Neighbourhood Threat: On Tour WIth Iggy Pop (Paperback)

~ Alvin Gibbs (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Alvin Gibbs' account of playing bass on a world tour with Iggy Pop. Two hundred and thirty nights of Iggy Pop performance in major towns and cities across six continents contain the usual drugs and booze and bizarre rock behavior. Follow Iggy around the globe as he • gets stage fright in front of David Bowie • provokes professional Japanese groupies • attends a Guns N Roses party worthy of de Sade

Hanoi Rocks guitarist Andy McCoy got Alvin Gibbs this dream gig with the rock legend, and he kept a thorough scrapbook, including • previously unpublished photos • tour memorabilia

About the Author

Alvin Gibbs has been a performing and recording musician since the 70's. He also writes: has completed a screenplay -- is working on a novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Codex; Revised edition (March 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1899598170
• ISBN-13: 978-1899598175
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,346,797 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Genius at Work, September 27, 2002

By	"mencken61" (Metairie, La. United States) - See all my reviews

Iggy is a genius. This is confirmed by the late Lester Bangs, so no doubts are accepted. (And I agree.) This book covers some two hundred dates in the period 1988-89 his then current band worked. Gibbs, a survivor of the UK Subs, is asked to join the band by Andy McCoy, a Johnny Thunders-inspired fellow from Hanoi Rocks, and then begins a tour that covers small clubs in the hinterland to Texas Stadium to Brazil, Japan, and even parts of the wilds of Canada to New Zealand and Australia. Iggy is married at the time and civilized, and so is merely a ticking time-bomb (as opposed to the usual exploding one), and thus quits cigarettes and hard drinking. (But check out his Miami temptations.) We hear of the life suffered by those forced to live in 5-Star hotels. the horrors of having to say no to groupies, the pain of Iggy taking the author's last bottle of cognac--yet it all adds up to a pleasant and literate read; the work of man who knows what of he speaks and does it well. While all readers with a knowledge of Iggy would await a book by, say, Ron Asheton, this one will do.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great inside look at Iggy!, April 29, 2002

By	D-Filed.com (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

In the sleazy, fly-by-night world of rock'n'roll there are many pretenders to the throne, but few true legends. And in that select group of larger than life icons, few can lay claim to having made a deeper impact than one Iggy Pop (a.k.a. James Osterberg). His groundbreaking work as frontman for the explosive Stooges from the late 1960s through the mid-'70s, as well as his later solo albums (including collaborations with David Bowie) challenged the established ideas of how a rock band could look, sound and behave.

By the time Iggy recorded "Instinct" in the late '80s, the L.A. glam metal scene had taken the music biz by storm, and the album's sound perhaps reflected Iggy's desire to fit in commercially after a series of poorly received albums. For the subsequent tour, Iggy assembled a band of seasoned pro's--including former UK Subs bassist Alvin Gibbs and the eccentric ex-Hanoi Rocks guitarist, Andy McCoy. Many months of touring followed in the U.S. and abroad--and while Gibbs indulged in the offstage debauchery, he obviously also observed the goings on around him with a keen eye and ear. The result was "Neighborhood Threat: On Tour With Iggy Pop" a compulsively readable first-hand account of a major rock tour with none of the dirt excised for the faint of heart.

"Neighborhood Threat" unflinchingly captures Iggy at his best and at his worst: onstage, backstage and out on the town. Gibbs also took care to document the real life "Jim Osterberg" side of Iggy, providing a more fully-fleshed portrait of this rock immortal than any other writer. In addition, Gibbs delves into the excesses of ex-bandmate Andy McCoy whose personal demons may have cost him opportunities at greater glory.