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Uncommon People

The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars 1955-1994

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Uncommon People

By: David Hepworth
Narrated by: David Hepworth
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About this listen

The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations.

What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had.

What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.

In Uncommon People, David Hepworth zeroes in on defining moments and turning points in the lives of 40 rock stars from 1955 to 1995, taking us on a journey to burst 100 myths and create 100 more. As this tribe of uniquely motivated nobodies went about turning themselves into the ultimate somebodies, they also shaped us, our real lives and our fantasies. Uncommon People isn't just their story. It's ours as well.

©2017 David Hepworth (P)2017 Random House Audiobooks Entertainment & Celebrities Music Celebrity Thought-Provoking cowboy

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Great format. Well read. Very entertaining. David Hepwoth knows his subject inside out and puts it across in a really enjoyable way. This book completely took my mind off a great many household chores, cheers David.

Entertaining listen

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Every individual that David Hepworth has inducted into this hall of fame/infamy has been chosen because of a flaw or characteristic that Hepworth himself is nuanced enough to identify. There are the usual "rock greats"; Bowie, Mercury, Ozzie but without the usual anecdotes that everybody already knows about but rather the events which shaped the person into behavimg as they did in those anecdotes.

Aside from that, Hepworth explores the personalities such as Madonna, Michael Jackson and Axl Rose whom are probably outside of DH's own personal tastes but their nuances are told with no less enthusiasm.

There are tales of the events leading up to 'that' interview with Bob Geldof at Live Aid but it's a mark of Hepworth's own skill in self-effacememt that he manages not to make himself the subject of the story.

Perhaps the crowning moment and the one musician who emerged with superstar status (for me) was the remarkable story of Ian Dury and how his own perseverance bled into the uniqueness of his music. It is credit to David Hepworth to craft this tale intosuch a moving way like it has never been told before.

Not just a rogues gallery

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Great snippets of events cleverly put together. Enjoyed even the early artists I hadn't heard of.

Clever

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Hepworth takes you through a journey of marvellous rocktastic stories. Loved it and highly recommended.

A thoroughly enthralling listen

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An interesting gossip ride through rock and roll 20th century history, focusing on a freshly named candidate for the title of Rock Star each year from 1955 with Little Richard to 1995 and Curt Cobain. To be a true Rock Star, Hepworth suggests, is about the music, yes, but is more about the person: a certain swagger, arrogance, impudence, sexual charisma: the adolescent who never grows up.
Hepworth's selection of candidates through the decades is good but sometimes quirky in the gossipy information given. For example, the Who, referenced for the internal strife between Daltrey and Keith Moon, best selling record titles are mentioned but never that of Tommy, arguably their most famous 'Rock Opera' - at least not until, much later, when, without naming the group at all, he speaks about Elton John's boots in the Ken Russell film. Yes, decidedly quirky, occasionally repetitious and only loosely structured, but quite interesting especially for us oldies for whom it brings back good memories

"Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n roll."

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An excellent romp through four decades of pomposity and misdemeanor and an enjoyable litany of hoary rock anecdotes which are told with a freshness and a cynical overtone.

A riveting and trenchant listen.

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Fantastic. I am not a big music fan at all but I really enjoyed this book. The structure of 40 key points over 40 years made it very bingeable. It was like 40 mini autobiographies with a lot of interesting facts about interesting people. Well researched and well read. Even better than I hoped it would be.

Like a cultural trip through time.

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My only complaint is it could of been twice as long & still as good.

Absolutely fascinating.

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David Hepworth could have written this book for me, it tracked the soundtrack of my youth. My generation realise the best years of rock & roll are behind us and this book is the proof, but what great years they were.

Loved this book

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I had this audiobook for a while because I liked the look of it but never quite made it round to listening to it. I finally started it the other day and couldn’t stop.

Every chapter concentrates on a specific year and a musician for that year. The stories the book tells are intriguing and entertaining. And the insights into the people and the lives of the “rock stars” in question are eye opening.

The book made me listen to the songs related to each artist and unearthed some hidden gems I’d never heard before.

A great book I never wanted to end focusing on a subject matter that is now dead in the social media era.

Cracking book

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