The Dark Stuff

“A mighty tome containing some of the best music journalism ever written.” —Spectator

In the cut-throat marketplace of rock ‘n’ roll music-making, there are two classes of people: the superstars and the slaves, the living legends and the lowly burn-outs. In The Dark Stuff, Nick Kent profiles twenty-two of the most gifted but often extremely self-destructive talents, from Brian Wilson to Miles Davis, Jerry Lee Lewis to Keith Richards, Syd Barrett to Kurt Cobain.

Gamely extending the boundaries of so-called “new” journalism, Kent—a musician himself who played with the Sex Pistols in 1975 and later fronted The Subterraneans—tours with his subjects, listens to their heartrending confessions, and then captures their chaotic lives and thoughts in a way that provides rare insight into the world of big-money rock ‘n’ roll.

This updated edition features chapters on Eminem, Johnny Cash, Prince, and Iggy Pop.

“Kent is a superb interviewer … he conveys the acne and the ecstasy of the adolescent spirit of rock—or what he calls ‘the mixing of the Byronic and the moronic’—to perfection.” —Guardian

“Essential reading for anyone who has refused to take rock music at face value.” —Evening Standard