Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway

I enjoyed this book tremendously. Cherie Currie tells her story honestly. I felt like I was walking through it with her, pulling for her every step of the way! A real page turner with an inspiring ending. I loved it.

If you like "Bad Girl" books like "Wasted" or Diable Cody's books, Neon Angel is for you. I was a bit young to remember The Runaways-however you do not need to be a fan of the band to love this fast read. Cherie Currie grabs you from the first chapter and keeps you with your nose in it way past your bedtime.
BUY this book. You will dig it, promise!

This book is rather inelegantly written, but the tale is riveting. In almost every chapter I found myself thinking, "Unbelievable!" It really is an entertaining read and offers an interesting look into how fame at a young age can be addictive yet terribly destructive. Cherie Currie has apparently come through it all with strength and humor, but she's lucky to be alive.

Was everything what I wanted eventhough it isn't hardcore it still is pretty nice. As for the book.. it speaks for itself since its so good & very interesting to read. I myself couldn't stop reading it!
>>Highly! Recommend <<

This book is astonishing. It's a wonderful book to have in your collection. I enjoyed every minute of it. I was sad it was over. But this book and u won't be disappoint especially if ur a runaways fan and a Cherie currie fan!!!

Loved this book. Finished in two days. I could feel the emotional connect and disconnect between the drugs and music and the moment of realizing she needed out. Definitely a good read! I love memoirs for this reason. (:

I really enjoyed reading this book. Cherie writes in an engaging style, and has a talent for telling a good story. However, if she was so often under the influence of drugs and alcohol, I question her ability to recall and describe so many incidents in such vivid detail. Otherwise, it's a 5-star book.

I had saw The Runaways movie prior to reading Neon Angel and was hoping for the book to elaborate upon that story. Unfortunately, I felt like the book didn't have much to offer because of the fact that I had saw the movie first. Nearly all of the chapters of the book are in the movie, with the book expanding very little on the story that was portrayed in the movie. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but just a heads up that one may find themselves bored at times while reading Neon Angel because of these things. The most interesting parts of the book were what happened to Cherie Currie post-Runaways, things that were obviously not in the movie.

I know they can't write about every little detail that goes on in their lives, but sometimes it seemed like she was glossing over certain parts.

The chapter about the Limo was horrifying.

PS- Joan Jett should stick to singing. Her forward read like it was written by a high school kid.

I guess after seeing documentaries and the Runaway movie before reading this book, I kind of already had an image in my head of who Cherie Currie was. That being said, I thought that the book was all right. A bit overblown and self indulgent. And for someone who was hopped up on drugs all the time, she certainly does have a good memory of events.. hmmmm.....

I never took the Runaways seriously, Not because they were girls - I thought that was really cool - but because I was into serious music and 'Cherry Bomb' just didn't do it for me, and that's all I ever heard on the radio. So the only reason I read this is that I enjoy reading rock memoirs. Maybe this attracted me because I'm just 8 months younger than Cherie, and I was quite the rocker chick, and I was curious what life was like on that alternate life path.

The best rock memoirs are written by the rockers themselves (or their girlfriends, etc. such as those by Marianne Faithful, Pattie Boyd, Carol Ann Harris, etc. all of which are really good reads...very enlightening!). Cherie's book is right up there with the best of the best! It's well-written, is quite a page-turner, and cohesive (unlike many rock memoirs). But most importantly, she really bares her soul and lets us peek insider her mind and emotions.

Cherie Currie became a real person to me as I read her story. I feel almost like I know her and would give her a hug if I ever met her. I'm still angry and indignant on her behalf regarding how she was abandoned by someone who was supposed to love her more than anyone else, and I admire her ability to forgive. I am incredulous that she was able to not only survive, but heal after being raped not once but twice, the 2nd time by a very dangerous monster. That part of the story was shocking, harrowing and intense!

Most of all, I am disgusted with the manager Kim Fowley, who should have spent the rest of his life in prison for what he did. Again, Cherie was much more forgiving than most people would have been. Yet she told the gritty story, and didn't gloss over it like Lita did in her book. (Speaking of which, I'm glad I read Lita's book first. It was good, but it would have been anti-climatic had I read it after reading Cherie's, since Cherie's is so much more intense.)

(Speaking of Lita, she doesn't seem like a very nice person. I saw a video of her laughing - yes LAUGHING!!! about Jackie trying to kill herself. Seriously??? I actually saw that footage myself...so my opinion of her has nothing to do with Cherie's opinion of her. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't actually seen it.)

Anyway, I highly recommend this book to anyone who's a rock fan, even if you aren't a Runaways fan. It's a very good read.

The only minor nits I have are that a few details didn't match what she said in interviews. (Yes, I watched a few interviews after reading the books.) Like whether she told her mom about the rape. In one place she said she didn't, while in another place she said she did. I will chalk that up to faulty memory due to drugs.

Also, her book says she was early for that photo shoot, and Lita was 2 hours late, but Lita says (in her book) that Cherie was the one who was late. I wonder what the others say...? (those who were there) Ah, but those are very minor nits. The book's really good.

Cherie, I hope the rest of your life is happy and peaceful! You've been through more than your share of turmoil. Thanks for sharing your life, heart and soul with us.

I finished this book last week, and although it was very painful to read at times, I felt that Cherie put her heart and soul into it, She was brutally honest, and made no excuses for herself. She is a survivor of enormous and heart-wrenching abuse, and tells yet another story of how Hollywood and fame can destroy a young girl with big dreams - and yet through it all, she made history with the all girl band The Runaways. What is so amazing is that this human being lived to write about it!! She inspires all of us to not allow ourselves to be a victim, and how love, honesty and forgiveness can heal even the deepest betrayals and depravity of the human hell that sometimes leads us to just want to escape with drugs and alcohol. I have only respect for all that Cherie has overcome, and the woman she is today. This book is a lot to process, but it will leave you knowing that the choice to survive takes courage and strength - and the reward is having self respect, compassion and to never allow anyone to take your power and worth away. Thank you Cherie for being the the beacon of light for others. Keep on keeping on!!!!

I was a very young teen during the Runaways' heyday and they were marketed as completely wild off-the-chain girls, the type of rock show your parents definitely did NOT want you to see, much less emulate, if you were a young girl back then, but even though I wasn't a fan of their act - it was a little too "advanced" for sheltered me at age 13 - I was in some awe of them for being tough sexy females who rocked out, since the vast majority of rock acts in those days were male. By the time I reached my late teens I was better able to appreciate the Runaways, but they had broken up years previously. A decade or so later, when Joan Jett and Lita Ford had gone on to respectable solo careers as hard rock musicians, I wondered what had happened to the sexiest member, lead singer Cherie Currie. After appearing with Jodie Foster in "Foxes" and maybe a couple TV guest star slots, Cherie seemed to have disappeared. Later on, through articles and the "Edgeplay" documentary, I learned about all the hell this band went through and a little about Cherie's life, such as the fact that she still looks gorgeous and became a renowned chainsaw artist, but this book presents a much more comprehensive picture of just how a 15-year-old girl could end up fronting a world-touring rock band in her lingerie.

Apart from the drug user tales, which fall into the "if you've read one druggie book you've read them all" category, "Neon Angel" is an interesting read but pretty horrifying. It paints a picture of a somewhat caring but dysfunctional family, and Cherie admits that the band was a sort of familial replacement for the family unit she didn't have at home. Cherie's mom survived a first marriage to an abusive drunk, married and divorced a second time to a nicer but very alcoholic WWII veteran (Cherie's dad), and then married a World Bank executive and moved to Indonesia, leaving Cherie and her siblings in the lacksadaisical care of a slightly older half-sister. Shortly thereafter, Mom almost died of cancer. Cherie herself, after being traumatically separated from her beloved dad in the divorce, was bullied at school, lost her virginity to a violent rape by her sister's older ex-boyfriend, contracted an infection from the rape, got slapped and berated by her sisters for experimenting with bisexuality, and consumed a boatload of drugs and alcohol, all before she ever even joined the Runaways and was subjected to more psychological and sexual abuse by the band's manager, road crew and even the fans. After the band broke up, she did an ill-fated album project with one of her sisters and made a few movies before spiraling down the hole of drug abuse, leading to all the usual horror stories you expect from Hollywood drug users, including but not limited to a second violent rape. Fortunately she got herself into rehab and was able to make a new life for herself as a drug counselor, physical fitness trainer, chain saw artist, wife and mom (although the marriage didn't last, she has nothing but great things to say about her ex, actor Robert Hays of "Airplane" fame).

The vast majority of the book's events happen before Currie reaches her mid-twenties. Her insistence that the album made with her sister torpedoed her recording career forever, when she probably still could have made records but not at the level of major label deals and when it appears more likely that her own drug use ended her opportunities, would be annoying if not for the fact that it's coming from the perspective of a 20-year-old. Likewise, her admiration of the father who walked out on the family and then essentially drank himself to death is more understandable if you consider how very young she still was when he passed away. In the end you root for Cherie because despite all the bad stuff she went through, she still has such a positive attitude about most of the people in her life (rapists and sleazy managers excepted). She is still beautiful today and I have always envied her good looks and exciting careers, but after reading what she had to go through especially with rape and drugs I felt considerably less envious and thought it was a miracle she lived long enough to tell her story.

Neon Angel was a pleasant surprise. Admittedly, I passed by the book several times until I saw the movie based on it, The Runaways. Thankfully, I decided to read the book before I saw the movie. Cherie Currie's compelling tale of fame, addiction, tragedy, and recovery is a gem not to be missed.

The 70s rock scene was dominated by men. Just before the transition into 'glam rock' (re: David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust persona), Cherie Currie lived with her twin sister, Marie, and her ex-moviestar mother in the San Fernando Valley. During the day, Cherie would listen to Bowie and Susie Quatro albums; at night, Cherie would dress up as a trannie-looking glam alien of her own creation and go to Rodney Bingenheimer's on Sunset Boulevard. When Kim Fowley, an acclaimed and skeezy producer, recruits Cherie for one of the first all-girl rock bands with a young John Jett, Lita Ford and Sandy West, Cherie is thrown into the dark, tumultuous world of sex, drugs and rock n' roll.

My issue with this book isn't with the story--which will have you on the edge of your seat pretty much from beginning to end--but with Currie's writing; it's rather basic, repetitive and juvenile. She uses a lot of the same phrases and sentence structures over and over and over again. Her writing doesn't make her sound very intelligent, but that's more of a nit-pick on my part and doesn't really detract from the book as a whole.

Highly recommended. This book is much better than the movie, which focuses more on the dynamic of Currie with Joan Jett and the band as a whole rather than strictly Currie's life, which is actually a shame because some of the more riveting scenes in the book are either watered down/changed in the movie or left out entirely.

This is a very good, well-written book. Cherie had a lot of scary things happen to her at a young age. While she's with the Runaways she's only 15-16 years old dealing with their crazy manager, Kim Fowley doing and disgusting and abusive things to her and the other girls. He always refers to the girls in the band as dogs or dog vomit, dog urine, etc. A lot of what happened while she was with the band was pretty dark. I would not have traded places with her as a teen for anything. Seems like everyone around the band was trying to suck out of them what they could and not caring at all about them. It's just so sad considering how young they are.

Even though the writing can be uneven at times, this book is a good overview of the lingering impacts of teen stardom. I was also struck by how few supports that women musicians had in terms of sane mentors and guides as recently as the 1970s and I suspect even today! In this book, we see little oversight and protections offered to child stars and much exploitation, written from the perspective of someone caught in this system. Currie captures the realistic feelings of a 16 year old with a mixture of confusion and a false sense of "not being seen as a victim." Her recollections of how she was scornful toward women who had difficulty getting over being raped was particularly amazing considering her own experiences. The more she attempted to view victims as "weak," the more she spiraled into drug usage and denial. Very compelling.

Neon Angel details the formation of the Runaways and their rise to stardom as the first teenage, all-girl punk band. But more than that, it is the story of an entire generation growing up during the end of countercultural revolution. For many who grew up during the 70s (and can still remember it), Neon Angel will be a trip (pardon the pun) down memory lane.

The 70s presented the "perfect storm" of circumstances necessary for the Runaways to exist. The combination of casual parenting, prolific drugs, sexual freedom and inexperienced kids resulted in a musical phenomenon that exemplified a generation. Unfortunately for Cherie Currie, the fame came at a price. Her life both on and off the stage is poignant and distressing - I felt guilty for loving the story knowing that the harrowing events actually happened. Be well Cherie, and how about a book signing in Texas?

I planned to purchase this, however, when reading the back cover, with such inaccuracies as- "Arriving on the Los Angeles music scene in 1975, The Runaways catapulted from playing small clubs to selling out major stadiums—headlining shows with opening acts like the Ramones". The Ramones took a back seat to no one. Ramones was not an "opening act". It is true that the Runaways played on the same ticket, however, the Runaways when paired with the Ramones, the "Opening Act" was in fact the Runaways. Starting off with an outrageous claim before the first page, unless you are into FANTASY reading, I would recommend leaving this one on the shelf. Just one more book designed to "Sell", not "Educate. SMH!!

What's great about this book in one word: honesty. Cherie Currie tells her story and the story of the Runaways and it is really the story of the American Rock n Roll Dream - a sociological phenomenon which is fading from our landscape and one day may only be taught in college pop culture history courses. And if it is, this may be one of the textbooks.

As I read this book I realized something very sad. Because they were mismanaged, these girls burnt out. The San Francisco Chronicle, in reviewing this book, mention author Cherie Currie and bandmate Joan Jett in the same sentence as Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards and Daltry/Townsend. That may make some people laugh... but only because we only got to see what the two of them could do together for 2 years, when they were 16 years old!!! I wonder what the duos mentioned above were doing and sounding like at 16? Pretty raw I bet. But because they were young and because they were female, they were treated more as novelty cash cow and less as serious artists who needed nurturing. And there's no excuse for what Kim Fowley and Mercury failed to do with the act. The book gives credit for what they did do - promote the heck out of the band. But watching Currie and bandmate Jackie Fox self-destruct is painful when one thinks of what could have been, had they just had some competent adults in their lives. Preferably adults who would have thought twice about pushing drugs on teenage girls. Without saying it, and perhaps without even intending to say it, Currie makes the subtle case for the potential greatness of her band. There is no denying that the Runaways were lightning in a bottle. That chemistry and combination of talent, especally Jett's playing and songwriting and Currie's undeniable stage presence and pure rock voice is the kind of magic combination that only comes along once in a very great while. Let's not forget that Lita Ford and Sandy West were solid players who would only get better, as no doubt Fox would have as well with the right grown-ups involved. If there were or are any grown ups in that industry. The tragedy of the story from a music lover's standpoint is that we never get to see the promise fulfilled.

The tragedy of Currie's life is what her addiction costs her. But where and how she finds redemption and peace within herself is, again, so honest, that while this book should be read by anyone who loves music, it MUST be read by anyone with an addiction.

Neon Angel is a story about a girl who got everything she ever wanted and it almost killed her. Some 30 years after the Runaways flamed out, their story captures all that was great, grand, ugly and dangerous about the American Rock N Roll Dream. In some ways, that really makes them a great rock n roll band. This book makes their case very convincingly.

Cherie Currie started off as the girl next door, blond California surfer girl. That all changed when her life took a different path. Cherie story is a story of survival. The fact that she is here with us today telling these stories is a miracle. The 70's was a time of sex, drugs and partying and many who were caught up in it are not with us today. From the time she was in The Runaways to when she finally got clean you felt the roller coaster of emotions she was going through. Cherie Currie is a interpenetration to all girls who want to be different. She proves being different is okay. She is also proof positive that a person can over come a drug addiction and lead a healthy life. I highly recommend this to everyone. Even if you don't know who The Runaways are or Cherie Currie you will after reading this.

This book will help you realize that no matter what you are going through, there is always someone going through worse. My heart broke for Cherie at some points of this book. But she is a strong woman and overcomes her worst nightmares and that is so inspiring to me. I could only hope to have half the balls that she has during tough times. I am so glad that she is happy and living a great and blessed life now because she definitely deserves it.

I loved being able to go behind the scenes of "The Runaways" and get a glimpse of what life was like for them. I recommend this book to everyone. Even if you have never heard of "The Runaways" before. You will be inspired and touched by this brave woman's story.

Wow. If this book doesn't evoke emotion from you, then you don't have a heart. At times, I had to put the book down, because some of Cherie's experiences were almost painful to read about. It's worth noting that there are those, including some of the other Runaways, that challenge the accuracy of some of the anecdotes contained in the book. I wonder if there may be some exaggeration in the tales of drug use, as the quantity of drugs claimed to be consumed seems incomprehensible.

I was a Runaways fan back in the daze, but I don't think you have to be a Runaways fan or even familiar with them to appreciate this book. I found this book to be compelling, perhaps my question of whether there may be some embellishment may be wishful thinking on my part, not wanting to think a teenage girl could be exposed to so much of the horror described while simultaneously fronting a groundbreaking rock band.

I unequivocally give this book a five star rating. There seems to be a lesson in her tale about the dangers of allowing others to make major life decisions and manage your life for you. In the aftermath of reading this book, I've been reading more about the lives of the former Runaways, much of it very disheartening, particularly in regards to Sandy West. I am also going to post my comments on the Edgeplay documentary.

I have read both the earlier version of Neon Angel and this new version.I can say that the added detail in this newer edition is VERY revealing. It took a lot of guts for Cherie to add those details. If her story was fiction it would be hard to believe, but it isn't and it makes a very eye-opening read. There is no doubt in my mind that the record industry and her (so-called) manager & producer exploited her and the other Runaways band members.
This lady is a real Rock & Roll survivor and I would recommend this book to anyone
who wants to know more about this lovely, talented artist !

Great book! This book is interesting and entertaining! I couldn't put it down! It's well-written. Unlike many biographies, Cherie doesn't come across as whiny or "poor me". She just tells the story from her perspective. Entertaining book!

Cherie Currie (iconic voice of The Runaways) has recorded a new album, but it's being held hostage by Blackheart Records. Please help her get it back by taking a moment to sign the petition.

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I really enjoyed this book. Reading about how drugs and addiction can destroy one's life inspired me.Fame at such a young age would seem a dream,but the truth beneath the make-up and still frame, is that even the people we admire and see as alien are just as human and fragile as the rest of us.

I remember The Runaways from my childhood, and this book gives great insight into what was going on behind the scenes when they "broke." Even beyond that, when the author talks about her life after fame and her life today,she is a testament to personal strength and determination. Definitely a good buy,one that you'll read more than once!