Sing Backwards and Weep: A Memoir

You have to admire what this book represents in a number of ways, all of them unforeseen (by myself) and pretty compelling particularly at this moment in time. I've always liked Lanegan's music, he definitely has one of the most lovely voices of any singer and has been behind a trove of rich, compelling music. That much of it ends up being more memorable today than was previously recognized by the market it originally derived from is a testament to time and art. The fact that Lanegan managed to live at all is also some strange testament to life, one that's maybe never been told in such a brazen fashion. It's not necessarily graceful writing, but definitely as brutally honest as can be. What brought me to this book, oddly enough, was listening to Mark's latest record "Straight Songs of Sorrow," which came up on my spotify feed, as his music has for the past few years. A few songs on this record really stood out, enough that I thought I would investigate and see if he'd left any other overlooked surprises to mine. Its the pandemic after all, lots of time to explore! I was thinking performance videos or something of that nature. Instead I found this book, huge surprise, it just came out. This type of bio is not my interest at all any more in my own life, but something made me decide to indulge and see what it had to tell. Lanegan's songs have been in my head ever since I started reading and will likely remain. More than anything, it's opened my eyes to how much he's done in his career from the period in time the book ends. Now there are many more layers of music to discover and enjoy (I'm listening to his recordings with Isobel Campbell right now, wow they are beautiful!). I had mostly stopped following him well after the Trees "Dust" album, still one of the best of all time, so this is a nice portal back into some rather rich and "untapped" veins, no pun intended. There's definitely a lot in this book for anyone to get a blast reading, its harrowing and almost inexplicable most of the way through. But two things really resonate with me beyond the authorship itself. Namely, there are a ton of people in life who choose this path, the majority of them never amounting to anything but early death or the bane of many other's existence. Do they choose this, or does the path choose them based on their circumstances, upbringing, what they think they learn along the way, what roads are followed, decisions made or perhaps within their very DNA? Hard to say, but its something that will always be with us in life, there's no magic cure. And in the closing chapter Lanegan writes "I had grown up believing you took whatever you could from whoever and always looked out for number one, screwing anyone and everyone in the process. From my earliest childhood memories, I had been a thief and a flagrant, transparent, nonstop liar and cheat." The final recognition of a perilous junkie rings too true today for the poison that engulfs our greater society. Greed and machismo are not kind to humanity, they are pure heroin many need their fix from in order to feel well. It's what lies at the highest levels of the current leadership in the US at the time of this publication, and enormous swaths of the supposed god-fearing public. Fervent freedom values the most baseless way of life over integrity, honesty and looking out for all. It might make for tantalizing, unbelievable stories, but leaves a huge, wretched stain on the very notion of existence.

I did not know anything about Mark Lanegan until a few weeks ago when I stumbled into a video of Queens of the Stone Age performing Song for the Dead. I was mesmerized by the vocals. I had to find out who the singer was, so I bought the book. I'd say its a very grunge book about a very grunge life. Not necessarily a pleasant or enjoyable read, but that's not what you'd read this book for. You'd read it to find out more about the inner workings of a grunge band that flew under the radar (I'm assuming) and it's quiet, gruff, rough as gravel sounding singer. You'd read it to learn about what a life of drug addiction is like, and how for others like Lanegan, there wasn't much more to life than making music and getting high. Many did not survive. Langean did. I can't say I enjoyed the book. But I couldn't put it down, and I didn't want to put it down. The book isn't meant to be enjoyed, just as life isn't all sunshine (especially in the Pacific Northwest, I hear). Mark Langean was a man of a time and a place ,and this book is is a very close look at such a man's life, not necessarily warts and all, but just warts all around. What few moments of goodness there are, are precious - moments of warmth with friends (Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Josh Homme), lovers, and heroes (Jeffrey Lee Pierce of the Gun Club, and Johnny Cash). Through it all, tough as nails Mark Langean pushed through, sometimes with incredible luck, but mostly with the affection of those closest to him (Courtney Love). It gives me hope for myself that a loner like Langean could cultivate such great relationships. Also great was a getting to read about all the blood and sweat that went into his solo albums. If you're a grunge fan, this is the grunge story of a very grunge man.

I couldn't put it down!

First off: I am a fan of Mark. Secondly: I bought this book and finished it within a day or two. The next day: he decided to die. I'm not one known for firing off Warning Shots. I am most CERTAINLY NOT a right winger or conservative but I am not a fan of Political Correctness whatsoever. That's MY problem. I had a troublesome childhood but then again: WHO DIDN'T? I do not make excuses. I was taught to "suck things up" growing up. I was not coddled. I was spoiled yes - "ONLY CHILD VIRUS" haha, but I was not pampered. What's my point? I respect genuine examples of being "TRIGGERED", which seems to be a relatively newer overused idiom of PC-dom. Friends of mine with genuine PTSD can be triggered. So I will purposely step on 10,000 miles of eggshells for them. I believe that certain people abuse the term "TRIGGERED" for their own personal agenda. People that simply do not LIKE things or are simply ANNOYED will pull that card immediately. This is the rare moment I will use the term LEGITIMATELY: IF YOU HAVE A PERSONAL HISTORY YEARS OF HARDCORE DRUG ABUSE - particularly with HEROIN - this book WILL TRIGGER YOU LIKE HELL. I am one of these people. I have been fortunate to have remained clean from all hard drugs since 2015. I don't need to pat myself on the back for that one. It wasn't and still isn't easy. THIS BOOK is one long durge down Mark's Memory Lane of self abuse and it dragged me down the rabbit hole with him. It's is not a tale of redemption. Knowing Mark's personal history through public interviews as well as personally knowing people who have actually known him very well on the West Coast - the man continued to use after this book ends and it doesn't end in the present times. I'm the ONLY survivor of EVERYONE I've ever known closely to have used dope in their lives. My best friend since Kindergarten? Gone. All his friends who were mine also? Gone. The pandemic took more junkies it seems than the pandemic itself. If I didn't have the same life as Mark I would probably have enjoyed this book so much more. Straight and Square people seem to be absolutely fascinated with hot mess rock stars and their lifelong debauchery. I know I SURE WAS before I even touched a drug. But for me -- even though Mark had much more success than I'll probably ever see (you never know - I got tricks up every sleeve...believe in myself too much) -- this book just left way too much of THAT out. The GOOD THINGS IN LIFE. But then again I know the man's poetry and music and wasn't going into this book expecting that. I just didn't expect to be hit as hard as I was from all the dark alleys of similarities he seemed to personally offer me....from the black of the ink pounded into pure white pages.

Mark Lanegan's autobiography takes you on a dark, raw, tumultuous and captivating journey where he goes through so many different phases in his life, goes to wildly different levels in society and meets insane amounts of powerful, crazy, mean, famous, talented, broken, helpful, backstabbing and lovely people. It gripped me right from the start, and it was difficult to put the book down once I started it. It also introduced me to several different artists that Mark worked with or was inspired by, and as someone who is passionate about music, that was an awesome experience.

Gran libro, muy recomendable. Llegó en buen estado.

This book gives insight into two things- Mark Lanegan's life, and the rich and fertile scene of the Seattle music scene that slowly grew in the 80s, and took the world by storm in the 90s. For those of you who don't know, Lanegan is a living legend, and one of the last, sadly, from this said Seattle scene (many have tragically fallen to drugs, suicide, other forms of misfortune, etc.) For years, Lanegan was not really one to spill out all the secrets of his past, it was really enigmatic and shrouded in mystery for the most part. He was inspired by his pal Anthony Bourdain (R.I.P.) to pen this memoir or autobio of sorts. It took a lot out of him, so respect should be given in hearing him out. For anyone who would like any gritty and colorful real life account of drug addiction, stage life, growing up in a messed up small town, standing up to oppression of sorts- this fits the bill even if you are not into 'grunge' as a style of music. There's still a poignant beauty throughout as well. Anyway, I thought I knew it all when it came to the Seattle scene, but Mark reveals not just fine details of his own life, but of many of the other musicians he was on a first-name basis with. Here's a sampling of some surprising facts/tidbits: -Chris Cornell (R.I.P. / Soundgarden singer in case yr living under a rock) once licked Lanegan's eyeball -Jerry Cantrell (of Alice in Chains) stole Mark's porn collection. Haha! -Mark once dated a girl with genuine psychic powers. -Mad Season was a great grunge supergroup featuring members of Screaming Trees, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam etc. Mark was a key guest on Mad Season's eponymous album. That I knew, but I was surprised to find out his vocal parts on that album were recorded in just over an hour. -Mudhoney manager Bob Whittaker's dad was the first American to climb Mount Everest, and was friends with Robert Kennedy. - He tricked a bunch of people into thinking Gary Lee Conner ('Trees' guitarist) was Meatloaf! -Mark started a food fight after the Trees' Letterman Show appearance, haha. -He almost had to amputate his right arm once. -Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley was VERY good pals with Mark. I thought they were just musical cohorts but they were practically brothers. Mark was also very close with Kurt Cobain, though that I knew before.. Anyway, I'll save the rest because there are TONS of more juicy morsels of knowledge. One thing I liked about Mark's writing style is it's very unpretentious and easy to digest. This is a book you can really sit down with and fly through, yet probably read again sometime and smile at some of these accounts and memories (or even feel a bit of heartache for the sad parts). YES smile because there is humor and light, not just darkness. I'd highly recommend this for fans of 'grunge' or Seattle music, or people who just like honest to goodness truth in the world. Support the legend of this once great scene, and support Mark as one of the last men standing, and get it! I'm not big on audiobooks, but a great bonus if you get it in that form, is you get to hear none other than Mark's trademark soulful whiskey and smoke soaked voice read it all- a voice that sounds amazing with his singing and just as good with speaking. I could honestly listen to him recite boring medical dictionary excerpts and be thrilled, and I buy just about anything the guy releases, with good faith in good product. I think you can even hear the audiobook on Youtube, if you like to preview. Whatever the form you get it in, this is HIGHLY recommended. P.S. If I had only one complaint. It's that Mark stops his book at Layne Staley's death in 2002, very abruptly too, no neat conclusion or way it all gets tied together with a neat bow. I think this is apt in one way, as Layne's death might have hit Mark almost the hardest, and his life was just never the same after, and there aren't nice fairytale endings or conclusions to these things in reality. Still, I would have loved to know how Mark's life was from 2002 up until when this book was first published in 2020. It's like 18 years of Mark's life are still more or less a mystery. The good news is, I heard Mark's coming out with a large collection of poems that kind of explains this period of his life, and does act kind of like a sequel of sorts. Stay tuned for that... EDIT: March 19, 2022~ So at this point Mark is no longer with us, sadly. Rest his soul. There IS also now a sequel to this, called 'Devil in a Coma', just published recently. I've yet to read it though..

This was an absolutely gripping autobiography and one of the best memoirs I have ever read. All the reviews whether from publications or on here are all true. It’s a raw and gripping read. I only knew a brief amount of information on Lanegan and after reading this it was a huge eye opener. He had a tumultuous upbringing and life but unfortunately went with the drug side. Much like most of the Seattle scene. As someone who has not been an addict I found it difficult that he would spiral back into addiction each time. The vast amount of money that he must have injected, smoked or snorted must have been huge. You will join Lanegan on his many rides to score and actually hope as he does to succeed. When reading this book you will literally loathe and then love Lanegan. He had a stormy existence and I wish that he is now at peace.

There is a sense of impending doom right through this book but yet its impossible to put down. Mark Lanegans description of his history with the Screaming Trees is fascinating and his rubbing shoulders with many of the famous musicians from that era takes you back to those times. It's hard to escape the excruciating details of his addiction however and at times it becomes hard to turn the page but Lanegan can really write and has a wicked sense of humour which gets you through the darker passages of his book. How he came out the other side is testament to his incredible resilience.