Eric Burdon is best known as the singer for The Animals. He’s not at all known for being a guy with a collection of stories and a good way of telling them. He should be, because his bio “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” is full of insights into the music scene, the ups and downs of being a 60s rock star and some of the biggest names in music history.
Burdon lives up to one of his own songs very well- “No Self Pity” on The Twain Shall Meet album. He describes the tough times and the good times with a tongue in cheek version of himself. His sense of humor is good, and there’s an element of songwriting in the way this book is put together.
One of the reasons for including this book in the SMJ Eclectics collection is because it does accurately reflect a lot of the sleaze in the music industry. The tales of big hits and stardom get a comeuppance they’ve deserved for a long time. Burdon’s no great admirer of the industry himself, and he accurately depicts the shady and sometimes very nasty characters in it. He recalls being told that one of the reasons the Animals anthem House of the Rising Sun was a hit was because “people” had been buying it
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