- Paperback: 250 pages
- Publisher: House of Stratus; First Edition edition (7 May 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0755102673
- ISBN-13: 978-0755102679
- Product Dimensions: 19.5 x 14.9 x 1.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,193,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
This extraordinary memoir of a celebrated poet and 'failed' rock star tells how one boy grew up in the sixties, survived a British army upbringing, school, the Far East, south London and real trouble, only to go through the hell of being beaten, dabbling in drugs, overdosing, getting arrested, being busted, pop obsession and much, much more.
Joining Plod, a seventies glam-rock band, became the steadying influence in a life spinning hopelessly out of control. Told with hugely generous dollops of smut, pathos and irrepressible humour, Martin Newell's entertaining adventures make for a fast-moving page-turner for anyone who has ever dreamed of being in a band.
Joining Plod, a seventies glam-rock band, became the steadying influence in a life spinning hopelessly out of control. Told with hugely generous dollops of smut, pathos and irrepressible humour, Martin Newell's entertaining adventures make for a fast-moving page-turner for anyone who has ever dreamed of being in a band.
About the Author
Martin Newell was born in 1953 to an army family and he grew up in Hertfordshire, Hampshire, London, Cyprus, Dundee, Chester, Singapore, Malaya and Essex. In 1973 he joined the Colchester glam-rock band, Plod. Subsequent bands were Gypp, The Stray Trolleys and Cleaners From Venus. In between jobs included stints as a kitchen porter and gardener. Martin's latest album is The Spirit Cage (Cherry Red records). In 1990 Martin began working as a performance poet and took up a poet's residency in Middlesborough. He has had seven books published: five collections of verse and two long poems, Black Shuck and Wildman of Wivenhoe. Martin is resident pop poet for The Independent, and as a result he is the most regularly published poet in the UK. He lives in north-east Essex.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Martin Newell's biography covers his childhood through to his early adulthood via passionately-written and frequently hilarious tales of discovering the joys - and pitfalls - of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Like a pop version of Zelig, Newell has been, if not actually present, then at least in the audience at the birth of some of the major developments in popular Brit culture. And his enthusiasm for it now as much as then shows, with witty and consistently readable anecdotes thrown away at the drop of his Victorian top hat. Aficionados of his poetry and his music in bands such as The Cleaners From Venus and his own solo work will recognise their hero as he brings an adroit style to stories of drug abuse and violence, without ever glorifying or glamorising, yet always being entertaining and capable of deep feeling. It all makes for a highly personal account of what it was like to grow up in the sixties and early seventies. This Little Ziggy has a tang of authenticity and honesty that makes it an essential read for any student of pop music in the last 40 years. Hopefully, it will bring his music into focus at the same time. And, sir, when's the next volume coming out?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I love Newell's poetry and this is in a lot of ways an extension of the poet you get to know. It's funny, sarcastic, ironic and has the authenticity that comes with experience and intelligence combined. If you read King of the City by Michael Moorcock and this, it will make up for a lot of those awful second-hand rock and roll books the literati are turning out these days. This is the seventies as it felt like for those of us in struggling rock bands in the 70s and is worth a million rock journo's analyses.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Despite being a big fan of Martin's work in the Independent, it wasn't until I read this fascinating book that I realised that the washer-upper at the Bistro opposite my school in Colchester, the one with the hair like straw and stripey Spandex legs, was such an interesting bloke!!
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