Sing Backwards and Weep: A Memoir

You have to admire what this book represents in a number of ways, all of them unforeseen (by myself) and pretty compelling particularly at this moment in time. I've always liked Lanegan's music, he definitely has one of the most lovely voices of any singer and has been behind a trove of rich, compelling music. That much of it ends up being more memorable today than was previously recognized by the market it originally derived from is a testament to time and art. The fact that Lanegan managed to live at all is also some strange testament to life, one that's maybe never been told in such a brazen fashion. It's not necessarily graceful writing, but definitely as brutally honest as can be. What brought me to this book, oddly enough, was listening to Mark's latest record "Straight Songs of Sorrow," which came up on my spotify feed, as his music has for the past few years. A few songs on this record really stood out, enough that I thought I would investigate and see if he'd left any other overlooked surprises to mine. Its the pandemic after all, lots of time to explore! I was thinking performance videos or something of that nature. Instead I found this book, huge surprise, it just came out. This type of bio is not my interest at all any more in my own life, but something made me decide to indulge and see what it had to tell. Lanegan's songs have been in my head ever since I started reading and will likely remain. More than anything, it's opened my eyes to how much he's done in his career from the period in time the book ends. Now there are many more layers of music to discover and enjoy (I'm listening to his recordings with Isobel Campbell right now, wow they are beautiful!). I had mostly stopped following him well after the Trees "Dust" album, still one of the best of all time, so this is a nice portal back into some rather rich and "untapped" veins, no pun intended. There's definitely a lot in this book for anyone to get a blast reading, its harrowing and almost inexplicable most of the way through. But two things really resonate with me beyond the authorship itself. Namely, there are a ton of people in life who choose this path, the majority of them never amounting to anything but early death or the bane of many other's existence. Do they choose this, or does the path choose them based on their circumstances, upbringing, what they think they learn along the way, what roads are followed, decisions made or perhaps within their very DNA? Hard to say, but its something that will always be with us in life, there's no magic cure. And in the closing chapter Lanegan writes "I had grown up believing you took whatever you could from whoever and always looked out for number one, screwing anyone and everyone in the process. From my earliest childhood memories, I had been a thief and a flagrant, transparent, nonstop liar and cheat." The final recognition of a perilous junkie rings too true today for the poison that engulfs our greater society. Greed and machismo are not kind to humanity, they are pure heroin many need their fix from in order to feel well. It's what lies at the highest levels of the current leadership in the US at the time of this publication, and enormous swaths of the supposed god-fearing public. Fervent freedom values the most baseless way of life over integrity, honesty and looking out for all. It might make for tantalizing, unbelievable stories, but leaves a huge, wretched stain on the very notion of existence.

I couldn't put it down!

Mark’s life could serve as a lesson to so many. What a remarkable journey. To have gone through that hell and changed to enjoy a piece of heaven before his passing is miraculous.

Lanegan tells a brutally honest story of his rough upbringing, rise in the Seattle music scene as it garnered national attention, coupled with his serious struggles with addiction and the baggage that accompanies it. Raw and unrelenting, Lanegan writes with an immediacy that brings the reader along with him on his many fraught escapades doing drugs, trying to score drugs, or trying to get cash to score drugs. He also weaves in and out among the various celebrities of the alternative music scene of the 90s. His stories get repetitive which ultimately keeps this from being a 5 star review. But a ver compelling read nonetheless.

Anybody who thinks it's cool or glamorous to be a junkie needs to read this book. The reader is spared no detail of the self-inflicted misery of life as an addict. Mark Lanegan pulls no punches and unlike so many other rock stars who write their memoirs, he is honest, humble, and doesn't seem the least bit proud of his selfishness and debauchery. Nor does he blame others for his problems, but I bet that even though he states drug addiction was his destiny, if his mother had shown him a single drop of love, he might not have been as self-destructive. There's also lots of amazing anecdotes and tales about well-known people and, after reading this, I now see why Courtney Love heartlessly bashed him in a now-deleted Instagram post immediately after his passing. He writes that she would constantly flirt with him in front of her husband, and her behavior made him so uncomfortable that he tried to avoid her, and ignored several calls from Kurt the day he is thought to have died. Just one of his many regrets. Lanegan has been compared to Baudelaire and Rimbaud, and even though he would probably laugh at the comparison, his humility and honesty reminds me of St. John's Dark Night Of The Soul.

I did not know anything about Mark Lanegan until a few weeks ago when I stumbled into a video of Queens of the Stone Age performing Song for the Dead. I was mesmerized by the vocals. I had to find out who the singer was, so I bought the book. I'd say its a very grunge book about a very grunge life. Not necessarily a pleasant or enjoyable read, but that's not what you'd read this book for. You'd read it to find out more about the inner workings of a grunge band that flew under the radar (I'm assuming) and it's quiet, gruff, rough as gravel sounding singer. You'd read it to learn about what a life of drug addiction is like, and how for others like Lanegan, there wasn't much more to life than making music and getting high. Many did not survive. Langean did. I can't say I enjoyed the book. But I couldn't put it down, and I didn't want to put it down. The book isn't meant to be enjoyed, just as life isn't all sunshine (especially in the Pacific Northwest, I hear). Mark Langean was a man of a time and a place ,and this book is is a very close look at such a man's life, not necessarily warts and all, but just warts all around. What few moments of goodness there are, are precious - moments of warmth with friends (Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Josh Homme), lovers, and heroes (Jeffrey Lee Pierce of the Gun Club, and Johnny Cash). Through it all, tough as nails Mark Langean pushed through, sometimes with incredible luck, but mostly with the affection of those closest to him (Courtney Love). It gives me hope for myself that a loner like Langean could cultivate such great relationships. Also great was a getting to read about all the blood and sweat that went into his solo albums. If you're a grunge fan, this is the grunge story of a very grunge man.

Mark Lanegan's autobiography takes you on a dark, raw, tumultuous and captivating journey where he goes through so many different phases in his life, goes to wildly different levels in society and meets insane amounts of powerful, crazy, mean, famous, talented, broken, helpful, backstabbing and lovely people. It gripped me right from the start, and it was difficult to put the book down once I started it. It also introduced me to several different artists that Mark worked with or was inspired by, and as someone who is passionate about music, that was an awesome experience.

Gran libro, muy recomendable. Llegó en buen estado.

This was an absolutely gripping autobiography and one of the best memoirs I have ever read. All the reviews whether from publications or on here are all true. It’s a raw and gripping read. I only knew a brief amount of information on Lanegan and after reading this it was a huge eye opener. He had a tumultuous upbringing and life but unfortunately went with the drug side. Much like most of the Seattle scene. As someone who has not been an addict I found it difficult that he would spiral back into addiction each time. The vast amount of money that he must have injected, smoked or snorted must have been huge. You will join Lanegan on his many rides to score and actually hope as he does to succeed. When reading this book you will literally loathe and then love Lanegan. He had a stormy existence and I wish that he is now at peace.

Good book

Immaginavo che avesse vissuto intensamente ma non pensavo a questi livelli. Mark Lanegan non si fa sconti nel raccontare con lucidità disarmante i retroscena più sordidi, ma anche le situazioni paradossali e tragicomiche della sua esistenza nel periodo tra gli anni 80 e il finire degli anni 90. A stemperare la drammaticità degli eventi narrati, sprazzi di humour nero davvero irresistibile e uno stile semplice ma incisivo, musicale e ammaliante, in grado di tenere il lettore incollato dalla prima all'ultima pagina, che vale la lettura in lingua originale. Si ride e si piange tra aneddoti memorabili, ritratti e ricordi toccanti di artisti che non ci sono più, insights su un mondo e una scena visti da una prospettiva inedita, e una parabola umana emblematica tra cadute verticali e una faticosa risalita. Mi sarebbe piaciuto fosse stato dedicato più spazio al momento della sua "epifania e rinascita" e all'inizio della seconda e fortunata fase della sua carriera ma quella è, evidentemente, un'altra storia. Un must have per chi ama la musica e la vita.