Real Wild Child

by Narelle Gee

What happens when the world′s biggest musical acts sit down on Australia′s most famous couch?

The answer: drunkenness, dark introspection, mania, hilarity, incoherent rambling, sharp-edged commentary and fiery ′artistic differences′. And the occasional food fight.

Real Wild Child is the story of a music obsessive who landed the job of her dreams programming rage. What followed were constant close encounters with the world′s most popular bands and music artists.

Narelle Gee and the rage couch have shared many secrets. Over more than twenty years of rage, the couch has seen it all: the famous golden bottom of Kylie Minogue and the partly leather-clad, mostly bare buttocks of KISS rocker Gene Simmons; the contortions of Courtney Love; the tattooed muscles of Henry Rollins; the dark and light sides of Nick Cave, Trent Reznor, Gwen Stefani, Billy Corgan, Marilyn Manson, Michael Hutchence, Jack Black, Lily Allen, Green Day, Beastie Boys, Silverchair, Public Enemy, the Prodigy, the Black Eyed Peas, Foo Fighters, Powderfinger, Coldplay, New Order, the Strokes, Sonic Youth, Kings of Leon and many, many more. Its fabric has been marked by cheap wine, fine Champagne, cocktails, beer, coffee, pizza, hamburger, cigarette ash, and other substances. Once, it was touched by fire. (Some electronic artists have a fondness for arson.)

With the biggest names in music and juicy backstage anecdotes, Real Wild Child is packed with real wild moments, rock and roll tales, and plenty of secrets from the couch ...

Genres: Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

Reviews

[Maya · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have legitimately no idea how this book got published. I read it researching for a job I'm writing on about recent Aussie rock history - this sounded like it would be full of weird and wonderful and hilarious stories of rockers being rockers behind the scenes. The producer of rage for 15 (or 14 or 16 years - who knows... I dropped in and out of consciousness reading it)
I was gobsmacked... ASTOUNDED at how droll and vanilla this was able to be. I got MABYE 2 nuggets of information, two little factoids that might prove interesting. The rest was like wading in soupy disappointment. Here is a general idea of a chapter... "3 members of Powderfinger sat on the couch, what a lovely group of funny fellas. One of them said "Hi I'm Ian - here is whatever song they're playing next". It was a good night. Then the next time Powderfinger came back to the couch - all 5 came. What a cheeky bunch of guys. Another introduced himself - as if I wouldn't know who he was... Oh man, I'm a lucky lady. Chapter over." This is as juicy as it got. I was in a literary coma.

I can't possibly recommend this - even to die hard pub rock groupies- for a even a somewhat interesting read. Reserved solely for those looking for a cure for insomnia. Just no.

[Jodi Blackman · Rating 3 out of 5]

One for the true music fans. I think this book is best read in little pieces, rather than big chunks. Each chapter followed almost the same identical format which became repetitive, though there were some interesting behind the scenes stories and facts I hadn't known mixed in with Ms Gee's recollections and reportage. I have an eclectic taste in music so liked the variety of bands and personalities that got a mention here, and since Rage kept me company on many a night-owl evening, there was some nostalgia there too.

[bigmuzz]

first to add this book to the library list, and add a comment... pressure's on! haha. anyways, saw this book while browsing the local library and thought i should give it a go. interesting tales and insights about the behind the scenes work that goes into producing rage the abc tv show, and the characters you'll meet along the way. an easy and quick read, good if you are a music fan in general.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

You don't have to be a rage devotee to enjoy this book. It's an entertaining often humorous look at some of the bands to have graced the rage couch between 1995 and 2003.