Matt Sorum's Autobiography

[SoulMonster]

10 hours ago, rocknroll41 said:

Adler claims that that’s how it was gonna be at one point, and then his back injury happened.

Similar to what was intended previously with both Brain and Frank drumming, splitting the songs between them. That too fell apart.

[themadcaplaughs]

18 hours ago, Blackstar said:

If that rumour is true (about Axl saying that it would either be Frank and Steven or end of negotiations, and Matt was out of the question), I guess Slash and Duff could have equally said "it's either Matt or end of negotiations", if it was so crucial for them. But they didn't, so it seems that it wasn't such a big deal to them as it was for Axl to keep Frank.

I was the one who mentioned the rumor on this forum, and was always upfront it was a MSL "scoop", so take it with a grain of salt. If it were true, I would imagine it wasn't so much "we're not going to swing for Matt" as it was "it's this or nothing". We've seen a relatively stable lineup for a few years now, but at the time, I'm sure they fully expected the smallest thing would make Axl cancel the whole thing and he'd move on with his life. I'm sure it was "we can play with Frank or no one gets anything". Axl's a delicate piece of paper, and I'm sure everyone walked around on eggshells at the point. I know that whole "Duff threatened to beat up Chris Pittman" rumor was apparently based on the fact that the whole band was legitimately afraid Chris' temper tantrum might cause Axl to bail. 

[Stay.Of.Execution]

9 minutes ago, themadcaplaughs said:

I know that whole "Duff threatened to beat up Chris Pittman" rumor was apparently based on the fact that the whole band was legitimately afraid Chris' temper tantrum might cause Axl to bail. 

How so?

[themadcaplaughs]

Again, a lot of MSL stuff (although I specifically reading this rumor here as well), but the word was there had already been some start ups and slow downs and panics in negotiations, but the band finally reached an agreement and started rehearsing, just to have a band member throw a public temper tantrum and get kicked out. I'm sure Duff and Slash were concerned of it triggering Axl somehow and having him walk away. 

[Swedish]

I just read the ebook version of this I got back when it was originally released and posted a review of it over on Goodreads and thought I might post it here as well

I went in to this book liking Matt Sorum and after the 300 or so pages this book contains ended up really disliking him. 

In this fairly poorly written autobiography Sorum manages to involuntary present himself as the asshole in just about every social encounter he finds himself in. He also manages to re-write history and make himself seem like he was the main member of just about every band he's ever been in. That combined with how he in an obvious way lets his current day thoughts about former band members influence how he writes about them makes this book feel like a 300 page long fictionalized declaration of what a cool and good guy he is. It doesn't exactly help the book that Sorum writes about his sex life like he is a 13 year old kid who just lost his virginity either. Just about every chapter (even those that really doesn't need it) includes several stories about girls he's slept with, often written in a braggy tone.

It becomes painfully obvious that Matt Sorum is a man without any sense of self-distance that has written one of the worst rock biographies out there. With that said though, the book still has some enjoyable parts. When Sorum describes his first tours he manages to convey the feeling of a young musician getting his first taste of success, the chapter of him smuggling drugs to Hawaii during the mid-80s is something that stands out from your average rock biography and the chapter about recording the Use Your Illusion records gives an interesting insight into the creation of two of the early 90s most celebrated records.  Apart from that Double Talkin' Jive is nothing but a poorly written watered down version of every rock biography that's ever been written.

Let's hope that the re-release of this book is severely re-written, otherwise it may be better off shelved with just a few copies out there for those who managed to get the ebook in the short amount of time it was up on Amazon.

[Ratam]

42 minutes ago, youngswedishvinyl said:

I just read the ebook version of this I got back when it was originally released and posted a review of it over on Goodreads and thought I might post it here as well

I went in to this book liking Matt Sorum and after the 300 or so pages this book contains ended up really disliking him. 

In this fairly poorly written autobiography Sorum manages to involuntary present himself as the asshole in just about every social encounter he finds himself in. He also manages to re-write history and make himself seem like he was the main member of just about every band he's ever been in. That combined with how he in an obvious way lets his current day thoughts about former band members influence how he writes about them makes this book feel like a 300 page long fictionalized declaration of what a cool and good guy he is. It doesn't exactly help the book that Sorum writes about his sex life like he is a 13 year old kid who just lost his virginity either. Just about every chapter (even those that really doesn't need it) includes several stories about girls he's slept with, often written in a braggy tone.

It becomes painfully obvious that Matt Sorum is a man without any sense of self-distance that has written one of the worst rock biographies out there. With that said though, the book still has some enjoyable parts. When Sorum describes his first tours he manages to convey the feeling of a young musician getting his first taste of success, the chapter of him smuggling drugs to Hawaii during the mid-80s is something that stands out from your average rock biography and the chapter about recording the Use Your Illusion records gives an interesting insight into the creation of two of the early 90s most celebrated records.  Apart from that Double Talkin' Jive is nothing but a poorly written watered down version of every rock biography that's ever been written.

Let's hope that the re-release of this book is severely re-written, otherwise it may be better off shelved with just a few copies out there for those who managed to get the ebook in the short amount of time it was up on Amazon.

spot on review! 

[Rayno]

On 11/24/2021 at 6:30 PM, youngswedishvinyl said:

I just read the ebook version of this I got back when it was originally released and posted a review of it over on Goodreads and thought I might post it here as well

I went in to this book liking Matt Sorum and after the 300 or so pages this book contains ended up really disliking him. 

In this fairly poorly written autobiography Sorum manages to involuntary present himself as the asshole in just about every social encounter he finds himself in. He also manages to re-write history and make himself seem like he was the main member of just about every band he's ever been in. That combined with how he in an obvious way lets his current day thoughts about former band members influence how he writes about them makes this book feel like a 300 page long fictionalized declaration of what a cool and good guy he is. It doesn't exactly help the book that Sorum writes about his sex life like he is a 13 year old kid who just lost his virginity either. Just about every chapter (even those that really doesn't need it) includes several stories about girls he's slept with, often written in a braggy tone.

It becomes painfully obvious that Matt Sorum is a man without any sense of self-distance that has written one of the worst rock biographies out there. With that said though, the book still has some enjoyable parts. When Sorum describes his first tours he manages to convey the feeling of a young musician getting his first taste of success, the chapter of him smuggling drugs to Hawaii during the mid-80s is something that stands out from your average rock biography and the chapter about recording the Use Your Illusion records gives an interesting insight into the creation of two of the early 90s most celebrated records.  Apart from that Double Talkin' Jive is nothing but a poorly written watered down version of every rock biography that's ever been written.

Let's hope that the re-release of this book is severely re-written, otherwise it may be better off shelved with just a few copies out there for those who managed to get the ebook in the short amount of time it was up on Amazon.

I am not saying Matt's book is a great read but this is too harsh.

[Swedish]

12 hours ago, Rayno said:

I am not saying Matt's book is a great read but this is too harsh.

Well, it's just my opinion isn't it?

I thought it was utter trash.

[Rayno]

6 minutes ago, youngswedishvinyl said:

Well, it's just my opinion isn't it?

I thought it was utter trash.

Yeah, exactly - just your opinion. 

[jamillos]

One way or the other, I'm glad he wrote the book (and I had the chance to read it before it will get released - or has it already? - in an undoubtedly "modified" version). 

[Ixtlan]

13 hours ago, Rayno said:

I am not saying Matt's book is a great read but this is too harsh.

I think the poster is spot on.

[themadcaplaughs]

Serious question, as I gave up following this book some time ago. Has this been officially released yet? If not, what prevented the release this time? 

[ToonGuns]

70 pages...!

This topic is longer than Matt's autobiography.

[DurhamGirl]

Now to be released next spring.

 

 

 

[GNROSAS]

On 11/26/2021 at 3:39 PM, DurhamGirl said:

Now to be released next spring.

 

 

 

Are he and his publishing company following the rumours of a possible new GNR album release?

[kever20]

40 minutes ago, GNROSAS said:

Are he and his publishing company following the rumours of a possible new GNR album release?

Yes. That could be!

 

I had snagged a copy of it before it was cancelled the first time... I should read it.

[GoBucky]

On 11/26/2021 at 12:55 AM, youngswedishvinyl said:

Well, it's just my opinion isn't it?

I thought it was utter trash.

Not just your opinion...it's awful.

[mystery]

On 11/26/2021 at 3:39 PM, DurhamGirl said:

Now to be released next spring.

 

 

 

Is this going to wind up as the Chinese Democracy of book releases? GRRM probably has the crown for this though. Said it before but the only thing I really care about is the post UYI years.

I'll take any insight into what Axl was like that I can get. I'm surprised it's rarely mentioned how much Axl changed appearance wise by any of the guys. Also did Slash/Matt/Duff ever get the sense that Axl wasn't all there? It felt like the band was kept going while Axl was barely involved with the process musically.

[allwaystired]

On 11/29/2021 at 12:01 AM, kever20 said:

Yes. That could be!

 

I had snagged a copy of it before it was cancelled the first time... I should read it.

You probably shouldn't, if you've got anything else to do! 

It really is rather poor. 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by allwaystired

[Snytefant]

This just dumped into my mailbox. When I ordered it, it said release 23rd of June 2022. 
Anyone else gotten a hardcover of this yet?

[Walapino]

42 minutes ago, Snytefant said:

This just dumped into my mailbox. When I ordered it, it said release 23rd of June 2022. 
Anyone else gotten a hardcover of this yet?

Let us know if there are any differences with the PDF leak from a couple of years ago!

[Snytefant]

25 minutes ago, Walapino said:

Let us know if there are any differences with the PDF leak from a couple of years ago!

Currently I'm reading Slash's book, halfway through that one. 
And in my tempo I'll get through one book a year, so I'll let you guys know in 2.5 years after I'm finished with Slash's, Steven's and Matt's.
I should be done with these books in 10-12 years.
Books in reading order (Done with Duff's)

[Walapino]

1 hour ago, Snytefant said:

Currently I'm reading Slash's book, halfway through that one. 
And in my tempo I'll get through one book a year, so I'll let you guys know in 2.5 years after I'm finished with Slash's, Steven's and Matt's.
I should be done with these books in 10-12 years.
Books in reading order (Done with Duff's)

Guess soon is not the word then.

[Free Bird]

9 minutes ago, Walapino said:

Guess soon is not the word then.

Probably sooner than Axl's soon

[Snytefant]

18 minutes ago, Walapino said:

Guess soon is not the word then.

Soon™