Nöthin' but a Good Time

The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion

By: Tom Beaujour, Richard Bienstock

Narrated by: Amy McFadden, Gary Furlong, Richard Bienstock, Tom Beaujour

Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

This program includes introductions read by the authors.

"A backstage pass to the wildest and loudest party in rock history - you'll feel like you were right there with us!" (Bret Michaels of Poison)

Nöthin' But a Good Time is the definitive, no-holds-barred oral history of 1980s hard rock and hair metal, told by the musicians and industry insiders who lived it.

Hard rock in the 1980s was a hedonistic and often intensely creative wellspring of escapism that perfectly encapsulated - and maybe even helped to define - a spectacularly over-the-top decade. Indeed, fist-pumping hits like Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, Mötley Crüe’s “Girls, Girls, Girls”, and Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” are as inextricably linked to the era as Reaganomics, Pac-Man, and E.T.

From the do-or-die early days of self-financed recordings and D.I.Y. concert productions that were as flashy as they were foolhardy, to the multi-Platinum, MTV-powered glory years of stadium-shaking anthems and chart-topping power ballads, to the ultimate crash when grunge bands like Nirvana forever altered the entire climate of the business, Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock's Nöthin' But a Good Time captures the energy and excess of the hair metal years in the words of the musicians, managers, producers, engineers, label executives, publicists, stylists, costume designers, photographers, journalists, magazine publishers, video directors, club bookers, roadies, groupies, and hangers-on who lived it.

Featuring an impassioned foreword by Slipknot and Stone Sour vocalist and avowed glam metal fanatic Corey Taylor, and drawn from over 200 new interviews with members of Van Halen, Mötley Crüe, Poison, Guns N’ Roses, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Twisted Sister, Winger, Warrant, Cinderella, Quiet Riot, and others, as well as Ozzy Osbourne, Lita Ford, and many more, this is the ultimate, uncensored, and often unhinged chronicle of a time where excess and success walked hand in hand, told by the men and women who created a sound and style that came to define a musical era - one in which the bands and their fans went looking for nothin’ but a good time...and found it.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

"Nöthin’ But a Good Time is an unflinching, all-excess look at an era that many snooty critics have written off as stupid, and its pages present a strong case for how people have underestimated the music and the dedication of the musicians who lived it." (Kory Grow, Rolling Stone)

©2021 Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"From the streets to the Strip, the studio to the stage, this is an epic tale told by the people that lived it. It's a backstage pass to the wildest and loudest party in rock history - you'll feel like you were right there with us!" (Bret Michaels)

Brought back good memories

The people telling the stories were not good. The mispronunciation of names was too much

A little long, bad narration

The woman narrator was good but the man was terrible. He had a lot of mispronunciations.

Great book about the best era of rock music

Great book for fans of hair metal and hard rock. It tells so many of the stories that confirms some rumors, debunked some others. It’s really cool to get a first-hand look at that error from the artists who did it then and are still doing it today.

Good book. Average audio book.

If you grew up when I grew up, this book will no doubtedly bring back a lot of memories about the music scene from the 80s and early 90s. I wasn’t sure what I expected when I downloaded this book, but I heard it mentioned on a YouTube video so I thought I would give it a shot. While the contents of the book is without question very detailed and does tell a magnificent story, the format took a little getting used to. After about 30 minutes into the production, I actually shut it off for about two weeks because all the audiobook is is direct quotes and interviews with the members of various rock ‘n’ roll bands from the 80s. There is barely any author input. It’s just an entire book of quotations and it definitely took a little getting used to because it’s not written like a typical book. I have a feeling this is more effective in print than audio format. It does not mean I did not enjoy it.

So Many Memories

Excellent snapshot of what the music, attitude and zeitgeist were back in the 80s and 90s without being cheesy nostalgic.

Good but dense

It’s a lot of rapid fire stories one after the other. I was interested since I grew up through it all but there is a lot of info coming at you in succession

If you love hair bands, this book rocks!

I loved this book so much! Telling the stories of 80s hair bands though a series of vignettes is just perfect!

A walk through a generation of degenerates.

This is the the story of a generation that was the outcome of the two generations that spawned it. The last decade before Cellphones, Computers, Worldwide Web, Auto-tune, Streaming, Hard Disk Recording and Political Correctness. The generation that is single handed responsible for the gift of Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden to the world.

Deepening appreciation

Always a rock fan, thought this stuff was cheesy growing up in favor of ELO, Beatles, Zeppelin and the 90s Alternative stuff. As a fan of Beavis and Butthead as a kid, they really turned these guys into pariahs; but people just got too serious to enjoy it. The title if this book alone reminds us how and why to love it.

\m/ \m/

I love the 80s metal era. I thought I knew much if not most of the stories. I learned from this book that I still had a lot to learn. If you’re a fan of this music it’s a must read.