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Victoria Balfour

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Rock Wives: The Hard Lives and Good Times of the Wives, Girlfriends, and Groupies of Rock and Roll Hardcover – January 1, 1986

by Victoria Balfour (Author)

4.0 24 ratings

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Tells the stories of the wives and lovers of famous rock stars, including Gail Zappa, Angie Bowie, Ingrid Croce, and Myra Lewis, and describes how they have coped with the rock lifestyle

Print length

270 pages
Language

English
Publisher

William Morrow & Co
Publication date

January 1, 1986
ISBN-10

0688043860
ISBN-13

978-0688043865
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Baron Wolman
44
Hardcover
13 offers from $17.97

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow & Co; First Edition (January 1, 1986)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 270 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0688043860
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0688043865
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds

Best Sellers Rank: #1,821,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,293 in Rock Music (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.0 24 ratings

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4 out of 5

24 global ratings

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Joy JustJoy

Short, sharp, true.

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2022

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I mainly bought this book to read Patricia Keaneally’s story. Then I saw more interviews from other people, who i was a fan of…so if you are interested in the music of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, and the other side of the equation, the women who were with the musicians, here’s your book.

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Papa Place

The Grass Isn't Always Greener On The Famous Side

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2020

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A great look at what it's like to be a rock wife, girlfriend, or groupie. It was written a long time ago but is still interesting and part of rock history. It's an honest look sometimes a brutally honest raw look at their relationships in their own words. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

One person found this helpful

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Laura A.

Yawn.

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2019

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I have to agree that the book is boring. Tiny snippets of interviews that don't go deep at all. Written like a 10th grade book report. You won't find anything exciting in here, you won't get to know the interview subjects in depth at all.

2 people found this helpful

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ilrock

"I'd flatten him"--Patricia Kennealy on Jim Morrison

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2005

This will be an interesting book for anyone who's a Doors fan, who has also read "Strange Days" by Patricia Kennealy. Patricia K. doesn't refer to this book by name in "Strange Days", nor does she refer to Victoria Balfour by name. Patricia K. merely alludes to this book, and its author, making clear she wasn't happy with it.

Here is what Patricia Kennealy says about "Rock Wives" in her own book, "Strange Days", quote: "And so when I am asked for the second time to speak for publication concerning Jim and me, I am perhaps a little more easily persuaded than I might, or should, have been. This time it is a friend of my friend David Walley who is doing the asking, for a book she is writing on women who get involved with rock stars. Not perhaps the format I'd have chosen, but hey, I'm not writing the thing...I do not know her personally, but he speaks well of her; and indeed, when she comes to my apartment to interview me she is smart, sympathetic and friendly. But when her book at last appears, in 1985, I am devastated yet again. She seems to have had a hidden agenda all along: the bleak and stereotypical scenario that nice college-educated middle-class Catholic girls just have to pick bad boys to fall for, giving up all claim to any career or indeeed personhood of their own in the process".

End quote.

Despite Patricia K. not referring to the book title or author of said offending book in "Strange Days", I managed to track down the mysterious book. I can tell you, Patricia's claim that Victoria Balfour portrays her as someone who is "giving up all claim to any career", ect, is a total falsehood. Please read this book, and you will understand the actual reasons Patricia K. doesn't refer to this book or author by name in "Strange Days". I promise you, it has nothing to do with Patricia K. being offended over Balfour allegedly portraying her as a "good little Catholic" girl. I'm afraid poor Patricia is tossing out red herrings in her desperation.

Here's how Patricia K.'s quotes in 1986 ("Rock Wives") compare to what she says in 1991 ("Strange Days"):

1986, "Rock Wives"-- "Probably not very"....Patricia's quote, when asked how seriously she thought Jim Morrison took the Wiccan handfasting.

1991, "Strange Days"--Patricia K. claims Jim took the handfasting as seriously as she did.
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1986, "Rock Wives"--"Never in a million years. This was no liberating relationship, and the worst part was, I never knew when I was going to see him again."---Patricia K., when asked if she would put up with Jim's behaviour today.

1991, "Strange Days"--Patricia K. insists her relationship with Jim was one of equality.
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1986, "Rock Wives"--"I'd flatten him."---Patricia K., when asked what she'd do to Jim if he were alive today. Patricia K. also makes clear that her relationship with Jim was completely over by the time he left for Paris with Pamela Courson. She compares her relationship with Jim to two people building a bridge from each side, but never meeting in the middle.

1991, "Strange Days"---Patricia K. insists that Jim had intentions to dump Pamela Courson in Paris, and run back to Patricia K. in NY.
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1986, "Rock Wives": Patricia K. tells Victoria Balfour her affair with Jim Morrison didn't start until AFTER Jim, Pam, Patricia, and a few other friends all dined in a restaurant together. Patricia says the affair happened after this dinner, and she didn't have a clue it would happen until after this dinner. "There's no way I would have started with him before that, because I have scruples."

1991, "Strange Days": Patricia K. claims her affair with Jim started six months BEFORE Jim, Pam, Patricia, and a few friends all dined together in a restaurant.
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I'm giving the book 5 stars mainly on the Patricia Kennealy chapter. The chapter is informative and honest. It's also important to note that Patricia K. has never accused Victoria Balfour of misquoting her. I was mainly interested in this book as a Doors fan (and as a former Patricia Kennealy fan). I did find the chapter's on Bebe Buell (ex of Todd Rundgren, Rod Stewart, and others) and Jo Wood ( wife of Ron Wood, Rolling Stones)to be enjoyable.

(...)

22 people found this helpful

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Donna Coulson

Interesting History

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2019

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This book is from a while back. I found it interesting from a rock history perspective. As people vary, so does each interview. Some were more insightful than others. An interesting read.

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2012

I keep accidentally ordering this book. It's not what I had in mind. Did not care for it and now have 2 copies.

2 people found this helpful

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Privacy, Please

Great light reading

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2010

Reading Bebe Buell's recent autobiography reminded me of her chapter in "Rock Wives", which I read in the 80s when it came out. "Rock Wives" is a series of short interviews with a number of wives and former wives of rock stars (and one "rock husband" as well, whose wife is actually the rock star) spanning the decades from the 50s through the 80s. The term "wife" is interpreted loosely, as some of the ladies in the book were not legally married to a rockstar, but had relationships of long standing.

The women's lives at the time the book is written are all over the map; some (such as Jo Wood) were relative newlyweds, some (such as Gail Zappa) were wives of long standing, some (such as Myra Lewis, the pre-teen bride of Jerry Lee Lewis) were long divorced and gone on to non-rock lives of their own, and some (such as Angie Bowie) were no longer with their rockstars but still very much in the rock n' roll game. There are even a couple of "rock widows" (such as Ingrid Croce) whose men had died in the pursuit of their art. A few of the ladies even had relationships with more than one rockstar, such as Linda Lawrence Leitch (who was with Brian Jones before she met and eventually married Donovan Leitch) and Bebe Buell (who had a longterm relationship with Todd Rundgren and at the time of her interview was just winding down another long relationship with Elvis Costello).

Each interview follows a pattern: the interviewer recounts a little description setting the scene, such as her subject's house and manner of dress, and then gets the subject to answer a few questions of how they met their respective rockstar, talk about the dynamics of the relationship, and if the relationship ended, how and why. Be warned that if you're looking for juicy tell-all tales, this is not the right book to pick up. Obviously the women who are currently in a relationship with a rockstar are not going to be "dishing the dirt" in front of him, and those who have split up for the most part approach their past relationships respectfully - not surprising since several of them are raising children from those relationships. Besides, the few pages allotted to each interview would not be enough to recount many yarns even if it was "that kind of a book."

Each "wife's" interview is accompanied by a couple of pictures that do a great job of bringing out their quirks and personality. The sheer variety of clothing, hair and furniture styles pictured are worth a flip through the book.

Overall this is a great, light, fun read especially if you're not looking for anything too salacious, but just want to see the "normal" (or at least as normal as it can get) side of rock relationships. A couple of the subjects, notably Patricia Kenneally and Bebe Buell, also went on to write books of their own that expanded upon, updated, and in some respects even changed the basic stories they told in "Rock Wives", so if you're into reading rock bios you might have fun comparing and contrasting their own stories with the interviewer's version.

14 people found this helpful

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dave

DaveH

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2013

Verified Purchase

although written some time ago still relevant and an interesting read.Because of the age of the book to view some of the views in hindsight adds to the interest.

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