How To Be A Rock Star

★★★

Shaun Ryder, with Luke Bainbridge

Cartoon caner turnedGogglebox-royalty’s guide to surviving “Madchester”.

Stealing his opening gambit from Goodfellas, Ryder misquotes, “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a rock star.” Ryder and his sextet of Salford scallies, including saucer-eyed dancer Bez, vaulted ’80s Manchester and swapped drug deals for platinum discs. Faithfully transcribed, highlights include the Mondays’ 1986 US tour, featuring a rider of crack and guns. The career guide format suffers editorially from lazyitis and repetition (“we’ve been going four times as long as The Beatles”). A leaked fax from a riled promoter in Rennes bemoaning a variety of on-tour shenanigans merely tantalises, but Ryder’s bonhomie makes Rock Star easy to dip into, if only latterly conceding an honest picture of an accidental star with thyroid problems and tattooed-on hair. The promised “sage advice” (“Rehearsing’s where you get tight… 808 State were named after a drum machine…”) simply doesn’t deliver.

Andrew Collins