They Just Seem a Little Weird

November 20, 2020

Brod parlays his experience as a onetime editor-in-chief of Spin magazine into a rollicking biography of three of the most successful bands of the late 1970s--Kiss, Cheap Trick, and Aerosmith--and another, Starz that was decidedly less so. Forty-plus years after they formed, Kiss, Cheap Trick, and Aerosmith continue to grace the airwaves of classic rock stations (and, in pre-pandemic times, concert halls) from coast to coast. That Starz doesn't demonstrates that success requires more than talent and enthusiasm; there's usually a fair bit of luck involved as well. Beyond the basic band origin stories, Brod highlights the influences, coincidences, connections, and directions of these proto-metal rock pioneers and those around them. He knows whom to ask and what to tell. He is an enthusiastic guide, and fans--and anyone interested in true tales of rock and rock excess--will love this. VERDICT Devotees of Kiss, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, and/or Starz, and they are legion, are going to lick this up. Rock this way.--Bill Baars, formerly with Lake Oswego P.L., OR

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2020
The story of four 1970s American rock titans: KISS, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, and, perhaps most importantly, Starz. Starz, you may ask? That's the point: The also-rans fit Brod's theme that rock fame is sometimes arbitrary, usually absurd, and almost always fleeting. In the mid-'70s, all four acts were connected in terms of management, touring, and producers. KISS led the way both musically and theatrically; Aerosmith had a Stones-y (and for a long time druggy) vibe, and Cheap Trick merged anthemic rock with subtler, Beatles-esque songwriting. As for the glammy Starz, a band that had unlikely roots in one-hit wonders Looking Glass ("Brandy [You're a Fine Girl]"), sharing management with KISS and stages with Aerosmith led at best to the nether regions of the sales and airplay charts and a role as tax write-off for KISS' minders. When album-oriented radio stations emerged in the late-'70s, the band was "shut out of the broader airplay equation." But even the bigger acts had Starz-like issues, struggling to stay relevant amid disco, hair metal, and grunge. Brod, former editor-in-chief of Spin, interviewed deeply, writes with a fan's enthusiasm about all four bands, and braids their experiences to keep the book from reading like four separate bios. He's also attuned to the Spinal Tap-ish nature of the acts, from backstage meltdowns to ironic calamities; Starz frontman Richie Ranno launched a successful business dealing KISS memorabilia until he was big-footed, yet again, by KISS. (Gene Simmons, infamously laser-focused on the bottom line, is a comically Mephistophelean figure throughout the book.) More information about the infrastructure of the music industry would better contextualize the story, and Brod delves further into the bands' compromised late-period discographies than casual fans will care about. But their shifting fortunes are a reminder of their mix of talent and dumb luck: They all could have been Starz. A fun, compassionate history of arena rock's finest hour--and the less-fine hours that followed.

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