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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Loved this:
As a girl in a band in the 90 myself it was. Triggering to say the least, And I’m super glad I got out really eary.
So great. So gossipy. A real insight into that time.
As a girl in a band in the 90 myself it was. Triggering to say the least, And I’m super glad I got out really eary.
So great. So gossipy. A real insight into that time.
So good, I didn’t want it to end. I even put it down before the final chapter to make dinner and finish it afterwards so I could prolong the experience of reading it. Although her post-Lush life is condensed into just the final five pages, her writing could easily have held my interest for many further chapters covering from 1997 on. I’ve said it (many times) before that I don’t usually enjoy the parts of biographies that dwell on the person’s childhood, but here was different. Hers was far from typical, and with a certain amount of glamor - her mother is Yasuko Nagazumi, who pregnant with Miki at the time of filming means both were in You Only Live Twice, and father Ivan escaped from Communist Hungary for London, traveling around the world as a reporter though extending those stays to indulge in a multitude of affairs. An early description of her father complaining how America pretty much left Hungary to the Communists reminded me of Tibor Fischer’s Under The Frog, a very good book I’d like to revisit. But back to this one. Part One is 165 pages of her growing up, not even turning 16 until page 130. She flits between two homes where the only thing she likes about each is the parent who resides there. At her father’s physically deteriorating house she has to deal with a horrifying, abusive grandmother. And while her mother’s homes in London then L.A. go in the exact opposite, affluent, direction, she can’t stand her mother’s new beaus’ affectations and controlling personalities.
The second half of the book details the Lush years, from their early friendships to their tragic ending at Chris Acland’s suicide. Chris is painted throughout as a wonderful human being, a positive force who nevertheless didn’t know how to express his pain to others. We get the excitement of signing with 4AD and working with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins, the difficulty of making Split, and then on through the mess of Britpop. Of which, besides being ‘Miki from Lush’, she has even more of an insider look at the disgusting excesses of the industry as she was living with John Best of the Britpop PR firm, Savage & Best, at the time. The 1992 Lollapalooza tour is given many pages and rightfully so. And Lush’s run-ins with other artists, many of whom incongruous - such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry, and Ice Cube on that tour, as well as Warrant coming up at a record company meeting - is as funny as it is puzzling. And through it all is her complicated relationship with Emma Anderson, both positive and negative described with nothing-held-back honesty.
The second half of the book details the Lush years, from their early friendships to their tragic ending at Chris Acland’s suicide. Chris is painted throughout as a wonderful human being, a positive force who nevertheless didn’t know how to express his pain to others. We get the excitement of signing with 4AD and working with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins, the difficulty of making Split, and then on through the mess of Britpop. Of which, besides being ‘Miki from Lush’, she has even more of an insider look at the disgusting excesses of the industry as she was living with John Best of the Britpop PR firm, Savage & Best, at the time. The 1992 Lollapalooza tour is given many pages and rightfully so. And Lush’s run-ins with other artists, many of whom incongruous - such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry, and Ice Cube on that tour, as well as Warrant coming up at a record company meeting - is as funny as it is puzzling. And through it all is her complicated relationship with Emma Anderson, both positive and negative described with nothing-held-back honesty.
I wasn’t a big fan of Lush but read an article about Miki and thought it could be interesting to look at life in a moderately successful 90s band. Indeed it was. Miki talks candidly about her own struggles while also calling out both the music industry and the sometimes appalling behavior of other (mostly male) musicians.
An utterly brilliant memoir that is so immersive, emotional and feels brutally honest. It brings to life an era of music and a cast of characters that, while many of whom are familiar, I am too young to remember first hand. Seeing out my books of 2024 on a high.
emotional
funny
reflective