Tattoo Nation: Portraits of Celebrity Body Art

by Rolling Stone Magazine, David Ritz

Tattoos, rock and roll, and "Rolling Stone"--the ideal combination for the ultimate book on celebrities and their tattoos. "Tattoo Nation" features 100 candid and never-before seen photos and revealing interviews that chronicle the gradual emergence of this evocative art form into mainstream society via pop-culture icons.

Genres: Art, Photography, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Rolling Stone is a U.S.-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner (who is still editor and publisher) and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.

Reviews

[Mike Saade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, Such an interesting book about people getting tattoo's and what they represent. Rolling Stones "Tattoo Nation" has 100 different celebrities featured that have got tattoo's but have never revealed them until this book. People get tattoo's for many different reasons, Rolling stones say " Body Art is for rock and pop-culture fans, tattoo artists and aficionados, and most certainly for those who are considering taking the plunge for the first time. But be careful - it's addictive!" In this book many of the celebrities featured discuss why the got a tattoo and what it means to them. Some people explain that they didn't even remember getting a tattoo until they looked at themselves the next day in the mirror!
My favourite Tattoo's:

1. Ozzy Osbourne
- He was only 14 when he got his first tattoo that was done by himself, crazy! What I admired about Ozzy's tattoo's is most of them represent his family, wife, and kids which caught my eye.

2. Slash
- When he was 15 he decided to get a fictional cartoon character named Shirley. The story behind it was it was his drummer's moms name. This was one of his first bands and would practise in his garage. His mom used to come down screaming every time to turn it down. What I liked about this tattoo is that it is so random but he represents it as his beginning career mark.

3. Mark Wahlberg
- Mark has a funny story about his tattoo, he was only about 12 when he got his first one, yes 12!!! After he got it he was so scared that his mom would find out that he hid it. By the time his mother found out which was 2 years later she was more upset that he had gotten drunk and ended up getting stabbed in the leg with a bottle.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tattoos have always been fascinating to me, even before I got the two I now have. This book features short interviews and quotes by famous people (mostly musicians, but not all) who have them. I think my favorite is from Janis Joplin: "The one on my wrist is for everybody. The one on my tit is for me and my friends. Just a little treat for the boys, like icing on the cake."
My only real regret is that this book doesn't catalog all of the tattoos on a body, nor give reasons. And in the case of people with multiples, it's not always obvious which ones they're talking about.

All in all, still incredibly fascinating, and makes me want to go out and get more.

[Melliott14]

This book was pretty interesting, its full of celebrities opinions on tattoos. I read one of the interviews on Ozzy Osbourne, he talked about his tattoos and how most of them have no meaning he just got them for fun. He also talked about how tattoos are now very popular and cool and in the near future they wont be as cool or unique. The people without tattoos will be the unique and cool ones, with no ink on their body. I found it interesting to read the different perspectives people had about tattoos. I wouldn't consider this the best book to read about tattoos because it is opinionated, and not very exciting, but it is interesting.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't one of my favorite tattoo books, but if you like seeing musical artists and actors posing and showing their skin you might enjoy this. It wasn't that interesting to me because I'm not a big fan of many of the people featured in this book and the ones I am a fan of didn't have very exciting tattoos: Dixie Chicks, Drew Barrymore, Steven Tyler, and Mark Wahlberg.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really any text, but worth viewing the tattoos on some of these "popular people".

[Aaron the Pink Donut · Rating 2 out of 5]

kinda lack luster and uninspired.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heart tattoos.