In August
1977, Wreckless Eric’s first single, Whole Wide World, entered
the UK alternative charts at Number 1 and stayed there for three weeks.
To the listeners of Annie Nightingale’s Radio 1 show – who
requested the track incessantly – it seemed to herald the arrival
of punk-rock’s equivalent of Ray Davies, or at the very least
Reg Presley. For the 23-year-old Eric, this first foray into pop-dom
allowed him the confidence to get wilfully sacked from his table-cleaning
job at the cafeteria in the basement of Swan & Edgars, Piccadilly.
While he may never have scaled the heady commercial heights
of that summer of ’77 again (he continued “clipping hedges, mowing
lawns and clearing overgrown gardens” once he’d been fired from his
previous job), over the years Eric’s uniquely impish powers of observation
have remained undimmed. His music – as a solo artist with the Len Bright
Combo, and with The Hitsville House Band – has continued to sparkle with
rage and manic laughter in equal measure. So too does his autobiography.
Goulden is no stranger to pathos. Neither is he embarrassed
by it, telling his story in a manner that is engaging, deeply human and brutally
honest. The vibrant warmth of this narrative masks the latter quality, avoiding
what could otherwise be a slow-dive into bitterness or self-pity. Rare in itself,
but made even more impressive when you hear the man read extracts from this book – which
he’s done recently where you realise that he writes exactly as he speaks.
As for the story itself, it’s part kitchen-sink drama,
part potboiler. From Eric’s childhood in Sussex through to his art school
days in Hull (where he formed the fantastically named Addis & The Filp Tops)
and on to his alcoholism and ensuing breakdown, Goulden’s writing roars
on with all the black humour and power of a Mike Leigh movie.
Fans of the man will obviously find his musical journey fascinating
(it starts with our hero’s fixation with a PJ Proby sleeve at the age of
10). A noted high-point includes his arrival at Stiff Records HQ where, armed
with his dutifully recorded demo, he announced himself by declaring “I’m
one of those cunts that brings tapes into record companies.”
His detailing of ’77 makes for further entertaining reading,
not least of all due to a cast of characters that include Whole Wide World producer
Nick Lowe (“a hero”), Goulden’s mentor, friend and erstwhile
drummer Ian Dury and the “unpleasantly ambitious” Elvis Costello.
All in all, this 283-page effort is one of finest non-muso
music autobiographies you’ll read this year, or any other year come to
think of it.
A Dysfunctional Success, indeed.
INTERVIEW: PHIL ALEXANDER
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