Rock Star Babylon: Outrageous Rumors, Legends, and Raucous True Tales of Rock and Roll Icons [Mass Market Paperback]

Jon Holmes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 2008

Why was Candle in the Wind for Diana a terrible mistake?Which rock star left an unspeakable gift inside a hotel room hairdryer?What's the story behind Ozzy Osbourne and the exploding mouse?Rock and roll and rumour go together like Peaches and Geldof. Tales of outrageous excess, of the filth and the fury (not to mention the furry) are part of music's heritage.Whether they're true or bare-faced lies, Jon Holmes has gathered together the greatest pop and rock myths and legends ever told. These stories have come straight from the mouths of those that were there, those that shouldn't have been there and those that were there for a bit but left early and only heard about it afterwards.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This compilation of wild, salacious rock 'n' roll debauchery stories, most of which may or may not be true, probably seemed like a good idea at the time. But in the hands of British writer and comedian Holmes, it's a self-aggrandizing mess that's to be endured more than enjoyed. With smug self-satisfaction, Holmes blithely relates tales of rock excess, many of which have already made the rounds: the infamous Van Halen rider that stipulated no brown M&Ms backstage, Stevie Nicks's bottoms-up delivery system for cocaine and a fair number of non-events like KISS's inclusion of band members' blood in the ink of their 1970s comic book. Holmes goes from bad to worse by padding the book with pointless footnotes that lean heavily on U.K. references and add nothing to the narrative. Perhaps worst of all, most of the stories (except for the most famous, which were already verified by others-i.e., "As Ozzy told Rolling Stone") have not been fact-checked, leaving it up to the reader to determine their veracity. The result is frustrating, unfunny and often pointless.
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From Booklist

Holmes limns a series of brief tableaus of rock ’n’ roll excess in the manner of Kenneth Anger in his magnum opus of silver-screen sleaze, Hollywood Babylon (1959), which, of course, the title of Holmes’ tome references. As far as explicitness in rockin’ tales of naughtiness, Holmes is on a par with “lad” mags like FM rather than Penthouse, but he makes his points, as when he notes that Bob Geldof couldn’t have killed his ex-wife’s paramour (Michael Hutchence of INXS), partly because, given Geldof’s “level of uncleanliness, he’d have left DNA and strands of hair” at the scene; this tags the end of some moderately snarky conjecture as to whether the late Hutchence checked out as a “result of an act of autoerotic activity . . . gone horribly wrong.” With plenty of other verbal felicities such as the footnote about “spousal slagging off” that describes Marvin Gaye as “in many ways the original Eminem,” it’s obvious that this is a must-have pop-music and trash-culture gem—rough-cut, of course. --Mike Tribby

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Plume; 1st edition (June 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452289416
• ISBN-13: 978-0452289413
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,491,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Maybe it's funny if you're not American, December 31, 2009

By 

Scott Bond (Springfield, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rock Star Babylon: Outrageous Rumors, Legends, and Raucous True Tales of Rock and Roll Icons (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was given to me as a Christmas present, and I was excited at the prospect of reading it as I am a fan of rock music and I have read other anecdotal books of this type and found them enjoyable. Unfortunately, I was immediately put off by the writing style, which relies on a heavy overuse of footnotes, many of which are obviously only there as feeble attempts at humor. I mean, how many times can you make a statement only to recant it in a footnote? Many times says the author. Still willing to soldier through the ungainly prose in search of some good rock and roll dish I soon was even further put off by the obvious anti-American tone that began to emerge, particularly in the footnotes. All of that paled in comparison, however, when I reached page 118, and read the line "On August 25 2001, just 17 days before Osama bin Laden played Giant Jenga with the Twin Towers..", I decided that life was too short to continue with this drivel and threw the book aside in disgust. I did feel strongly enough to write this review so that potential readers can have a better idea what they are in for. I also took time to search the internet, which was a heavily footnoted source for the "author" and according to the 2 minutes research I did found that the country suffering the 2nd highest loss in the 9/11 attacks with 67 was the United Kingdom, which makes it even more appalling. Finally, let me say that I am a big fan of British humor, I just wish that I had found some in the parts of this book that I was able to stomach.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Annoying. Not very original. Disappointing., May 21, 2010

By 

Big Beat (Somewhere in cyberspace) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rock Star Babylon: Outrageous Rumors, Legends, and Raucous True Tales of Rock and Roll Icons (Mass Market Paperback)

Reading this book is like suffering through a bad set of "take my wife... please" jokes told by an annoying amateur comedian. You've heard 90% of these stories before, and they're all delivered with an obnoxious elbow-in-the-ribs, nudge-nudge-wink-wink style that gets tired very quickly. There are a couple of chuckles in there, but they are all due to the humor of the original events being described and are funny rather despite the author than due to any effort of his in relating them. A good collection of such rock & roll anecdotes is long overdue, but this isn't it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious Tales Written in a Hilarious Style, March 22, 2009

By 

Robert Tonucci (Odenton, Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rock Star Babylon: Outrageous Rumors, Legends, and Raucous True Tales of Rock and Roll Icons (Paperback)

This book made me laugh out loud numerous times. The stories are very funny, employing copious comic footnotes and references to D-list British pop culture figures. But at center stage is the author's style, which transcends the genre of tell-all rock books. Highly recommend.