ghostlydreamer's review
5.0
You might already be familiar with The Runaways' backstory. Maybe you've been an avid fan and looked up all their interviews. Maybe you read the memoirs from the other band members. Maybe you watched the film starring Kristin Stewart as Joan Jett. Or maybe you knew absolutely nothing, apart from the fact that there was obviously some tension between all the girls in the band. Insert Queens of Noise: The Real Story of the Runaways.
Except, is it? Let me make this clear; this is a biography, meaning someone else wrote it. They compiled all this information to tell the story of The Runaways, and I won't deny it; this author did a damn good job. This is probably the most definitive guide to The Runaways history out there. But I somehow doubt we're ever going to get the full story. It was so long ago, and when you have multiple band members with their own drama between each other, that still lingers on today, it can make it hard to get the complete, clear picture. It reminds me of Motley Crue; no matter how many times that damn band shares their story, someone else is going to say something different. And that's no exception here.
BUT, that doesn't make this any less of an interesting and informative read. Especially as the author isn't making this up from nothing. Unfortunately, since its been about 5 years since I've read the book, it's really hard for me to judge specifics of the material. At the time, I wasn't in the habit of reviewing books. This was pure entertainment. But I can still recall the feeling I got coming away from this book. It transported me to another time (a time in which I wasn't alive in, not to be THAT person), and it really brought to life what it might've been like to be in a band - and a female band, no less - during that period. I felt like I learned something. More than I'd been able to compile from recent Joan Jett interviews. More than I'd been able to read from wikipedia pages. And more than I was able to glean from the otherwise wonderful biopic starring Kristin Stewart, that at one point I'd watched multiple times in one summer alone.
So if you're looking for a little information on this now defunct but otherwise extremely influential band (that, despite its major influence, still gets overlooked in favor of other bands, despite how controversial they were and despite how relevant most of their members still are today), then I would highly recommend this book to you. I guarantee you'll learn something, the same as my then-18-year-old self.
Except, is it? Let me make this clear; this is a biography, meaning someone else wrote it. They compiled all this information to tell the story of The Runaways, and I won't deny it; this author did a damn good job. This is probably the most definitive guide to The Runaways history out there. But I somehow doubt we're ever going to get the full story. It was so long ago, and when you have multiple band members with their own drama between each other, that still lingers on today, it can make it hard to get the complete, clear picture. It reminds me of Motley Crue; no matter how many times that damn band shares their story, someone else is going to say something different. And that's no exception here.
BUT, that doesn't make this any less of an interesting and informative read. Especially as the author isn't making this up from nothing. Unfortunately, since its been about 5 years since I've read the book, it's really hard for me to judge specifics of the material. At the time, I wasn't in the habit of reviewing books. This was pure entertainment. But I can still recall the feeling I got coming away from this book. It transported me to another time (a time in which I wasn't alive in, not to be THAT person), and it really brought to life what it might've been like to be in a band - and a female band, no less - during that period. I felt like I learned something. More than I'd been able to compile from recent Joan Jett interviews. More than I'd been able to read from wikipedia pages. And more than I was able to glean from the otherwise wonderful biopic starring Kristin Stewart, that at one point I'd watched multiple times in one summer alone.
So if you're looking for a little information on this now defunct but otherwise extremely influential band (that, despite its major influence, still gets overlooked in favor of other bands, despite how controversial they were and despite how relevant most of their members still are today), then I would highly recommend this book to you. I guarantee you'll learn something, the same as my then-18-year-old self.
djasson's review
3.0
A quick moving read that delved way past where The Runaways movie went. Evelyn McDonnell turned her Master's program thesis on Sandy West into this tome on the history and fallout of the Runaways. In various turns, she protects the members of the band and then turns an scathing light on some of their heinous actions.
I learned quite a few new things, especially about the people who were associated with the band but that other documentaries, news stories or fictionalized films left out. I also learned about the many bassists that the Runaways burned through. As an amateur bassist myself, I was glad to finally hear a little bit besides just the singer and the guitarist(s). Drummers and their fans need not worry with the Runaways, as Sandy West was a formidable drummer, personality and founder of the band.
McDonnell tears apart the music industry for their sexism, money first, and predominantly US-focused metrics for success. Music journalists, other bands, record companies and even recording engineers are pretty damn misogynistic and narcissistic creatures! McDonnell quotes from a review of a Runaways show in Newcastle (UK) in 1977:
On the down side, the author seems to be part academic and part starstruck fan. She makes an incisive point, then mocks the very next thing she talks about with an air of fan arrogance. It's hard to take the work seriously as a whole. Maybe that's why we're reading "Queens of Noise" instead of the thesis "Wild thing: how Sandy West was lost, the true story of a teenage runaway rock'n'roll outlaw". She also seems to say X is true, Y is not, and then turns around a few sections later professing the opposite. Such a strategy works in context, but yet again, on the whole, it detracts from the work.
This is a good read, especially if you're interested in the Runaways, the music industry and some flashes of growing up in the 1970s.
I learned quite a few new things, especially about the people who were associated with the band but that other documentaries, news stories or fictionalized films left out. I also learned about the many bassists that the Runaways burned through. As an amateur bassist myself, I was glad to finally hear a little bit besides just the singer and the guitarist(s). Drummers and their fans need not worry with the Runaways, as Sandy West was a formidable drummer, personality and founder of the band.
McDonnell tears apart the music industry for their sexism, money first, and predominantly US-focused metrics for success. Music journalists, other bands, record companies and even recording engineers are pretty damn misogynistic and narcissistic creatures! McDonnell quotes from a review of a Runaways show in Newcastle (UK) in 1977:
Sutcliffe had an interesting psychoanalytic reading of the verbal attacks. "Heavy music pulls blokes," he wrote. "When the musicians are, as usual, male, they are a macho mirror to their fans who worship them like a corporate Narcissus ogling himself. But when the musicians are female, it's no mirror, it's the real thing, the challenge of a relationship rather than a solo jerk-off–so the Runaways don't get any shadow boxing, they are in for the championship every time they go on stage."
On the down side, the author seems to be part academic and part starstruck fan. She makes an incisive point, then mocks the very next thing she talks about with an air of fan arrogance. It's hard to take the work seriously as a whole. Maybe that's why we're reading "Queens of Noise" instead of the thesis "Wild thing: how Sandy West was lost, the true story of a teenage runaway rock'n'roll outlaw". She also seems to say X is true, Y is not, and then turns around a few sections later professing the opposite. Such a strategy works in context, but yet again, on the whole, it detracts from the work.
This is a good read, especially if you're interested in the Runaways, the music industry and some flashes of growing up in the 1970s.
lizdesole's review
3.0
Kudos to my former downstairs neighbor for this very well-researched book on The Runaways. It really was amazing how much information she got and how well she ties it into what was going on in the industry around them. I was left wishing that the beginning was better organized and she had kept some of her own opinions to herself. The second half of the book flowed well but the beginning had a tendency to jump around a lot. It almost felt like she didn't expect everyone to read to the end so she kept adding in "spoilers". She would often mention something and then what would happen with that in the future. It was completely unnecessary since she actually writes about what happens in the future later in the book.
I guess my other complaint has to do with the fact that Evelyn is a rock critic, not a biographer. I really could have done with fewer opinion comments from the author like calling people "fucks" and decribing situations as "shitty" and along those lines. Not that I in general object to cursing but it felt unprofessional, juvenile and overly judgemental in this format.
As a side note, this was probably not the right book to read as a break after reading the "Far From the Tree" chapter on children of rape. The earlier part of this book felt similar to the case studies of statutory rape
I guess my other complaint has to do with the fact that Evelyn is a rock critic, not a biographer. I really could have done with fewer opinion comments from the author like calling people "fucks" and decribing situations as "shitty" and along those lines. Not that I in general object to cursing but it felt unprofessional, juvenile and overly judgemental in this format.
As a side note, this was probably not the right book to read as a break after reading the "Far From the Tree" chapter on children of rape. The earlier part of this book felt similar to the case studies of statutory rape
jodiwilldare's review
4.0
If I were a better eBook reader, I’d have probably finished Cherie Currie’s memoir Neon Angel and found a lot of the information in Queens of Noise:The Real Story of the Runaways by Evelyn McDonnell old news. Lucky for me I hate reading books electronically and found McDonnell’s biography of the ground-breaking all-female rock & roll band a revelation.
Oh how I loved this fair and not wholly unbiased book about the band that spawned Joan Jett. It helps a bunch that the way The Runaways came into being is so damn entertaining and the women who formed this band so awesome. Read More.
Oh how I loved this fair and not wholly unbiased book about the band that spawned Joan Jett. It helps a bunch that the way The Runaways came into being is so damn entertaining and the women who formed this band so awesome. Read More.
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