like you can see these poor souls during their final minuets which is really interesting. This book is not a chronicle of lives. A little background on each artist is given but most attention is focused on those last gasp. Some of the pictures are graphic, not in the sense of blood or guts but of mangled machinery and body bags. Others are just of the artist caught in the prime of life. This book for me was quiet profound, one feels as if they were there with these people before the end..maybe holding their hands as they slipped away.

5.0 out of 5 stars So Many So Soon, October 15, 2010

By 

Aron D. Rush "missouri reb" (Cross Timbers, Mo usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Better to Burn Out: The Cult of Death in Rock N Roll (Paperback)

Dave Thompson has done an excellent job of covering the deaths of so many artists who left us all to soon. The well known to the somewhat obscure, rock, folk, pop and everything in between. Though the stories of life and death are brief, they still leave you with a great sense of loss and sadness.

These aren't just accounts of the self destructive whose deaths should've came as little suprise (Sid Vicious, Brian Jones), but people struck down by illness (Ronnie Lane, Fred "Sonic" Smith), accidents and neglect (Buddy Holly, Steve Marriot, Sandy Denny, Nico), and suicide (Nick Drake, Curt Cobain). Death is in no way romanticised in this volume, but treated as an often seemingly senseless and shocking part of life, written in a nonsensationalistic style.

Mr. Thompson is to be commended for his ability to bring the passing of so many to such a personal level in such a small amount of space. Melancholy but essential reading.