Life on Planet Rock: From Guns N' Roses to Nirvana, a Backstage Journey through Rock's Most Debauched Decade [Paperback]

Lonn Friend (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 11, 2006

For the generation coming of age in the years from 1987 to 1994, RIP magazine was every bit as crucial as Rolling Stone. Life on Planet Rock describes how Lonn Friend, the editor of RIP, became the Zelig-like chronicler of the biggest musical moments of that time—from introducing Guns N’ Roses (in nothing but a top hat, underwear, and cowboy boots) to sitting in during the making of Metallica’s Black Album. Life on Planet Rock provides revealing portraits of artists as varied as Kurt Cobain, Gene Simmons, Alice Cooper, Axl Rose, James Hetfield, Steven Tyler, and many more. Part oral history, part candid and humorous memoir, it is a wormhole back to a fast-moving time in music that saw tastes flash from new wave to hair metal to grunge, told as only someone who was there through it all could tell it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this nomadic, at times humbling memoir, former RIP magazine editor Friend recalls a quarter-century spent as a ringleader in the music industry circus. From the early 1980s to the late '90s, Friend enjoyed an insiders' perch for some of rock's greatest moments—he worked as a DJ, a rock journalist, editor of heavy metal's most popular magazine and had a segment on MTV. In energetic prose he invites readers along on bonding experiences like golf dates with Alice Cooper and riding in private jets with Kiss, as well as exposing moments of professional soul-searching at the hands of Metallica's Lars Ulrich and Pearl Jam. Remarkably, Friend's narrative maintains an even keel, whether he's being ignored by Kurt Cobain or wooed by Gene Simmons, and he candidly portrays the compromised, often confusing role of the rock journalist, constantly teetering between friend and patsy. The most enlightening part of the book is Friend's brief, failed stint as an A&R man, when the journalist who made a career on megabands staked his A&R career on the Bogmen, a quirky but brilliant New York outfit, and even made a run at Eels. Through success, excess and failure, music fans will enjoy Friend's anecdotes and his clear-eyed, hardly jaded view of the industry. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Lonn lives where the reckless heart of rock still thunders in your chest. No one else can throw a literary dinner party where Henry Miller sits side by side with Kurt Cobain and Jon Bon Jovi.  That's Lonn's planet, and that's his vivid personality.  Soulful and rowdy and always hilarious, Life on Planet Rock reminds you why you ever turned it up, all the way up.”
—Cameron Crowe

“Dark, brutally honest, and hilarious at the same time, Lonn's tales of rock-and-roll debauchery, excess, and bad business are a love letter to the rock gods.”
—Scott Ian Rosenfeld, founder/guitarist, Anthrax

“Lonn Friend. If anybody is entitled to write about rock in L.A. in the ’80s and ’90s, it’s him. This is a good book. Steal it!”
—Lemmy Kilmister, lead singer, Motörhead

“Its humor, insight, and behind-the-scenes honesty have captured me and whisked me away to a very special mind space. I am content. All is well on Planet Rock . . . I ought to know, I've lived here all my life.”
—Kevin Cronin, lead singer, REO Speedwagon

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (July 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767922085
• ISBN-13: 978-0767922081
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #501,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The 1980's re-told with the wisdom of hindsight and the freedom to tell all January 20, 2008

By Jessica Lux

Format:Paperback

What can a book reviewer say about a memoir written by the editor of RIP magazine and endorsed by Cameron Crowe, Scott Ian, Paul Stanley, Alice Cooper, Lemmy Kilmister, and one of the founders of MTV? Lonn Friend was in the inner circle of Larry and Althea Flynt when he was offered the editorial helm of Flynt Publishing's fledgling rock magazine. For seven years, RIP magazine chronicled the American heavy metal scene as it transformed from the heyday of hair metal to the era of grunge rock.

Friend's memoir marks a critical contribution to the history of heavy metal. It reads like an impeccably verified collection of bar-room tales from a top notch storyteller. The opening chapter alone is worth the paperback cover price - it represents some of the first new material published about Guns N' Roses in the last decade. Lonn Friend greenlighted Guns N Roses' cover shot in 1988, months before Appetite for Destruction went platinum. He cavorted with the band as well (as members of Metallica and Skid Row) well into the Use Your Illusion era. In Life on Planet Rock, Friend reveals for the first time how well he knew of Slash's heroin addiction during their 1990 interview. (Slash himself has now gone on record about the addiction, so Friend was comfortable revealing the whole story.)

Other chapters focus on the legendary antics of Alice Cooper, The Who, KISS, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, and Motley Crue. This book is a Who's Who highlight guide to the brief reign RIP magazine -- only with the wisdom of hindsight and the freedom to tell all! Friend turns highly introspective in the closing chapter, examining his own turbulent relationship with the music industry and rock journalism.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Deliciously Funny Read July 24, 2006

By Laura Stewart

Format:Paperback

RIP Magazine was the heavy metal bible of its day. No one else covered all the hijinks of hair metal better than RIP and Lonn Friend.

This book relives some of the best behind the scenes moments of that time. I devoured it the same way I devoured "The Devil Wears Prada" or my beloved US Magazine. Lonn was the fly on the wall and we all get to have a peek.

Having spent 15 years paying my rent by working backstage at rock concerts around the world, I have to say this is the best tell-all memoir I have ever read. The only bummer is, that I wanted MORE! Keep writing Lonn, the world needs your sense of humour and the rockers of today need to know how it was really done back when Metal Ruled the World!

Whether you are in the business or just interested in someone else's business this book is for you.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars ROCK LIVES!!! August 6, 2006

By Voice of Reason

Format:Paperback

Like the Phoenix that rises from the ashes to re-invent itself, so is the writer of this insiders look into the inner sanctum of rock n' roll. Lonn Friend journeys from the porn industry to the rock scene thru a journalistic gateway called RIP Magazine, an 80's metal magazine that ultimately issued him a VIP pass with many of rocks notorious acts from Alice Cooper to KISS to Guns N' Roses, Skid Row and Nirvana and many others. A fast-paced jaunt that takes you from the inner bowels and decadence of the music scene to the emotional and intellectual awakenings of its writer, then back again. For those who love music...and we ALL do...this is a MUST READ! Now, where is YOUR copy?