Description:
Beginning in 1978, Van Halen's rise was one of the most thrilling the rock world had ever seen. Lifting back the curtain on one of the great untold stories of rock music, Noel Monk, the manager who shepherded Van Halen from obscurity to rock stardom, details the most outrageous escapades from his time as confidant, fixer, and promoter--from hotel room destruction to outrageous backstage behavior to Eddie Van Halen's high-profile marriage to Valerie Bertinelli to the incredible drug use and drinking that would ultimately fuel the conflict between the band members.
More than just a portrait of rock and roll decadence, Runnin' with the Devil goes behind the legend of Eddie Van Halen, illuminating the factors that shaped one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time and made him vulnerable to the trappings of fame. Shedding light on the band's infamous breakup, Monk tells the story of David Lee Roth's departure as he saw it, explaining how a band at the height of their success struggled in vain to hold it all together. Messy, loud, and most of all fun, this is a look inside Van Halen unlike any you've ever seen.
Brief description:
Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Joe Layden has written more than thirty books for adults and children, including #1 New York Times bestsellers As You Wish and The Rock Says, and the critically acclaimed The Last Great Fight. He lives in Rhode Island.
Review Quotes:
"More than an insider's story about VH; Monk also shares fascinating firsthand information about how the music industry operated at that time...An absolute must-read for VH fans and fans of rock music memoirs." - Library Journal
"The Van Halen book you've been waiting for...brutally honest and at times shocking...Van Halen fans will be discussing and debating it with the same attention to detail as Eddie's finger-tapping work on 'Eruption.'" - Houston Press
"Too bad the title The Dirt was already taken. Noel Monk - who went from being Van Halen's road manager to their business manager during their Diamond Dave prime - holds nothing back...Monk paints a convincing picture of a brilliant, substance-addled young band that wasn't built to last." - Rolling Stone
"Monk tells with a raconteur's tone the kind of juicy stories (ketchup-fetish groupies, booze-and-coke fueled hotel-trashing, ridiculous rock star requests) that fans want to read. He also has plenty of more soulful memories about a young, hungry Van Halen seeing the world for the first time." - LA Weekly
"There's plenty of sex and drugs here, along with the absurdities of the hard-rock life." - New York Times Book Review