Apathy for the Devil
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- £6.49
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- £6.49
Publisher Description
Pitched somewhere between Almost Famous and Withnail & I, Apathy for the Devil is a unique document of this most fascinating and troubling of decades - a story of inspiration, success and serious burn out.
As a 20-something college dropout Nick Kent's first five interviews as a young writer were with the MC5, Captain Beefheart, The Grateful Dead, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. Along with Charles Shaar Murray and Ian MacDonald he would go on to define and establish the NME as the home of serious music writing. And as apprentice to Lester Bangs, boyfriend of Chrissie Hynde, confidant of Iggy Pop, trusted scribe for Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, and early member of the Sex Pistols, he was witness to both the beautiful and the damned of this turbulent decade.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The subtitle of Kent's first memoir, and first book since 2002's The Dark Stuff collected his writings on rock music, says it all: this is a staggering and vibrant account of one music critic's decadent decade. Kent, whose journalism helped define the UK's New Musical Express in its heyday, reportedly spent 15 years working on this book, sifting through his drug-addled memory to provide a blow-by-blow, year-by-year account of his dark and chaotic journey from teenage fan to celebrated music critic to serious junkie. Packed with up-close-and-personal encounters on both sides of the Atlantic with the likes of the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin, this memoir is a refreshingly bleak and grimy chronicle of an oft-mythologized era. Kent's sometimes unfavorable recollections seldom veer into character assassinations, nor does he glorify the sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll lifestyle that nearly killed him. Along the way, Kent falls in love with Chrissie Hynde, takes a beating from Sid Vicious, and finds a life-saver in Iggy Pop. Kent's personal, candid style makes the exploits, few of which are pretty or heroic, read like an intimate all-night conversation. 10 pages of b&w photos.
Customer Reviews
Rock Star Journalist
Fascinating book by probably the best music journalist the NME ever published. My bible during teenage years, Nick Kent's articles were the first pages I always turned to when the NME came out each week. Most interesting to know more about he man behind the insightful prose. Highly recommend 'The Dark Stuff' as well if you missed Nick's writing first time around.