27: A History of the 27 Club Through the Lives of Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse by Howard Sounes

27: A History of the 27 Club Through the Lives of Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse Reviews

• 
  Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️

  This made for a semi-entertaining read...but I have to say the title of this should should have been "How Amy Winehouse - and Some Other People - Died. Oh, and They Were 27."
  
  Not only that but there was a lot of assassination of character happening here, all of which seemed to be based on supposition, complete speculation, and the very clearly biased opinion of the author.
  
  He made Jim Morrison sound like a complete psychopath, and a huge dick to boot. Not saying he was perfect by any means, but really. He made Pamela Courson sound like an airhead hippie that floated through life like a wasted, vapidly selfish butterfly who falsified a crime scene.
  
  And don't get me started on his account of Kurt Cobain. He made Kurt sound like a petulant child with a made-up stomachache.
  
  I'm not suggested any of these people were angels in life by any means; however, their stories and obvious life struggles cannot be so simply and tritely explained either.
  
  But this author presented his warped opinion as if they were facts. And he also made a lot of statements regarding fates, mental states, and addiction that even trained doctors and psychiatrists would never make.
  
  Like I said, an engaging read...but I definitely don't trust the "facts" presently here....or the author's blatantly biased suppositions he spun as fact.
  
  
• 
  Jade

  I gave this book one star for teaching me the lesson of being less impulsive in what I choose to read. Utter crap. This book looked so promising-a subject that interests me, 3 of my favorite musicians (Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse and Jim Morrison) and a fresh take on their lives and connections. Boy, was I fooled. This book is like falling downhill--it just gets worse and worse as it goes. It starts out promisingly (though as other reviewers have noted, it is more about Amy Winehouse than any of the other "27's". I don't have a problem with that as I love her, but it's a bit of false advertising. Most of the information seems to have come from other people's books--Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Mitch Winehouse. So the basic information is out there in way better books.
  The book starts out with some interesting statistics and quickly descends into tabloid mud slinging and HUGE speculation, and the worst part--straight up character assassination. Particularly towards women. He dismisses women as "flaky", "pathetic", "a liar", "unreliable", "warped" and more. He reserves the most vitriol for Pamela Courson (Jim Morrison's life partner)and Monika Dannemann (Jimi Hendrix's girlfriend at the time of his death.) His hateful comments about Pamela Courson are particularly nasty. He acts as if she were nothing but a side piece for Jim Morrison when she was an intelligent, creative and interesting person all on her own. He blames her as he does Monika Dannemann for not doing enough to stop the deaths of Hendrix and Morrison (as if either of those men could be controlled). Just to show the lame attempt at research here, he comments that Pamela's ashes were interred with Jim in Paris. An untrue fact that can be easily disproved by an internet search. The Wikipedia page has better information than he does.
  He is also extremely nasty to Mitch Winehouse, insinuating that his past business problems mean that he is a shady money hound profiting of of his daughter's death. If you pay close attention you notice he tends to trash anyone who would not talk to him for his book. The exception is poor Linda Leitch, Brian Jones former girlfriend and mother of his son as well as the wife of singer Donovan. He paints her as a foolish conspiracy obsessed hippy that is barely worth listening too. I found it interesting that he wrote so nicely about Reg Traviss (Amy Winehouse's last boyfriend)and failed to mention the fact that well before the publication of this book Reg Traviss was accused of rape. He was later found not guilty but painting him as some knight in shining armor is a HUGE stretch. But Reg talked to him so he does not get trashed. He writes as if he worked for the National Enquirer--concocting death scenes that he has no first hand knowledge of with over dramatic language and slightly sick glee.
  Yet another problem with the book is that he seems obsessed with turning accidental deaths into suicides. Anything that was clearly an accident (Hendrix is a good example) is poked and prodded with tiny and insignificant facts to make them seem "suicidal". I have never in my life read anything that intimated that Jimi Hendrix was suicidal--of the entire bunch, he was the most positive person in his day to day life. Like most of the 60's era 27's he was careless with drugs--many, many people were. This does not intimate a death wish. People did not know the repercussions as well then as they do now. He does the same thing with Jim Morrison--while Jim was a more depressive person and always interested in death, his death is nearly always classified by both writers and friends as an accident of some sort. The same with Janis Joplin, who was clearly on an upswing--he actually speculates to the point of ridiculousness with her death.
  I could truly go on and on--the incorrect facts, the faulty research and the absolute mean spirited nature of the book is just insane. There is very little acknowledgement of the talent of each of these special people--or the commonly known fact that those with talent are often cursed with great emotional pain. That fact is dissected to make it seem as if personality disorders, mental illness and sometimes just plain bad luck doom the talented to death at a young age or suicide. Overall, one of the ugliest books I have ever read. I was not at all surprised to find that he was once a journalist ( I use that term lightly) for the Sunday Mirror--a paper that while popular has a real tabloid edge to it. I would never touch another book this so called "author" has written. I have included a picture of Pamela Coursons grave--where her remains are actually interred--which is not in Paris and not with Jim Morrison. Just to prove the sloppiness.
  
  
• 
  Jonathan

  This is a highly selective look at the so-called "27 club," specifically about six prominent members. Sounes briefly tries to find some thematic connection between all of the members, but ultimately he just focuses on the six most self-destructive. He considers these six to be the most well-known of those musicians who died at the now infamous age of 27, but I'm not sure that most people would consider Brian Jones to be a more recognizable name than Robert Johnson or Otis Redding. Sounes was obviously just looking for those who flamed out spectacularly. Redding and Johnson get mentions, and there is an alphabetical long list of the 27's at the end of the book, but a compiled list of names with a few sentences about each of them hardly qualifies as a history of the club.

  With the exception of Amy Winehouse (who seems to be the real focus of the book), the biographies that Sounes present are mostly retread of the stories that have already been told of these musicians, although he does include some new interview material. He also seems very determined to debunk any conspiracy theories surrounding these musicians' deaths.

  If you have never read any material about the musicians included in this book then I think it might be a good place to start, as he does clearly present the circumstances of their lives and deaths. If, however, you are familiar with them then there won't be too much here that is new or revelatory.
• 
  Ezgi Tülü

  DNF @ 63%
  
  Okuduğum zaman bu kadar bilgi bana fazla geldiğinden sonra okumak üzere kenara kaldırmıştım fakat aradan bayağı zaman geçti ve bir daha elime alacağımı sanmıyorum.
• 
  Erin

  Disappointing. Some really weird, crappy comments and assumptions about the behaviors of people who suffer with depression, substance abusers, and those who commit suicide. Not as much of a sympathetic tone as would be necessary and welcome for this subject matter.
• 
  Mary

  The author's basic premise is that dying at age 27 is a coincidence but then spends considerable time documentating even more absurd coincidences with nary an insight in sight. Cobain and Winehouse liked their grandmothers! Morrison and Winehouse thought children were fun!
• 
  ✭ emilee ✭

  very unimpressed with a book that i had hoped would be insightful but was instead tabloid-y and exploitative
• 
  nehir

  Çok kapsamlı bir kitap. Tek eksik noktası beyaz çakmak teorisine hiç değinilmemiş olması.
• 
  Pat

  I was very impressed by the author's thorough research and his sane and balanced viewpoint. He writes well and I found it quite compelling. The stories of the '27' Club's principal members are sobering (quite ironic given the role of alcohol in so many of the stories) and generally sad. Most of them were intelligent, nice people who went through a traumatic childhood and did not have the mental strength to cope with all that fame and fortune brings. Nor we're they served well by family, friends and lovers. When you read just how badly they abused their bodies with drugs and alcohol it's amazing they even reached 27. The author looks at the lives and deaths of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse. He moves through a life-phase of each musician-childhood, the struggle for recognition, fame at last, how they handled fame, the descent into serious substance abuse and the very moving final days. Generally he handles this well but just occasionally it seems a bit awkward. Apart from this small thing this is a fantastic insight into the pressures of fame and how dangerous it can be.
• 
  JulieLaLa

  4.5 Stars!
  An excellent book, well-researched and well-presented. It deals with the sudden deaths of Amy Winehouse and the big 5 of the so-called "27 club" (Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain). Author Howard Sounes draws parallels between what these stars shared: their artistic sides, their troubled youths, their likely psychological issues (often caused by childhood upheavals), their ascent to fame and their difficulties in coping with the fame and the associated lifestyle.
  
  Without falling into sensationalism or gory details, the author presents the facts about the "27s" lives and deaths, and debunks much of the mythology surrounding these supposedly well-known music stars and the some of the conspiracy theories associated with some of them (i.e. murder rather than self-abuse leading to death).
  
  I won an advanced copy of this book, but my review is NOT influenced by that fact. I've been critical of another book I won.
• 
  Ryan H

  I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook and I thought it was very well done. This was one of my first nonfiction audiobooks and I thought being that it's an audiobook it would be boring, on the contrary it definitely was not. This gave us an in-depth look at the life and death of some of the worlds greatest musicians. At times I found myself going to iTunes and listening to many of the songs mentioned in the book just to get a little bit more knowledge of each musician. It really gave me a look into the life and the world of generations before my time. If you're a music lover or a history lover this book is definitely for you. Give the audiobook try as the narration is very well done. The narrator uses different voices and even incorporate some English accents which were really good. A very emotional listen. This is the end my beautiful friend. A great tribute to some of the best musicians the world has ever seen taken from us too soon.
• 
  Janine

  I wanted to like this book.
  Sadly I didn't really like it.
  
  I won this book in the giveaways and I was very excited to get it in the mail. I even planned to read it regardless of if I won it or not, I already had it on my hold list at the library.
  
  Going into this book I was expecting it to be mostly about Amy. I did understand there would be parts about the other big six, but I was not expecting the amount that there was. The author wrote just as much about the other big six individually as they did on Amy. For Amy's name to be out in front as the title I felt a little mislead.
  
  The book did provide a lot of information on all of those in the 27 Club, so if you are looking to hear about the big six then I would recommend this book. I was just looking to read about Amy more then the others.
• 
  Sara

  This was a lot better than I though it was going to be - I was expecting a fairly sensationalist, cash in on Winehouse's death tacking on the myth of the 27 club and some of its other members. Instead, Sounes begins by looking at whether the 'club' has credibility - finding yes there is a peak at age 27 of musicians dying - but expressing reservations that the myth has been inflated.
  
  He gives equal time to exploring the rise, sometimes fall and reasons for the untimely demises of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse. I don't like any of these artists enough to bother with a biography looking at just them so this was a good way of doing it. Amy's dad Mitch does not come out of this well I have to say!
• 
  Melinda

  Good music; tragic, short lives.
  
  This book is focused on the life and death of Amy Winehouse and uses the lives of five other musicians that died at 27 to show the similarities in their early lives, careers and deaths. Instead of straightforward biographies on each subject, Sounes tells about a part of life for each musician at a time, like childhood, teenage years, early careers, and so on. I enjoyed the book and am glad I read it, but it's depressing to read about all the addiction and mental health issues. But, as the author points out, should these issues had been resolved, the world wouldn't have been touched by optometrist Brian Jones, landscaper Jimi Hendrix, or Texas housewife Janis Joplin.
• 
  Jamie Beckett

  It starts and ends with Amy Winehouse. Not because she's the most talented of the artists profiled, or the most prolific. Far from it. She's simply the most recent high-profile example of a chain of events that most closely resembles a slow-motion train wreck. Rooted in a prodigious talent, coupled with self-esteem issues, a penchant for substance abuse, in an industry where death often translates directly into dollars - 27 is an fascinating expose of the fragility of our heros, who are only people in the end. People with deep flaws, serious insecurities, and a drive for acceptance, adoration, or anything that feels like love.
  
  Well worth the read. I felt enlightened even as the sorrow of their loss was renewed in me.
• 
  Allison Seyler

  I'm an avid Joplin fan so this book grabbed my attention. The author does an okay job of working though the idea of the "27 Club," as he walks readers through each artist's personal life and path to fame. In my opinion, he spends a bit too much time on Amy Winehouse, but I learned a lot about Jones, Hendrix, and Morrison. I liked how he talked about the emergence of conspiracy theorists in most of the artists' deaths. I really enjoyed learning more about Janis and Kurt. All in all, an okay read.
• 
  Breanna Liston

  I genuinely enjoyed this book, mainly due to the subject matter. All of the musicians mentioned are interesting characters, and the author does a good job describing their lives leading up until the point of their deaths. I was slightly disappointed there wasn't much research into the theories or ideas of the phenomenon of the 27 club. I think if the book branched out more and discussed how famous celebrities sometimes pass away at a young age, not just 27, it would have been more substantial.
• 
  Larissa Deyneka

  Fun, fast read and interesting. I like that the author includes all the myths and legends but doesn't necessarily give them clout. I have been interested in the subject as a casual reader and didn't honestly know how many of some of the best bands out there have a member in the "club". I also didn't know much about Brian Jones before and would be interested to read more about his life.
• 
  Jillian Tourangeau

  Loved it. A lot of discussion about Amy Winehouse, which was interesting, but I wish there was an equal amount of information regarding everyone else. This book cuts through the fat and gives real fact and ignores the conspiracy theories which I liked.
• 
  Meg

  The misplaced blame, placed rather angrily upon significant others and parents, for untimely deaths of music greats really left a bad taste in my mouth.
  
• 
  Jim

  This book contains an appendix listing the many musicians who died at the age of 27 from various causes, many from abusing drugs &/or alcohol. The author did a statistical analysis that suggests that there is a spike in the number that died at 27. The book focuses on 6 well known musicians who died at 27: Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain & Amy Winehouse. The book spent a little too much time on Amy Winehouse for my taste, probably because the author was working on a biography of Amy Winehouse that morphed into this book.
  
  These 6 had a number of things in common, including problems with their immediate family members, psychological problems, trouble coping with sudden fame and problems with their bandmates, managers, etc. Kurt Cobain's death was the only one of these that was ruled a suicide but the author convincingly argues that several of the others were so reckless that they were bound to die from their behvaviors, if they weren't in fact suicides.
  
  The author does a good job sorting through the murky details of their last days and debunking various conspiracy theories. What emerges are thoughtful portraits of very talented, but flawed and ultimately tragic, people. This book doesn't glorify their deaths.
• 
  Becca

  This book is a STRUGGLE. I've found myself skipping full paragraphs because I'm just so bored. It does cover the 6 artist listed but Amy is the focal point and her story is the least interesting to me. I could be reading it at a bad time, sometimes books just don't fit into the moment, ya know? but i dont think id ever pick this up again. I'm powering through it, skipping lines if i need to, just to feel like I got something out of it.
• 
  Cassie

  Definitely an interesting read, mainly focused on Amy’s life and death and any similarities she shared with the other high profile members of “The 27 Club”. Amy’s death was the first musician death to hit me hard—we were the same age. She died the day before my 28th birthday. I never thought she’d make it past 30, but her death was still a shock.
  
  Overall, the book feels a bit disjointed, bouncing between subjects.
• 
  Choltida Pekanan

  What’s this writer’s obsession with Amy Winehouse? He can’t stay off her for longer than 5 pages and keeps comparing everyone to her when he may have forgotten that she is the last of the six. The more I read about it, the more I hate Amy, and it’s all because of you, Howard Sounes. What an amateur fool...
• 
  Marnie Z

  rounded up from 2.5*, I had thought this was a book about Amy when I started and it does begin with her but then it jumps around also talking about Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, etc .. I pretty much only read the parts about Amy as I've already read Jim Morrison books and wasn't really interested in the others.
• 
  Caite

  Enjoyable, well-paced mini biographies of these musicians and their deaths, with some real statistics on "the curse". Did a good job of finding common threads between these tragic figures, and address the issues that put them all in the same boat.
• 
  Julie

  A fun and interesting read, but ultimately a bit too conspiratorial for my tastes. The author can be a little judgmental toward his subjects. However, there is some good information and fair speculation here about some famous people.
• 
  Leanne Ellis

  Good as a general biography of these troubled, if artistically triumphant lives (except for Brian Jones who just brought the Stones together). Could have used more insight and analysis of connections and the role of fame. Also, more details on Jimmie and Janis would have been nice.