Dave Thompson Interview
Dave Thompson is the author of – gasp – over 100 books, mostly on music and popular culture. Suffice it to say he is an expert in his field. His biographies include Kurt Cobain, Cream, Deep Purple and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers et al. His latest tome is I Hate New Music: The Classic Rock Primer published by Backbeat. Visit www.davethompsonbooks.com and www.ihatenewmusic.com.
Can you give me a brief history of your writing career?
I started out with a fanzine around 1979-80, then moved slowly into regular magazines – Record Collector and ZigZag were the first. I joined Melody Maker in 1984, the same year as my first book (U2) was published. I’ve just kept going since then. My 100th book came out at the end of 2007.
What made you want to write about music in the first place?
I don’t know! I just did… but doesn’t almost every adolescent?
You’ve’ also written some non-music related non-fic; can you tell me about those?
Much as I like to think music is the most important thing in the universe, it’s nice to take a break from it occasionally, and explore other interests, or even other challenges. I edited a stamp collecting magazine for a time in the mid-1980s, and was briefly “special projects editor” for Penthouse/Forum; I’ve also written about soccer, film, erotica and various other odds and ends… books and magazine articles. I’ve got a Dr Who book coming out this month (I hope), which has absolutely nothing to do with what I’m known for, but was an awful lot of fun to write.
Tell me about your novel To Major Tom…
There’s been a lot of David Bowie books published over the years (I know, I’ve written a couple of them), but there’s never been one that I felt really brought home what it’s like to be a fan – I “discovered” him in 1972, and have been listening ever since; that’s a long time, and I wanted to figure out why I’d remained so loyal. To Major Tom is basically a series of letters written to Bowie by a fan, from the ages of 12 to 40, tracing his career and its developments, but also tracing the fan’s life as well. And no, Bowie never wrote back to him.
How many books have you written and which one was the hardest to write?
I’ve just passed 100. As for the hardest… it was probably To Major Tom, simply because (a) it was my first stab at fiction since writing essays at school, and (b) it turned out to be a lot more autobiographical than I was expecting, particularly during the early years, which is the last thing you want to broach when your 40th birthday is looming. My wife calls it my mid-life crisis book.
Of all your books, which one has been the most commercially successful?
I was working on a Kurt Cobain biography in early 1994… he died, the publisher demanded a swift conclusion and delivery, and they got it into the stores within three weeks of his death. That’s the one.
What are your favourite rock bios by other writers?
There’s so many! Paul Trynka’s Iggy Pop book is a recent favourite; Mark Paytress’ Marc Bolan… but a lot of my “must-reads” tend to be the ones that I’ve had since I was a teen, because they’re the ones that let me know my “dream job” actually existed. Any of George Tremlett’s 1970s books, Johnny Rogan’s Roxy Music, Nik Cohn’s Awopbopaloobop (which was actually the first rock book I ever bought), Charlie Gillet’s Rock File series….
Who are your favourite writers?
I assume you mean music-wise? Again, they tend to be from the good old days… I was a devoted NME reader from 1972 on, and those were the guys who taught me all I know… Charles Shaar Murray, Ian MacDonald, that whole crew. I also really liked Chris Welch and Chris Charlesworth at Melody Maker. But my all-time “I’ll read anything he writes” rock writer is Mick Farren. The Tale Of Willy’s Rats is by far THE best music book ever written.
What sort of music have you been listening to recently?
My latest book is called I Hate New Music for a very good reason. So what I listen to in 2008 is much the same as it’s been every year since 1978…I tend to listen a lot to whoever I’m writing about at the time, so just lately it’s been a lot of Lou Reed, Iggy and Bowie; before that, a pile of punk and reggae. I must say, though, that I’ve come to value silence a lot more than I ever thought I would.
Who has been the most interesting interviewee?
Lou Reed, Nico, Mick Ronson and Iggy Pop, because they were childhood idols come to life… I really enjoyed talking to Cliff Richard as well. Jeff Beck, because I’d been told he was a miserable sod, and we ended up having a great time….
Another fascinating one, and this gets right away from music, was an old, old lady who lived next door to me about a decade ago, who turned out to have been something of a movie star in her youth. She used to make stag films during the depression! I did a few interviews with her, which eventually formed the foundation for my book Black & White & Blue, a history of erotic/porn films from the late 19th century through to the early 1970s. Which is also one of my personal favourites of everything I’ve written.
How easy/difficult is it to get your ideas commissioned?
Hard to say. Sometimes something will fall into place so easily you wonder why you’d never thought of it before; other times… I tend to lose interest in my own ideas after a while, so if a proposal doesn’t float fairly quickly, I move on. Luckily I have a lot of ideas.
As a music biographer and reader do you value authorised bios over unauthorised ones? People tend to look down at unauthorised bios, don’t they? Does that annoy you?
The snob in me says authorized biogs are obviously superior… until you actually try and read one about someone whose career you actually know/understand, and you can actually smell the whitewash. At the same time, I’ve read (and personally written) some appalling unauthorized ones… I remember years ago reading a Kinks biog, it was one of the first ones ever published, and getting increasingly annoyed as the interviewees moved ever further away from the band… the first chapters had various ex-members and managers, the last ones were reduced to talking to the support act. But overall, I’d say a well-researched unauthorized will usually win out over the average authorized, simply because there’s no towering ego hanging over every page with a red pen.
What are your future projects?
I’m just wrapping up a triography… Iggy, Lou and Bowie running riot through the 1970s… which has been a lot of fun. I’m working with Andrew Loog Oldham on his latest, and I’ve also got a Punk-era memoir coming out in the New Year. I’m also hoping to sally back into erotic film waters at some point in 2009, both books and as a consultant on a documentary. It’s a fascinating area and it’s surprisingly under-documented.
Interview by Neil Daniels 2008
