Mick Wall

Wall, a rock journalist who knew him for decades, published this soon after Lemmy's death. Part researcher and critic, but much of the material here comes from years of one on one interviews with Lemmy, bass player, singer and main songwriter of Motorhead. Wall has been around long enough that he often has the two or three sides to infamous events, such as the departures of band members or management changes. He does something which few biographers or interviewers do, which is to write about show more Lemmy as a real person with real character flaws, who could be arrogant and even a bit tyrannical when he believed his position was threatened. Wall and Lemmy spoke of money, drugs, and declining record sales, things that most would shy from. It's warts and all, and the best bio on the man, and the band, that I've read so far. show less

Not so much a straight biography as a hip, conversational and occasionally meandering fable about the band Eagles (no definite article), the 1970s, too many egos, and mountains of cocaine. I worshipped the band in their heyday, in the desperate way only a lonely teenaged girl can pull off, but felt only mild outrage when they became a pop culture punching bag in the ensuing decades (mostly thanks to The Big Lebowski).

Wall doesn't argue that Eagles were groundbreaking musical geniuses, but show more he admires the way they captured the zeitgeist of 1970s California, when the folksy Laurel Canyon sound of Crosby Stills & Nash and Joni Mitchell was replaced by a darker hedonistic cynicism. Plus they sure knew how to write hit songs. Sure we all know now that Glenn Frey and Don Henley were raging misogynistic assholes, but reading this book made me nostalgic for my 13 year old self, listening to Eagles records in my bedroom, with only the music and lyrics to tell me how to feel. show less

Like for every legend it's easy to believe we know it all about Metallica. Yet, Mick Wall (a great writer, check out his other books!) manage to deliver here the unthinkable: tell Metallica's journey in a plethora of details even the fan I am had no clue about!

Complete, surprisingly for a friend of the band (he had Lars Ulrich staying at his home several times) the author is also without any complacency and, dare dealing head-on with the controversial issues of their career -from their show more relationship with the whole thrash metal scene to Napster, the 'Some Kind of Monster' documentary or, again, their unfair treatment of Jason Newsted. Indeed, touching, 'Enter Night' is also striking for its deeply human aspect as, the different personalities of each members explode in pages after pages -intriguing (James Hetfield) or striking (Lars Ulrich, Dave Mustaine, Cliff Burton -whose ghost haunts the book as he haunts the band since his tragic death in 1986).

Thorough, it's a must have for the fans. show less

You can't go wrong with Mick Wall. Metalhead and classic rock writer, his style always combine the engaging and passionate with the factual and sincere in engrossing biographies, that make for punchy and epic reads not only for the details they reveal but the angles, always relevant, he chooses to attack his subjects. I had voraciously read his Run to the Hills: Iron Maiden, the Authorized Biography about Iron Maiden and Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica about Metallica. I had even show more higher expectations for this 'Symptom of the Universe', since he not only know all of the musicians personally but, has also worked with them as a PA. Such insight, then, at the service of such writing skills couldn't leave me disappointed! And indeed...

Here's an epic tale at the core of which are, bottom lines, clashes of personalities. That's actually exactly what makes it fascinating: Black Sabbath's history is an history of pumped egos and of characters not always likeable (far from that!) whose antagonisms behind the scene would nevertheless shape a fascinating saga of greed, ambition, excesses, deplorable and sick decadence, but, above all, great music (well... most of the time!).

The book, unsurprisingly, unfolds loosely around the two most obvious periods: the Ozzy Osbourne era, then followed by Tony Iommi sole leadership, both revolving around the influence of Sharon Osbourne, another strong personality. Mick Wall, as usual, doesn't wear silk gloves, and so it makes for a tough read! Ozzy and his antics, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler as shadowing puppets, Tony Iommi's iron fist yet appalling lack of judgement... Mick Wall says it all as it was, and if it's all very enlightening for the fans, well, don't expect to be inspired!

That's the thing in here: not many aren't, if not a swarm of cynical opportunists, then a bunch of addicts fuelled on booze and drugs, completely useless off a stage, when not so obsessed with money 'indecent' doesn't even covers it (just check out how Sharon Osbourne screwed over Tony Iommi to get legal rights to the name of Black Sabbath...). The drugs, nastiness, appalling and disgusting behaviours and greed are indeed so sickening that, more than once I wanted to throw the book away! Mind you, it's nothing to do with Mick Wall's writing, always sharp and enthralling. It has to do with the subject matter. Case in point: I personally found the band members to be so stupid (junkies' fried brains) that, as I discovered how they got ripped off more than once by unscrupulous management, not once did I feel any sympathy for them.

Throwing the book away, though, would have been a serious! Regardless indeed, there are here beautiful pages, heartfelt and moving, about some great personalities that have crossed path with the Sabbs. To start with, there was Randy Rhoads:

'amazing young man who wielded a polka-dot Flying V guitar and who, when he died, left behind an impossibly slender body of work that would nonetheless alter the sound of rock as we know it - for ever.'

There was, also and of course, Ronnie James Dio:

'a dragon slayer, an alchemist of dreams who could turn the dourest situation to advantage by sheer force of his iron will... a force of nature, like the very wind and rain he seemed able to summon every time he opened his mouth to sing and that incredibly powerful voice came out.'

Not all of Black Sabbath's history, then, is drown under a blizzard of drugs and greed, and such amazing characters lighten it all up in a more than welcoming way.

So what of it all? Offensive, sickening, disturbing, annoying... One has to go through a lot of appalling behaviours to follow the Black Sabbath's saga (again, to me none of the original band members are likeable people however how talented...) but if you are a fan of the music, that heavy and uncompromising sound that could shatter Hell itself, then here's the book you cannot miss. It doesn't matter whether you are more of an Ozzy era's fan ('inward-looking, misfitting, dysfunctional head-trip for outsiders and no-gooders') or Ronnie's ('fit for heroes and merrymen, for lovers and fighters of the good fight'). There's no other band like the Sabbs indeed and, when the music was good, it was so out of this world that it was revolutionary. 'Symptom of the Universe', for its insight, passion, honesty, accuracy, and incisive take is therefore the perfect read to get it all. show less