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This Is Pop: The Life and Times of a Failed Rock Star
Ed Jones is the former bassist of The Tansads - three LPs released with a highest chart position of 101. Claim to fame - were once suported by a band called The Verve, and Pulp, and Cast, and Kula Shaker. This is his story, the story of "the others", the ones who don't make it in the pop world.
214 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 21, 2011
The story of not making it in the pop world by Ed Jones a member of Tansads an early nineties group from Wigan. Well written but you couldn't help feeling the author was settling old scores in writing!!
July 1, 2018
It wasn't until I started reading this book that I recalled that,
a) I'd actually seen them (Citadel in St Helens,. sometime in the early/mid 90's)
b)I seemed to still know half their songs, thanks to some intensive conditioning by a very good mate
So it should have been perfect, right?
Well, it *is* full of good-to-great failed rockstar stories & put me back in that timeframe quite effectively but, the longer I read it, the more I realised that I didn't like the layout of it (it's written in a very chatty style, with sidebars of additional info on basically every page) & I think the author should have took longer over it - not only did it need sharpening up, in terms of the writing, but he needed more time to adjust his feelings over the band; the hurt feels VERY fresh at times and is a slightly uncomfortable read at times for this.
To put it bluntly, he comes across as very, very bitter and, reading between the lines, I'm not convinced he's the always the good guy in this story - he's a songwriter, but not the primary one in the band & that looked pretty clear from the start. Also, he makes it plain that he doesn't particularly like the folk-rock/raggle-taggle element of their sound but, I can say as someone who knows the songs & seen them live, THAT'S what they did well & (I think) made them of interest in the first place. Oh, and a word of advice: dropping hints about thieving Scousers ain't gonna endear you to some of your Northwestern associates.
Still, it whipped along at a decent pace & made me relisten again to Up The Lurkers, which is no bad thing...
a) I'd actually seen them (Citadel in St Helens,. sometime in the early/mid 90's)
b)I seemed to still know half their songs, thanks to some intensive conditioning by a very good mate
So it should have been perfect, right?
Well, it *is* full of good-to-great failed rockstar stories & put me back in that timeframe quite effectively but, the longer I read it, the more I realised that I didn't like the layout of it (it's written in a very chatty style, with sidebars of additional info on basically every page) & I think the author should have took longer over it - not only did it need sharpening up, in terms of the writing, but he needed more time to adjust his feelings over the band; the hurt feels VERY fresh at times and is a slightly uncomfortable read at times for this.
To put it bluntly, he comes across as very, very bitter and, reading between the lines, I'm not convinced he's the always the good guy in this story - he's a songwriter, but not the primary one in the band & that looked pretty clear from the start. Also, he makes it plain that he doesn't particularly like the folk-rock/raggle-taggle element of their sound but, I can say as someone who knows the songs & seen them live, THAT'S what they did well & (I think) made them of interest in the first place. Oh, and a word of advice: dropping hints about thieving Scousers ain't gonna endear you to some of your Northwestern associates.
Still, it whipped along at a decent pace & made me relisten again to Up The Lurkers, which is no bad thing...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews