- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd; First Thus edition (1 Jan 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0434018465
- ISBN-13: 978-0434018468
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 13.4 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 211,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Bad Vibes
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Product Description
Review
'A compulsive read, part Oswald Spengler, part Spike Milligan, and very, very funny.' --David Peace
`A compulsive read, part Oswald Spengler, part Spike Milligan, and very, very funny.' --David Peace
`A compulsive read, part Oswald Spengler, part Spike Milligan, and very, very funny.' --David Peace
Review
'As acerbic and hilarious as you'd expect from a man who thought it completely reasonable to call a pop single "unsolved Child Murder". Haines clearly relishes - and shines in - his role as the Ancient Mariner at the Britpop party.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've read too many books on pop, but this is straight into the top ten (with a bullet), not so much for its insights on the music, but for what it reveals about the trials, tribulations and downright horrors of being in a band. To be honest, I knew little about the Auteurs or Luke Haines before picking this up, having always casually (dis)regarded them as also-rans in a scene which itself never much interested me, whose ambition almost certainly outran their ability by several miles. Oddly, I come away from reading this book with those opinions not greatly changed, but with a tremendous sympathy for Haines himself, and the rapidity with which his vocation was crushed to powder and blown away by the relentless grinding machinery of the music business, with the album driving the tour, the tour schedule demanding the new album, the need for novelty demanding changes in production and playing personnel which Haines can barely control, in a never-ending cycle, until every last vestige of inspiration has been wrung from our hero. It's an old story of course (over which the shadow of Spinal Tap casts a lengthening shadow), but Haines tells it with savage, caustic and hugely readable wit. Mums, Dads - if your kids want to grow up to be pop stars, make them read this book...
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The best Rock Curmudgeon alive today. If you were even slightly a fan of all things Britpop - this is a must read. He hates everyone (except the drummer from Suede). His self-belief is unstoppable and his proclaimations of genius many. No one is safe from his scathing criticism,(yes, that includes YOU Justine Frishmann)and this book is all the more funny for it.
Recommended.
Recommended.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read Bad Vibes in one sitting. It's a real page-turner, unputdownable, etc...
It's a POV history of the bad old Britpop days by the former frontman of The Auteurs. It's a swingeing, whingeing, barking, snapping, curmudgeonly masterpiece of a memoir, with Haines' ego on overdrive and dripping with vemom at every perceived and real slight and grudge that he has absolutely no intention of forgetting or forgiving. I found it immensely funny and accurate, but then I was never a Britpop fan. He seems prone to the same sort of enthusiasms as me (anti-art, avant-garde, conspiracy theories, murder, terrorists, utopian movements...) so maybe that helped. It's a full-on rant with the charm of Niven, Stanshall, Mark E Smith or Ignatius J. Reilly.
Try it.
It's a POV history of the bad old Britpop days by the former frontman of The Auteurs. It's a swingeing, whingeing, barking, snapping, curmudgeonly masterpiece of a memoir, with Haines' ego on overdrive and dripping with vemom at every perceived and real slight and grudge that he has absolutely no intention of forgetting or forgiving. I found it immensely funny and accurate, but then I was never a Britpop fan. He seems prone to the same sort of enthusiasms as me (anti-art, avant-garde, conspiracy theories, murder, terrorists, utopian movements...) so maybe that helped. It's a full-on rant with the charm of Niven, Stanshall, Mark E Smith or Ignatius J. Reilly.
Try it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
6th Form......
If Mr Haines intended to portray himself as a small minded, mean spirited, faux-intellectual tosser then I've got to hand it to him: he succeeded. Childish.
Published 2 months ago by Mr. S. J. Garry
Haines Manual
I'd been strongly advised to read this book by a good friend. I knew very little of The Auteurs music, even though I was in my teens at the time they were recording. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Demdike
A Near Genius
I chose that particular title because I thought it would really wind up Mr Haines (only kidding, Luke). Read more
Published 7 months ago by Keith M
Ha! He's Holding Back, Though
Haines is a character and this is a fun and quick read. I feel like half of the anecdotes are missing the endings, though, it's a bit too polite and sparing of other peoples'... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Scott Burgess
Puts the Boot into Britpop
The Luke Haines revealed in this loose trawl through the 'Britpop' years of 1992-97 is an arrogant, ego-driven, abrasive, misanthropic, irresponsible, embittered old git. Read more
Published on 3 May 2010 by Duncan
Fun
This book is engrossing, compulsive and fun. Luke Haines comes across as arrogant and I can see that this may grate for some people but the further I got through the book the more... Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2010 by Sarah Bates
Dr. Hatred and Mr. Haines
For those who also think that Oasis are a pale failure of the British export and who believe in the songwriting of Luke Haines and the Auteurs, here is the bible. Read more
Published on 15 Dec 2009 by Sylvain Deletang
A Northerner reviews.
I am Northern so Luke Haines , given his antipathy towards the north ( mentioned many times in this tome) would probably be as scathing about me as he is about so very many people... Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2009 by russell clarke
Acerbic accounts of life as a popstar in the nineties
Luke Haines gives us the story of Britpop from an insider's point of view. To say that his memories are tinged with egotism and bitterness is certainly no exaggeration, but this... Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2009 by Dublinia
Revisionist pop history
On the positive side this is a quick read and has a handful of laughs. On the negative it is riddled with factual errors (including numerous spelling mistakes that should have been... Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2009 by Harvester
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