Steve Jones - Lonely Boy

Steve Jones was always the not-so-lovable oaf whose guitar work - equal parts stolen from the two Johnny's: Thunders and Ramones - drove the Sex Pistols sound and, with super-solid Paul Cook on the drums and melodic basslines from Glen Matlock, gave the r'n'r backing to John Lydon's politically biting lyrics and gave face to the British version of punk rock. Jones always came off as a brutish, not-particularly-bright, addictive lout who just happened to be in the right place at the right time, but this autobiography does paint him in a better light (not surprisingly).

With a teenage, unwed mother, followed by an abusive step-dad, an encounter with a local perv, and an undiagnosed learning problem, his later attitude and demeanor takes on a new meaning. While he is not necessarily book-smart (he apparently still struggles with attention disorders), he is not stupid and he does tell his tale engagingly.

Interestingly enough, his early musical awakenings are quite varied - from Jimi Hendrix to Otis Redding to Zep and Sabbath to Hawkwind and, notably, a group that sticks with him to this day, Roxy Music! Of course it took a little time to move from thievery and peeping-Tom addictions to get his own group together - as opposed to just hanging out with friends in a room filled with stolen equipment - and Malcolm McLaren's Let It Rock store was the impetus for it all with Malcolm as a mentor and friend to Jones. I always enjoy hearing about the early days of any band and this one was odder than most, with Malcolm finding Glen and Johnny (Paul'n'Steve were the ones who started it all, as they had already been friends for years), as opposed to the group forming organically. Of course, things disintegrated within a short period of time, starting with the Grundy media debacle that screwed over their live gigs and then kicking Matlock out and bringing Sid Vicious in, which meant they no longer had their best songwriter and best musician.

As Jonesy admits, you would think that after watching Sid dissolve, the last thing that he would do was get hooked on heroin, but, sure enough, that's the route he takes and he blows everything he has. His next two bands, the Professionals and Chequered Past, are barely footnotes in his junkie haze. I do tend to get bored with the whole addiction'n'recovery business and Jones is only particularly interesting because during his recovery he somehow got to work with Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison!! Iggy, I understand, but Dylan and Orbison I really don't get, seeing as Steve is not an exceptional (or even special) player, but I guess they were looking for a certain something. In any case, he cleans up, does reunion shows, tries to pull himself together a bit to make himself a better person and gets his own, now rather iconic, radio show.

Yes, the end of the book is a little bit dull and predictable, as with most band stories after the band breaks up, but overall, Jones is surprisingly erudite and entertaining. As usual, I wish there were more details of the band days, but this is a quibble and I do recommend this book for fans of r'n'r and, naturally, British punk.