Take a Walk on the Dark Side : Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and well-researched
Review: After listening to author Patterson on Coast To Coast A.M.,
I was sufficiently intrigued to get this book. And I am SO GLAD that I did!

This book is really a standout from other Rock bios I'd previously read, primarily due to the SUPERB investigative skills of Patterson! He literally leaves no stone unturned
in uncovering intriguing and often frightening "connections" in the deaths of noted Rock icons-connections that defy simple explanation or coincidence.

Patterson combines fascinating and well researched information with his uncanny abilities as a "born storyteller". Unlike so many other books of this genre, I found myself enthralled by his literary style:warm, engaging and GENUINELY affecting. His sincere love of the music(and respect for the artists who create it)comes shining through in each paragraph!

BE WARNED:once you pick this book up, you WON'T want to put it down til it's over! It's like a TERRIFIC mystery novel, but-as the saying goes-truth REALLY IS stranger than fiction!




Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but could be written better
Review: Having heard the author on a radio talk show, I felt motivated to buy this book, which offered to tell stories of the "dark side" of rock and roll, a chronicle of the myths and tragedies that have become part of the history of the music industry. What I got was a book that was filled with a lot of interesting facts but was only intermittently well-written.

The premise of the book - only half-believed by the author himself - seems to be that the creation of rock was somehow tied to a pact with Satan, resulting in a curse that afflicted the business, resulting in death and tragedy for many artists. The principal character in this story is Robert Johnson, who supposedly sold his soul for musical talent and eventually became one of the progenitors of rock and roll. As the genre developed, the deaths started occurring, beginning with "the day the music died" when Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper all died in a plane crash. This led to a string of deaths that were all tied together by dark coincidences. Besides Johnson, the other principal character in this saga of rock is a satanist named Alisteir Crowley who rose to prominence in the early 1900s and later had influence on some of the biggest names in music.

For the most part, this book doesn't really assert these myths are facts, just a conspiracy theory developed by rock fans piecing together random facts to find patterns where none truly exist. Nonetheless, the author Patterson doesn't spend much time refuting many of these myths (although he does question the truth of some of them, especially the one on backward tracks) even if they are presented in a somewhat skeptical manner.

Patterson also is not the greatest of writers, with a tendency to lean on the same words over and over again. The word "ironic" appears around once every other page or so, and not always appropriately; it sometimes seems he uses it as a synonym for another overused word, "coincidental." Is this a great book? No, but it is a good one, a strong three starts, filled with enough entertaining facts to offset the weaknesses in presentation. If you're interested in the myths of rock history, this is a recommended read.


Rating:
Summary: It's a hoot!
Review: I found most of the ironic and frightening tales within this book to be quite entertaining, though I had heard most of them before. Television and the media, especially MTV and VH1, have been all over this material for years. It was still fun to read about them all again, contained in one short volume. Though the book was a bit amateurish, grammatically speaking, the writer at least knew how to amuse, especially by making mountains out of molehills. It's all coincidences mostly, of course. I found it interesting that a reviewer had brought up the phallic symbol seen on old copies of Disney's `Little Mermaid', a legend the writer discounts. I've seen it too, as a family member had shown it to me a while back. They say it's unintentional (though I don't know how it could be), but it truly does exist on those old videocassette covers. It's just one of those comical things in life. This book is too.

Rating:
Summary: A bit of a stretch ... but interesting all the same.
Review: R. Gary Patterson's book, "Take A Walk On The Dark Side - Rock And Roll Myths, Legends, And Curses", interested me enough just from viewing the cover. I've always been interested in myths, legends, and the occult anyway. I knew it was going to be an attention grabber right from the start.

Although I found it interesting, and zipped right through it, I realized that much of the content was quite far-fetched, a real stretch of the imagination, to say the least. However, it was entertaining all the same.

The book has its share of problems, mainly the blatant lack of professionalism commonly displayed by reputable publishers. It appeared throughout that they didn't bother taking the time to edit the book, for errors in the text were plentiful. That doesn't always bother me, though, as mistakes are often imperceptible within a good read. But the style of this book was annoying in places, too. The author often repeated information as if it were never mentioned before. In other words, instead of throwing in something like: `as I had said earlier', or, `referring back to ...', the author would merely reiterate throughout.

I did find the subject matter on the Buddy Holly curse, Robert Johnson, The Allman Brothers Band, Aleister Crowley, and Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin to be quite interesting, even though I knew most of it already. The information on numerology, especially that of John Lennon and the number 9, was fascinating. Most of the crazy legends and curses can be taken with a grain of salt, though, as the author often gave the impression that he had way too much time on his hands. The endless section on Jim Morrison could have been abbreviated, as it seemed as though the whole concept of the book was being forgotten and overshadowed by what was turning out to be a Morrison biography.

I often found that the author was trying to convince the reader of the legitimacy of, or even the existence of, much of the content, even though the opposite had been implied. But when telling the tale of the phallic symbol found on early covers of Disney's `The Little Mermaid', he denounced the finding as untrue, a figment of viewer's imaginations. I've seen a few old VHS copies of the movie, and I know he's wrong; the symbol is there in plain sight (not on newer copies of the same). It's kind of ironic that after so much hyperbole, he then criticizes something that's actually true. (And yes, I've even been to Snope's, and have seen that I am correct. In fact, in their website, the phallic symbol is there for anyone to view.) I guess the moral of the story is that one should believe in a myth, legend, or a curse only when knowing for a fact one exists.

The book helped me waste some time, as I love to read about rock'n'roll. Consider the content to be all in good fun, because that's exactly what it is.


Rating:
Summary: Rock and Roll's Fox Mulder strikes again
Review: Several years ago, I took a chance and interviewed R. Gary Patterson on my radio show about his book, " The Walrus Was Paul " " The Great Beatle Death Clues of 1969."

The reaction I got from my listeners was unprecedented. People called to complain saying they were late for work because they refused to leave their cars until the interview was over.

Time has passed and we lost touch. Then I saw that Gary had written a new book so I took chance number two and purchased it. Wow, " Take A Walk On The Dark Side " by R. Gary Patterson, is a chapter by chapter compilation of weird and spooky Rock and Roll myths and legends, warnings and harbingers, premeditated and organic, gruesome deaths and peaceful endings, coincidences and once in a lifetime tall tales.

They're all wrapped up in a dandy book that can serve as common ground for young people and their elders, who have long shared and passed along in urban legend fashion over the past 50 years ( save Robert Johnson ) of these person to person whispered rock secrets.

These are the tales my friends and I spoke about in the dark, in hushed breaths, blankets over our heads with the ghosts of electricity howling by flashlight onto the bones of our faces. Back then, rock and roll itself was the mysterious force that separated, divided and distinguished my generation from that of our parents.

Until Gary Patterson came along, there was no one to represent the interests of this musically macabre constituency. The funereally fascinated can take ( a still beating ) heart because " Take A Walk On the Dark Side," surely will be their cup of blood.

For me, the chilling thrill of finally reading about tales that have heretofore only existed as the shrouded starless spectral secrets of rock's far more intriguing underside is triumphant, if overdue validation that my friends and I have not been the only ones interested in this saturnine subject.

At this point I think it necessary to address what seems to be a misconception of some of my fellow reviewers. It appears to me that the objective of the book is to assemble many of the more mysterious and compelling stories from the " dark side " of rock and roll and bring them into the light of day. Gary Patterson has done just that.

Reviewers mrliteral and HDBboth expressed dismay that the confirmation or dismissal of these tales is sometimes missing.

I searched through the book after I read their reviews to see if Patterson ever stated that that was his goal.

Looking for confirmation or debunking? Forget it. Nowhere is it stated that he has set out to debunk these stories - what fun would that be?

If that's what you want, take a trip to snopes, which would have been the correct thing before bringing up the Little Mermaid minister's phallus legend. Our reviewer claims it's true because he saw it with his own eyes.

Snopes claims that to be totally untrue.

However, if what you crave is an extended visit to rock and roll's ever enthralling " dark side, " R. Gary Patterson's " Take a Walk On the Dark Side " Rock and Roll Myth Legends and Curses is lurking in the shadows for you.

Can't wait for the film or TV shows to follow.