robinsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Except for a few songs, not a big fan of Def Leppard so this memoir didn't appeal to me, but would recommend to anyone who is a big fan of the band.
patsaintsfan's review against another edition
2.0
An easy read, but I wanted more. Rather boring at times.
bent's review against another edition
3.0
A fairly enjoyable book. I was never a huge Def Leppard fan - I had Pyromania and that's it - but I like to read rock star's autobiographies. Phil Collen has a very clear-headed, no-nonsense view of Def Leppard's career and their approach to their music. It was interesting to see the difference a hit on MTV can make at the box office. It reminded me a little of the chapter in Motley Crue's The Dirt when they talk about their tour in support of Motley Crue, their follow-up to Dr Feelgood where they played to mostly empty houses. The insight that Collen has during this period is fascinating.
I liked that he went quickly through his childhood, hitting the high points and not getting bogged down. I was impressed with how quickly we find him in his first band. It was interesting to hear about the milieu he moved in, meeting other current stars. Also to hear his fan side come up as he gets to perform with stars he grew up admiring. I also appreciated that he didn't spend much time on groupie stories of stories of drunken partying - I've read lots of those, I don't care anymore.
Of course, the book wasn't without its problems. I respect that he didn't go too deeply into his relationship problems - it reminded me of Bruce Dickinson's autobiography where he avoided those topics altogether - but even the high level view revealed that every time his marriage was winding down, he had a girlfriend on the side, and often a second girlfriend. At one point, he says that he's had more serious relationships in an afternoon than the person that he's talking to has probably had in his entire life, but that flies in the face of the fact that he always seems to have multiple women on the go. It's fine, but you do wonder if his marriages all really ended in the two of them drifting apart, or if it was caused more by his philandering. If you have several serious relationships with women on the go at the same time, how serious are they really?
At one point, he says that he's become his father - explaining that he means that because his father was always exhausted trying to please and take care of everybody else. This is a little self-aggrandizing to say the least, because the context is that he has a girlfriend and a wife. How noble. But when his mother dies, it's his ex-girlfriend and lifelong friend Liz who's the one that's there. When his dog needs to be put down, it's his current wife that's the one that has to do it. When it turns out his father has cancer, Liz is again the one that's there for the diagnosis, and even though Collen spends the last few months of his father's life staying with him, he admits that Liz is there for that as well. I don't get a strong sense that he really ends up taking care of anybody.
Small complaint, but he uses ironically all the time to describe things that are in no way ironic. He writes a song while waiting for the plane to fly back to England because his mother's dying, and describes that as ironic. He talks about playing with someone in a band, and then ironically seeing them again years later. They draw straws to see who gets which room in a house and then he says that they ironically did that in the next three houses. He talks about singing on a track for another band, and mentions that it's ironically in the same studio where he'd previously recorded a guitar solo. I understand that he's a musician. But where did he drum up his co-writer, and couldn't he find someone who knew how to write?
Another minor quibble, but he talks about how the Def Leppard albums are calculated, aimed at radio success and giving the audience what they want. Then when they produce an album that changed their style and was not as successful Slang, he evokes the age old complain that fans won't let artists grow. While either you're doing it for the fans, or you're doing it for yourself, but you can't have it both ways, unless you want what they want. It seemed a little disingenuous.
Finally, the last chapter entitled "Coda" which is basically a rant about all the trouble in the world today, and how awful the world is, was boring to read and not very coherent. I think you could safely skip that bit and not miss anything.
Overall, a fairly breezy, easy, sometimes interesting read. Not earth-shattering, but engaging enough.
I liked that he went quickly through his childhood, hitting the high points and not getting bogged down. I was impressed with how quickly we find him in his first band. It was interesting to hear about the milieu he moved in, meeting other current stars. Also to hear his fan side come up as he gets to perform with stars he grew up admiring. I also appreciated that he didn't spend much time on groupie stories of stories of drunken partying - I've read lots of those, I don't care anymore.
Of course, the book wasn't without its problems. I respect that he didn't go too deeply into his relationship problems - it reminded me of Bruce Dickinson's autobiography where he avoided those topics altogether - but even the high level view revealed that every time his marriage was winding down, he had a girlfriend on the side, and often a second girlfriend. At one point, he says that he's had more serious relationships in an afternoon than the person that he's talking to has probably had in his entire life, but that flies in the face of the fact that he always seems to have multiple women on the go. It's fine, but you do wonder if his marriages all really ended in the two of them drifting apart, or if it was caused more by his philandering. If you have several serious relationships with women on the go at the same time, how serious are they really?
At one point, he says that he's become his father - explaining that he means that because his father was always exhausted trying to please and take care of everybody else. This is a little self-aggrandizing to say the least, because the context is that he has a girlfriend and a wife. How noble. But when his mother dies, it's his ex-girlfriend and lifelong friend Liz who's the one that's there. When his dog needs to be put down, it's his current wife that's the one that has to do it. When it turns out his father has cancer, Liz is again the one that's there for the diagnosis, and even though Collen spends the last few months of his father's life staying with him, he admits that Liz is there for that as well. I don't get a strong sense that he really ends up taking care of anybody.
Small complaint, but he uses ironically all the time to describe things that are in no way ironic. He writes a song while waiting for the plane to fly back to England because his mother's dying, and describes that as ironic. He talks about playing with someone in a band, and then ironically seeing them again years later. They draw straws to see who gets which room in a house and then he says that they ironically did that in the next three houses. He talks about singing on a track for another band, and mentions that it's ironically in the same studio where he'd previously recorded a guitar solo. I understand that he's a musician. But where did he drum up his co-writer, and couldn't he find someone who knew how to write?
Another minor quibble, but he talks about how the Def Leppard albums are calculated, aimed at radio success and giving the audience what they want. Then when they produce an album that changed their style and was not as successful Slang, he evokes the age old complain that fans won't let artists grow. While either you're doing it for the fans, or you're doing it for yourself, but you can't have it both ways, unless you want what they want. It seemed a little disingenuous.
Finally, the last chapter entitled "Coda" which is basically a rant about all the trouble in the world today, and how awful the world is, was boring to read and not very coherent. I think you could safely skip that bit and not miss anything.
Overall, a fairly breezy, easy, sometimes interesting read. Not earth-shattering, but engaging enough.
cakker2000's review against another edition
3.0
Good. learned just a bit. I knew most of the stories already.
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