Too Much, Too Late

by Marc Spitz

Reunited more than a decade after their brief flirtation with fame in the early 1990s, the middle-aged members of the Ohio-based Jane Ashers suddenly find themselves hitting the big time, with a new record deal, a hit single, fame, fans, and a tour, that transforms their dream into a nightmare of colliding egos, family pressures, and too much success too late.

Genres: Fiction, Music, Novels

307 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Marc Spitz was a former senior writer at Spin magazine. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Maxim, Blender, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Nylon and the New York Post. Spitz is the co-author (with Brendan Mullen) of the 2001 LA punk oral history We Got The Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk. He has authored two novels, How Soon is Never (2003) and Too Much, Too Late (2006), as well as Nobody Likes You: Inside the Turbulent Life, Times, and Music of Green Day. His biography of David Bowie, entitled God and Man was released in the Fall of 2009.

Several of his plays, including Retail Sluts (1998), The Rise And Fall of the Farewell Drugs (1998), ...Worry, Baby (1999), I Wanna Be Adored (1999), Shyness is Nice (2001), Gravity Always Wins (2003), The Name of This Play is Talking Heads (2005), and Your Face Is A Mess (2007) have been produced in New York City. 'His holiday short "Marshmallow World" was produced at The Brick Theatre in Brooklyn in December of 2007. Shyness is Nice was revived by the Alliance Repertory Theatre company in Los Angeles in 2003, and The Name of this Play is Talking Heads was produced in the summer of 2006 on Nantucket. A new play, 4, a one-act comedy will be produced in the spring of 2009.

Spitz has spoken at Columbia University (on playwrighting) and DePaul University (on journalism), and appeared as a "talking head" on MTV, VH1, MSNBC.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember reading articles by Marc Spitz in Spin Magazine in the nineties and always thought he was an entertaining writer. Overall, this book was a fun, fast read, good for people who have been in bands, dated people in bands, or just followed indie/alternative/whatever music for a long time. The narrator, Sandy, is the drummer for the Jane Ashers, a band that almost made it, until they did, over a decade later. I like the character of Sandy, but I think that Spitz sold his story short. This book should have been longer. The ending felt rushed, and I felt like I never really got to know some of the characters and understand their motivations. Things happened to fast at the end for me, but I enjoyed the first half of the book more. Spitz made things happen to his characters for dramatic effect, as authors do (and are supposed to do), but a lot of these events did not seem realistic. I find it hard to believe that Debbie and Harry, two major characters (Harry is the lead singer of the Jane Ashers), changed so dramatically, and so fast. Debbie could have been a really fascinating character, but again, the author sold her short. The bottom line is, this book had a lot of potential, but needed a lot more work. Also (and this does not spoil anything in the story) I find it implausible that Sandy's mother becomes such a music enthusiast... when she sings the Liz Phair line, it just seemed so fake and unnecessary to the story. And another thing---why did Spitz have to make everything so black and white? Just because their band breaks up at the beginning, everyone has years of dull drudgery, and no one except for one character is able to leave the small town? It just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe because I know a lot of musicians, and it doesn't ring true based upon their experiences. But, I'm not from Ohio (where this book is set). I've never even been to Ohio, so what do I know?

[Ciara · Rating 1 out of 5]

another book that begs the question: why did i read this? it's a novel set in ohio. the story is about four schlumpy dudes who form a garage band & somehow hit the big-time. no one is more surprised than they are. now, my question: has there ever been a novel that revolved around people in a band, or people living the punk lifestyle, or anything that is especially invested in being sub-cultural, that didn't totally suck? because i have book after book like this in my reading archives, but when i think it over, i hated all of them. so why did i read them? & also, now that i think about, i hate them all for pretty much the same reason: they use tropes, stereotypes, & the residual glamour/drama of the subject matter as a cloak so that characters, plots, & narrative action don't have to be fully formed. leading me to maximum yawns. bot let's address my biggest pet peeve about this particular book, shall we? the author set it in ohio because he seems to perceive of ohio as the cradle of garage rock or something. i'm from ohio, so okay, i can go along with that. but then he writes a scene where the dudes go to an ice cream place & ask for jimmies on their sundaes. JIMMIES ARE AN EAST COAST THING. you know what "jimmies" is slang for in ohio? CONDOMS. these dudes asked for condoms on their ice cream. i mean, come the fuck on. at least get the colloquialisms right if you're going to pillage my homeland for rock history integrity. it wouldn't have been that difficult to track down someone from ohio & say, "so, jimmies. do you say that in ohio?" i lived in massachusetts for three years before i finally mustered up the courage to ask why jimmies were offered on the menu of my local ice cream shop. i still can't bring myself to request jimmies on my ice cream, so i have gone without sprinkles for over seven years now.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Spitz's first novel, How Soon Is Never, which I read last year, Too Much Too Late is about music and growing older. Rather than being about a music journalist who tries to get The Smiths back together, this book is about a group that, 15 years after they broke up just before opening for Liz Phair, suddenly finds themselves at the top of the charts thanks to an unlikely chain of events. It's a solid summer book for music freaks. I knocked this out in an afternoon, evening, and morning, and probably could have killed it in a day at the beach.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Granted, I've only read it 8 or 9 times. It's humorous and entertaining. It's a good, but fictional, peek into life in a famous rock band.

[Adam Swift · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are enough good real rock memoirs out there that there's really not a reason to read this forced, fake one.

[Mollyann Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this 100 years ago. A sordid tale of realizing worth too late in life, not recognizing moments for what they are when they are right in front of us.

[Ella · Rating 2 out of 5]

So a bunch of guys have this pretty cool band in the 90s. They aren't really anything special but they get to play a local show or two before the lead singer falls in with this chick and has a baby, so the band is dead. Everyone goes about their lives and moves on and gets fat and bald and ugly and pretty soon the guitar singer gets really pissed and bitter and decides it's time to try and reunite the band. Which he does, sort of. SO they start rocking out and then the lead singer starts whining about his family again and how his son hates him, so the guitar player says, "Then let's show him what music IS! Let's show him his dad can ROCK!" Or something. Anyway he kidnaps the lead singer's Eminem-wannabe son to prove that they are cool and this internet famous chick tags along. Basically she is SO IN LOVE with this band (or more specifically one song by the band) that she blasts it over her interweb and pretty soon this band is hot tamales again. Except remember that now they are all old and wasted and have grey hair (except one dude who is balding) but they are from the 90s and since the 90s are back no one really cares about all that. Unfortunately this rise in popularity is too much too late (see what I did there) and the members of the band crumble under the social and media influence. Some other stuff happens too, like the guitarist falling in love with a 16 year old and buying her a Mustang and everyonw doing lots of cocaine and someone having a nervous breakdown over potroast, but whatever.

This book wasn't great. I liked the beginning. It was interesting and funny for a few moments there. It had promise. But then it got really, really depressing, really, really fast. I know we all have to grow up. I know those who may not find success in their younger years often have dreams of obtaining it in some way later in life. However just because something might be honest, it doesn't mean it's particularily well written or entertaining.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Straight to paperback for a reason, even had a few typos. This book seemed to be hastily written and poorly edited. I literally wished I could punch some of the characters in the face - they and this book just felt so full of themselves and their own cleverness. Overflowed with cute and oh-so-precious musical references and insider info, enough to gag you.

As a woman, I couldn't get behind these aging male "protagonists" and the old boy's club of rock and roll -complete with obligatory lusting after teenage girls. I am not the target demographic for this book I suppose. Read Spitz's "We Got the Neutron Bomb" instead - an excellent and fascinating oral history of the early LA punk scene.

[melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

From one of the guys who brought us "We Got the Neutron Bomb," this novel is: a very easy read (pretty fluffy, actually), a cute but completely silly/ridiculous story, FULL to the brim of stupid contemporary indie rock pop culture references that make the author seem Old and Out of Touch, and fairly unnecessary reading. I gave it 2 stars rather than 1 because it was, i admit, an entertaining (albeit completely unbelievable) story, and because LOT'S of genuinely hilarious dialogue is contained within. The book is decent, not good.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Spitz, fire your copyeditor - I know you know it's GRAM Parsons and not GRAHAM. Fun little read, here - though if you're like me and this book was recommended to you because you're a Guided By Voices fan (and the Jane Ashers were allegedly inspired by GBV, likewise Spurts = Strokes), you'd do well to pick yourself up a copy of Artificial Light by James Greer. Pay special attention to the Henry Radio/Whiskey Ships parts. Don't say I never did nothin' fer ya.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is good for a light read but not much else. I liked the idea behind the book but some elements of it bothered me. The relationship between the main character and the teenage girl I found kind of creepy, like whose parents would let their 16 year old girl hang out with a middle aged man. Creepy. Other than that it was a good quick read with some funny elements to it.

[Gerry LaFemina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a literate punk rocker, and I really wanted to like Marc Spits's book, but the first third moved too slowly, and the characters all seemed cliched in a way that allowed me to see what was going to happen long before I read the passages. It's cute, it's clever and it's readily forgettable unlike the famous Jane Ashers' song, "Let's Go Steady Debbie."

[Beth Gaston · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great tale of friendship, loss, near-misses, and most of all, rock and roll. The only frustrating part about this book is wondering if there was a real-life inspiration. Material Issue? Fountains of Wayne? Pick it up and see your own theories.

[Steve Gozdecki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far fetched but entertaining. As someone who never bothered to learn how to play or even got any of his "bands" to a second rehearsal, I'm drawn to books about how these things come together and fall apart. Funny, sad and just the right length.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best book I've read, but entertaining. It's the story of a band that falls apart on the brink of success and then reunites as "old guys" to give it one more go.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, great fun for the closet rocker in all of us (those who know what Raw Power and September Gurls is with no further explanation).

[Suebaby · Rating 4 out of 5]

will keep you laughing out loud until the end

[Autumn Skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really wonderful.

I really like the way ?Marc Spitz writes, he make you feel included in the story.

[Kaitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Generally creepy, had some good one-liners.

[Mr.diggles]

Took me way too long to read but a thorough raunchy read.

[Rolo de la France · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty cool book, i think the ending was kind plain but the whole story was interesting. thats what happens when fame comes a lil too late

[C.I. DeMann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good fun. Not perfect, but still, good fun. If you like garage rock and want a fun little fantasy about becoming a rock star, you'll enjoy this.