-
When I Grow Up
- A Memoir
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $30.63
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
By the early 90s, singer-songwriter and former Blake Babies member Juliana Hatfield was in a position most aspiring alternative rockers only dream of: her solo career was taking off. She was on the cover of Spin and Sassy; Ben Stiller directed the video for her song "Spin the Bottle" from the Reality Bites film soundtrack; she was a featured guest on My So-Called Life.
Then, after canceling a European tour to treat severe depression and failing to produce another hit, she spent a decade releasing well-reviewed albums on indie labels and performing in ever-smaller clubs. Eventually, she found herself reading The New Yorker on a filthy couch in the tiny dressing room of a punk club and asked herself, "why am I still doing this?"
No longer willing to play a kid's game by kid's rules, Hatfield resolved to take a year off and experiment with being a civilian. And that year reawakened her creative passion. She resolved to take charge of her career and write the great untapped songs that she knew were still in her. This newfound determination led directly to her eagerly awaited new album, aptly named How to Walk Away, the most energetic, polished, and creative work of her music career.
More than a musician's memoir, When I Grow Up is a rich and revealing tour through an extraordinary mind. By turns wryly funny and woundingly sincere, it recounts her best and worst days, the origins of her songs, the source of her woes, and her quest to find purpose in life.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Let's Go (So We Can Get Back)
- A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc.
- By: Jeff Tweedy
- Narrated by: Jeff Tweedy
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few bands have inspired as much devotion as the Chicago rock band Wilco, and it's thanks, in large part, to the band's singer, songwriter, and guiding light: Jeff Tweedy. But while his songs and music have been endlessly discussed and analyzed, Jeff has rarely talked so directly about himself, his life, and his artistic process.
-
-
A best book of the year
- By jdukuray on 11-30-18
By: Jeff Tweedy
-
Autobiography
- By: Morrissey
- Narrated by: David Morrissey
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Autobiography covers Morrissey's life from his birth until the present day.
-
-
Just ok. Read if you're a fan. Skip if not
- By AIDA on 05-19-15
By: Morrissey
-
The Lives of Brian
- A Memoir
- By: Brian Johnson
- Narrated by: Brian Johnson
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brian Johnson’s memoir from growing up in a small town to starting his own band to ultimately replacing Bon Scott, the lead singer of one of the world biggest rock acts, AC/DC. They would record their first album together, the iconic Back in Black, which would become the biggest selling rock album of all time.
-
-
Brian’s accent Rocks!
- By CCFitz on 10-29-22
By: Brian Johnson
-
Horror Stories
- A Memoir
- By: Liz Phair
- Narrated by: Liz Phair
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Liz Phair shook things up with her musical debut, Exile in Guyville - making her as much a cultural figure as a feminist pioneer and rock star - her raw candor, uncompromising authenticity, and deft storytelling inspired a legion of critics, songwriters, musicians, and fans alike. Now, like a Gen X Patti Smith, Liz Phair reflects on the path she has taken in these piercing essays that reveal the indelible memories that have stayed with her.
-
-
If you want to know about Liz Phair’s musical career, you’ll be disappointed.
- By Jack RW on 12-05-19
By: Liz Phair
-
Rememberings
- By: Sinéad O'Connor
- Narrated by: Sinéad O'Connor
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed, controversial singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor comes a revelatory memoir of her fraught childhood, musical triumphs, fearless activism, and of the enduring power of song.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Lora on 06-05-21
By: Sinéad O'Connor
-
My Effin' Life
- By: Geddy Lee
- Narrated by: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Cliff Burnstein
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Geddy Lee is one of rock and roll's most respected bassists. For nearly five decades, his playing and work as co-writer, vocalist and keyboardist has been an essential part of the success story of Canadian progressive rock trio Rush. Here for the first time is his account of life inside and outside the band.
-
-
Lee's Narration Will Captivate You.
- By Nanooka on 11-14-23
By: Geddy Lee
-
Let's Go (So We Can Get Back)
- A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc.
- By: Jeff Tweedy
- Narrated by: Jeff Tweedy
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few bands have inspired as much devotion as the Chicago rock band Wilco, and it's thanks, in large part, to the band's singer, songwriter, and guiding light: Jeff Tweedy. But while his songs and music have been endlessly discussed and analyzed, Jeff has rarely talked so directly about himself, his life, and his artistic process.
-
-
A best book of the year
- By jdukuray on 11-30-18
By: Jeff Tweedy
-
Autobiography
- By: Morrissey
- Narrated by: David Morrissey
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Autobiography covers Morrissey's life from his birth until the present day.
-
-
Just ok. Read if you're a fan. Skip if not
- By AIDA on 05-19-15
By: Morrissey
-
The Lives of Brian
- A Memoir
- By: Brian Johnson
- Narrated by: Brian Johnson
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brian Johnson’s memoir from growing up in a small town to starting his own band to ultimately replacing Bon Scott, the lead singer of one of the world biggest rock acts, AC/DC. They would record their first album together, the iconic Back in Black, which would become the biggest selling rock album of all time.
-
-
Brian’s accent Rocks!
- By CCFitz on 10-29-22
By: Brian Johnson
-
Horror Stories
- A Memoir
- By: Liz Phair
- Narrated by: Liz Phair
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Liz Phair shook things up with her musical debut, Exile in Guyville - making her as much a cultural figure as a feminist pioneer and rock star - her raw candor, uncompromising authenticity, and deft storytelling inspired a legion of critics, songwriters, musicians, and fans alike. Now, like a Gen X Patti Smith, Liz Phair reflects on the path she has taken in these piercing essays that reveal the indelible memories that have stayed with her.
-
-
If you want to know about Liz Phair’s musical career, you’ll be disappointed.
- By Jack RW on 12-05-19
By: Liz Phair
-
Rememberings
- By: Sinéad O'Connor
- Narrated by: Sinéad O'Connor
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed, controversial singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor comes a revelatory memoir of her fraught childhood, musical triumphs, fearless activism, and of the enduring power of song.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Lora on 06-05-21
By: Sinéad O'Connor
-
My Effin' Life
- By: Geddy Lee
- Narrated by: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Cliff Burnstein
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Geddy Lee is one of rock and roll's most respected bassists. For nearly five decades, his playing and work as co-writer, vocalist and keyboardist has been an essential part of the success story of Canadian progressive rock trio Rush. Here for the first time is his account of life inside and outside the band.
-
-
Lee's Narration Will Captivate You.
- By Nanooka on 11-14-23
By: Geddy Lee
-
Hit So Hard
- A Memoir
- By: Patty Schemel
- Narrated by: Patty Schemel
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Patty Schemel was a drummer at the epicenter of the Seattle grunge scene in the early '90s, best known for her work with the alternative rock band Hole. Hit So Hard begins with stories from a childhood informed by the AA meetings Schemel's parents hosted in the family living room. Their divorce triggered her rebellious adolescence and first forays into drinking at age 11, which coincided with her passion for punk rock and playing drums.
-
-
The BEST Book I have ever read. Hands Down.
- By Crystal on 11-22-17
By: Patty Schemel
-
Not Dead Yet
- The Memoir
- By: Phil Collins
- Narrated by: Phil Collins
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The long-awaited autobiography from Phil Collins, one of the best-selling music artists of all time. This is the roller-coaster journey from his beginnings as a child actor to his domination of the charts as both a solo artist and part of Genesis. His success is astounding, his music has global reach, and his story is legendary.
-
-
Funny, moving and honest
- By Brian Haworth on 11-03-16
By: Phil Collins
-
Sing Backwards and Weep
- A Memoir
- By: Mark Lanegan
- Narrated by: Mark Lanegan
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mark Lanegan first arrived in Seattle in the mid-1980s, he was just "an arrogant, self-loathing redneck waster seeking transformation through rock 'n' roll." Little did he know that within less than a decade, he would rise to fame as the frontman of the Screaming Trees, and then fall from grace as a low-level crack dealer and a homeless heroin addict, all the while watching some of his closest friends rocket to the forefront of popular music.
-
-
Love you, Mark
- By Andrew on 04-29-20
By: Mark Lanegan
-
Me
- Elton John Official Autobiography
- By: Elton John
- Narrated by: Elton John, Taron Egerton
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his first and only official autobiography, music icon Elton John reveals the truth about his extraordinary life, from his roller-coaster lifestyle as shown in the film Rocketman, to becoming a living legend.
-
-
A Book as Extraordinary as Elton
- By Tracey Brown on 10-17-19
By: Elton John
-
Daisy Jones & The Six
- A Novel
- By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Narrated by: Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Daisy is a girl coming of age in LA in the late '60s, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s 20, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne.
-
-
I wanted to love this book...
- By Stine on 03-17-19
-
Where Do I Begin?
- Stories (I Sort of Remember) from a Life Lived Out Loud
- By: Elvis Duran, Andy Barr - contributor
- Narrated by: Elvis Duran
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elvis Duran’s nationally syndicated radio program, Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, is America’s most listened-to Top 40 morning show and one of the 10 most listened-to programs in all of radio, heard live by nearly 10 million people every morning. But his success didn’t happen overnight. Elvis spent years navigating the wild world of radio as a DJ for hire, working (and partying) in markets around the country before taking over the morning shift at the legendary Z100 in 1996. Over the last 20 years, he has become one of New York City’s signature voices.
-
-
Wheres the juice Elvis?!
- By MiRanda on 10-15-19
By: Elvis Duran, and others
-
Love & Pain
- The epic times and crooked lines of life inside and outside Silverchair
- By: Ben Gillies, Chris Joannou
- Narrated by: Ben Gillies, Chris Joannou
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the powerful, untold story of two of the three members of Silverchair, Australia's most awarded musical act. From their beginnings in Ben Gillies' garage, this trio of high school kids from Newcastle, New South Wales, became famous with their smash-hit single 'Tomorrow', setting them on a path to domination of the Australian charts, worldwide touring and fame. So much has been written about Silverchair over the years but very little has been said by the band's members.
-
-
love it all! authentic & true!
- By K8 on 10-02-24
By: Ben Gillies, and others
-
It's the World's Birthday Today
- By: Christian "Flake" Lorenz
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Flake, the legendary keyboardist for the German band Rammstein, takes listeners on a journey of what it is to be a touring musician. The excitement, the boredom, the moments that will be remembered and those that are forgotten. It's the World's Birthday Today is a strange and moody book about life on the road.
-
-
Who doesn't love Flake
- By Tammara Tims on 12-05-23
-
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
- A Memoir
- By: Sly Stone, Ben Greenman - contributor, Questlove - foreword
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the few indisputable geniuses of pop music, Sly Stone is a trailblazer and a legend. He created a new kind of music, mixing Black and white, male and female, funk and rock. As a songwriter, he penned some of the most iconic anthems of the 1960s and ’70s, from “Everyday People” to “Family Affair.” As a performer, he electrified audiences with a persona and stage presence that set a lasting standard for pop-culture performance.
-
-
Thank You!
- By Gina M. McKenzie on 10-20-23
By: Sly Stone, and others
-
Fallopian Rhapsody
- The Story of the Lunachicks
- By: The Lunachicks, Jeanne Fury - contributor
- Narrated by: The Lunachicks, Jeanne Fury
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fallopian Rhapsody: The Story of the Lunachicks is a coming-of-age tale about a band of NYC teenagers who forged a sisterhood, found salvation, and fervently crashed the gates of punk rock during the '90s, accidentally becoming feminist icons along the way. More than that, this is a story about the enduring friendship among the book's three central voices: Theo Kogan, Sydney Silver, and Gina Volpe.
-
-
Just say “Yeah!”
- By Heather M. Webster on 08-05-21
By: The Lunachicks, and others
-
Confess
- The Autobiography
- By: Rob Halford, Ian Gittins - contributor
- Narrated by: Rob Halford
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most priests hear confessions. This one is making his. Rob Halford, front man of global iconic metal band Judas Priest, is a true "Metal God." Raised in Britain's hard-working, heavy industrial heartland, he and his music were forged in the Black Country. Confess, his full autobiography, is an unforgettable rock 'n' roll story—a journey from a Walsall council estate to musical fame via alcoholism, addiction, police cells, ill-fated sexual trysts, and bleak personal tragedy, through to rehab, coming out, redemption...and finding love.
-
-
Pretty small % of this book is about his music
- By JA3 on 12-17-20
By: Rob Halford, and others
-
Hard to Handle
- The Life and Death of the Black Crowes - A Memoir
- By: Steve Gorman, Steven Hyden
- Narrated by: Steve Gorman
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An insider biography of the Black Crowes by drummer and cofounder Steve Gorman. In his first-person history of the Black Crowes, Hard To Handle - the first ever account of this great American rock band's beginning, middle, and end - Gorman makes it clear just how impossible that job was. Fortunately, Gorman tells the tale with great insight, candor, and humor. They don't make bands like the Black Crowes anymore: crazy, brilliant, self-destructive, inspiring, and, ultimately, not built to last. But, man, what a ride it was while it lasted.
-
-
Please just narrate.
- By keeling on 10-11-19
By: Steve Gorman, and others
Related to this topic
-
Rainbow in the Dark
- The Autobiography
- By: Ronnie James Dio, Mick Wall - contributor, Wendy Dio - contributor
- Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prior to his tragic death in 2010, Ronnie James Dio had been writing his autobiography, looking back on the remarkable life that led him from his hometown in upstate New York to the biggest stages in the world, including the arena that represented the pinnacle of success to him - Madison Square Garden, where this book begins and ends.
-
-
Horns up!
- By Big Daddy on 02-10-22
By: Ronnie James Dio, and others
-
My Appetite for Destruction
- Sex, and Drugs, and Guns N' Roses
- By: Steven Adler, Lawrence C. Spagnola - with
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Steven Adler, the original drummer for Guns N' Roses, comes My Appetite for Destruction, the inside story of GNR. Offering a different perspective from the bestselling Slash, Adler chronicles his life with the band, and own intense struggle with addiction, as seen on Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab and Sober House.
-
-
TERRIBLE NARRATION
- By SNAFU666 on 02-04-21
By: Steven Adler, and others
-
Your Band Sucks
- What I Saw at Indie Rock's Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear)
- By: Jon Fine
- Narrated by: Jon Fine
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jon Fine spent nearly 30 years performing and recording with bands that played various forms of aggressive and challenging underground rock music. And, as he writes in this memoir, at no point were any of those bands "ever threatened, even distantly, by actual fame". Yet when members of his first band, Bitch Magnet, reunited after 21 years to tour Europe, Asia, and America, diehard longtime fans traveled from far and wide to attend those shows.
-
-
Life in a band-the ups, downs and truth!
- By C Christopher Taylor on 07-10-18
By: Jon Fine
-
My Life in Dire Straits
- The Inside Story of One of the Biggest Bands in Rock History
- By: John Illsley
- Narrated by: John Illsley
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most successful music acts of all time, Dire Straits filled stadiums around the world. Their albums sold hundreds of millions of copies and their music - classics like “Sultans of Swing”, “Romeo and Juliet", “Money for Nothing”, and “Brothers in Arms” - is still played on every continent today. There was, quite simply, no bigger band on the planet throughout the '80s. In this powerful and entertaining memoir, founding member John Illsley gives the inside track on the most successful rock band of their time.
-
-
An excellent autobiography about a wonderful time in music. I highly recommend it.
- By Laguirre on 06-25-24
By: John Illsley
-
Punk Rock Blitzkrieg
- My Life as a Ramone
- By: Rich Herschlag, Marky Ramone
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having outlived his bandmates, Marky is the only person who can share the secrets and stories of the Ramones' improbable rise from obtuse beginnings to induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But it wasn't all good times and hit songs, and Marky doesn't shy away from discussing his own struggles.
-
-
Dedicated Punk Fans Must Read
- By Leostriple on 03-26-15
By: Rich Herschlag, and others
-
Meet Me in the Bathroom
- Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011
- By: Lizzy Goodman
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston, Nicol Zanzarella
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the second half of the 20th century New York was the source of new sounds, including the Greenwich Village folk scene, punk and new wave, and hip-hop. But as the end of the millennium neared, cutting-edge bands began emerging from Seattle, Austin, and London, pushing New York further from the epicenter. The behemoth music industry, too, found itself in free fall, under siege from technology. Then 9/11/2001 plunged the country into a state of uncertainty and war.
-
-
Deeply disappointing.
- By ChicagoRob on 01-18-20
By: Lizzy Goodman
-
Rainbow in the Dark
- The Autobiography
- By: Ronnie James Dio, Mick Wall - contributor, Wendy Dio - contributor
- Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prior to his tragic death in 2010, Ronnie James Dio had been writing his autobiography, looking back on the remarkable life that led him from his hometown in upstate New York to the biggest stages in the world, including the arena that represented the pinnacle of success to him - Madison Square Garden, where this book begins and ends.
-
-
Horns up!
- By Big Daddy on 02-10-22
By: Ronnie James Dio, and others
-
My Appetite for Destruction
- Sex, and Drugs, and Guns N' Roses
- By: Steven Adler, Lawrence C. Spagnola - with
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Steven Adler, the original drummer for Guns N' Roses, comes My Appetite for Destruction, the inside story of GNR. Offering a different perspective from the bestselling Slash, Adler chronicles his life with the band, and own intense struggle with addiction, as seen on Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab and Sober House.
-
-
TERRIBLE NARRATION
- By SNAFU666 on 02-04-21
By: Steven Adler, and others
-
Your Band Sucks
- What I Saw at Indie Rock's Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear)
- By: Jon Fine
- Narrated by: Jon Fine
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jon Fine spent nearly 30 years performing and recording with bands that played various forms of aggressive and challenging underground rock music. And, as he writes in this memoir, at no point were any of those bands "ever threatened, even distantly, by actual fame". Yet when members of his first band, Bitch Magnet, reunited after 21 years to tour Europe, Asia, and America, diehard longtime fans traveled from far and wide to attend those shows.
-
-
Life in a band-the ups, downs and truth!
- By C Christopher Taylor on 07-10-18
By: Jon Fine
-
My Life in Dire Straits
- The Inside Story of One of the Biggest Bands in Rock History
- By: John Illsley
- Narrated by: John Illsley
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most successful music acts of all time, Dire Straits filled stadiums around the world. Their albums sold hundreds of millions of copies and their music - classics like “Sultans of Swing”, “Romeo and Juliet", “Money for Nothing”, and “Brothers in Arms” - is still played on every continent today. There was, quite simply, no bigger band on the planet throughout the '80s. In this powerful and entertaining memoir, founding member John Illsley gives the inside track on the most successful rock band of their time.
-
-
An excellent autobiography about a wonderful time in music. I highly recommend it.
- By Laguirre on 06-25-24
By: John Illsley
-
Punk Rock Blitzkrieg
- My Life as a Ramone
- By: Rich Herschlag, Marky Ramone
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having outlived his bandmates, Marky is the only person who can share the secrets and stories of the Ramones' improbable rise from obtuse beginnings to induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But it wasn't all good times and hit songs, and Marky doesn't shy away from discussing his own struggles.
-
-
Dedicated Punk Fans Must Read
- By Leostriple on 03-26-15
By: Rich Herschlag, and others
-
Meet Me in the Bathroom
- Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011
- By: Lizzy Goodman
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston, Nicol Zanzarella
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the second half of the 20th century New York was the source of new sounds, including the Greenwich Village folk scene, punk and new wave, and hip-hop. But as the end of the millennium neared, cutting-edge bands began emerging from Seattle, Austin, and London, pushing New York further from the epicenter. The behemoth music industry, too, found itself in free fall, under siege from technology. Then 9/11/2001 plunged the country into a state of uncertainty and war.
-
-
Deeply disappointing.
- By ChicagoRob on 01-18-20
By: Lizzy Goodman
-
Neon Angel
- A Memoir of a Runaway
- By: Cherie Currie, Tony O'Neill - with
- Narrated by: Cherie Currie
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid autobiography, Cherie Currie - the original lead singer of '70s teenage all-girl rock band The Runaways - powerfully recounts her years in the band, her friendship with guitarist Joan Jett, and her struggle with drugs. An intense, behind-the-scenes look at rock music in the gritty, post-glam era, Neon Angel is a must-listen for anyone whose heart beats to the rhythm of David Bowie, Suzi Quatro, Nick Gilder, and the Sex Pistols, and for every fan of the movie it inspired: The Runaways, starring Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart as Cherie Currie and Joan Jett.
-
-
couldn't finish
- By plantlady on 06-29-21
By: Cherie Currie, and others
-
The Gospel According to Luke
- By: Steve Lukather
- Narrated by: Steve Lukather
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this incisive memoir, Steve Lukather tells the complete Toto story. He also lifts the lid on what went on behind the closed studio doors, shedding light on the unique creative processes of some of the most legendary names in music: from Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, and Elton John to Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, and Aretha Franklin. Lukather’s extraordinary tale also encompasses the dark side of stardom and the American Dream. Frank, engaging, and often hilarious, The Gospel According to Luke is no ordinary rock memoir.
-
-
Wow Best Rock Biography Ever
- By Hercules on 09-29-18
By: Steve Lukather
-
Wild Tales
- A Rock & Roll Life
- By: Graham Nash
- Narrated by: Graham Nash
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Graham Nash - the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies - comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan.
-
-
The Best of the Recent Rock Biographies
- By Steven Schuster on 10-28-13
By: Graham Nash
-
Mustaine
- A Heavy Metal Memoir
- By: Dave Mustaine, Joe Layden
- Narrated by: Tom Wayland
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Hetfield, with whom many years ago Mustaine founded a band known as Metallica, once observed, with some incredulity, that Mustaine must have been born with a horseshoe up his ass. That's how lucky he's been, how fortunate he is to be pulling breath after so many close calls. And Hetfield is right. Mustaine has been lucky. He has been blessed. But here's the thing about having a horseshoe lodged in your rectum: It also hurts like hell. And you never forget it's there.
-
-
peace sells...I'm buying!!!
- By michael on 09-19-10
By: Dave Mustaine, and others
-
I Am Brian Wilson
- By: Brian Wilson, Ben Greenman - contributor
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a cofounding member of the Beach Boys in the 1960s, Wilson created some of the most groundbreaking and timeless popular music ever recorded. With intricate harmonies, symphonic structures, and wide-eyed lyrics that explored life's most transcendent joys and deepest sorrows, songs like "In My Room", "God Only Knows", and "Good Vibrations" forever expanded the possibilities of pop songwriting.
-
-
Surviving the Minor Keys in Life - Love Overcomes
- By Russell on 12-01-16
By: Brian Wilson, and others
-
Deal
- My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead
- By: Bill Kreutzmann, Benjy Eisen
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On their 50th anniversary comes a groundbreaking rock-and-roll memoir by one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead are perhaps the most legendary American rock band of all time. For 30 years, beginning in the hippie scene of San Francisco in 1965, they were a musical institution, the original jam band that broke new ground in so many ways.
-
-
Decent but not great
- By Monty S on 03-02-16
By: Bill Kreutzmann, and others
-
My Cross to Bear
- By: Gregg Allman, Alan Light
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the greatest rock icons of all time, Gregg Allman has lived it all and then some. For almost 50 years, he's been creating some of the most recognizable songs in American rock, but never before has he paused to reflect on the long road he's traveled. Now, he tells the unflinching story of his life, laying bare the unvarnished truth about his wild ride that has spanned across the years.
-
-
my cross to bear was awesome
- By the dude on 05-02-12
By: Gregg Allman, and others
-
My Damage
- The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor
- By: Keith Morris, Jim Ruland
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Keith Morris is a true punk icon. No one else embodies the sound of Southern Californian hardcore. Short and sporting waist-length dreadlocks, Morris is known the world over for his take-no-prisoners approach on the stage and his integrity off of it. Over the course of his 40-year career, he's battled diabetes, drug and alcohol addiction, and the record industry. My Damage is more than a book about the highs and lows of a punk rock legend, however.
-
-
keith rocks.
- By Jeff on 05-13-18
By: Keith Morris, and others
-
Home Before Daylight
- My Life on the Road with the Grateful Dead
- By: Steve Parish, Joe Layden - contributor, Bob Weir - foreword
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Steve Parish was never one to walk the straight-and-narrow, even during his childhood growing up in Flushing Meadow, Queens. Busted as a teenager for selling acid in the summer of 1968, Parish landed in Riker's Island. The experience changed him, and after getting out, he did his best to stay out of trouble, securing a job moving music equipment at the New York State Pavilion. The first show he worked was a Grateful Dead concert in July of 1969, and Parish was captivated by the music. A life seemingly headed nowhere had suddenly found its calling.
-
-
Narrator-Blaa
- By MORGAN NOTEL on 10-06-19
By: Steve Parish, and others
-
How to Be a Man
- (and Other Illusions)
- By: Duff McKagan
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Duff McKagan is one of the most respected survivors in hard rock. In How to Be a Man, he shares the wisdom he gained on the path to superstardom - from his time with Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver to getting sober after a life of hard living to achieving his personal American dream of marrying a supermodel, raising a family, and experiencing what it's like to be winked at by Prince.
-
-
Overly dramatic reader.
- By CB on 01-07-17
By: Duff McKagan
-
Relentless
- The Memoir
- By: Yngwie J. Malmsteen
- Narrated by: Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yngwie Malmsteen's revolutionary guitar style - combining elements of classical music with the speed and volume of heavy metal - made him a staple of the 80s rock scene. Decades later, he's still a legend among guitarists, having sold 11 million albums and influenced generations of rockers since. In Relentless, Malmsteen shares his personal story, from the moment he burst onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere in the early 80s to become a household name in the annals of heavy metal.
-
-
Bloviations
- By David A. Kaplowitz on 12-29-19
-
One Way Out
- The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band
- By: Alan Paul
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One Way Out is the powerful biography of the Allman Brothers Band, an oral history written with the band's participation and filled with original, never-before-published interviews as well as personal letters and correspondence. This is the most in-depth look at a legendary American rock band that has meant so much to so many for so long. For 25 years, Alan Paul has covered the Allman Brothers Band, conducting hundreds of interviews, riding the buses with them, attending rehearsals and countless shows.
-
-
From a non-fan
- By DK on 09-06-14
By: Alan Paul
What listeners say about When I Grow Up
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cory
- 08-04-21
When growing up isn't all it's cracked up to be...
Let me start by stating: I love Juliana Hatfield’s music – her 1993 release “Become What You Are” still makes multiple appearances in the soundtrack of my life. From her humble beginnings with Boston’s jangly Blake Babies through a long and variable solo career, along with other collaborations (like Some Girls), she’s produced an extensive recorded catalog that renders her musical persona difficult to consistently categorize. Her major label presence was brief, but her indie afterlife has afforded her significant creative freedom, and it shows in a diverse – and sometimes uneven – body of work. All this to say: I truly appreciate much of her music and genuinely admire her perseverance.
For all this exposition, “When I Grow Up” has the potential to offer greater personal insight into a somewhat press-shy performer. Which makes it frustrating to discover that, for all her lyrical introspection, Hatfield seems to come up surprisingly short in the self-reflection department. The book alternates between journal-based entries for dates on the first Some Girls tour of the U.S. and some of the more noteworthy periods of her life previous to this. And for large portions of both past and present, she engages in much of the typical artistic self-deprecation and flagellation for her own perceived shortcomings: her singing; her guitar playing; her soloing; her social interactions; her choice of men; her fashion choices; her encounters with the press. In other words, not just a few select critiques of her being, but (to borrow the title of her 1995 solo record) “Only Everything”. Yikes.
And given her openness with the struggles of both depression and anorexia, this hardly seems unusual. Hatfield depicts life on the road as a series of miseries, both great and (mostly) small, that consistently suck the joy out of an already mundane existence. Every motel room is described in the most derisive terms, as though each were specifically created to mock her arrival and torment her existence. She decries the size and imperfections of the modest venues like a tour through purgatory: rider issues, dressing room shortcomings, deficient opening bands who are either too untalented or too slick or too deferential, and fans who are awkward or pushy or gushy or eccentric. Or sometimes all of the above.
It’s this last category where the book presents the greatest challenge to reader/listener enjoyment. Specifically, the relationship between Hatfield and her fans. It might be imagined that her own struggles with mental illness (and an early life marked by anxiety and familial and social challenges) would breed a degree of empathy for those who, like her, often seemed to wrestle on the fringes of stability. Yet she repeatedly chides audiences for their lack of engagement, and derides fans whose mental or social states appear even moderately imbalanced as weird and freakish and scary. The fact that this hypocrisy seems utterly lost in her tellings of various encounters becomes increasingly hard to take. Despite regularly lamenting that her day in the spotlight has passed, she still appears to expect her audience to support her chosen lifestyle/career exclusively on her terms: buy my records and merch; come to my shows; be appreciative, but don’t bother me; and give me a break, because even marginal post-stardom is hard. While she does occasionally offer her sense of how lucky she is to do what she does, it often feels like an afterthought, putting a polish on her well-constructed void of resignation over things not working out exactly as she might have hoped.
In the end, her telling is simultaneously both insightful and sobering. If anyone has glamorized the idea of being a working musician, able to actually sustain a modest living on the indie circuit, Hatfield’s writing shoots holes through the idea, or at least lets out most of the air. At the conclusion of her story, it isn’t even possible to ascertain whether she’s come close to answering: “was it all worth it?” Her sense of what some would consider a dream-come-true (namely, making a living as an original musician) seems mainly to be “it’s-not-so-bad”, with a liberal dash of “it-could-be-worse”.
The production of the audiobook is solid, clear, and well-paced. Ironically, Rebecca Gibel’s excellent narration is one of the most jarring aspects of the experience, though by no fault of hers. Gibel’s voice is crisp, animated, and confident – a sharp contrast to the tone and mood of Hatfield’s writing. This puts the narration dramatically out of step with the subject, though I’m sure finding someone to adequately capture Hatfield’s sense of ennui would be a significant challenge.
Overall, the story is interesting and somewhat detail-oriented, but often in unexpected areas and for the wrong reasons. Insight into the writing and recording process is fairly lacking (aside from an engaging account of the backstory for “My Sister”), while the daily drudgery of life as a past-her-prime (as, I again stress, she repeatedly characterizes herself) working musician is well covered – almost exhaustively. It’s not that her story isn’t worth telling or isn’t interesting, but if you’re looking for a celebration of a truly unique artist's success and talent, there’s little laudatory evidence of that on display. If you’re more inclined towards a case study in the discontent of life along the way, there’s plenty to recommend here. Just be warned that much of Hatfield’s journey can be seemingly summed up in one word: Ugly. With a capital “U”.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful