Match the Music Star With Their Memoir (Part 1) Quiz

Answer: Billy Idol

(Born William Michael Albert Broad), Billy Idol's memoir, "Dancing with Myself", chronicles his punk rock icon life, from his humble working-class upbringing in England and the U.S., to his rise to superstardom. He writes about his Irish mother's influence on his love for rock 'n' roll. I myself will recount to you how he got his name. I was working on the MTV show "Storytellers" in which music icons played music and in between songs spoke about their lives, and I had the privilege to be recording sound for the Billy Idol episode of the show.

He revealed to us that one of his teachers in school told his mother that Billy was often "idle" in class. Billy had an epiphany years later always remembering that, and so he chose the stage name Billy Idol for the wordplay.

The memoir is named after the hit song that saw him transition from a punk rock frontman to a solo star in music.

Answer: Carlos Santana

Published in 2014, "The Universal Tone: My Life" recounts Carlos Santana's childhood in Autlán de Navarro, Mexico, where he learned violin from his father, a mariachi musician. Carlos later moved to Tijuana when he was a teenager, and played in strip clubs before immigrating to San Francisco in the 1960s where he rose to prominence, forming the Santana band in 1966.

In 1969, he performed at the renowned Woodstock festival. Santana describes the "Universal Tone" as a spiritual balance between ego, emotional intelligence, and divine inspiration, inspired by his Catholicism and Eastern philosophies.

Answer: Chrissie Hynde

Chrissie Hynde's "Reckless: My Life as a Pretender" borrows its title from the very band she fronted, The Pretenders. Chrissie Hynde chose the name for the band because she recalled a time when a racist skinhead biker secretly played her the 1962 Sam Cooke cover version of "The Great Pretender" (originally by The Platters) in a shed.

The biker confessed to her that it was his favorite song, and the irony of a tough exterior hiding sentimental musical taste resonated with Chrissie, and struck her as symbolic of rock 'n' roll's contradictions.

Answer: Dave Davies

Dave Davies and his brother and bandmate Ray Davies founded the British invasion band in the 1960s. Their relationship was fraught with conflict, including onstage fights and creative tension. Dave claims credit in creating the band's distorted guitar sound using a modified amplifier, pushing back against claims that Jimmy Page created the sound.

In 2022, Davies released another memoir, called "Living on a Thin Line, dealing with his later life, including coverage of his stroke recovery and his reflections on spirituality.

Answer: John Densmore

John Densmore was the drummer for the Doors, and much of the memoirs focus was on the complicated relationship Densmore had with Jim Morrison, citing him for both his creative genius and his self-destructive tendencies. Densmore also praises the band's commitment to respecting their music and not giving in to commercialism, which influenced his legal battles regarding the use of the Doors music in ads. Densmore: "Money is like fertilizer.

When spread around, things grow; when hoarded, it stinks."

Answer: Michelle Phillips

Singer Michelle Phillips's memoir about the start, success, and internal dynamics of the 1960s band the Mamas and the Papas was published in 1986. She wrote also about the counterculture lifestyle of the era, which paralleled the turbulence within the group itself, such as John Phillips' control-freak behavior, Cass Elliot's unrequited love for Denny Doherty, and Michelle's affairs with Denny Doherty and many others (including her affair with Gene Clark of the Byrds, which got her temporarily expelled from the Mamas and the Papas).

Answer: Mike Love

Released at the same time as Brian Wilson's memoir "I Am Brian Wilson", Mike Love's "Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy" professed a different viewpoint of key controversies, most notably Love's 1992 lawsuit against Brian Wilson over unpaid songwriting royalties, claiming that Murry Wilson (Brian's father) deprived Love of songwriting credits and sold the Beach Boys' publishing rights without consent. And while Love does acknowledge Brian Wilson's genius, he gives more credit than Brian did to fellow bandmates/cousins, like Carl Wilson's skill as a co-producer and guitarist Dennis Wilson's artistry.

Answer: Motley Crue

"The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band" is the collaborative autobiography by all four members of Mötley Crüe (Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, and Mick Mars), and co-written with journalist Neil Strauss, published in 2001. The structure of the book features each band member telling the tales that applied specifically to them, i.e., Nikki Sixx's drug overdose, Vince Neil's car accident in which the drummer of Hanoi Rocks Razzle was killed, Tommy Lee's marriages to Heather Locklear and Pamela Anderson, and Mick Mars' struggle with Ankylosing spondylitis, a degenerative disease causing inflammation in the joints of the spine and ligaments.

Answer: Neil Young

Doing without a co-writer, Neil Young took on his 2012 memoir "Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream" by himself, perhaps inspired by the fact that his father, Scott Young, was a famous Canadian journalist, sportswriter, and author. The memoir's writing style is a bit different from most in that it's not in chronological order - it's more of a stream-of-consciousness style, jumping between memories of the past, and present-day musings.

He wanders away occasionally from writing about music and his early days in Canada with the Squires, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Crazy Horse, to writing about his hobbies (model trains and vintage cars) and other projects (environmental concerns and health advocacy).

Answer: Tina Turner

The Queen of Rock and Roll, Tina Turner wrote her memoir "My Love Story" in 2018, with various collaborators contributing. As expected, she covers details about the unpleasantness of her relationship and marriage to Ike Turner, leading to her suicide attempt, although her previous memoir "I, Tina" (1986) focused much more on that part of her life.

But she also recounts the blessings, like the "Cinderella moment" as she calls it, when David Bowie helped launch her solo career (is he not the greatest or what?).

The Broadway musical "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical" also came out in 2018, making for a nice live companion piece to the solitary reading experience of this memoir.