Book review: Shaun Ryder's life-story
Twisting My Melon:
Shaun Ryder The Autobiography (Transworld, £18.99)
WITH the fallout of the literally sex n drugs rock n roll lifestyle every proper rock star craves laying Shaun Ryder pretty low a few years back, it’s good to see him step on into a new phase.
Who’d have predicted 20 years ago that the Salford wild boy would have ended up a hero of reality TV show I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here?
Or that he’d be content to leave the drugs and partying behind for a contented family life and the promise of his first-ever solo album in 2012?
Well, maybe we should have.
If there’s one thing Ryder’s life-packed autobiography proves, it’s that he’s a survivor.
A tough childhood where he loved to steal and make cash rather than go to school where he didn’t learn much, meant he seized the mad-for-it life as a rock icon as Happy Mondays frontman in the Madchester era with both hands.
But there’s so much going on in this life story that Luke Bainbridge who helped Shaun turn it into a book needs a pat on the back for bringing order to so much rich, gobsmackingly-interesting chaos.
That Ryder comes out as a really loveable bloke whose second biggest talent is his honesty, is a bit of a miracle given some of the adventures.
There’s a guarded explanation of the financial troubles that practically gagged him after the Black Grape years and meant he couldn’t earn – and keep – his own money for 12 years.
There’s eye-watering description of his various attempts to get clean from drugs.
As he writes near the end: "I wanted to be in a band, make good music, see the world and avoid getting a proper job. I did all four and had a f***ing ball doing it. It was a rollercoaster ride, but that’s what life has always been like for me– a few years of double-good times , followed by a few years of pure hard times. A cycle of ecstasy and despair."
As he confirmed this week on Later With Jools Holland, he barely remembers a lot of the 90s.
But luckily for fans – and anyone interested in the tale of a proper maverick, shamen-like songwriter and performer – there’s plenty of unique memories packed into this must-read that should top the rock books of 2011 list. MC
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See review of Shaun's live Inverness Ironworks show!
