Chris Salewicz is a legendary music journalist who cut his
teeth writing for the NME between 1975 – 1981. In recent years, he has written
authoritative biographies of Joe Strummer (Redemption Song, reviewed here) and Bob Marley, as well as working on
films such as Third World Cop (1999). His latest book, Dead Gods, tackles the
subject of the legendary ’27 Club’ – rock stars who died at the tragically
young age of 27.
In the book, Salewicz uses the insight gained from decades
of observing the music industry at close quarters to provide mini biographies
of 27 Club members Robert Johnson, Brian James, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim
Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse. In this interview, he discusses the
pressures of living life in the public eye, the common traits shared by his
subjects, and the significane of the letter 'J'...
Dead Gods charts a wide range of changing pressures which
musicians have had to deal with, from the marginalised and frustratingly
under-documented life of Robert Johnson to the media overkill surrounding Amy
Winehouse, but are there any common themes which link the musicians which you
write about (beside the fact of their early deaths)?
All of these seven people are highly intelligent, but they
are all also damaged psychologically by key events in their early life. Jimi
Hendrix had an early life that was beyond Dickensian in the horror of its
squalor; but key to that was the fraught relationship between his father Al and
flighty, dysfunctional mother Lucille – unsurprisingly, several of Jimi’s major
relationships were with prostitutes; brothers and sisters were born with severe
physical ailments, almost certainly a consequence of Lucille’s drinking during
pregnancy; Jimi was brought up in a world where he needed to create a fantasy
existence simply to survive. What this comes down to, however, is the ongoing
break-up between Jimi’s mother and father.
Equally, Kurt and Amy seemed greatly damaged by their
parents’ divorces, as did Robert Johnson by the complex living arrangements of
his mother and father. Brian Jones was badly affected by the sudden death of
his younger sister when he was four. Jim Morrison appeared traumatized as a
young boy by the sight of native Americans dead and dying after an auto
accident. Janis Joplin is more complex: driven to rebellion by her parents’
pretensions…
Four of the musicians you write about in Dead Gods - Jimi
Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and
Brian Jones - passed away in a fairly short timespan, and there are much longer
gaps before we come to Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse. Can you think of any reason
for this - has the business of being a rock star changed? Are they better
looked after now, or are the drugs better?
Another common thread is that no-one was looking after any
of these people. It will often be said that they are grown-ups at the age they
died, but this certainly is not the case: they are still kids – Amy publicly
getting off her face at the age of 22, 23, 24 is a good example of this.
Clearly in the case of the four you mention, if you want to
avoid being in The 27 Club don’t be given a capital ‘J’ in your name!
As a journalist and writer, you've spent a lot of time
around musicians down the years; do you get a sense for who will self destruct
and who won't? What qualities do you need to stay sane and healthy?
Well, I always thought that Joe Strummer would live to a
ripe old age, turning out increasingly mature albums, like a British Neil
Young. Of course I had no knowledge that he suffered from a congenital heart
complaint. Phil Lynott, on the other hand, seemed a fun-loving hedonist. But
there came a pivotal moment in around 1983 when I was out with him, having a
great conversation and time, and he disappeared to the toilet. When he returned
he was literally green and nodding out. I realised at that point that something
was going on that I had had no knowledge of.
So how do you stay sane and healthy? Clean living and a
healthy diet, clearly. Just ask Lemmy.
There's a myth of tragic, sensitive rockstars which many
of the male 27 club members (especially Morrison and Cobain) fit into - do you
think there's any difference in the way female members like Joplin and
Winehouse are written about and remembered?
Not at all. Janis was a ladette before they had been
invented. And Amy was the personification of all those girls you would see out
on a Friday night, visibly off their heads, almost as though trying to prove a
point.
On a personal level, what was this book like to write? Was
it psychologically draining for you?
Yes.
Could you select a song to sum up each of the musicians
you wrote about in Dead Gods?
Amy – Rehab
Kurt – Heart-Shaped Box
Jimi Hendrix – Little Wing
Brian Jones – Good Times, Bad Times
Jim Morrison – Hello I Love You
Janis – Ball and Chain
Robert Johnson – Terraplane Blues
What are
you working on next?
Several things. But I’ll tell you when I’m further down the
track.
No comments:
Post a Comment