Buy new:
£29.99
FREE delivery Monday, 20 May
Dispatches from: Amazon
Sold by: Karadoli
£29.99
FREE Returns
FREE delivery Monday, 20 May. Details
Or fastest delivery Saturday, 18 May. Order within 5 hrs 56 mins. Details
Only 2 left in stock.
££29.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
££29.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Delivery cost, delivery date and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Dispatches from
Amazon
Dispatches from
Amazon
Sold by
Karadoli
Sold by
Karadoli
Returns
Returnable within 30 days of receipt
Returnable within 30 days of receipt
Item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund within 30 days of receipt
Read full Amazon return policy
Returns
Returnable within 30 days of receipt
Item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund within 30 days of receipt
Read full Amazon return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
£0.60
Book has been read but is in excellent condition. No missing or damaged pages. Maybe some identifying marks on the inside cover. Quality guaranteed from the largest seller of used books online. Book has been read but is in excellent condition. No missing or damaged pages. Maybe some identifying marks on the inside cover. Quality guaranteed from the largest seller of used books online. See less
£2.80 delivery 21 - 23 May. Order within 18 hrs 56 mins. Details
Only 11 left in stock.
££29.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
££29.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Delivery cost, delivery date and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Dispatched from and sold by World of Books Ltd.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Shaun Ryder
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Twisting My Melon: The Autobiography Hardcover – 15 Sept. 2011

by Shaun Ryder (Author)
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"£29.99","priceAmount":29.99,"currencySymbol":"£","integerValue":"29","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"cowBlcyirPRmbwNziwJNH4eev%2Fro8UytiJpfshhFLtIeBx7VHejawU%2BDY3rW3YY6Ot5Ws41ObwcIPcjacaCbapaXa5T%2FirB%2Bm6BHBf7CCU2qEaD%2BZwvicAGDnUDwfl6bt1JLDWso87xVyhbLfBDFbZWhtH31fxLJulc1%2FF7YAOEnok%2BqgirgVNZtxgtYY6Tk","locale":"en-GB","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"£0.60","priceAmount":0.60,"currencySymbol":"£","integerValue":"0","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"60","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"cowBlcyirPRmbwNziwJNH4eev%2Fro8UytoCLE5vZ7LAMcQ0HwbcPo%2Bmm9tUg5lq%2FU8A7OrOtUxPwt4tYW7KzMu8p0vU4fpUhDmfgvtZVPOqCB6RClBkFx17d0cbtBDyylN9x0wBkvDCtkXkfyxAOQEiKghqKUGxxIpoOFRsttynG8%2B0ww31BJ3g%3D%3D","locale":"en-GB","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Shaun Ryder has lived a life of glorious highs and desolate lows. As lead singer of the Happy Mondays, he turned Manchester into Madchester, combining all the excesses of a true rock'n'roll star with music and lyrics that led impresario Tony Wilson to describe him as 'the greatest poet since Yeats'. The young scally who left school at fifteen without ever learning his alphabet had come a very long way indeed. Huge chart success and a Glastonbury headline slot followed, plus numerous arrests and world tours - then Shaun's drug addiction reached its height, Factory Records was brought to its knees and the Mondays split.

But was this the end for Shaun Ryder? Not by a long shot. Two years later he was back with new band Black Grape, and their groundbreaking debut album topped the charts in possibly the greatest comeback of all time. Even his continuing struggle with drugs did not stem the tide of critically acclaimed tracks and collaborations as he went on to prove his musical genius time and again. And then there was the jungle...

Rock'n'roll legend, reality TV star, drug-dealer, poet, film star, heroin addict, son, brother, father, husband, foul-mouthed anthropologist and straight-talking survivor, Shaun Ryder has been a cultural icon and a 24-hour party person for a quarter of a century. Told in his own words, this is his story.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    368 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Bantam Press
  4. Publication date
    15 Sept. 2011
  5. Dimensions
    16.18 x 3.18 x 24.13 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0593068270
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0593068274
  8. See all details
Next page

Frequently bought together

Twisting My Melon: The Autobiography
£29.99
Get it as soon as Monday, May 20
Only 2 left in stock.
Sold by Karadoli and sent from Amazon Fulfillment.
+
Buzzin': The Nine Lives of a Happy Monday
£4.98
In stock
Sent from and sold by Amazon.
+
How to Be a Rock Star
£8.61
In stock
Sent from and sold by Amazon.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your basket.
Details
Added to Basket
Some of these items are dispatched sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Product description

Review

Intoxicating: swaggering, cringing, furious, vulnerable, chaotic, bilious, funny, mad. A seamless, authentic, exhilarating read, without a single slack paragraph.
--The Sunday Times

Book Description

The raw, undiluted autobiography of a true rock star whose music and antics inspired a generation of 24-hour party people.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bantam Press (15 Sept. 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593068270
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593068274
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.18 x 3.18 x 24.13 cm
  • Customer reviews:

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Shaun Ryder

Shaun Ryder

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
714 global ratings

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Tjc
5.0 out of 5 stars Shaun Of The Cred
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 November 2011
Verified Purchase
I've read dozens of autobiographies, some good, some bad and some I couldn't even finish. This one I just couldn't put down. What you see with Ryder is what you get. The late Tony Wilson "got" Ryder and The Mondays and I am so glad he did because the rest, as they say, is history. From his early childhood in Salford as a thieving little "scrote" to pioneering the Madchester scene of the eighties.

There is no specific label you can put on this guy. Certainly he was a hedonist with little or no scruples in the early days, but page after page I laughed out loud as I could almost hear his nasal Manc voice relating earnestly, some or other scrape he and the band got into. Ryder never attempts to paint himself as rock star or L'Enfant terrible, but he clearly was both.

Many erstwhile rock stars in recounting their past life of intemperance, claim they are lucky to be still living but with Ryder, he was unbelievably lucky to get to 30-years of age. In Amsterdam he was held at gunpoint in an apartment by some spaced out crack-head for two whole days and in New York he had another gun shoved in his face by a drug dealer who thought he was haggling a bit too hard. During another drug deal gone wrong, he was attacked by a gang of hardcore dealers wielding baseball bats and bars.

He doesn't look for approval of his actions, nor does he become piously bereft and conciliatory - he just tells you what happened during his drug addled years. Take it or leave it. He has led a blessed life and finally realises this with candour and humour in the telling of it. He is no Peter Ustinov or David Niven and that is the beauty of the book for me. It's almost as if it's a talking book. I say this because it's clearly his words and unmistakeable idiom as he tells it how it was in those crazy Madchester years.
15 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Smudge
4.0 out of 5 stars Ryd(er) On, Ryd(er) On!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2012
Verified Purchase
This is an interesting read, it has to be said. Most of the stories told in it are quite famous already, but sometimes Ryder does explode a myth or two (the infamous bird poisoning incident, for example!) As other reviewers have noted, Ryder is quite disarmingly honest throughout the book and asks for little or no sympathy. This is quite refreshing - other autobiographies I've read (naming no names) have sometimes been seen as an excuse to whinge and whine it's seemed to me. Ryder arguably has plenty to whine about (most of it (all of it?!) self induced) but he resists the urge and ultimately the book is all the more readable for it.

Ryder's early years are covered in some detail - presumably as his head was clearer then so he can remember more about that period! - but sometimes, when dealing with the Happy Mondays and Black Grape eras, it felt like there was more to be said. Some sections of the book felt rushed. I was hoping to hear more about the Happy Mondays for example than I'd read anywhere else, as it was Ryder's own book... But I didn't feel like I did really. A bit of a shame. Even if his memories are hazy how hard would it been to find others that remember more varied facts and incidents and broaden out the book?

I presume the book was ghostwritten or Ryder had a very busy editor working with him - if not, his grammar, spelling and punctuation have improved an awful lot since his apparently failed school days! To be fair though, presuming it is ghostwritten, it's not ghostwritten in that sickly, overbearing style I've endured so many times before that ghostwriters sometimes seem to think they need to adopt.

All in all a great read if you're a Ryder fan. Possibly a pretty good read if you're not as it's sensational, car crash stuff that many of us like so much, if we're honest. I picked this up as a Kindle book for under £4 and at that price I can't grumble.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Anthony
5.0 out of 5 stars Really enjoyable read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2020
Verified Purchase
If you're a Happy Mondays fan you'll love this. Shaun goes in to lots of details about his adventures with Bez and the band, there's lots of information in here. I was pleasantly surprised to hear so much about Donovan in this book, he is one of my favourite artists and is in the book quite a lot since Shaun has children with one of Donovan's daughter. One of my highlights is when Shaun got Donovan and Johnny Marr together for a jam. Sadly Shaun fell asleep so we don't find out what they came out with, but I would kill for a recording of that jam. Another highlight for me is when Shaun and Bez first go to New York. They have heard about the crack epidemic in America so naturally the first thing they do is run away from their management, jump in a cab and demand to be taken to a rough neighbourhood so they can score some crack. Needless to say Bez gets them in to trouble. I won't spoil it for you but it's a very funny story. There are all kinds of tales in this book, it never stops being entertaining from start to finish. I got through it in a couple of days just by reading on my dinner hour at work.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Joshua Cleary
5.0 out of 5 stars ❤❤
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 December 2021
Verified Purchase
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Some funny stories didn't stop laughing from start to finish. If your Interested in the whole madchester scene this is definitely worth a read.
Helpful
 Report
Catriona C.
3.0 out of 5 stars it's amazing he's still around and able to recall even a ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 December 2014
Verified Purchase
He's no writing genius - kept waiting for the big crazy story/next outrage and while he's certainly had a life of excitement, somehow it's not quite captured as well or rather maybe just the words don't get it across.
Still, it's amazing he's still around and able to recall even a fraction of the stuff he's been up to so it's a good read for anyone from the "era" and who remembers the whole Manchester thing!
Helpful
 Report
Mr. C. Sharman
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantast read. Even if your not a Mondays fan
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2015
Verified Purchase
Didn't think I'd enjoy this book as much as I did as I was not into the Happy Mondays or their music. However, after watching Shaun on I'm a celebrity get me outta here I bit the bullet. Shaun takes you on his long and eventful life from being brought up in Salford Manchester to The Happy Mondays and beyond. The drink, the drugs and the women and even Bez gets a mention once or twice. All in all I really enjoyed the book. Worth the money.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jed Hutton
4.0 out of 5 stars Great insight to him as a person
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 October 2019
Verified Purchase
Having listened to The Happy Mondays through the Madchester era, I thought it would be interesting to see how the ups and downs of this guy’s life have affected him. He has come through them, many caused by himself I might add, but I found it a fascinating read and one I couldn’t put down.
Good on ya Shaun !
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Andi F
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in Spain on 13 August 2016
Verified Purchase
Brought back some great memories of nights out in Manchester many years ago. What an interesting character Shaun Ryder is. Anyone who loved indie music on the 90s will enjoy reading this autobiography.
Report
Spanner
5.0 out of 5 stars super
Reviewed in Germany on 9 March 2016
Verified Purchase
thanks a lot for good service etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
Report
KOL
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun ride with Ryder and the Mondays
Reviewed in the United States on 5 November 2011
Verified Purchase
This is a great story: the story of Shaun Ryder, The Happy Mondays and Factory Records. This is however a story that has been told at least twice before: in Bez's book Fraky dancing and in a book called Hallelujah! This one is the best of the 3 however. The stories are mroe or less the same as the ones in Bez's book with a few very funny instances where in a few situations the same story is told difefrently by Bez or Shaun: oen example in New York where in Bez book he gets a gun pulled in his face and in Shau's book he gets the gun pulled in his face. It does not matter because overall it is a great read. It is also a million times better written than the Bez book in which everything was misspelled and he only spoke about "fat grins", neckin E's and so forth. I agree that the topic here is exactly the same but is is written in a slightly less wild way (even though the Bez book is really fun too)because even if this is not highbrow literature, there is still some level of education and form expected of the author! As I wrote this tome here is really fun.
4 people found this helpful
 Report
thomas voss
4.0 out of 5 stars Great for music lovers!
Reviewed in Australia on 12 May 2015
Verified Purchase
Great insight into the Manchester Music scene and one of the most influential musicians out there. Also great to look at the explosion of the Hacienda and the E scene.
Report
HarryH
5.0 out of 5 stars Mustard!
Reviewed in the United States on 11 February 2012
Verified Purchase
Loved the book, easy reading and the journey flowed!

One of the standouts for me is the underlying and obvious vulnerability, in a dirty game among leaches and parasites!

Gimme one Sean Ryder and you can have 100 of whoever you choose!

I don't wanna be a rockstar, footballer or multi-millionaire, but I'd die a Happy Monday if I got to have it with Zippy and George!

One of the funniest things I ever saw and ingrained in my psych, is and was Sean rubbing Zippy's suede that night on the word!

In a million years, you couldn't have made that up!

Thanks for the peephole man ;-)
One person found this helpful
 Report