"Scar Tissue" by Anthony Kiedis (with Larry Sloman)

Pretty much gone are the days when rock n roll stars trash hotel rooms or take advantage of groupies with fish caught fromthe motel room window. With today's stars like Chris Daughtry it's a clean cut, but rock on image. Not so with Anthony Kiedis the front man for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The problem with this Chili Pepper is that his rock-n-roll lifestyle started before he became a rock star. In fact his troubles started when he was a mere 14 year old kid growing up with his drug dealing part time actor dad, John Michael Kiedis aka Blackie Dammet.



Growing up near Hollywood would seem to scar any psyche but with Anthony it created a drug problem and juvenile delinquency that would go on to haunt him into his late 30s. Anthony even spent time staying with Sonny Bono and where Sonny would try to be a positive male role model, Anthony rebelled. Anthony developed a dependency on Cocaine and Heroin long before he had a musical career that could fund such an addiction, and would have to break laws to support that addiction.



The "semi" autobiography "Scar Tissue" tells in Anthony's own words about his growing up in a broken home and then finding musical soul-mates, forming one of today's hottest bands and the constant checking into rehab to overcome a life time of cocaine and heroin addiction that as any recovering alcoholic/drug user knows is a day by day struggle. Anthony's story also covers the tragedies of losing the Chili Pepper's First Guitarist, Hillel Slovak, becoming friends and then losing Curt Cobain.



The book does leave you wondering whether or not he finally has "licked" the addiction but a line from the book hints that maybe he finally he has:

If you want to be a strong swimmer or an accomplished musician, you have to practice. It's the same with sobriety, though the stakes are higher. If you don't practice your program every day, you're putting yourself in a position where you could fly out of the orbit one more time. The good news is that being in recovery is a blast for me.

So if you want to read of the struggles not just of an artist but of an average Joe then you may want to pick up this book. Also it's fun to read about all the artistic struggles of the band and even Anthony's desperate search for the perfect woman. A little clue here, this is also the key to his constant slipping in and out of sobriety.