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Review
“What truly amazes me is what a fine, honest, introspective author Cherie is, with an incredible tale about an incredible life, and a fascinating personal odyssey.” (Joan Jett )
“I don’t think a lot of people know the story of Cherie Currie. It’s an amazing story and she’s an amazing woman and performer. ” (Dakota Fanning on The Tonight Show )
“Raw and riveting.” (LA Weekly )
“Details the band’s short, messy history and the struggle with addiction that nearly claimed her life.” (Entertainment Weekly )
“[NEON ANGEL] reveals how the liberated life of a 16-year-old rock star in Los Angeles included many dark moments.” (Spin )
“Unflinchingly honest.” (Boston Globe )
“The striking thing about The Runaways, is how authentic it feels… One reason may be that the movie is partly based on Neon Angel, a newly revamped autobiography by the group’s lead singer Cherie Currie, whose chillingly quick self-destruction is relived through Dakota Fanning.” (New York Times )
“Currie is looking forward to giving Neon Angel its second life…the new version, with a foreword by [Joan] Jett, adds the sex, drugs and darkness that were missing from the first edition.” (Reuters )
“I don’t think a lot of people know the story of Cherie Currie. It’s an amazing story and she’s an amazing woman and performer. ” (Dakota Fanning on The Tonight Show )
“Raw and riveting.” (LA Weekly )
“Details the band’s short, messy history and the struggle with addiction that nearly claimed her life.” (Entertainment Weekly )
“[NEON ANGEL] reveals how the liberated life of a 16-year-old rock star in Los Angeles included many dark moments.” (Spin )
“Unflinchingly honest.” (Boston Globe )
“The striking thing about The Runaways, is how authentic it feels… One reason may be that the movie is partly based on Neon Angel, a newly revamped autobiography by the group’s lead singer Cherie Currie, whose chillingly quick self-destruction is relived through Dakota Fanning.” (New York Times )
“Currie is looking forward to giving Neon Angel its second life…the new version, with a foreword by [Joan] Jett, adds the sex, drugs and darkness that were missing from the first edition.” (Reuters )
Book Description
Cherie Currie, with her signature Bowie haircut and fishnet stockings, was the groundbreaking lead singer of '70s teenage all-girl rock band the Runaways. At the tender age of fifteen, she joined a group of talented girls—Joan Jett and Lita Ford on guitar, Jackie Fox on bass, and Sandy West on drums—who could play rock like no one else.
Arriving on the Los Angeles music scene in 1975, they catapulted from playing small clubs to selling out major stadiums, headlining shows with opening acts like the Ramones, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, and Blondie. Currie lit up the stage with the provocative teen-rebellion songs "Cherry Bomb," "Queens of Noise," and "Born to Be Bad," riding a wave of hit songs and platinum albums, all while touring around the world.
On the face of it, Currie's is a riveting story of girl empowerment and fame. But it is also an intensely personal account of her struggles with drugs, sexual abuse, and violence. She and her bandmates, runaways all, were thrown into a decadent, high-pressure music scene where on the road, unsupervised for months at a time, they had to grow up fast and experience things that no teenage girls should. Neon Angel exposes the side of the music industry fans never get to see, and chronicles the group's rise to fame and their ultimate demise.
Shocking and inspiring, funny and touching, Neon Angel stunningly re-creates a bygone era of rock and roll, all the while providing an inside look at growing up hard under the relentless glare of the public eye, and chronicling one tough woman's fight to reclaim her life.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cherie bomb,
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway (Hardcover)
Rock'n'roll has always been the realm of men, but some women have gotten to shine over the years as well. "Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway" chronicles Cherie Currie's brief time as a reigning female rocker with the band the Runaways -- drugs, sex, rock'n'roll, and the painful memories of a young girl who grew up too fast.At fifteen, Cherie Currie's family had completely crumbled and she had been raped by her twin sister's slimy ex-boyfriend. So she had a lot of rage and rebellion boiling inside... which was exactly what a sleazy manager out to create a "bad-girl" rock'n'roll band wanted. She became the lead singer of the five-girl band The Runaways, along with rock legend Joan Jett. But the Runaways didn't have the glamorous wild life they had hoped for, since their manager pocketed almost all their money and they were forced into a grueling grind of record-cutting and touring. But internal tensions within the band started getting nasty because Currie was getting too much attention, and a nasty split from the band threw her into a downward spiral. Cherie Currie is definitely one thing: brutally honest. "Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway" is like watching someone rip off a giant band-aid and showing the world the scars underneath. Her story about the Runaways is filled with sleazy men, loveless sex, hard-boiled bandmates and the consequences of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. There's no glamour here. In fact, she's most brutally honest about herself. The overall tone of the book is that of a mature woman ruefully looking back on her youthful mistakes, and she never sugarcoats the horrible things that happened. There's a raw pain to her stories -- her downward spiral after quitting the Runaways (including stealing all her dad's money for drugs), her abortion, and a grotesque story about being kidnapped and raped by a crazy murderer. In fact, by the time Currie's story hits age twenty, you feel exhausted. But it's pleasant to hear about her finally finding her way in life and getting past her all-consuming drug addiction -- there's an afterword where she describes how her various family members are getting on, and what she is now doing with her life "Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway" is a bloody, dirty, chaotic tale of rock'n'roll life -- definitely not a light read.
4.0 out of 5 stars
ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-CHERRY BOMB!,
By
This review is from: Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway (Paperback)
Cherie Currie certainly has had an interesting life. I know her for the awesome band, the Runaways, but what I didn't know was that Cherie was also serious about acting, fitness and counselling. This autobiography, written with a Tom O'Neill, describes Cherie's life up to and after the Runaways. Overall, I was impressed with how Cherie captured narration from different stages of her life even though she wrote Neon Angel much later. For instance, at the beginning of the book, the narration is extremely childish. I was often irritated by the narration style, (I found Cherie's obsession David Bowie annoying at times), but, I appreciated that Cherie's writing style reflected who she was at the time. Also, the narration becomes bearable soon enough. I also thought that Cherie is very honest about her demons such as her drug problems and about the pressures of the entertainment industry she faced as a young girl.I have to say that Kim Fowly, the Runaways' band manager, is a total jerk. He abused Cherie and the other members of the Runaways in all kinds of ways including sexual, financial, verbal and emotional abuse. Fowly really did exploit the girls and he reminds me of a certain aspiring music manager from high school. Overall, this book was a page turner and I found to be pretty straight forward and easy to read. The book was certainly more intimidate than the movie and so I recommend that you read this book before making any judgement based on the film.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll,
By
This review is from: Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway (Hardcover)
Neon Angel gives you a a first hand account into the tumultuous life (and lifestyle) that Cherie Currie was both thrust into and partially created for herself. It gives you all the dirty details of her life as the lead singer of the Runaways - her close relationship with Joan Jett, her desperate need for attention, and her often vicious jealous-ridden arguments with the other band members. Cherie is brutally honest, revealing the painstaking difficulties of life as an underage rock star, and doesn't seem to censor herself - even when painting herself in a bad light. She reveals her naivety, her selfishness, her self-hatred, her pain, and forcefully paints a picture of her own self-destruction. Each chapter is like delving into the diary of a girl who doesn't quite know what to do with herself.A must read for Runaways fans!
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