{"id":51382,"date":"2016-03-10T19:29:21","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T00:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=51382"},"modified":"2016-03-10T19:29:21","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T00:29:21","slug":"lita-ford-lita-ford-living-like-a-runaway-a-memoir-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2016\/lita-ford-lita-ford-living-like-a-runaway-a-memoir-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Lita Ford | Lita Ford – Living Like A Runaway: A Memoir<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Sr. Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"LivinglikeRunawayA part of the groundbreaking all-girl band The Runaways in the 1970s and a successful solo artist in male-dominated industry throughout the 1980s, Lita Ford is undoubtedly an important figure in rock annals. However, the vast majority of attention focused on her in recent years was not related to her achievements. From the eyebrow-raising 2009 release Wicked Wonderland<\/em> to the convolutions of her \u201cugly\u201d divorce with Jim Gillette, it\u2019s been mostly rumors and bad press going on. But perhaps, this is the reason behind the personal undertones of her 2012 album Living Like A Runaway<\/em> as well as the autobiography to see the light of day this year via Dey Street Books. Aptly titled Lita Ford – Living Like A Runaway: A Memoir<\/em>, the self-penned book marks the right moment to set all the story straight\u2026 or Ford\u2019s part of it, at least. <\/p>\n

Dedicated to the memory of The Runaways\u2019 drummer Sandy West, Living Like A Runaway<\/em> is divided into two parts. First chronicles Lita Ford\u2019s early days along with her entire tenure in The Runaways, whereas the other covers all events that happened afterwards, a time span dominated mostly by her solo career. The foreword is provided by Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, credible in this role with his personal knowledge of the story\u2019s protagonist and the similarity of their experiences. The first person narration Ford uses throughout the entire book corresponds with the emotional and very personal tone that prevails in it. It\u2019s all complemented by relatively simple, straightforward language which doesn\u2019t go for overdrawn metaphors or comparisons but rather reflects everyday life of the author. It\u2019s more than a memoir than the chronicle indeed – nonlinear, with frequent usage of retrospectives and digressions, all embellished with a vast number of various vignettes. Although the majority of them were built around a fair share of sex, drugs and rock\u2019n\u2019roll \u2013 famous names involved \u2013 the striking feature of Ford\u2019s narration is the usual avoidance of tabloid rhetoric. Many details are thus left to the reader\u2019s imagination. Another asset to the book is Living Like A Runaway not being overloaded with photos, a clear stance from a woman choosing not to be praised by her looks only.<\/p>\n

Starting from the day of her 16th birthday party and all the way back to her early childhood, Ford starts her journey down the memory lane. She recalls her school days, her first experiences with guitar playing as well as a detailed story of her family and upbringing. The latter reveals the strong bond between her and her supportive parents which is one of the leitmotifs of the entire book. Every reader who\u2019s even been a music fan \u2013 regardless of their gender and professional career \u2013 can relate to the author\u2019s memories of the ecstatic, eye-opening experience of seeing Black Sabbath for the first time at the tender age of 13 or her trip to California Jam \u201974 to see Deep Purple. A large part of the book is subjected to music-related events, the audition for The Runaways being its turning point \u2013 from then on, you\u2019re guided through the notorious world of show business with all its twists and turns from the perspective of a teenage girl. It\u2019s also a unique insight into The Runaways from their embryonic phase onto their development and demise \u2013 the tale of making music, going through puberty, touring, cruel managers, sex, meltdowns, pregnancies, drugs, alcohol, personal conflicts and abusive lovers. Although the author doesn\u2019t make the band\u2019s manager Kim Fowley or her former bandmates the villains of the story, she remains critical towards them and certain experiences from the past. From today\u2019s perspective, she looks at past conflicts with maturity and understanding, but admits she had neither years ago. She\u2019s neither demonizing, nor embellishing the story of The Runaways; therefore, her account of the events seems authentic and honest.<\/p>\n

Further into the book, a reader traces Lita\u2019s solo career, its development, demise and revival. In her retrospective stories, both onstage and backstage, she remains the proverbial \u201cone of the boys\u201d, keeping up with the standards of rock\u2019n\u2019roll life. However, in spite of her wild party ways, she\u2019s also a fearless, determined band leader focused on her goals and work. In regard to her musical role-models, she remains a devoted fan. Yet, her musings on the relationship with Black Sabbath\u2019s Tony Iommi reveal the wide gap between the real man and the rock star, perhaps an educational dimension to the book for all girls who idolize their heroes? Ford offers an insight into the Rock\/Hair Metal scene of the \u201870s and the \u201880s with all its staples, including the large influence of MTV on the latter decade. Many entertaining vignettes of her encounters with the late \u201870s Punk scene or bands like Judas Priest, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce or Bon Jovi are told. Between the story of recording, touring and sliding into debauchery, there\u2019s also place for the teenage pregnancy and abortion, toxic relationships, backstage fights and ugly splits. Ford also pays a tribute to her deceased parents and details the joys of motherhood. All throughout the book, she doesn\u2019t refrain from sharing the personal, or even the intimate and remains open about her sexuality. Although Living Like A Runaway<\/em> is undoubtedly a rock star\u2019s tale on success and debauchery, between the lines Ford speaks about things that are close to everyone \u2013 love, hate, family, dreams and passions we all share.<\/p>\n

The book itself was labeled as \u201cfull of dirt.\u201d The surprising thing, however, is that Lita Ford decided not to go for too many details regarding her hasty marriage to Jim Gillette, which surely would have made up the most scandalous and notorious part of her biography. As an author, she chooses to focus on her state of emotions throughout the years of marriage and the effect the instability of her household and isolation at the Caribbean exile had on her and her children. Rather than reproducing the rumors, she focuses on her side of the story. Symbolically, she also doesn\u2019t mention a name of her husband anywhere in the book and tells a story of her tattoos which represent her oppression, breakout and supposed catharsis.<\/p>\n

Living Like A Runaway<\/em> is obviously interesting for a Rock fan. However, it may spark interest also among the gender studies or popular music scholars \u2013 even in spite of its tone, which is hardly a scholar one. Although Ford doesn\u2019t call herself a feminist anywhere in the book, she actively campaigns for gender equality throughout her entire career. She thus shares a variety of stories on people\u2019s ignorance, double standards, misogynistic attitude and various trickeries she experienced from her fellow rockers, managers and producers. Her sexual adventures with a whole variety of rock stars somewhat retell a myth of rock\u2019n\u2019roll debauchery where a woman is not an object anymore but a subject. Living Like A Runaway<\/em> is thus not only a celebrity\u2019s biography, but also a tale of woman\u2019s lifetime struggle in the gendered world of Rock music.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a lot of boys whose bedrooms were graced by Lita Ford\u2019s posters in the \u201880s and an equal number of girls who dreamt of being just like her. However, you don\u2019t have to be either of them to enjoy Lita Ford – Living Like A Runaway: A Memoir<\/em> as it\u2019s simply a great read, driven by passion and lust for life. Ford isn\u2019t much of a philosopher but she\u2019s not trying to emulate one in her book \u2013 rather than that, she tells a simple but gripping tale of ups and downs of a female in the male-dominated music world. And even though she might not be entirely right in her saying this world\u2019s become one hundred percent equal now \u2013 she certainly did much to open the doors for every woman who ever called herself a rocker. Living Like A Runaway is \u2013 first and foremost \u2013 an account of all this struggle. Recommended.<\/p>\n

ISBN: 9780062270665
\nISBN 10: 0062270664
\nPublisher: Dey Street Books
\nWebsite: www.deystreetbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Sr. Columnist — A part of the groundbreaking all-girl band The Runaways in the 1970s and a successful solo artist in male-dominated industry throughout the 1980s, Lita Ford is undoubtedly an […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":51385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13652],"tags":[8719,2148,12131,589,12130,12133,12132,1276],"class_list":{"0":"post-51382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2016","8":"tag-book-review","9":"tag-dee-snider","10":"tag-dey-street-books","11":"tag-lita-ford","12":"tag-lita-ford-living-like-a-runaway-a-memoir","13":"tag-sandy-west","14":"tag-the-runaways","15":"tag-tony-iommi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}