Though it’s been a while since he last had a big hit movie, Cameron Crowe’s name still has a resume that would make any pop culture fiend seethe with envy. From his impossibly early start as a teenage rock-and-roll journalist for Rolling Stone magazine to his award-winning career as a screenwriter and director, Crowe has lived a fascinating life full of encounters with the biggest names in show business. In The Uncool, his first memoir, he concentrates on his early life and journalism career.
The story is familiar to anyone who has seen Almost Famous, though obviously some of the particulars have changed. But Crowe really did have a formidable, serious-minded mother who took a dim view of rock and roll and drove a wedge between herself and Crowe’s older sister. Somehow, despite her resistance, Crowe managed to become a constant presence at rock concerts in his native San Diego, writing articles and reviews for school papers until his persistence and precocity managed to impress the right people. Crowe interviews the biggest and brightest names of the 1970s, and has plenty of fascinating anecdotes to share. (His prodigious memory seems to confirm that he’s not lying when he says he always turned down offers to get high with the band.) In particular, there are fun/crazy stories about Bruce Springsteen, The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and many others. For any fan of classic rock, The Uncool is a must read.
The book does begin to run out of steam near the end, as Crowe struggles to bring the plane in for a smooth landing. As his assignments at Rolling Stone dry up, Crowe embarks on his writing career by embedding himself in a high school, doing research for what would eventually become Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Crowe, though, seems to want to save his movie career for another time. He fast forwards through his career, pausing only briefly for the making of the film Almost Famous before focusing in on the more recent stage adaptation, which coincided with some difficult life events for Crowe and his family. It’s an uncertain ending for what had been a rollicking tale, but that’s life, I suppose.
