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Nico: Songs They Never Play on the Radio
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The story of Nico, former model, film actress, singer with the Velvet Underground and darling of Andy Warhol's factory. In 1982 Nico was living in Manchester, alone and interested only in feeding her heroin habit. Local promoter Dr Demetrius saw an opportunity, hired musicians to back her, rented a decrepit van and set off with Nico and the band on a disastrous tour of Ita
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Paperback
Published
July 27th 1999
by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
(first published September 1992)
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Community Reviews
(showing 1-30)
Teutonic Laughter
Despite the Teutonic subject matter, this is one of the funniest music books I have ever read.
James Young was Nico's keyboard player for many years during her solo post-VU period, leading up to her unfortunate death.
So he had a long time to witness her at her worst and most self-abusive.
It must have been painful to have to live with her shenanigans and to be financially dependent on her for a musical career as well.
The Veins of the Ice Maiden
This memoir lays out the veins of the ...more
Despite the Teutonic subject matter, this is one of the funniest music books I have ever read.
James Young was Nico's keyboard player for many years during her solo post-VU period, leading up to her unfortunate death.
So he had a long time to witness her at her worst and most self-abusive.
It must have been painful to have to live with her shenanigans and to be financially dependent on her for a musical career as well.
The Veins of the Ice Maiden
This memoir lays out the veins of the ...more
If I had a time machine, or if Mr. Peabody would let me use the Wayback, I'd go back and check out Nico with the Velvets. But that's just me. A lot of people say they remember where they were and what they were doing when Kennedy was shot or the Challenger exploded, but for me, it was Nico's death. I was sitting at my desk in a London hotel room, reading Dracula (Lucy was just about to get the stake and things were really cooking for Van Helsing), when I heard the news over the radio. I put the
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A wild, irreverent romp through the darkest moment in Nico's history. OK, so every moment in Nico's career was "the darkest" but this is much darker.
Young writes with a lacerating wit, taking no prisoners as he evokes the chancers, hangers-on, druggies and lunatics touring with Nico on her 1000-date world tour.
His ear for detail, dialect, character is amazing. He evokes the sleazy degeneracy of the scene, taking us away from Nico, the dull junkie, into a wider world of nihilism and madness.
His ...more
Young writes with a lacerating wit, taking no prisoners as he evokes the chancers, hangers-on, druggies and lunatics touring with Nico on her 1000-date world tour.
His ear for detail, dialect, character is amazing. He evokes the sleazy degeneracy of the scene, taking us away from Nico, the dull junkie, into a wider world of nihilism and madness.
His ...more
I found this book while on vacation in London and was sold by John Water's quote on the back cover, praising the sad dark humor of James Young's account of life on tour with one post-glory Nico.
Sad? Absolutely. Dark. Oh, hell yes. Funny? I did chuckle a few times, but only in the way that one sometimes has to laugh to keep from crying in the face of profound hopelessness.
Young was a musician in Nico's back-up band when the Warhol Factory-era icon attempted a mostly disastrous comeback tour in th ...more
Sad? Absolutely. Dark. Oh, hell yes. Funny? I did chuckle a few times, but only in the way that one sometimes has to laugh to keep from crying in the face of profound hopelessness.
Young was a musician in Nico's back-up band when the Warhol Factory-era icon attempted a mostly disastrous comeback tour in th ...more
This is James Young's memoir of his time as keyboardist and arranger in Nico's last touring band. It is a fascinating account of life at the bottom rung of the musical ladder. Nico herself remains an enigmatic and unknowable figure, almost completely absorbed in herself and her heroin addiction.
One thing I am struck by how is unafraid Young is of painting very unflattering pictures of real people in the book. John Cale comes across as a complete dickhead and Nico's son Ari is not dealt with part ...more
One thing I am struck by how is unafraid Young is of painting very unflattering pictures of real people in the book. John Cale comes across as a complete dickhead and Nico's son Ari is not dealt with part ...more
This is one of the best music biographies I ever read, from memory it was written by the guy who played keyboards in Nico's eighties touring band, and on some of her later albums.James Young writes this book as an observer, as he travels Europe with Nico and her band,and meets a lot of eccentrics junkies and oddballs.At this period of her life Nico was a hardened junkie and sought out drugs wherever she went,I don't think anyone can possibly write a book that would portray the true Nico as she a
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Funny, evocative, well written but also shockingly insensitive, stigmatizing, and sexist. Why is it that male rock stars, in their addictions and debauchery, are lionized while Nico is mocked and stripped of all dignity? Fans of her music will find this book sorely lacking in music-related content.
A wonderful book. Made me drop "Backing musician for humourless heroine addict" from my list of potential career changes.
Jul 07, 2014
Bettie☯
marked it as wish-list
Recommended to Bettie☯ by:
Tony Wilson- 24 hour party people
Manchester at that time.
to hunt down the deals
to hunt down the deals
Sep 29, 2018
*lindsey*
rated it
it was amazing
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I absolutely loved this book. I agree there wa a lot of quotes that I couldn't imagine the author remembering word for word- but regardless I think this has been one of my favorite music bios. Books often write very little about Nico. She tends to be overshadowed I think since most of the songs on Chelsea Girls (if not all) are written by other talent. Once she started creating the daunting sound that is truly her, people didn't give her the time of day and most books don't cover that period of
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I don't like to write it but this book wasn't really good. I thought that most events seemed to have been made up, there is a LOT of direct dialogue and I don't see how the author could remember all that. There are also so many clichés. For example there's a scene where he claims that their things have been stolen after a gig in Poland. I don't know, of course it could have happened but it seemed to have been made up. There were also some scenes with a lot of potential like when it was described
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Nico is middle aged, plump and addicted to heroin. She moves to Manchester and at one point shares a flat with John Cooper Clarke. Can't express how funny and Manchester this book is...a MUST read for sure!
Most honest book about being in a deadend band I've ever read. Funny as hell too.
fuck yeah. the solution to the problem is to read faster.
Nico was one of the most fascinating characters in rock'n'roll. Although, she wasn't actually neither singer no rocker. She was an artist, performer, obsessed with her very peculiar world. In the book we see her in sad condition, in her last years. She died when she was fifty, after long period of drugs abuse and chaotic way of life. The book tells a story about bunch of bohemians who travel with her around Europe in her final attempt to scrap some money. The whole book is breathtaking, more lit
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A darkly funny memoir of Nico's final decade on the road, written by the keyboard player who'd been assigned to her backing band in the early 80s and ended up seeing her through to the very end. It's a compelling read, one that deserves mention in the same breath as others of its kind - not necessarily tour memoirs, but books that shine a hard light on the necrotic narcosis of heroin addiction - Trainspotting, William Burroughs' Junky and the like. It's a deeply sad story, but Young imbues it wi
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This was a dark and depressing account of Nico's last decade. She was addicted to heroin and depressed and was still touring thanks to a greedy promotor. The author ( a hired drummer) tries to add some humor to the story by telling tales of some of the surrounding characters but it all seemed sad and grotesque. I enjoyed the appearance of poet Alan Ginsburg but overall I was exhausted by this tired tale.
One of the best written books on rock n roll. Deeply felt, mesmerized with its subject - the aging self destructive mysterious star, one of the most beautiful and uncompromising women of popular music, extremely original Nico.
Nico seemed like a massive piece of work and this book was challenging at times but I did laugh a few times reading it. Paper was a bit thin so seemed to go on forever.
James Young played in Nico's revival period, long gone were the days of modelling for Channel,the structure of The Velvet Underground, the major parties with the "elite" of rock and the easy free drugs that came part of that Parcel. This book describes a period of time that had Nico wandering; looking for a light that perhaps became wan a long time ago, unfortunate decisions, life circumstances and unfailing desire to cloud them out with the drugs that came her way. Depressing it can appear but
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A tremendous ride through the druggy late punk Manchester scene written by the piano player in Nico's last band. She was an ex-Warhol factory girl briefly parachuted into the Velvet Underground and latterly a very distinctive solo voice. This book paints a picture of her struggling from one heroin shot to the next but still managing to be stylish, charismatic and talented. Young really writes superbly. Here's his description of John Cooper Clarke 'His own creation. A slim volume. A tall stick-le
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What did I know about the Velvet Underground? Not much. Still don't. What did I know about Nico? Probably less, but I know a bit more now. And even though this book is heavily impressionistic and I'm inclined to question the complete authenticity of some of the wittier episodes, there's no doubt it's an interesting window into the twilight of a cult and it is very, very entertaining to read and rich with colourful detail of one kind or another. In fact, it's a rare example of a book that might n
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I don't know that I really LIKED this bio. I was interested in Nico and this was all I could find. The book is not well written and difficult to follow at times...the best parts were when the writer actually had something to reveal about Nico, like when her son comes to visit her and their twisted relationship is dissected. It does a good job of portraying Nico's reality in the mid 80s which was as a sad junkie with a huge amount of self loathing which came across in her hatred of women in gener
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Nico tours and records in the 80s with a crew of weirdos and lowlifes straight out of an Irvine Welsh novel. I was initially a bit disappointed that it did not include more biographical details about Nico, but I felt that I got a good sense of her personality and sense of humour (or lack thereof) by the end. Young is in an interesting position of being a longtime collaborator but not a lover or fellow junkie. He is an engaging and witty writer, and observant. The humour was often subtle and I on
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I found this a laborious read. I think it's because I have been around too many smack heads in bands. I didn't find it funny. It was just normal shit that you have to deal with. Nico was a sad woman who just lived for her habit. Her son used to join her in jacking up. Laughing yet?
Bloody funny.
The author achieves a remarkable feat: this book is funny, despite the bleak state of Nico's life at this time. It is also very loving.
One of the two or three best fly on the wall rock books ever.
Fascinating insight into the fading cultural icon. Real look at the aftermath of fame and the drawbacks it brings. It is both an interesting but also really amusing read.
Wonderfully funny, acerbic, and deprecating. Loved the John Cooper Clarke vignette. The idea that his star might rise again must have seemed awfully unlikely back then!
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