Under a Rock: A Memoir

by Chris Stein, Debbie Harry (Foreword by)

At its heart, Under A Rock is a love story. The codependent bond between Chris Stein and Debbie Harry carried Blondie through their many terribly misogynistic music scenes, greasy record execs, bitter band mates, gruelling schedules, and hard drug abuse abound, and Chris lays it all bare with blunt sincerity and humour. Ultimately, Chris and Debbie broke up, but their bond never dissipated; they remain closest of friends, and continue to tour and promote their various projects together to this day.

Genres: Music, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Biography Memoir, Audiobook

304 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 2024

Reviews

[Michael Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Music is a passion, my having spent decades selling it and crowding up endless brain cells with Casey Kasem-like trivia. I am drawn to music bios– eager to get the lowdown on the lives of the artists. All too often, like Charlie Brown trusting Lucy’s football hold, I am left disappointed by the experience. For every exceptional memoir like Keith Richards', there are lackluster ones from artists like Donovan or even the recent Doobie Brothers’ that leave me unimpressed and ready to nod off.

The early sections of "Under a Rock" by Blondie's Chris Stein are very well-written and avoid the pitfall of being mere filler. His observations of the pre-Blondie years are entertaining and relatable, not always the case with celebrity bios, where the desire is to skim along until the career is taking off. Like the recent Ricki Lee Jones biography, Stein’s book conjures up a nostalgic chord when hitting the landmarks of the past.

Debbie Harry is on the cover. She writes the forward. She is beautiful and charismatic and, really, the focal point of the group. This is not a Blondie bio, but rather the story of Chris Stein. As partners they led the group and enjoyed a long-term relationship, but– while her star-quality was continually an issue– her presence does not overshadow Stein's narrative.

Stein's portrayal of New York City life is a major element of the story. There was the pervasive crime scene, including a passage where Debbie was raped at knifepoint during a robbery while Stein was tied up. There is the rise of Punk and New Wave and clubs like CBGB’s. Later there is even Chris’s first-hand account of the 9/11 attack.

The stars and the glitter are all here. There are encounters with Warhol, Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Hendrix, Phil Spector, and Mick Jagger, among others. Blondie’s rise, fall and resurrection in the late 1990’s is all covered. Stein says he never felt the group rose as high as it could have, yet the reverence it inspires and its induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would tend to challenge that assessment.

Following the pizzazz of the show biz chapters, we have the completion of the man’s life. Recreational drugs, followed by hardcore addictions and serious medical challenges– including a diagnosis of pemphigus vulgaris– all took their toll. In the epilogue Stein states, “There’s a tendency to present tales of personal addiction as colorful ‘war stories,’ art produced by pain and being hooked.” He assumed he always presented these experiences to his kids in a “negative light.” Tragically, he lost his nineteen-year-old daughter, Akira, to an accidental overdose.

In 1999, after a seventeen-year layoff, Blondie returned with “No Exit” and a tour that I was lucky enough to catch at a music convention. There was some skepticism as to whether or not they could still bring it. They were awesome. The group is back in the studio and planning an album release in the spring of 2025. While Stein remains a member of the group, he no longer tours due to a heart condition.

"Under a Rock" is an intelligent and clever rock biography that successfully combines glitz, glamour, and name dropping with a compelling narrative. It is an impressive example of the genre.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

[*TUDOR^QUEEN* · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite era of music is 70's. I've never been what you'd call a Blondie fan, but did buy the single 45 disc of "Heart of Glass". I also read at least one biography about Blondie in recent years and knew that Deborah Harry was in a very long intimate relationship with fellow band member Chris Stein- so of course I was interested in reading his memoir. However, it wasn't quite what I expected. I was initially swept away by his wide swath of remembrances growing up in the fifties which gave me a warm feeling. However, he continued in a never-ending stream of consciousness with a lot of minutiae I couldn't care a flip about. It reminded me of another rock bio I read (and abandoned) last year for the same reason (Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, and Me). This was a very self-indulgent and somehow remote plethora of memories that just didn't resonate with me and left me cold.

Thank you to the publisher St. Martin's Press who provided an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I was getting worn out from cocaine use. Crawling around looking for drugs is annoying and stupid.

Everyone who knows music knows the name, Chris Stein. If you don't know the name then are you really listening to music? All I have to do is say one word and you'll know this guy. Blondie...

Chris Stein has led a fascinating life, growing up in New York and traveling the world to play music for sold-out crowds. Although he faced some challenges along the way, he persevered and achieved success.

It was an interesting read. However, his storytelling style became repetitive, often reiterating the same story and attempting to tell it differently. What was particularly frustrating was when he started to share an exciting story, only to instruct readers to look it up for the conclusion of the full story. This approach detracted from the book, as he could have included the complete stories and removed the repetition.

Under a Rock was a good read. Don't expect anything too juicy. My favorite story involves a Ramone throwing a guitar at McLaren. I wish I could have witnessed that.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and informative memoir!
A tell it like it was (good and bad) autobiography.
We read about the author's upbringing, the beginning of the band "Blondie", climbing to the heights of pop success, and the perils of fame and fortune.
A captivating read!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

[Sara Wortman · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not really my place to judge someone's life choices so I won't really comment on that but I will say that this read like someone just writing down every single thing that comes to mind from their life. There are so many people who were mentioned that it is impossible to keep track of all of them. What I was looking for from this biography did not meet my expectations. 2.5 stars rounded down. *Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read and review this title*

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Stein, the founding member and guitarist of Blondie, takes us on a wild ride through his life in his memoir, Under a Rock. Growing up in Brooklyn in the ‘50s with communist parents who held regular meetings at their home, Stein had anything but a typical childhood. He spent his days running around with friends, developing an early vision of the music world.

Stein’s musical journey began when he received an electric guitar for his twelfth birthday. Initially drawn to folk music, he soon got swept up in the hippie aesthetic of the time. A spontaneous road trip to California and a psychedelic experience landed him in a psychiatric institution, but his adventures didn’t stop there. After his release, Stein hopped on a bus to Woodstock, kicking off the next chapter of his extraordinary life.

I enjoyed the second half of the book where he first encounters Debbie Harry that eventually leads to a long-term relationship and the formation of the band Blondie in the ‘70s. Stein dives deep into the underground punk scene, sharing stories about legends like Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, and even the Ramones. He talks about songs, records, drugs, touring, and the eventual success of their third studio album, “Parallel Lines.” This album was a cornerstone of my childhood and sparked my love for alternative music as a teen.

Stein is engaging and a fantastic storyteller, infusing humor into his narrative. However, I sometimes struggled to connect with parts of his story, maybe because of its stream of consciousness style. He frequently tells anecdotes and names people I’m not familiar with, which occasionally left me feeling a bit lost.

Overall, Under a Rock is a unique memoir that captivated me and would interest fans of the punk and new wave era, as well as those who love a good rock bio. I’m sure it’ll be widely popular. I especially enjoyed the foreward by Debbie Harry.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy for review.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Debbie Harry’s memoir four years ago and liked it, but I had some unanswered questions/hazy understanding of the history of the band. From my review of her book - "Harry writes about this conundrum(of how much to share with the reader) at the beginning of her book.How do we edit our life into a decent story? That's the rub with a memoir. What to reveal, what to keep hidden, what to embellish, what to downplay and what to ignore? How much of the inner and how much of the outer? What's going to compel and what might bore?Harry comes across as a thoughtful and intelligent person, so I can respect and understand her decisions not to write about - or barely reference - certain parts of her life. I understand her thought process but still would have liked to have heard more about certain topics - her heroin addiction, the breakup of Blondie & the issues with certain members of her band & her split with her long term boyfriend Chris Stein. I could try and read behind the lines to a certain degree but I was left confused about several what one would consider key aspects of her life.

When I learned that Chris Stein had also published a memoir, I immediately grabbed it from the library. While still holding back in certain ways, Stein is definitely more open than Harry in terms of their drug use, problems within the band and their eventual breakup as a couple. I now have a better understanding, as much as a stranger can have, of what happened.

I thought this memoir was amazing, such a fascinating life! I am Gen X, about twenty years younger than Chris Stein, and I enjoy reading about American culture and society when Boomers were growing up. What a different world than now or even when I was a kid. As someone who knows a fair amount about the counterculture of the 1950s-1980s, I understood almost all of his references and greatly enjoyed his stories. The few people I didn’t recognize, it was easy to highlight the name on my Kindle app and read who the person was. I highly recommend reading this memoir on a Kindle if you don’t know who Brion Gysin or Jackie Curtis or Jeffery Lee Pierce are. And if you do know who these people are, you are in for a treat. Stein is like Zelig, he was there for so much and has the entertaining stories to show for it.

I always check out both the lowest and highest rated reviews for a book in order to see what resonated with other readers. The unhappy reviews point out that this book is about Stein’s life, not only about Blondie. They also are miffed that he does not delve into the more strictly musical aspects of the band and focuses more on the personal. All true. This is his memoir, not a biography of the band. I imagine there must be books out there that focus on only the band and give more details. Don’t read this expecting to learn a ton about the recording of albums and the writing of songs. Obviously he does discuss these things but within the context of his life in general. These complaints remind me of product reviews where the product isn’t discussed and instead the review is all about the person’s bad experience with an employee at the store. They are missing the point.

This memoir also reminds me of the excellent David Niven memoir, The Moon’s A Balloon, published in 1971. Niven knew everyone in the entertainment world of Hollywood and London and has the engaging and delightful stories to show for it. Like Stein’s book and needing to understand the countercultural references, if you don’t know a lot about the golden Hollywood era, Niven’s book will bore you. You need to first ‘get’ the setting in order to enjoy the personal memoir set within that period.

Where to even begin with all the cool stuff and cool people Stein encountered in his life? I was boring my husband, telling him lots of fun random facts. Debbie & Chris bought one of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s first paintings!!! For $200!!!I looked online at a list of his pieces and how much they have last sold for. There is no price available for this particular piece but others made around the same time have sold for 10-16 million dollars. Sadly, Chris & Debbie sold the painting when they were junkies. Sad trombone! I would be kicking myself so hard if I was in that situation. Stein also had 4 - FOUR - Warhols that he sold when he was a junky. Oh man. There are a lot of reasons why being a junky sucks and selling cool shit you wish later that you hadn’t is a big one.

Stein was at Woodstock. He was in San Francisco the summer of love 1967, living on Haight Street. He saw every cool band of the era. He hung out in Greenwich Village when the folk scene was at its height. HIs first concert was seeing Stan Getz play in the Village. He was in London in 1977 during the Queen’s Jubilee, the height of the punk era on King’s Road. He visited behind the Iron Curtain in Europe in the 1960s. He was in Berlin while the wall was up and saw Checkpoint Charlie. His band opened one night for The Velvet Underground. In high school the actor that played Paulie Walnuts in The Sopranos ripped him off in a weed deal. His best friend at SVA worked for Andy Warhol doing odd jobs. It was the friend’s job to go to Andy’s house and wake him up every morning. He went to a soundstage in CA with a friend and checked out the spaceship models for a movie that was being released called Star Wars. Seriously, it was nuts. I could go on and on.

As someone who lives in NYC, I appreciated all of Stein's discussions of how neighborhoods have changed, about gentrification and the rising cost of housing. Bonus points for actually giving specific addresses several times so I could easily look up the location on the Streeteasy real estate app. I hope he is not kicking himself too much for missing out on rising property values. If only he had bought a place in the 1970s or 1980s! Ok, he actually did buy a brownstone -weirdly on the Upper East Side - with Debbie during the height of their success and lost it to - you guessed it - being a junky with poor financial choices. Dude, if you guys had bought a cheap loft in Soho you probably would have been able to hang onto it! Oh well.

I have read a fair amount of rock memoirs and the financial fiascos Stein writes about are sadly common with many successful musicians. It’s like shooting ducks in a barrel. Record company execs and entertainment lawyers and accountants and business managers - older people with degrees and experience who are I imagine mainly sober - are thrown together with uneducated teenagers who are usually high and/or drunk and it is, I guess, extremely tempting to take advantage in that situation. I read about it over and over again. It’s the outliers, the musicians who were not taken advantage of, that are so rare and thus I recall those books clearly. Gene Simmons of KISS, who had a college degree in business, was not fucked over. Bruce Springsteen was old enough and experienced enough when signed to a label to cut an excellent deal. Barbara Streisand, who was sober and savvy and I honestly think a genius, managed to hold onto her power and her money. The vast majority are more like Chris Stein and taken advantage of.

The memoir ends on a tragic note, with an epilogue about how his older daughter Akira(cool name!) died of an accidental fentanyl overdose when he was writing this book. Devastating! She was born the same time my son was and I felt extra upset, thinking of how crushing it would be if my son od’ed. Thinking about where and what his daughter would be doing if she were still alive. I’m upset writing about it right now. I was feeling somewhat jealous of his exciting and supercool life when suddenly it was like a bucket of cold water was thrown over me. Dang, I know he is a total stranger but I felt crushed for him and his wife. I hope they find some semblance of peace over it eventually, as much as anyone can.

That last paragraph is really sucking the wind out of the sails of this review. Barring that awful tragic ending, the book is actually pretty funny and lighthearted, even with all the drug use and financial shenanigans. Upon reflection, there are quite a few heavy dark moments in his life(his dad dying suddenly when Chris was young, his first serious girlfriend committing suicide, a stay in a psych ward after doing waaaaay too much acid, Chris & Debbie going through a home invasion where Chris is beaten and Debbie raped, their apartment burning down and losing everything, going bankrupt and owing millions due to a shady accountant, etc). Wow, ok, that is a lot and really does explain the drug addiction, doesn’t it?

I would imagine Chris is a cool person to hang out with and would be someone you could sit with for hours talking about all sorts of fascinating subjects. He has a lot of esoteric interests and has not stagnated living in the past but is still learning and experiencing and growing.

Read this less for the Blondie factor and more as a great memoir about the era in general.

Here are some random quotes that spoke to me:

One hot day we waited in line at Nathan's. The old guy behind the counter was very enthusiastic, chanting "French fries and salt!" as a kind of song. When I got up to the window he looked me in the eye and said, "French fries and salt! You ain't never gonna forget this!” I never forgot it.

Vali, my younger daughter, had Cynthia Sley, the lead singer of the Bush Tetras, as her fourth - grade teacher, for God's sake (hi, Cynthia). When Vali left middle school, she showed me a video of her and her friends walking down the street sobbing because they had loved it at school so much. It blows my mind. My school life was like unto the ninth circle of hell. I had teachers who were full-on sociopaths, who shouldn't have been allowed to interact with other human people let alone children. It was amazing, really. Here I am, an old dude, and I'm still able to conjure up the horror of my relations with some of these alleged educators.

we were suspended from school until we got haircuts. The fucking guy actually told us that he was very worried that we'd be crossing the street and our hair would blow in front of our eyes and we'd be hit by cars. He really said this. (My hair wasn't very long; maybe a bit below my ears.) It was a little amazing to me even then.

One night right before we left, while we were driving on a dirt road through some hills, the old car's headlights illuminated a group of young girls walking in their school uniforms, and the fleeting temporal image has maintained space in my head forever.

He told us how he had spent the day in jail in a blanket and explained to the judge that he was "doing an art project" and how the guy following him in court who had stabbed his mother told the judge that he too was "doing an art project." About one of his art school friends arrested for being nude in public while doing a performance art piece. HAHA

One summer Howie inhabited this great space on Sixth Avenue and Twentieth Street right across from the church that would later become the Limelight club. This place was called Zoom Studios but beyond being some semi-rich guy's playroom, I couldn't tell what kind of "studio" activity went on there. Zoom Studios was on the second-floor corner and had amazing huge rounded windows. The place came with a very nice long-haired cat, but the poor cat's fur was so matted that it had trouble moving around, and when we trimmed its fur and liberated it, it went crazy and ran all over the place.
If nothing else in life, I at least helped that cat.

I'm a firm believer in the circular nature of time and the idea that the future casts shadows into the past. When I was a teenager, I was on Eighth Street one night with my friend Barry. We were looking in a store window on the corner of Greene Street. It was a sort of knickknack store and I remember looking at the very ubiquitous painted plaster statue of the monkey sitting on some books and gazing at a human skull it was holding. We stood there for a few minutes and then moved on and when we had gotten just a few doors down, a car drove up on the sidewalk and smashed through the window precisely where we had been standing. Some poor bastard had a heart attack or just lost control or something. We went back and looked at the monkey statue that was lying on its side but unbroken.

Phil Spector appeared backstage at the Whisky in a long black cape. He kept everyone stuck in the dressing-room area while he held forth and was totally weird and belligerent. He invited Debbie and me to visit him and left with his bodyguards. The next day we went up to his mansion/castle in Alhambra. Phil came to the door with a bottle of Manischewitz wine in one hand and a presumably loaded model 1911 .45 automatic in the other. He was acting performatively drunk and doing a W. C. Fields voice for almost the whole visit. We were with a couple of other company guys and he herded everyone into a big living room, which was absolutely freezing. He indicated that we had to remain seated and proceeded to talk about nothing I can remember. There was a big grand piano in the room and he played a while and then asked Debbie to join him sitting at the piano bench for a duet of some Ronettes song We stood there politely pretending to listen and one of the record-company quys poked me and whispered sarcastically,"If you play your cards right, you can sound like this too." In later years I found out he'd pulled a gun on Leonard Cohen too. I don't have any doubt that he killed that girl, although whether by accident or deliberately, we'll never know. YES! Spector is a MANIAC. I read Ronnie Spector’s batshit crazy memoir and Phil was a monster. She was probably locked in a closet or something during this visit he writes of. He totally killed that woman.

As I mentioned, everyone was somewhat of an egomaniac, and rifts appeared in the band fabric. Maybe there are some bands that have all harmonious relations, maybe the B-52s always get along, but conflicts seem to be part of humans working together in any situation. A band should be a monarchal democracy, where everyone has a voice but there's one shot-caller. Maybe this is what makes cults successful. I always identified with Debbie and we were very closely together, so I just never felt threatened by her getting more attention than me. This is EXACTLY what Bruce Springsteen did. He signed the contract alone and then hired the band members himself so he retained ultimate control. So smart.

I got to know this one orderly kid and we would sit around smoking pot late at night. I had a TV and got very invested in watching General Hospital. This was the Frisco and Felicia period for anyone old enough to know what that means. I literally laughed out loud reading this. I know exactly what you mean, ah, Frisco and Felicia!

A certain very successful art gallery owner and his partner, who was the son of a rich diplomat would come over and engage in a strange power dynamic where the gallery guy would command his friend to do our dishes and clean up a little. This felt like some weird BDSM role-play thing presented in the guise of being helpful. We saw them a bunch of times before the story broke about the dead body of a male model being found on the estate of the diplomat's son. The victim had been shot twice and was wearing a black leather bondage-style mask. The Mask Murder headlines were all over town for months...Debbie says that their visits with us were right after the murder. WHAT! That season of American Horror Story is based on this crime.

Robert Crumb came with an adult-film star who was his date. I asked him for an autograph and he got weird and said he couldn't sign just anything. John Holmstrom was there and started going through my record collection, saying, "You've got to have it," and finally pulling out a copy of Big Brother’s Cheap Thrills with Crumb's cover art that Crumb couldn't refuse to signHA!

I watched a lot of kids TV with Akira. I'd never paid any attention to Sesame Street and was amazed by its Freudian aspects. The monsters run the gamut of weird human emotional states and mental conditions. Big Bird is some sort of depressive; Bert and Ernie share a sadomasochistic relationship in which Ernie is a total passive-aggressive control freak. Elmo is borderline psychotic, reminding me of the type of person who when you run into and say, "What's happening?" screams back,"You are! You are!" Oscar is completely negative; Grover grovels, hence his name; and the Count is obsessive-compulsive. The Cookie Monster was the only one who seemed well adjusted, clear about his goals, and with a sense of humor.

I settled down in the weeds in front of one of these big dark structures to smoke more coke. This place was across the street from a little parking lot and loading dock and wasn't there too long when two cars pulled into the lot. Two guys in fancy suits got out of the cars and bodyguard dudes got out and stationed themselves on the curb, being observant. These two guys had obviously decided that the best time and place to have this meeting was at three a.m. in a parking lot in an alley in the middle of nowhere. I had the feeling that none of these guys should know I was there so I lay down in the grass and waited till they were done, which seemed like a long time but was maybe only fifteen minutes. They all drove off and I went home unscathed. In Tribeca, back when it was sketchy and empty at night. The book is full of interesting stories like this.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so wanted to like Chris Stein’s, the guitarist from Blondie, autobiography, Under a Rock. Unfortunately, from my perspective, it needed both editing down and fleshing out.

The author includes a lot of details about his childhood, 30% of the book, that didn’t add much to his story. When he finally gets down to his musical experiences, the details are lacking specifics. Mostly there are one liners about meeting a famous musician or pop culture icon with little more than a single adjective used to describe them. Seldom are the conversations they had together recorded either. The author himself seems to realize the issue about needing more details, when he explains in less than a paragraph that Debbie Harry and he just grew apart and she moved out. He concluded with “Maybe you want more details but there aren’t many.” Despite “many” implying some, no other details are mentioned and he just moves on to his methadone program’s experiences.

There is also some trash talking about our current political climate that might offend some right wing readers. I don’t think it belongs in an autobiography even though he may have a point to some extent.

Overall, Under a Rock was a disappointment that seemed both overlong and bereft of the details I hoped for. 3 stars.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

[Richard Propes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Founded in 1974 by Chris Stein and Debbie Harry, Blondie was in many ways one of the bands that defined my growing up years as a disabled weirdo with a unique body, larger than life emotions, and a desire to express myself.

"Under a Rock" is Blondie co-founder Stein's memoir, a nothing-spared autobiography that takes us through Stein's early life, through his early creative years, the founding of the band, the band's ascension to the heights of punk/pop/new wave success, and the hazards of having experienced that success.

Stein, who in many ways, probably most ways, was the architect of Blondie's sound, is a natural storyteller with an almost jarring yet always sincere matter-of-factness and naturalness that leaves you occasionally thinking back about a story and being struck by its depth and poignancy and emotional resonance.

Until "Parallel Lines," the band's third album, Blondie was mostly an underground success. While Stein infuses "Under a Rock" with familiar names long before this point, it's about the time that Blondie catapulted to #1 and sold 20 million copies of "Parallel Lives" that we begin to realize the dizzying yet chaotic world in which Blondie lived. Song's like "Heart of Glass," "Rapture," and "One Way or Another" filled households and dance clubs like Studio 54 (NOTE: Personal favorite is "Call Me."). Throughout all of this time, Stein and Harry with both lovers and best friends whose lives intersected in just about every way. While they would eventually part ways romantically, they remain closest of friends and collaborators to this day even as Stein continues to record with the band yet stopped touring in recent years due to health issues.

For those who grew up during this period, the names will be enchanting from Bowie to Basquiat, Warhol to Ramone. Stein tosses these names out during his storytelling, not in a way that feels like name-dropping but in a way that feels like genuine storytelling with a tone of awe and appreciation and bewilderment. It's the storytelling that truly makes "Under a Rock" such a joy to read, though there are also moments in this book that truly took my breath away as the costs of fame are often high and Stein's own current life, including recent family experiences, can't help but tug at the heartstrings.

A uniquely written tour-de-force, "Under a Rock" is no doubt a memoir that will leave its mark in 2024 and will prove to be mighty popular for anyone whose life found its rhythms in the punk/new wave/pop stylings of Blondie and bands just like them. Stein gives us the inside glimpse, all its glories and all its downfalls.

Refreshing in every way, "Under a Rock" features a foreword by Debbie Harry and commands our attention from beginning to end.

[None Ofyourbusiness Loves Israel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chris Stein’s memoir, “Under a Rock,” offers a candid and introspective examination of his life, both as a founding member of Blondie and as an individual navigating the complexities of fame. The book is distinguished by its unvarnished honesty and Stein’s distinctive narrative style, which seamlessly blends humor with clear eyed reflection. His storytelling is marked by a raw authenticity that provides readers with a deeply personal glimpse into his experiences.

At its core, “Under a Rock” is a love story, not only between Stein and music but also with New York City. Stein’s vivid recollections of growing up in Brooklyn during the 1950s and his experiences in the vibrant punk scene of 1970s Manhattan create a rich tapestry for his narrative. His descriptions of the city’s marginal spaces, eccentric personalities, and fleeting moments are particularly evocative, capturing the essence of a bygone era. Notable cameos include luminaries such as Bowie, Iggy, the Ramones, Television, CBGB, and Lou Reed, among many others.

Stein does not shy away from discussing his mental health and substance abuse struggles, offering a poignant glimpse into the darker aspects of his journey. Despite these challenges, his resilience and enduring bond with Harry shine through, making the memoir both touching and inspiring. While the book initially spends time name-dropping, it truly gains momentum once Blondie’s story begins. However, the personal relationship with Debbie Harry could benefit from further exploration. More ink is used to describe his various cats than his bandmate and partner. Overall, “Under a Rock” is a compelling read for Blondie fans and anyone interested in the intersection of music, culture, and personal growth.

[Barry Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emerging out of the Punk/New Wave scene and managing to maintain their iconic status ever since, Blondie was a band phenomenon who waxed and waned but kept adding to their list of hits through many musical styles, including pop, reggae, disco and rap. Not only did the hits keep emerging but they kept their staying power and morphed to accommodate even greater depth, meaning and significance over time. As the front woman/face of the band, Debbie Harry branched out into many other areas like fashion, magazine covers, films and television. Her story has been told in many other books, documentaries, etc. Here, for the first time, guitar player, sometime songwriter, co-songwriter, photographer in his own style, and the other half of their power couple who chose many of the songs they didn't write, Chris Stein, tells his own story. It's a fascinating tour through the art, literature, and music scenes of New York with stop-offs in occult, magic and drug sub-cultures and a wide variety of odd-ball characters along the way. A must-read for anyone interested in the histories of art, literature, music, architecture and film, especially as they reference New York. - BH.

[Dorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Under A Rock: A Memoir
by: Chris Stein
2024
St.Martins
4.0

#NetGalley #UnderARock
Thanks to Net Galley for sending this e-book for review.

Most people know of Chris Stein as a member of Blondie, and Debbie Harry's boyfriend throughout most of their time in the band. This book shows us more, taking a deep dive into his childhood and years before Blondie. Growing up in the 1950's NYC, spending time in a mental hospital, attending Art School, touring with Blondie, TV appearances, movies, Chris has such a wild and tense, as well as fun and memorable life.

Chris shares stories of how the band decided on album covers, and the stories behind the songs. I really got into this book, and enjoyed reading and learning more about Chris' interests and hobbies beyond music, and learning so much about Blondie, too. He is very open, and engaging. Humorous and intelligent, these stories entertain and capture the spirit and essence of Chris Stein. Everyone will enjoy this.

[William (Bill) Fluke · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a mess this “memoir” by Chris Stein of the group Blondie fame is! Like a number of recent celebrity memoirs I have read it is more musings than memoir. Stein writes chronologically about his life experiences, but he writes in a way that seemingly random and odd experiences are given the same gravitas as the band winning a Grammy or being voted into the Rock n Roll hall of fame. Stein seemingly writes about any and all things in his life he can remember. Having a bracelet taken from him is given the same prominence as the birth of a child. He also seems to assume the reader should know what he muses about without providing enough detail for the reader to understand- examples, “those pin up style shots of Debbie against a blue background in her white dress” ( what photos ?), “we had the number two song in the country “ ( what song?!). Very uninspired writing. I feel like I learned nothing new about the band Blondie or this new wave era. It also strikes me as odd that he claims ( very late into their career success with Blondie) that he had no money - no credit cards and no bank account. Just not plausible!! The most used phrase in the book ( repeated again and again) - “ I don’t remember”. Note to author Chris Stein- if you don’t remember, then don’t write about it in your “memoir “! Lastly, and most sadly, Stein devotes much space in the 270 pages of the book to his use of drugs- pot, acid, heroin, and cocaine - in a way that he seems to glamorize with so many stories of he or other celebrities being wasted. So many stories about procuring drugs including in other countries. This criticism is driven home in the final epilogue when we learn that his 19 year old daughter dies of an accidental drug overdose. Very unfortunate, but not so hard to envision given Stein’s depiction of drug use.
I read many memoirs and feel like I can usually withstand what turns into celebrity musings more than narrative but Stein pushed me to my limits. I’m afraid his decades of drug abuse have taken a toll on his ability to write. Not recommended reading.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blondie guitarist and group co-founder Chris Stein takes readers/listeners on a nostalgic and wild ride from his humble beginnings as the only child of Jewish parents in Brooklyn in the 1950s, to his rise to rock 'n' roll fame, to the quiet life he leads in the COVID era with his wife and two daughters (one of whom sadly passed away last year from an accidental overdose).

In most ways, this is your run-of-the-mill sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll memoir. Stein does a pretty good job of reflecting on the triumphs and trials that made him who he is today and the friends and enemies he made along the way. Be ready for lots of name dropping; it wouldn't be a memoir otherwise. Stein rambles and goes off topic frequently -- but I figure, this is his story and if it comes off a bit unpolished, that just makes it seem more genuine.

All in all, the audiobook was enjoyable and the narrator reading for Stein was well chosen.

I received an audio ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Simon Binning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This memoir from Chris Stein follows Debbie Harry's of two or three years ago, which was excellent, so Chris has a lot to live up to. He starts by recounting his childhood and adolescence, his growing interest in music, and introduction to drugs. These two things will form the core of his life for many years to come, though photography will be important as well.
The book is stuffed full of interesting facts, interesting events and fascinating people. Unfortunately, the style makes reading it very hard work indeed. There is no flow to the writing. It's as if the entire book is a list of bullet points, with the bullets removed just before someone hit 'publish'.
This happened, then this happened, then I met X, then I met Y, then I met Z. I found I could only read a chapter or two at a time, before my head hurt. There seems to be a cast of thousands, many of whom we only meet once, and never hear of again. But there is no indication who is important and who isn't (apart from the obvious, such as Warhol, Bowie, Iggy, etc.), so you try and remember all these names when there is no need.
Some of the best passages are the little vignettes; random or obscure meetings which give a flavour of Chris's life, or New York in the 60s and 70s. Things which are unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but seem to tell us more about him than the major events, where he often leaves you wanting more.
He tells us little about his music in any depth, though we do hear a lot about equipment and instruments, and his influences come through gradually as the book progresses. The same goes for his relationship with Debbie Harry. It covers a large part of the book, but there is no depth to his descriptions, and their break up is dealt with in less than a paragraph.
His life of drugs, on the other hand, is covered extensively, and although it gives many bittersweet moments, as well as some funny stories, it does become somewhat repetitive. There are only so many times I wanted to hear about his nighttime street crawls to buy whatever he was into at that time.
Probably the highlight of the book is his description of New York in the 60s and 70s, when the city was a broken place. The underground scene thrived in the disused warehouses and grubby streets, and Chris and Debbie were a part of the artistic boom of the time.
He has certainly had immense struggles with drugs, and other health problems, which he doesn't shy away from, and the ending of the book has a late emotional hit which floors you. But overall, the book is missing something. It's missing any contact with what we might call his soul, or inner self. It covers his life, tells us much of what he did and when. But it tells us little about the man inside.

[Hayden Epp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a huge Blondie fan so I obviously was excited to read this new memoir by Chris Stein. I enjoyed the perspective of this not being written by the front person of the band (Debbie Harry, who also has a great memoir I’ve read). He’s less of a big name himself and got up to some antics apart from his bandmates. He’s got an interesting personality and set of interests apart from music. It’s good to read about. I do wish that maybe there were more details about more recent years. I would have enjoyed hearing more about making the last few albums, for example. Overall very enjoyable and interesting.

[Marina Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a fan since 1978 when I first heard Heart of Glass. Blondie remains my favorite band 45 years later. This book was incredible.! Thank you Chris Stein for allowing us a peek into your life and Blondie. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

[Darcysmom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adeeply personal memoir thst I really enjoyed.

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Meandering, repetitive at times, poorly written. Read up to his meeting Debbie then heavily skimmed then ultimately didn't finish.

How could someone who's led such an incredible life write such a empty book?

I was also struck by how he seemed to live his life without much forethought, at least in his early years. He's lucky he made it through.

[Madonna Fortin · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a fan of Blondie’s music, I was excited for the opportunity to read this. Thank you to publisher St. Martin’s Press who provided an Advanced Reader Copy via #NetGalley.

From this #memoir, I was interested to learn Chris Stein’s story, meeting band members and the coming together of the band, and the process in their music writing with details of each of their contributions… I didn’t find any of the above in this book. Maybe he wrote more thoroughly on this in his other books prior, but the poorly written stream of consciousness displayed here doesn’t turn me on to pursue his previous writings.

I’d like to give benefit of the doubt that this is his memoir and not a “history of Blondie” book so maybe he chose to write memories reaching as far back into his childhood as he could remember, with mentions they “played a show” or “went on tour with…”. I was surprised he made mention of the DC radio station festival I attended with my brother and friends when we saw Blondie perform during the HFStival at RFK Stadium 31MAY1997. Band-wise, considering his history with her, he mentions Debbie quite often starting around chapter 5, including sarcastic, funny one-liners from her which I found amusing. (I’m still very much interested in reading her book.)

As far as his stream of consciousness story-telling goes, many local street characters with little to no introduction that are seemingly familiar to only him (irrelevant to the reader) fade in and out, along with quick remembrance of events with The Ramones, Joan Jett, New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed… Unfortunately every time my interest was piqued by a story seemingly building, he would tell the reader either to “look it up” or he would just shut it down completely with “et cetera”. All throughout the entirety of the books duration… “look it up.” “Et cetera.” At only 300 pages I found this to be a difficult read. I quickly lost interest again and again, etc., and lacked the motivation to stick with it due to constantly being let down… cliff hangers… lackadaisical. Look it up.

He mentioned a time when they, as a couple, were attacked/mugged and wrote of Debbie getting raped as nonchalantly as he talks about finding a kitten in an alley and it’s now his pet. Matter of fact. Dry. Lack of emotion. I had to keep re-reading the line to ensure I processed this tragic event, considering how quickly he wrote it off. It’s a sensitive subject for some. For me. As a friend, band mate, her former lover, the seemingly lack of care in his writing on this happening to her had no place in his memoir. IMHO, It wasn’t his story or experience to write off.

In hindsight, I don’t personally know the guy. This is the first and only book of his that I’ll take the time to read. Maybe he was taking a punk rock “piss off” approach in his writing, in which case he has succeeded. There was no care to engage the reader with great writing, nor was there concern to edit down, or flesh out redundancies.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 2 out of 5]

St. Martin's Press provided an early galley for review.

At age 74, Stein has experienced a lot of life. As a Blondie fan from almost their start, I was interested to read his story and about the music. To get to that point, though, there was quite a bit of wading in miscellaneous details as we make our way through his rollercoaster life up to his early 20's. While interesting in spots, it might have been less of a slog if it had been delivered with a bit more energy and structure.

I also would have appreciated the detailed focus when it came to discussing the making of the albums and the tours during the band's peek periods. While we get some of that, it also seemed very quick and fleeting. The focus would shift to drugs or random people (some famous, some not) and cats. I found myself quick scanning at parts rather than reading, and I found I did not feel like I had missed anything.

Stein has written other books previously. Maybe one of those might have more of what I am looking for than what this one presented.

[Sohxpie · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the most part, I really enjoy reading autobiographies and memoirs. It's incredibly interesting to read about the lives of famous people. Under a Rock is no different. Obviously, being 73 (at time of writing the book), Chris Stein has lived through a lot and it would be impossible to fit all of that into one book. I think he did a great job with the content he decided to include. I particularly enjoyed the parts of his life pre-Blondie, where he was finding his footing as a musician and all the shows he attended. It was so interesting, I think what stands out is you can see how pivotal and impactful this part of his life was for him and his career. Obviously I loved reading the parts about Debbie Harry and Blondie! It was strange to me to learn how little money the band earned and how Stein was still struggling a bit financially in the late nineties. I think the public perception of the music industry is that it's quite rich so you'd expect big bands like Blondie to be rich as well. It's almost a culture shock to learn that this isn't necessarily the case. It really leaves you wondering. I would like to say that I think it was incredibly brave for Stein to talk about his drug addiction and struggles, especially in such an open, public way. It hits harder when you read the epilogue and see that he feels a level of guilt about the death of his daughter. I just think that as fans, we are never entitled to know such personal things unless the artist chooses to share them. It's obviously an awful experience and it must have been really hard to include in the book.
Overall, a really interesting read that was a little hard to follow at times but a very enjoyable read.

[Christopher McQuain · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 for those less devoted to Blondie/NY in the '70s than I. Frank and fascinating, but also detached and somewhat...obligatory, as if a list of sometimes very intense life events is being navigated and checked off, thoroughly enough but with no great emphasis or passion. But then again, it makes perfect sense that the cofounder of Blondie would have a poker-faced, Warholian approach to his unusually dramatic and eventful life, so the level-deadpan quality, though a bit jarring, is probably fitting.

[David Partikian · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a child of the late 70’s and early 80’s who came of age in Manhattan, I eagerly anticipated Chris Stein’s memoir, Under a Rock. The fun and decadence that the (slightly) older generation had in NYC was legendary, and I wanted Chris Stein’s perspective and anecdotes concerning the seediness of the early 70’s. Not only was he a songwriter and guitarist in Blondie, but he was Debbie Harry’s other half, making male teens across the world terribly jealous. Additionally, Stein’s photography chronicles the punk and new wave era around CBGB’s better than virtually any other photographer. That Stein suffered from some sort of awful skin disease in the late 80’s that almost killed him, was a further reason to pick up the book. I vaguely remember stories of Debbie Harry taking care of him and that the couple broke up soon afterward, but by that time Blondie, at least in its most famous incarnation, was history.

Early in the memoir, Stein is a Zelig-like character (he attended Woody Allen’s public school for a spell) who appears at various American events that have become cultural landmarks. He hitchhiked to San Francisco and took part in the summer of love. Later, after getting arrested, he returns to NYC and is present at anti-war protests. Photos of Stein and early incarnations of the band show disheveled hippies that were anathema to the new wave ethos of Blondie that they later came to represent. The fashion transformation of Blondie into new wave/punk darlings is startling and seems calculated.

Stein’s book is both forthright and brutally honest. As in most books that portray heroin addiction, the drug becomes more and more prominent as the book progresses, leaving the reader to shrug his shoulders in befuddlement as to why someone would muddle up his mind so thoroughly and become a slave to a substance. Stein, who had joined Mensa as a teen, is yet another bright precocious kid who falls victim to his own hubris, thinking he can control the drug. Of course, the heroin, and later, methadone, end up utterly controlling him. His anecdotes are less clever and involve scoring or—more maddening at least to author—not scoring. Stein begins to rely on hackneyed truisms to describe his folly, e.g. an addict trades all his daily problems for one big problem. Among the illusions shattered—at least for me—was that Debbie Harry nursed Chris Stein back to health; she procured heroin to bring bedside at Lenox Hill Hospital.

One problem with the many memoirs by rock stars is that the most interesting period in a life is when the artist is struggling and just beginning to make it. Many memoirs degenerate into extended bouts of name dropping about partying backstage with this or that celebrity [yawn]. Bob Dylan avoided this in his Chronicles by concentrating almost exclusively on the East Village folk scene before he signed with Columbia records. Ray Davies avoids the trap by spending most of X-Ray discussing his teen years and the recording of “You Really Got Me.” Stein also largely avoids the pitfall by largely concentrating on his life before he attained fame (much of it in his apartment/hovel/squat pad on 1rst Ave and 1rst Street in the early 70’s). When Stein does name drop, it is completely appropriate since he and Debbie Harry were at the forefront of the avant-garde in the late 70’s, incorporating rap and disco into their act before most white acts; they also recorded videos pre-MTV and hung out with the likes of Warhol, Basquiat (who appears in the video of “Rapture”), and William Burroughs. Those born and raised in Manhattan and/or Brooklyn will find the era and neighborhoods evoked worth the price of the book.

One maddening deficiency in the memoir is any close mention of musical collaboration within the band. There is no mention of the lyrical inspiration of “Sunday Girl” or the fabulous guitar riff of “One Way of Another,” perhaps because that was the brainchild of lead guitarist Frank Infante. Blondie was unique of the early new wave punk acts in that the music was not primarily guitar-driven. Clem Burke is among the best and most flamboyant drummers of the 70’s. Jimmie Destri’s keyboards drive the melody of most Blondie songs. I rued the lack of insider information on so many songs because—in retrospect—many people couldn’t care less that “Heart of Glass” made it to number 1 or that “The Tide Is High” and “Rapture” cemented their reputation; I longed for a story about the genesis of “Dreaming.” The lacunae is all the more prominent because the 33 1/3 imprint on Parallel Lines is one of the worst in the series; not a mention of “Sunday Girl” or “One Way or Another, but rapturous accolades for a disco song that took the nation by storm. In short, there is still a Blondie story to tell.*

Back in the 70’s many teens built a record collection by reading Brad Marsh’s Rolling Stone Record Guide. I paraphrase from memory on what was written about Blondie in that volume: “Blondie was everything the denizens of the Lower East Side could ask for, yet they were largely overlooked.” [Note: This was just as Parallel Lines was putting them on the cultural landscape]. Until picking up Chris Stein’s memoir, I never did truly realize how New York (or at least Tri-State area) the band was; and how seedy the members obviously were to anyone a couple of years older than a 14-year-old. Debbie Harry hailed from New Jersey, but was a true transplant for the 60’s Warhol Factory scene. Hoboken native, Clem Burke is an insanely talented drummer. The keyboardist, J. Destri, was a Brooklyn native who worked security in an Emergency Room (No college degrees in this band). The drug-fueled New Wave combo Blondie was well ahead of its time and much greater than the sum of its parts.

--------------------------------------

*I have only decided to read Debbie Harry’s Face It, which appeared a couple of years back, after reading Stein’s memoir. Perhaps she addresses those songs?

[Randy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed in the pacing - it takes half the book to get to "Plastic Letters" then we zip through "Parallel Lines." "Eat To The Beat" might be half a chapter, along with "Autoamerican" and so on

It's almost like "we're running behind - hurry up & play the HITS"

Maybe I need to read Debbie's book to fill in the gaps?

****

Blondie opened for REO Speedwagon? For Rush? Alice Cooper, I understand LOL; same with Iggy
Tom Petty opened for Blondie?

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I love the book? No. Did I enjoy it? I did. Why the split decision? Because as I read Under a Rock: a Memoir by Chris Stein, I felt like I was reading a dictation of audio interviews with the interview prompts edited out and wasn't expecting that. But even though I wasn’t prepared for that when I first started reading, I got into it.

That was the only editing sometimes that I felt happened in this book. I think it’s a good representation of what Chris Stein wanted to share with us. He presents the story as he wanted. It’s fair. It’s his book right? So here my impression: read it that way. Listen to some of the interviews he has done throughout the years so that you can have his voice in your head as you go through the journey. I think you will get much more out if it that way.

I did and it really helped me to enjoy the book more. Seriously.

Chris Stein is a genius, Mensa level genius, which he writes about from his childhood. It was a wonderful nugget shared. I held that information close when I was reading. He has so much to share with us, fans and readers alike that it’s unfortunate that it was not reigned in a touch to make the book more linear at times. I don’t think we needed a lot of editing but a little bit would have helped with the focus.

So I had to go this place when I was reading. Also, because it was a galley edition I didn’t have the visuals that he shared in the print edition. Chris Stein is a photographer at heart and art. So maybe that was missed too. I do have a print edition coming and look forward to revisiting the book with that context too.

Read this book as one sided conversation sharing memories of a time from a respected elder. This is not a rambling of a crazy person, but ramblings of a person trying to capture everything and then leaving it to others to bring it to fruition in an understandable way at the end (which maybe doesn’t happen as clearly as we the reader would like). There is a sense of place but it’s chaotic truth.

It is so just matter of fact, the squalor of late 1960s to 1980s New York City, that it’s almost missed that his band “Blondie” was at the precipice of all music styles coming at that time. He founded a band that was so interested in all different genres, that while under the title of “punk” or “new wave” really the sheer variety of content that they recorded, often gets missed. Again, I go back to genius level human here.

There is a lot of drug content in the book, and due to it’s matter-of-factness may be triggering, but it’s not played up or down here. It’s just “there”. But that is his truth.

It also goes to show that adage… “Be kind. We never know what people are going through. Give grace and mercy because one day your circumstance could change and you may need it.”… ― Germany Kent.

As a lover of Blondie, I had no idea. Nor should I have until now.

Because of that at Chapter 9, I put the book down and picked up another. The break was needed.

Then at the first half of Chapter 10 I was rewarded by the most beautiful writing of the book.

I have read some other reviews where they comment that this is a cautionary tale of rock and roll stardom. I must disagree because really Blondie where never “stars”. They as a band were well regarded and niched into new wave and punk, but they were so very much more than that. They were never the “stars” that they could have been, should have been. Many of the recollections were of excess and then the downfalls which without fanfare are so important to remember.

This is a fable of great love of friends, a time where anything was possible and addictions of all types. The perspective is worth taking in and reading. Yes, this is about his on-going relationship between Debbie Harry (that I think fans of Blondie want to read about) but truthfully so much more. I really do appreciate that more than I thought I could when I finished it.

“Under a Rock” is a valuable memoir presented with his singular voice. Chris Stein makes a valuable note of what he feels truth of what the book is about too, in what is a very touching and heart wrenching epilogue.

[MB KARAPCIK · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child of the 1970s and 1980s, the songs of Blondie resonate for me. They were probably one of the first bands that exuded the kind of cool you may have wanted to have. Debbie Harry herself wasn't just beautiful--she was hip, and she was the center of the band surrounded by a bunch of understated guys dressed in black. You can see this when you look at the Parallel Lines cover, which I enviously remember one of my friends owned. One of the so-called understated guys was Chris Stein, former long-time love of Debbie and co-creator of Blondie. Under a Rock is his memoir, detailing remembrances of his youth and his life in Blondie.

The book starts out chronicling Chris's childhood and teen years in New York. His childhood was like many other children born in 1950 in the city, and you're taken on a whirlwind tour of what it meant to grow up at that time. I found it engaging and interesting, partly because Stein is such a great storyteller. There's humor and intelligence in anything he discusses, and his voice rocks the book. He was smart enough to be part of Mensa but was thrown out of his original high school for long hair.

You never get an introductory story of how Chris and Debbie met, but they were such a solid part of each other's lives in every way. They were partners, lovers, and friends. You sense the real love Chris had for Debbie and their mutual interest in culture, art, and music, and taking in stray cats! I always wondered why they drifted apart, especially since she was by his side the whole time when he became deathly ill. Once you hear of all the travails involving drugs, you understand what broke them up as a couple. Despite the break-up, they never really severed ties. They are very much part of each other's lives, and Stein referred to Debbie, his wife Barbara, and two daughters as his immediate family.

One of the amazing things about the book is the cameos and supporting characters. So many seminal luminaries of the punk world, art world, and so much more make significant appearances in the book. I love the line about when he first encountered Patti Smith at a poetry reading that he thought she may have a chance to become a singer. You'll meet up with Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and countless others. The best part is that they're very genuine meetings without the feeling of boasting or bulking up the book. They're just there and part of Stein's life.

The amount of drugs he and other people in his and Debbie's circle would take was staggering. It's a wonder that he's still around to tell the tale, especially when he becomes deathly ill. He's been through it all from riches to rags, but he made it through his addictions, somehow picking himself up and starting again. The one tragic thing that touched Stein's life and really made me sad was the untimely death of his daughter from an overdose. Even with the care he and his wife took to warn their daughters of drugs, it still happened. It definitely gives you pause and proves how it's possible how the genetic component of addiction can take hold.

I really appreciated the honesty of Stein. He says his piece and is deprecating in many instances. He's made mistakes, learned from them, and lived a truly interesting life that makes this book one worth reading. This is not a bitter or cynical man--he sounds hopeful even during his darkest days, and I appreciated all the incredible stories he tells.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press, for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! It was a pleasure!

[Susan Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Stein, a founding member of the late '70s new wave band Blondie, reveals a large part of the his life as well as providing insight into the early history of the band in his autobiography Under a Rock. The book opens the reader's mind not only to Stein's personal experiences but also into a period of time in American pop culture that influenced the direction of music, fashion, and the art world. In many ways, also, a time that influenced the medical treatment of people addicted to narcotics, a veritably new field for medical professionals then.

There are moments in Stein's book where the reader is so engaged in the narration that it is like actually being there. His descriptions about growing up in Flatbush, Brooklyn with his parents, who then relocated to Midwood in Brooklyn, is relatable to readers who underwent growing pains through their youth. His challenges, with both his parents and school mates, expose a human side to him. His perceptive nature and poignant observations about the people around him personalize his story. Really giving the reader insight into the person Chris Stein is and became.

His telling of his experiences while living as a hippie in the communal collectives and drug dens that riddled San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood during the period of 1966 to 1968 is both creepy and revealing. Stein, at times, will ramble about the people he encounters inside the art world during his time, living and roaming through the Manhattan neighborhoods of Cooper Union, Greenwich Village, Soho, and the Lower East Side during the late '60s and early '70s. Oftentimes losing or overwhelming the reader with the various threads of information he presents to the audience.

He shares with the reader several artists who shaped the direction of music, fashion, poetry/the written word, and art during this renaissance period of pop culture. Such notables in his narration include Vali Myers, Andy Warhol, Stephen Sprouse, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Robert Fripp, and the Ramones, to name a few. Many times, Stein presumes the reader knows who he is talking about, when he mentions people that were popular while his fame was rising. It is a different time, and some readers will need to look up these figures on their own because Stein does not explain what made these figures popular.

It is not until half way into the book that reader's discover how Stein met Debbie Harry, and they formed the world acclaimed, popular art rock/punk pop/new wave outfit Blondie. He shares his experiences with the band he founded with Harry, explaining them in a gritty form that shows the time was both stressful and fun. He imparts his wisdom about how he learned to identify con artists, and what is the criteria that helped him to make smart choices for himself.

Under a Rock is a whirlwind read that will open the reader's eyes to a world so unlike the one in present day. But also shows links that readers will discern connect modern day to the heyday of Blondie. Stein's autobiography allows him to step into the spotlight, permitting audiences to connect to him and not just be known as the guitarist in Blondie. He shows he is more than simply the guitarist, part-time bass player and co-writer of songs in the iconic Blondie. His story is very revealing and oftentimes very engaging on a human level.

[Brian Shevory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Publishers for allowing me to preview Chris Stein’s unflinching memoir Under a Rock. While I’m not a major Blondie fan, I’ve always enjoyed their poppy music, and I generally love memoirs by musicians, especially those detailing the downtown/CBGB’s music scene of the mid to late 70’s. Chris Stein’s book is a great addition to other books detailing this important time period in American music and beyond. Beyond the music, Stein has led a really interesting life, and reading about his pre-Blondie years, growing up in Brooklyn, travelling to the West Coast and going to Woodstock, as well as attending an alternative school in NYC with other musicians and artists was fascinating. His stories feature some amazing characters and incredible events. The strength of his book, though, details his time with Blondie, forming the band, starting up around the same time as the Ramones and Television, and eventually gaining popularity. Beyond being more pop oriented than some of the other downtown bands, Blondie also incorporated art in unique ways, and Stein’s background as a visual artist, both in photography and videography, probably added to the band’s integration of visual arts with their music. It’s interesting to look back on Blondie’s output and realize how much Debbie Harry’s image was associated with Blondie. However, Stein also shares that Blondie was also one of the first bands to create a video album to go along with their LP. I loved reading about Stein’s time with other musicians and artists, especially how close Blondie was with Iggy Pop, David Bowie, William S. Burroughs, and Andy Warhol. Although this larger section detailing the development and success of Blondie was the strongest of the book, it was also the most harrowing since this was also the time when Stein’s casual drug use eventually spiraled into full-blown heroin and cocaine addiction. Stein details his addictions and some of the depths that it took him to, eventually seeking out methadone treatment to manage his heroin addiction. As Stein notes in his epilogue (which you must read), it’s important not to glamorize addiction the way some artists have. He documents friends who died from overdoses, and the health struggles that he experienced as a result of his habit. The later chapters dealing with the dissolution of Blondie and eventual reformation kind of fly by. I actually had a hard time following along with his timeline of events, and it wasn’t until the section dealing with 9/11 that I kind of caught up with his timeline. In fact, this is probably the one shortcoming I found with Stein’s writing. There weren’t many transitions or connectives in the text, and this led to a kind of stream-of-consciousness thought-process on the page. I found it more with his early life and his later sections. The events jumped around and paragraphs were listed without any sense of how one event related to another—whether it was sequential, emotionally linked, or some other kind of connection. Sometimes, events that were seemingly non-events were listed without any explanation of their significance, making me question its inclusion. Nevertheless, Stein is an important musician and artist, and I appreciated learning more about his involvement in this seminal scene of music.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of this memoir about a man who found his soul mate, changed music, and can look back and see what he did right, what he did wrong, and his own legacy.

Over the years I have read a lot of memoirs about people in the entertainment business. Most are books that are written by others to help make money. Or they say they are telling the real story, and its more of an airing of grievances. Or a settling of scores. Or just plain hagiography. Few of these reflect on events, how situations could have been better handled, how an argument was allowed to fester ruining things later. How a friendship could have been saved, or even a life. Under a Rock: A Memoir by Chris Stein of the band Blondie is one of these books. Stein tells of his life, the things he did wrong, did right and got away with. Stein also talks about music, what he loved, and what he had a hand in creating with his soul mate Debbie Harry.

Chris Stein was born in Brooklyn in 1950. As a child he loved movies, music, comics, and roaming the city and seeing what he could. Stein's father passed away when Stein was young, a hole that messed him up for quite a while. Soon he was growing his hair long, hanging out with early hippies, and taking drugs. Tossed out of school for his long hair, Stein was able to get into art school, where an interest in photography began. Soon his roaming instinct took him to San Francisco, Europe and to a cheap room in Manhattan. Stein was getting more into music, and soon was hanging out with many of the early players who would create the music that would be called punk. The New York Dolls, meeting Iggy Pop, member of the Ramones before the were the Ramones. Everything came together when he met a young woman, Debbie Harry who was interested in music and even more interested in Stein. One day after dyeing her hair Harry was catcalled in the street. Instead of being annoyed she thought it would be a great band name. Blondie was born, and musical history was made.

Chris Stein has lead an amazing life, and knew many amazing people, who make appearances in this book. David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Andy Warhol. People who Stein learned from in different ways. The book is very well written with a nice style, one that really lets his voice show, and one that even Stein is amazed that all of this stuff happened too. There is a lot of sadness, the loss of people close to him, including his daughter, which for some reason hit me very hard in the writing. Stein is older and is able to look back at many of these things, bad music deals, fights in the band, disappointing people, and relate them in way that shows he wishes he had handled it better, and has learned a lot from his mistakes. Stein has a lot of interests and shares many of them, music of course, photography, even a bit about the occult. And of course much about the biggest character in the book the City of New York. Oh and Ms. Harry, of course.

Recommended for fans of the band, and music of the time. Also for those who love to read about New York when it was fun and dangerous. This is a really well-written tale about a young man, finding his soul mate, making music, and staying friends.