Rock and Hard Places: Travels to Backstages, Frontlines and Assorted Sideshows

by Andrew Mueller

Andrew Mueller is Australian by birth, a Londoner by choice, a wanderer by nature, and a journalist by profession. Unable to decide between being a rock critic, travel writer, or foreign correspondent, he hit upon the novel, if time-consuming, solution of trying to be all three at once. In Rock and Hard Places, published originally in the U.K. in 1999, now re-envisioned and updated and available for the first time in the United States, he travels to Lebanon with the Prodigy, comes to America with Radiohead, and goes all over the place with U2. He ventures to Bosnia Herzegovina with an aid convoy in the middle of the war, sees Def Leppard play in a cave in Morocco, and attempts to ask the Taliban not only what they think they’re up to, but who they fancy for the World Cup. He flings himself head first down the Cresta Run, sits in Stalin’s armchair, chases ambulances through Moscow, chases some kind of lost tribe in India, wakes up at least once in a park in Reykjavik, and strongly advises avoiding the seafood salad in Sapporo Airport. He’s funny. Occasionally he makes a point.

Genres: Music, Travel, Nonfiction

365 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 31, 1999

Reviews

[Darla Ebert]

Theoretically this book has potential. I loved the anecdotes but maybe some of the British humor did not translate clearly enough for my American brain. I enjoyed the travel stories for sure.

[JAn]

It can be difficult to read and fully enjoy any collection of essays since, when consumed en masse, the stylistic idiosyncrasies that seem witty when viewed in isolation can seem grating or lazy - "I demand maximum linguistic variance", you cry!

Andrew Mueller has plenty of idiosyncrasies, but his style is funny, his topics engaging and varied, and the essays such a length, that when the end of each piece arrives you wish for a little more - appropriately for a book half-filled with music pieces this reminded me of albums I found too short on which I found myself hitting REPEAT once the final note sounded - Arcturus "The Sham Mirrors".

Two things of note in the book are, one, the change in style for the last piece, which concerns Mueller's own musical endeavours. Still funny and engaging there's a (not-unsurprising) lack of journalistic detachment and tenderness that's not always present in other pieces - this is not a criticism, but an observation, and in comparison a small sign-post of good journalism and what makes the other pieces work.

The second thing is a quote from Bono whose words, of all people, I would never have thought would touch me, but who when talking about taking artistic risks says (emphasis mine) "I think one of the things I found difficult in the '80s was this din of voices telling me 'But you can't fly, you arsehole'. But that's the kind of thinking that results in restrained, reasonable music - or, for that matter, restrained, reasonable writing. You must not find yourself tiptoeing."

[Andrew Ayers]

If you like Bill Bryson, you'll like Andrew Mueller. Their style is somewhat similar. Over-the-top hyperbole and irony and the hilarious situations he finds himself in make for some fascinating reading. The book focuses a lot on the music scene in Bosnia and the whole Bosnian Herzegovinian conflict, which gets slightly tedious at times, but his writing style and propensity for humor make it all worthwhile. I also broke my record for the number of interesting words that I felt the need to look up. Despite his excellent vocabulary and vast lexicon, the tone is not condescending or pretentious, and the style is easy to read--and very funny. I don't always take note of words that I don't know, but in this case they were so unique and interesting that I felt compelled.

[Gerry]

In his job as rock journalist, Andrew Mueller has traveled the world, often while interviewing and partying with some of the biggest - and smallest - names in rock and roll. His locations range from exotic to dangerous. His writing style reminded me of Bill Bryson's more caustic earlier works. Mueller can be scathing, but it becomes obvious that he is writing to entertain and that although he is critical at times, he comes across as an optimistic person who can appreciate the good times amongst the bad. He also has a undoubted gift with words: his description of the joint tour of two bands in Atlanta (The Rock Steady and Drive-By Truckers) made me thirst for more of their music, and I wasn't disappointed. It is a rare talent to be able to make music sound good just be writing about it.

[Tom]

Andrew Mueller - Rock & Hard Places. A travelogue mostly around touring with bands. The chapter on China Drum going overland to Bosnia captures beautifully the madness that can grow from the cabin fever of being cooped up in a van, the hysteria which is then compounded by viewing a video of The Cult -

He loads the tape. The effect is devastating. The Cult's collected videos would provoke a fair degree of mirth at a toddler's funeral. In our current state it's like pumping the truck full of nitrous oxide. As the screen fills with Astbury preening and prancing like some satin-wrapped heavy metal morris dancer, most of us can no longer breathe properly.

[Bree]

Bought it for the chapter on U2 read it for the witty observations, which were at times prescient and completely applicable to the first 6 weeks of 2017.

[Cam Rogers]

This is an utterly fantastic collection of articles - 20 years worth - of one self-described hack's experiences of touring warzones with rock bands. It's dry, it witty, it's hilarious. I love this guy's style, and for some reason the fact that he was born and raised in Wagga Wagga only endears him to me more. He's smart, he's savvy and the modern introductions to all the articles frame them all wonderfully. A very, very likeable, lovable book and one I'll be keeping and rereading. Mueller's brilliant.

[Tina]

Some very interesting stories about the life of a music journalist on the road in weird and wonderful places with even weirder bands. some of the stories were only for the fans of the particular band, but many others cross over and are of general interest.

[James]

I read this straight after "Apathy for the Devil" by Nick Kent and it pales in comparison. Even though the subtitle covers the varied locations the reports are filed from, there's little excitement or passion about either the music or the performers, in the main.

[Carrie Marshall]

Mueller's from what I consider to be the golden age of the uk music press, and this collection of his travel writing includes some great pieces about bands in interesting places. It's often very funny too.

[Bob Segers]

Music

[Amy]

I really enjoyed this. Andrew Mueller has a very entertaining turn of phrase, and the insights into various bands, places and music were interesting.

[Kim Clarke]

Great writing - very witty and lots of irony. No wonder I liked it!

[Eugenia Doran]

I especially liked the way that music journalism and being a foreign correspondent in war zones intersected in several pieces.