Customer Reviews

Rebel Heart: An American Rock 'n' Roll Journey

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I have been a Todd R fan for years and I must admit a certain amount of voyeristic thrill while reading about how they met, their sexual relationship, their fights...all in all I got what I personally wanted out of the book: stories about Todd and some fantastic photos. Initially I did not care about Bebe, and did not read it because of her ....but I must admit there was something captivating about her stories and I ended up reading the whole book in a day. It is worth reading if only for the superficial glamour . Funny how women thought then and still do now that beauty and sexuality are power, when actually those things give women no power at all. Yes she got to hobnob with every hot man, but in the end was used ( even though she used them too, such as her shameless dependence on Todd's financial support) . And that makes this story sad, to me. Because women still don't get it. The younger ones rave over this book and say Bebe Rocks, but really, why does she rock? She was pretty and needy and sex was free and many of the men didn't care about her as a person beyond the centerfold. She has creative desires but smothered them in looking for a father ( she claims Todd was like a father to her) or protector. I can say many anecdotes were intriguing, but all in all I can not call Bebe inspiring or my role model. Not because she was a groupie but because she does not look deeply into herself and it seems she did not grow or get wise. Again , some interesting anecdotes but that is about all .

This book should have been juicy reading, since Buell (who bristles at the designation of "groupie," preferring to fashion herself as a muse responsible for, in her eyes, all the good work done by any musician she ever slept with)traveled with the A list due to her modeling career and relationships with rockers Todd Rundgren, Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, Elvis Costello, Rod Stewart, actor Jack Nicholson, and some lesser lights before attaching herself to the coattails of her daughter, Liv Tyler. She admits to having "an ego the size of Asia," but that doesn't say the half of it. "Everybody" she ever met thought Buell was brilliant, talented, and oh so special; only incidentally did they want to get into her pants. Her insights about her friends and lovers are about as deep as her song lyrics with which she precedes every chapter, which means they could be better articulated by a bright 15 year old. She is a wonderful mother who abandoned her daughter to family to care for until the age of about five so she could shag her way around the world, but she made it a point to try to get home for Halloween. Elvis Costello, whom she terms the love of her life, stopped taking her calls about fifteen years ago, yet she still finds proof positive of his enduring torch for her in every song he writes. She admits that it was "a cry for help" to lie to friends and relatives about having leukemia when she was feeling depressed, but would any 40 year old woman with a grip on reality even consider such a stunt? This woman loves herself so much that she even implies that Rod Stewart, with whom she traveled for 3 months in the late 70's until he dumped her -- although she seems to even then have disliked him -- took her along because she could attract press notice for him. How Victor Bockris managed to ghost write this without swallowing the finger he must have had lodged in his throat every minute is a mystery.

Overall I was pleased with the book. However, I was perplexed by why Bebe felt she had to inandate the reader with how beautiful she felt she was over and over again throughout the book. She even started a paragraph with "Because I was beautiful".

I enjoyed reading about the world she lived in, the seventies rock scene, which I have always found interesting. Even that got tainted with her grandois impressions of herself as a "taste maker". I mean to think you can spot talent better than the great Clive Davis is not only ridiculous, but embarrasing.

I do find it interesting how all the rockers seemed to love her and her company so much i.e. Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards and Ron Wood, however, they all went off and married other women. Leaving Bebe in the dust.

Once again I did enjoy the book and how it moved quickly, without lingering on one subject to long, however, I could have done without the conceit and thinking every song was written about you.

I have been a fan of Bebe Buell since I was 14 years old and
saw her in the centerfold of Playboy. It was that appearance
that first introduced me to her and also informed me that she was the girlfriend of Todd Rundgren- someone else that I happen to be a fan of. When I heard that Buell was writing her autobiography, I was very excited as I was eager to learn about her life. I knew she had been a singer herself- I seem to recall seeing a couple of things in Rolling Stone about that but it had been a long time since her Playboy debut and I was ready to find out what she had been up to.
I suppose anytime someone writes an autobiography, they are basically tooting their own horn. In Rebel Heart, Buell is the whole brass section. While I enjoyed reading about how she became a model and then met (and bedded) various rock stars, I grew a bit weary of her constantly reminding me, as the reader, of how beautiful she was. She also discusses quite frequently how rock stars sought to hang out with her instead of it being the other way around. I sometimes had to laugh out loud whenever she insisted that she was NOT a groupie and that many of the songs of the men she dated were inspired by her. She claims this so many times throughout the book that I half expected her to claim that SHE was the Angie the Rolling Stones sang about!
I was a bit disappointed too at her attitude toward her child, the famous Liv Tyler. Perhaps I am old fashioned but I have always believed that parents put their children first- no matter what. It is obvious that with Buell, Liv was for several years a distant second or perhaps even third (behind Elvis Costello). But one thing I will give her credit for, Buell is honest about this and seems to almost take pride in the fact that she put herself and her ambitions before her child.
Once you get past being reminded over and over of how beautiful she is and how every rock star in the galaxy wanted her or was influenced by her, Rebel Heart is an okay read. Sometimes funny, often sad but I think honest. I found it entertaining. It was good to finally catch up with Bebe Buell.

One has to respect Bebe Buell for being a survivor. She has managed to tart her way through the rock era relatively unscathed except for one nervous breakdown and plenty of wrong decisions. She romped with an amazing number of music heroes from my youth without even contacting Aids. A truly fascinating story that Bebe has had the courage to share with us. I just wish she would have gotten professional help with the writing of her story. As interesting as her life has been, I found myself agonizing through the last chapters, the writing was so tiresome. Bebe, please hire a real writer for any sequels. I truly hope Elvis realizes what a twit he really is and that Mick and Todd can still be your friends after all you have shared.

I bought this as a fan of some of the artists Bebe hung/slept with. I wondered what was so interesting about her. After reading it, I wonder even more... and not in a good way.

Maybe it's the years/drugs and her pyschological problems (well, at least she admitted she faked having diseases for attention), but wow. I don't get why anyone would want a relationship with her. Back then, sex maybe -- she'd sleep with anyone IF they were famous. And sure, she was good looking but let's face it, there are loads of models and Playgirl centerfolds around. She wasn't particularly unique, except in her fascination with bedding rock and movie stars.

In the book, Bebe comes across as utterly vain and self-centered, while being insecure and emotionally out of control. She can't tell the difference between love and lust. She lies repeatedly, cheats constantly on her lovers, and is gleeful over vicious little acts. She also proves to be one of the dimmmer bulbs around, judging from the quality and incoherence/repetition of her writing, not to mention her muddled choices/thinking over the years. (To be fair, she was surrounded by drugged out wackos, although she facilitated this.) Her poetry and lyrics are dull.

Bebe constantly touts herself as muse to her former bed partners, especially Elvis Costello ("Let me tell you, that man got at least seven good albums out of me!"). All because they were SO in love with her. Or because they wanted her so much even if she didn't sleep with them (i.e. Prince/Little Red Corvette). Bebe works quite hard, but not in a factual manner, to claim nearly everything (such as several artists' most commercially sucessful records) is about her. It's ultimately unconvincing, especially given her pervasive self-absorption about everything else.

Reading the book made me feel very sorry for her daughter, Liv Tyler, who came across as the far more mature of the two, even when Liv was a child. Bebe even attributed bad 'controlling' motives to Liv's 'first' father, Todd Rundren, when he offered to move them out to Cali and pay for a house and private school for Liv. Duh, of course Rundgren would want some stability for a child whom he treated as his own all along, even knowing from the first that she wasn't. The book makes it quite clear to the reader that Bebe wasn't a particularly attentive or stable mother.

Buy it if you're curious, but only if you can pick it up very cheap. No doubt there will be many used copies available.

I can't say I expected much of this book and I was not disappointed. The editing is non-existent. It's hard to believe that BB actually has any recollection of many of the encounters she relates since she can't remember what she said the page before. While at first it was almost fun to dog ear pages where there were contradictions and poor English usage, after a while it became highly annoying. What did she pay her ghost writer to do anyway?

Her arrogance - deserved or not - takes away most of what make this book an interesting light read. There are parts in the book, mostly early on, where she is more self depreciating and those parts quickly passed as good entertainment. Unfortunately her attitude inexplicably changes to something less endearing as she is literally passed down the ladder of the rock hierarchy to a point where she is groupie to nobodies and she feels it necessary to try to validate herself. A pity indeed.

You've been forewarned.

From what I'd read beforehand I was expecting "Rebel Heart" to be the type of book that I'd either love or hate. Unfortunately it invoked neither love nor hate in me once I'd finished the last page. I didn't feel a thing. I read it with an open mind. The flaw of "Rebel Heart" is that it comes across as an exercise in self-promotion. I was constantly reminded that the author, Bebe Buell, thinks of herself as jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Whether she is or she isn't - this started to grate on me after a chapter or two. Bebe Buell also considers herself as muse, not a groupie mind, to a number of rock stars. But of course what she has always wanted to be is a rock star herself, which she would have been, had people been able to see beyond the fact that she's jaw droppingly gorgeous. The reason I read "Rebel Heart" was for research on Bebe's daughter Liv Tyler for a website. There was enough background for that purpose. However, once I put the book down it disappeared from my memory soon after.

Plain and simple...if you're into real rock n' roll - I'm talkin' The Stones, Zeppelin, Aersomith, and the raunchy, glamorous, crazy lifestyle that surrounds these bands...you'll LOVE this book. Bebe gives the reader a real insight into the decadent rock n' roll scene of the 70s. Personal and detailed accounts of her steamy relationships with the likes of Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Steven Tyler, Rod Stewart, Iggy Pop, Jack Nicholson...you name it (!), had me glued to the book. For all us girls out there...imagine Mick Jagger and Jimmy Page competing over you!!
The book does get a bit slow towards the end and I too found it odd that practically every love song that came out in the 70s, Bebe claims was written about her (ha), but trust me, the good parts in this book completely overshadow any dull parts.
Buy this book NOW!

I like Bebe Buell, and even got her ep Cover Girl when I was a kid. Thought she was good so I had to get this book. It's fast paced and enjoyable to an extent. The only problem is that you dont get a real feel for some of the rock stars she boinked, because she's too busy writing about how they all react to her and how fabulous and beautiful everyone thinks she is. OK, we get it, Bebe. you're beautiful! Also she's a little rough on Todd Rundgren, who helped her out alot. Her justifications for leaving her kid for months at a time to chase someone are a bit lame (as is her reasons for not using bith control!)
But some of her stories are good, especially the ones on Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, and Jack Nicholson. It just would have been better if she could have stopped talking about herself so much and more about her friends (like Liz Derringer, etc.)and the other people who helped her.