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Dysfunctional
Success: The
Wreckless Eric
Manual
ERIC GOULDEN
* * * *
The rags- to-ruin of legendary Newhaven upstart
Goulden – aka Wreckless Eric – always wanted to be a pop
star. “I didn’t think that my lack of ability stood in the
way”, he writes. “I figured that if I played enough, I’d
get better at it.” The epitome of have-a-go punk spirit, he burst
through Stiff Records’ door in ’76 – demo in hand – sneering “I’m
one of those c***s that brings tapes into record companies.” “Whole
Wide World” broke him into the public domain, but this dry, painfully
observed biography’s skill is in its vivid depiction of a life
forever stumbling between the cracks of success, blighted by insecurity,
low self-esteem and alcoholism.
Standard rock biog it ain’t. Stiff itself gets less attention than
Goulden’s penchant for dodgy second-hand motors, though there’s
a sidelong swipe at “almost unpleasantly ambitious” labelmate
Elvis Costello. The grinding tedium of grey ‘70’s Britain
backdrops a string of menial jobs – banana grader, toilet cleaner,
pipe lagger, drunken bacon-griddler at Butlin’s (he’d been
rejected as a Redcoat) – that funded bad pub bands, bedsit squalor
and the perennial drink. Post-Stiff he was rescued by fatherhood, the
Len Bright Combo’s rekindled DIY ideal and quitting the sauce.
Ending in 1986 – full nervous breakdown and French exile are due
in the sequel – Goulden’s prose is typically earthy, never
self-pitying and as wincingly funny as it is candid.
ROB HUGHES
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This
is a great review but typically my reaction was why only four stars?
Where did I go wrong?>?!!
I
was right!
Actually
I’m afraid it was more
self-depreiciating than sneering.
But the point of the book is that I was and still am successful.
The
70’s wasn’t that bad – not compared with the 80’s!
Bedsits? Bad pub bands? I wasn’t in one of those until after
Stiff.
Oh,
and I only applied to be a Redcoat to say I had – I wouldn’t
have done it – I wasn’t that uncool.
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