A Real Life Rock Star

Stick It!: My Life of Sex, Drums, and Rock ‘n’ Roll – Carmine Appice with Ian Gittens (Chicago Review Press)

I don’t think that I can put my finger on exactly when it happened, but at some point in the not too distant past, the term rock star has become an over-used business cliché; as in “he is a real rock star marketer” or some other lame business-y claim. The dictionary definition makes no such reference to business, when it defines Rock Star as; “a famous and successful singer or performer of rock music.”

Well I am here today to bring Rock Star back to its rightful place, to remove all doubt and all lameness and hang the once mighty appellation where it truly belongs, on a man who truly embodies not only the spirit, but also the hyper-sexual and well earned ego of being dubbed a ROCK STAR! That all conquering hero comes in the form of one of the true monsters of rock drumming, Carmine Appice.

What leads me to making this daring declaration you ask…it’s as easy as thumbing through the pages of legendary tales that make Appice’s new bio,  Stick It!: My Life of Sex, Drums, and Rock ‘n’ Roll. This guy found his way up when the rock world was populated with real men; you know guys who had their choice of groupies and didn’t care what you thought about them wearing chick’s clothes!

The list reads like a who’s who of legendary rock figures that this guys has either rubbed elbows with or played drums for. That list includes: Rod Stewart (who penned the books forward), Jeff Beck, Vanilla Fudge, Ted Nugent, and many, many more. Hell it was this guys Seattle hotel room that was the scene of one of the most infamous, talked and written about incidents in all of groupie-dom…you know the one that involved members of Led Zeppelin’s road crew, fishing poles and a mud shark. Not familiar with that tale? Appice serves up his eye witness perspective that only adds to the legend!

As I worked my way through the book I found myself wondering why the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame hadn’t seen fit to induct this guy into its ranks?! Then I remembered just how lame that place really is, and figured a real rock star probably wouldn’t want anything to do with the place.

Stick It! Features all the must haves, that every great rock bio needs; sex, stories from the road, sex, stories from the studio, sex, stories of rubbing shoulders with other rock stars, sex, insider insights about band fellow members, sex, and gossip about what a douche bag some rocker really is…oh and sex. This one is a truly entertaining and fun read.  

  

 

 

Sex, Drugs and Stretching the Truth

Stephen Pearcy- Sex, Drugs and Ratt and Roll: My Life In Rock (Gallery Books)

Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy’s autobiography, Sex, Drugs and Ratt and Roll: My Life In Rock  follows the tried and true formula for rock bios; growing up, getting a guitar, starting a band, gigging hard, growing a following, getting a deal, touring non-stop with all the pre-requisite dangers and delights of life on the road, followed closely by success and excess and the inevitable belly flop into decline.

 

While the story is formulaic it is spiced with Pearcy’s seemingly endless fascination with his manhood and his generous nature as he tells tall tales of his desire to share it with as many interested parties as possible. While epic and legendary stories have been told about rock stars sexual appetites and excesses the Ratt-man’s seems to defy reality. For a guy who proudly details his appetites for chemical destruction, his near total recall of all things groupie seems to strain credulity. He certainly doesn’t leave me with the impression that he his free time journaling the history of his excesses to aid with later recall.

Pearcy does detail the early 80s Los Angeles music scene where hair and hairspray ruled and the newly launched MTV was proving to be a ripe for the picking way for even marginal bands to garner exposure beyond squeaky tight radio playlists. The proper mix of high hair, eyeliner, and screaming guitars captured on video, was a sure fire way to be beamed into the living rooms of America. From there it was a short hop to full on stardom and it was a leap Pearcy and Ratt made with their break through single Round and Round.

Always lemmings, music business types beat a path to places like the Whisky, looking to snap up a legion of White Rain laden posers during the peak period from 1983 to about 1987 when the next big thing were hard rockers with a dirty street edge, ala Guns and Roses. The final death knell for the early hair metal legion came in the form of angst ridden, flannel wearing grunge rockers from the great northwest. While they tried to hang on, and still do to a very limited mix and match extent Pearcy and company never quite made their way back to repeat the glory days.

Sex, Drugs and Ratt and Roll is the written word equivalent to cotton candy, it’s okay when you eat it in small doses, but after a while your teeth will start to hurt.