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Under a Rock

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Under a Rock

By: Chris Stein
Narrated by: Chris Stein, Debbie Harry, Dennis Boutsikaris, Romy Ashby
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About this listen

 This audiobook includes the song 'Heartbreak Kid', an exclusive early track from Blondie's forthcoming album


'Sometimes fate deals up a wild card. There's a lot to be said for one of these wild cards and from what I've learned over the fifty or so years of our friendship, Chris is a card from the unexpected deck' - from the foreword by Debbie Harry

Musician, photographer, storyteller, and longtime partner to Debbie Harry, Chris Stein defined the sound of an era, catapulting the icon band Blondie to #1 and selling over 20 million copies of Parallel Lines.

In this no-holds-barred autobiography, Stein reveals himself-this time not in songwriting or photography, which he's previously been known for, but in words. From a Brooklyn boyhood, a move across the river to the gritty and fecund East Village in the late 1970s allowed Stein to tap the explosive creativity that defined the era in the city. It was a time when David Bowie and the Ramones were also making music, when Andy Warhol was still alive and promoting Jean-Michel Basquiat's work, when cool was defined not by where you came from but by what you could contribute to culture.

UNDER A ROCK is a plunge into that vanished time period, and into the moments that turned the fresh sound and new look of punk and new wave into a giant artistic and commercial sensation. Stein takes us there in this revelatory, propulsive, distinctive memoir.©2024 Chris Stein (P)2024 Hachette Audio UK Entertainment & Celebrities Music Heartfelt

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Chris Stein, co founder of Blondie, and respected photographer digs deep into a past many people will be unfamiliar with.

Details of his formative years are extraordinary and paint a picture of an often shocking NYC as it evolves through the decades before gentrification. You can sense the level of danger and decay that made the city a melting pot for poor artists and bohemians who were able to thrive before mostly being priced out of the city, at the turn of the 21st century and beyond.

Chris talks with direct candour about his later issues with drug addiction. The inherent danger in scoring and the dodgy characters involved is riveting and often shocking. And hopefully enough to put people off getting into harder drugs. Not everyone survives.

Of course, Blondie is a major part of Chris Stein's history and the only downside for me is the lack of detail around the creative process, but I guess that is covered more elsewhere, against the odds.

There are some raw revelations here which were news to even this most ardent Blondie super fan.

Chris's relationship with Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry is well documented, but there's a real poignancy as Chris speaks of his wife Barbara and what a stabilising influence she has been, only for an epilogue to reveal the ultimate loss for the family, which is truly heartbreaking.

I am not ashamed to shed a tear as the beautiful new Blondie track "Heartbreak Kid" gifted exclusively with this audiobook, plays out.

I've always held Mr Stein in high esteem for the music and photography he has shared with the world. I have a new found respect for him having read this story of an extraordinary life. And he's not done yet!

Lee-B

A cautionary tale of survival and loss.

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Nothing at all, everything was a learning curve, it was good to learn about all including the dark times 👍🏻

Chris being so candid and honestly humble.Thanks Chris love you 🥰❤️

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This is a great book and I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the band or NYC in that period. However, if you’re expecting great details about their songs or the recording processes, you won’t find it here

A great listen, but don’t expect much detail on the music

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Decent enough but not great. I felt it didn’t get deep enough into the band Blondie. But decent enough to listen to.

OK

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A great listen for any Blondie fan. I’ve been a lifetime follower of Debbie and Chris’s having been a Blondie fan since the 1970’s. This book is a frank and honest account of a lifestyle of drug taking and the effects it can take. I knew that both Debbie and Chris had partaken in this habit but not to the extent that this tells. From Chris growing up to the latter days it is a very good listen and a real eye opener.

A rockstar lifestyle

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Loved the grit of Chris Stein’s memoir, he doesn’t glamorize or gloss over the tragic bits. Appreciated finding out a bit more where some of Blondie’s hits came from. Liked that he had a narrator as I would think it would be very difficult to repeat some of the more sorrowful events.

There is heart in this book, family, friendship, love, art, pets. I was kind of peeved to hear that the musicians of Blondie were ripped off by managers like so many others.

Chris has all the stories of Downtown with the characters both famous and infamous that populated the scene. He has a good grip on the social changes and politics that surrounded them. Highly recommended.

Bad Decisions and Great Tunes

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Denis Boutsikaris does a wonderful job narrating Chris’ story. He sounds like a younger Chris, but we benefit from an accomplished readers approach.
This is not the Blondie story, its not even the story of Chris and Debbie.
In many ways it reads much as i imagine Chris’ early musings in diary form might have. He is by nature a laconic participant in his own life, despite being something of a polymath. The arts and sciences both interest him, so its unsurprising that he is an interesting person. I recently read Debbies auto bio and the two read side by side make for an interesting comparison. It will take a strong biographer to really tell the bands story (though i have already seen a TV doc which did a fine job.
Chris’ story, is however a genuine insight into a NYC period of high creativity and apparently easy opportunity. So many names from the arts flitted across hos life and that place, its a time capsule of the underground. Before even NYC became just another wealthy suburb.

Surprisingly warm and low key autobio

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I have always been an avid Blondie fan and was particularly endeared to the Chris Stein/Debbie Harry relationship – personal and professional. They have always been such great musicians and sunrises – often undervalued. I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the content of this book. Personally I don’t want to hear about methadone and heroin and other drugs however much they form part of a persons life. Chris’s illness and Debbie’s commitment to Chris are massively swept under the carpet despite forming a large part of the story. There are more interesting things to know about a person , than their addictions.

Overall, a little disappointed.

Meh

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