Scar Tissue

by Anthony Kiedis Narrated by Rider Strong

Overview

As lead singer and songwriter for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Kiedis has lived life on the razor's edge. Much has been written about him, but until now we've only had his songs as clues to his experience from the inside. In Scar Tissue, Kiedis proves himself to be as compelling a memoirist as he is a lyricist, giving us a searingly honest account of the life from which his music has evolved. Kiedis defies the rock star clichés, revealing that everything he has done has been part of a passionate journey--even his descent into drug addiction, which he transformed into art. Scar Tissue is a fascinating and moving account of a fast-lane life, addiction, and eventual recovery and redemption.

Editorial Reviews

GQ

Most rocker autobiographies are ponderously lame. Anthony Kiedis's Scar Tissue . . . is not. It's thoughtful, candid, and entertaining.

Newsweek

Kiedis' narrative of the funky, feckless Peppers' dues-paying years is vivid and inspiring.

Publishers Weekly

For a musician who has spent the better half of his life either intoxicated or on a drug high, Kiedis, the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, has produced a surprisingly detailed account of his life. Raised in the 1960s and '70s by a drug dealer father who first introduced his preteen son to drugs by mashing them into bananas, the high school delinquent and UCLA dropout seemed destined for a life of rabble-rousing until his high school band-cofounded by close friends Michael "Flea" Balzary and Hillel Slovak-took off and became one of the most popular groups of the 1990s. Though he peppers his book with little known facts (for instance, the author narrowly missed being named Clark Gable Kiedis), the punk-funk rocker dedicates too few pages to his introspective music-writing process and too many to his incessant drug use and revolving door of girlfriends (which included actress Ione Skye, singer Sin ad O'Connor and director Sofia Coppola). But while Kiedis fails to scratch beneath the surface of his fast-lane life, his frankness is moving, especially toward the end of the book, when his mea culpa turns into a full-blown account of recovery and redemption. (Kiedis has been sober for almost four years.) Though not generally as articulate as Marilyn Manson's similar autobiography, Kiedis's story of childhood drug use, adolescent fame and hard-won maturity will strike a chord with fans of Drew Barrymore's Little Girl Lost. Agent, David Vigliano. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

APR/MAY 07 - AudioFile

Now, kids, don’t do drugs. But let me tell you how great my drug-driven life was. Narrator Rider Strong does a credible job telling the life story of Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis, even though his voice sounds a bit weak in places that call for a strong delivery. But there’s something disingenuous about rock stars who warn about the horrors of drug abuse while writing long-winded books describing, in minute detail, the great sex, rollicking adventures, and incredible highs they’ve experienced. Predictably, Kiedis’s world fell apart when the realities of a life of drug abuse came crashing down. Even so, it’s hard to feel sorry for a guy who’s been a selfish jerk his entire life. M.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176076301
Publisher:	Phoenix Books, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

One day I showed up to rehearsal and Jack and Hillel and Flea, who probably loved me more than any three guys on earth, said, "Anthony, we're kicking you out of the band. We want to play music and you obviously don't, so you have to go. We're going to get a different singer and we're going to go on so you're out of here."

I had a brief moment of clarity where I realized that they had every right in the world to fire me. It was really an obvious move, like cutting off your damn foot because it was gangrened so that the rest of your body wouldn't die. I just wanted to be remembered and acknowledged for those two or three years that I had been in the Red Hot Chili Peppers as a founding member, a guy who started something, a guy who made two records, and whatever else would come after that, that was theirs. Part of me was very genuine in letting go of the band. But part of what made it so easy for me to accept was that now I knew I had zero responsibilities and I could just go off with Kim and get loaded.

Much to their amazement I just shrugged and said, "You guys are right. I apologize for not contributing what I should have been contributing this whole time. It's a crying shame, but I understand completely and I wish you guys the best of luck."

And I left.

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