Ron Young & Steve Olivas
Judge This Book By Its Cover
(Biography)
Verlag: JouRNeYman Publishing
Authors: Ron Young & Steve Olivas
Format: (Paperback)
Release: 07.12.2022
Probably the most honest book about the music business
His childhood was tumultuous, overshadowed by his mother’s alcoholism and madness. Baseball and later music were his lifelines. We’re talking about Ron Young, founder and singer of the hard rock band LITTLE CAESAR, and then it’s about their rapid rise and even faster fall in the music world of the late 80s.
Right from the start, LITTLE CAESAR didn’t find it easy to climb the industry ladder. In a time when hair and glam metal ruled the world, it was difficult for a band whose looks resembled members of a motorcycle gang (but the look was intentional). If then the music isn’t really metal, but rather hard rock mixed with blues, then it gets even more difficult. Nevertheless, they got a contract from Geffen Records, which was to break their necks later (there have been gag contracts not only since DSDS), and finally drove Ron Young into heroin addiction
This bio feels genuinely honest, and Young’s harsh words say what many in the industry never dared to say, and certainly still don’t.
You find out which assholes in suits and ties think they know who likes something or when, and thus puts bands on the sidelines or steers them out of existence completely. First up is Ron’s bosom friend Ron Geffen, who by his own admission “collects artists like works of art. And if I want to put them on a shelf or store them in a warehouse, I will do so if it’s for the benefit of my business.”
With their gang looks and of course their music, LITTLE CAESAR initially attracted a lot of bikers. The Hells Angels were present at many concerts from the beginning and then also organized some gigs and festival appearances for the band. This connection was to follow many more problems with American and other authorities. Furthermore, their looks brought them a lot of bad publicity and prejudices that Ron had to iron out again and again, especially towards female managers and employees in the labels, radio or TV stations. This also results in the book title “Judge This Book By Its Cover”, which is a modification of the idiom “Never judge a book by its cover”.
All of this and much, much more drove Ron Young into oblivion and heroin addiction.
“Where there is shadow, there is light,” is another saying. That’s why you learn how Ron found his way out of addiction, his new job as a stage manager, where he also met Fidel Castro in Cuba. It tells about the reunion of LITTLE CAESAR and the new handmade success, up to the current life with his second wife and lots of pets on a ranch in California. There are also some funny anecdotes about Gene Simmons (KISS), or why Ron’s 10-second Hollywood performance (Terminator 2) took hours to shoot when Mr. Schwarzenegger made a pretty self-pitying crybaby. In addition, while reading I got to know some bands in which Ron Young sang or one of the other members was involved that I didn’t know until now or had already forgotten.
A biography that not only pleases LITTLE CAESAR fans, but should also be of interest to others due to its blunt depiction of the music industry.
„Judge This Book By Its Cover“:
Authors: Ron Young & Steve Olivas
Pages: 287
Language: English
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