Cirrus@Austlit

'Memoirs about positive people who jog are not for me. I far prefer a big fat rock memoir with a black cover and razor-wire font. You don’t read these books for redemption or life skills, though, strangely, they sometimes contain them.

'Often a toxic tale, say Scar Tissue by Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis, will squeak out some clean memories. Expunged of chemicals and body fluids, like a donor organ. Hence the obligatory ‘‘detox’’ bit at the end of some rock biographies: Sting assuming full lotus position or Elton John hanging another Rembrandt in the loo.' (Introduction)