In the years between the meteoric launch of Madonna and Countney Love, Petal Pusher takes readers on a thrilling journey across rock-and-roll - from the big-haired 1980s to the grunge-filled 1990s - when Laurie Lindeen brought her all-girl band Zuzu's Petals to compete in the indie rock arena. Always engaging, at turns hilarious and heartrending, Petal Pusher is an insightful behind-the-scenes look at music on the frontlines, and the awe-inspiring tale of one woman's triumphant fight against disease and the disillusionment of life in the rock underground.
Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Sharp and sensitive, stoned silly and serious, all in the right places, Lindeen's account of her life as guitarist and songwriter for Zuzu's Petals is a love song (played really fast) for the postpunk or Amer-indie scene of mid-1980s Minneapolis, when bands like the Replacements and Soul Asylum had yet to move from cult heroes to major-label artists. It was also the time when Lindeen, a music-loving, four-time college dropout with multiple sclerosis, could guilelessly decide to "start a band and make that exciting life of song and guitar feedback, travel and intrigue, carousing and cavorting our own." What Lindeen finds at first is fulfillment and self-confidence on stage, and at the end a hard cycle of "drive, eat, go to a bar for sound check, hang out, play" that leads to her breaking up the band. In between, along with some touching scenes from her youth, Lindeen skillfully details great and not-so-great gigs, horrible hotels, wonderful (if weird) fans, boyfriends and all sorts of strange events and locations ("The walls are covered with black Astroturf"). After paying her dues, Lindeen finds love and marriage in ex-Replacements leader Paul Westerberg, which brings it all back home for her—and her readers—in what is a truly wonderful book about life in rock music. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
The cofounder of all-girl rock band Zuzu's Petals effortlessly captures the indie-rock world of the 1980s and 1990s. She started her rock career in Minneapolis, moving there with two best friends. Her favorite musicians and bands (Prince, Soul Asylum, the Replacements, the Jayhawks) hail from there, she says, and besides, it's the hometown of Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore's TV-series character): "like maybe I could make it after all," Lindeen ventures. Turns out, she married Replacements lead singer Paul Westerberg. She recalls the Petals' first, Labor Day 1988 gig at a Minneapolis bar (they barely had enough material for a set). She writes about their cross-country and international tours of various dives and pubs--hardly the stuff of glamour--and her sweet first date with Westerberg. What makes her story unusual--and poignant--is her eventual diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, which only makes her work harder. Petal Pusher's behind-the-scenes aura ought to impress readers beyond rock-memoir mavens and Replacements (and other midwestern rockers') fans. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating memoir of a women overcoming hardship through perseverance
May 17, 2007
By Alis
Format:Hardcover
This is a fascinating, memoir of an unusual journey. Laurie goes from overcoming a debilitating diagnoses of a chronic illness to achieving rock success with a national tour. This is a truthful assessment of the real world of rock and roll in all it's raw, gritty glory. In a country obsessed with fame, it is refreshing to remember people who play music and compose music because they love it. It is a love story, to rock, to her husband and her family. Laurie shows a mastery of nonfiction. I love this book! Check out this cd A Pregnant Pause
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
just finished a page turner. It's called "Petal Pusher" and "it's a A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story". I always wanted to be in a band, but only watched curiously from the sidelines. )Unless, of course, you count my 15 minutes to fame as one of many backup singers to a famous girl band, a couple of times...) This book is tough to put down and easy to read. It's gritty and real and puts you right there. No bull. I give the author kudos for following her dreams and going after it. That takes guts! While reading it, I could almost feel the sludge of being on the road. I could smell the lingering beer and smoke in the clubs, and the hangovers of one's youth. I was a fly on the wall, and I enjoyed the challenging ride.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'll admit to reading this book because of Paul Westerberg but Lindeen MORE than holds her own. She is an articulate writer who paints a vivid picture of band life in the early 90's for a band that always seemed to fly below the radar. She struggles with a lot of issues women struggle with-school,men,career, family-and all of these through a lens of her own health concerns. While sometimes her motivations for doing something (moving, starting a band) are a bit vague and not fully explored, this is a good read and refreshing from the 'I'm with the Band' to I AM the band from a female p.o.v.
And yes, this totally made me get out my Zuzu's Petals cds (yes, I have them BOTH) and play 'Johanne" and you'll want to as well.
And yes, this totally made me get out my Zuzu's Petals cds (yes, I have them BOTH) and play 'Johanne" and you'll want to as well.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great rock and roll read for women of the 80s and 90s
As someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s, I picked up Petal Pusher and read it straight through without stopping, and it captivated me the whole time. Read more
Published 15 months ago by LifeCoach
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great memories of a great band
I remember listening to ZuZu's Petals and then wondering where they went. I also grew up in Madison, WI and went to some of the same schools as the Lindeens, this book brought back... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Shawna M. Lusk
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truly magnificent book.
This is a truly amazing book. I've read and loved it before, but reading it this time it really made me inspired, sad, greatly amused, and a whole lot of other intense things. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Todd J. Newman
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant Rocker/Writer reminds me of my college days!
A big THANKS to Lindeen for taking me back to a time that I had forgotten in Madtown, WI and parts of the Midwest during the 80's/90's of our innocence. Read more
Published on August 17, 2010 by kiyakkr
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice read about "the little band that could"
I love the music that was coming out of Minneapolis (Twin Tone) in the 80's and early 90's and this book gave me a lot of insight on what it was like to be in and around that... Read more
Published on August 1, 2009 by D. J. Robinson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Love
Laurie Lindeen is a great writer and story teller. i love the approach she took of speaking as if it was all happening at that moment (sort of) but also jumping back and forth to... Read more
Published on November 29, 2007 by Jennifer Nuccio
1.0 out of 5 stars
Boring Contrition
I read in some magazine that this was a book about being Paul's girlfriend and the lifestyle of that era. Read more
Published on November 15, 2007 by Kelli
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing...Hilarious...Moving...If you love Rock `n' Roll, you'll love...
As a former female rocker wannabe, I found Laurie Lindeen's journey through rock music sobering and enlightening, and completely compelling to read. Read more
Published on September 14, 2007 by Laura Faeth
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Real Deal
This is probably the first book I've read about a rock band that seemed utterly real -- no self-mythologizing, just an unvarnished look at what it takes to pick up a guitar, make a... Read more
Published on September 5, 2007 by mhill157
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, excellent writing!
I read this entire book yesterday, it was so fun I just didn't want to put it down. Ms. Lindeen is a talented writer and an astute observer/participant in the world of rock. Read more
Published on July 20, 2007 by Audrey Faine
