Reckless

By: Chrissie Hynde

Narrated by: Rosanna Arquette

Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

By the time she was 14, Chrissie Hynde knew she had to get out of Akron, Ohio. Her perfect '50s American childhood upturned by a newly acquired taste for rock 'n' roll, motorbikes and the ‘get down boys' seen at gigs in and around Cleveland - Mitch Ryder, the Jeff Beck Group, the Velvet Underground and David Bowie among the many.

Wrapped up in the Kent State University riots and getting dangerously involved in the local biker and drug scenes, she escaped - to Mexico, Canada, Paris and finally London, where she caught the embryonic punk scene just in time not only to witness it first-hand, but more importantly to seize the opportunity to form her own band, The Pretenders.

Iggy Pop, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Vivienne & Malcolm, Ray Davies...on every page household names mingle with small town heroes as we shift from bedroom to biker HQ; from squat to practice room; from pub gig to Top Of The Pops - the long and crooked path to stardom, and for The Pretenders, ultimately, tragedy.

That Chrissie Hynde is alive to tell the tale is, by her own admission, something of a miracle. Throughout she is brutally honest, wryly humorous, and always highly entertaining. She has written one of the most evocative and colourful music memoirs to be published in recent years.

Narrated by Rosanna Arquette.

©2015 Chrissie Hynde (P)2015 Random House AudioBooks

A brilliant memoir but there are pieces missing

I have recently been reminded of how much early Pretenders played a major role in my life. Buying this book some 7 years after it was released is a testament to that fact.

I saw one of the shows referred to at the end of the book in Adelaide, South Australia. It was one of my first ever rock shows and I remember it being just wonderful. Chrissie did have a tanty on stage and threw the tambourine into the audience, but as she mentioned in her book, this adds fuel to the whole rock star enigma and we loved that band no matter what.

Hearing the sad tale of the death of half the band from her viewpoint was touching and tragic. I can see why she wanted to end the biography there: the magic those 4 created on those 2 albums is still palpable today.

I was disappointed though not to hear more about her marriage with Ray, but especially with the omission of her marriage to Jim Kerr. I was a huge Simple Minds fan at the time they got married and would love to have heard all about those 2 megaliths of the music world coming together.

I also would have enjoyed hearing more about Chrissie's journey and the albums she made way into the future. She is an absolutely stellar singer-songwriter and to hear her speak of her craft in more depth would have made this review 5 stars all around.

Rosanna Arquette is a brilliant narrator.

Great yarn , somewhat concise , TERRIBLE narrator

This is an interesting memoir from one of my teen idols . I would have liked to hear much much more about her music , and less about her lifestyle , but it has some great humour interspersed with the mundane. Im willing to bet Chrissy didn't pick the narrator , who was utterly atrocious .