Rock Star Babylon

June 30, 2008
This compilation of wild, salacious rock 'n' roll debauchery stories, most of which may or may not be true, probably seemed like a good idea at the time. But in the hands of British writer and comedian Holmes, it's a self-aggrandizing mess that's to be endured more than enjoyed. With smug self-satisfaction, Holmes blithely relates tales of rock excess, many of which have already made the rounds: the infamous Van Halen rider that stipulated no brown M&Ms backstage, Stevie Nicks's bottoms-up delivery system for cocaine and a fair number of non-events like KISS's inclusion of band members' blood in the ink of their 1970s comic book. Holmes goes from bad to worse by padding the book with pointless footnotes that lean heavily on U.K. references and add nothing to the narrative. Perhaps worst of all, most of the stories (except for the most famous, which were already verified by others-i.e., "As Ozzy told Rolling Stone") have not been fact-checked, leaving it up to the reader to determine their veracity. The result is frustrating, unfunny and often pointless.

July 21, 2008
This compilation of wild, salacious rock 'n' roll debauchery stories, most of which may or may not be true, probably seemed like a good idea at the time. But in the hands of British writer and comedian Holmes, it's a self-aggrandizing mess that's to be endured more than enjoyed. With smug self-satisfaction, Holmes blithely relates tales of rock excess, many of which have already made the rounds: the infamous Van Halen rider that stipulated no brown M&Ms backstage, Stevie Nicks's bottoms-up delivery system for cocaine and a fair number of non-events like KISS's inclusion of band members' blood in the ink of their 1970s comic book. Holmes goes from bad to worse by padding the book with pointless footnotes that lean heavily on U.K. references and add nothing to the narrative. Perhaps worst of all, most of the stories (except for the most famous, which were already verified by others-i.e., "As Ozzy told Rolling Stone") have not been fact-checked, leaving it up to the reader to determine their veracity. The result is frustrating, unfunny and often pointless.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2008
Holmes limns a series of brief tableaus of rock n roll excess in the manner of Kenneth Anger in his magnum opus of silver-screen sleaze, Hollywood Babylon (1959), which, of course, the title of Holmes tome references. As far as explicitness in rockin tales of naughtiness, Holmes is on a par with lad mags like FM rather than Penthouse, but he makes his points, as when he notes that Bob Geldof couldnt have killed his ex-wifes paramour (Michael Hutchence of INXS), partly because, given Geldofs level of uncleanliness, hed have left DNA and strands of hair at the scene; this tags the end of some moderately snarky conjecture as to whether the late Hutchence checked out as a result of an act of autoerotic activity . . . gone horribly wrong. With plenty of other verbal felicities such as the footnote about spousal slagging off that describes Marvin Gaye as in many ways the original Eminem, its obvious that this is a must-have pop-music and trash-culture gemrough-cut, of course.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)