There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll

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Overview

From a legendary music journalist with four decades of unprecedented access, an insider's behind-the-scenes look at the major personalities of rock and roll.

Lisa Robinson has interviewed the biggest names in music—including Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Patti Smith, U2, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Kanye West. She visited the teenage Michael Jackson many times at his Encino home. She spent hours talking to John Lennon at his Dakota apartment—and in recording ...

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There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll

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More About This Book

Overview

From a legendary music journalist with four decades of unprecedented access, an insider's behind-the-scenes look at the major personalities of rock and roll.

Lisa Robinson has interviewed the biggest names in music—including Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Patti Smith, U2, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Kanye West. She visited the teenage Michael Jackson many times at his Encino home. She spent hours talking to John Lennon at his Dakota apartment—and in recording studios just weeks before his murder. She introduced David Bowie to Lou Reed at a private dinner in a Manhattan restaurant, helped the Clash and Elvis Costello get their record deals, was with the Rolling Stones on their jet during a frightening storm, and was mid-flight with Led Zeppelin when their tour manager pulled out a gun. A pioneering female journalist in an exclusive boys' club, Lisa Robinson is a preeminent authority on the personalities and influences that have shaped the music world; she has been recognized as rock jounralism's ultimate insider.

A keenly observed and lovingly recounted look back on years spent with countless musicians backstage, after hours and on the road, There Goes Gravity documents a lifetime of riveting stories, told together here for the first time.

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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

Vanity Fair contributing editor Lisa Robinson has been called the first lady of rock and roll journalism and that praise is not just hyperbole. For four decades, this seasoned reporter has interviewed and gained access into the lives of the world's most prominent rock musicians. In this once in a lifetime memoir, she shares stories of what she has seen as a trusted insider behind the scenes. Among those figuring in her up-close encounters are John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Mike Jagger, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Linda Ronstadt, and Elvis Costello. Rock stories worth retelling.

The New York Times Book Review - Howard Hampton
…Robinson is often delightful company. She spins good yarns and drops nifty tidbits about a litany of the great and the weird. Meet Lou Reed after hours…kibitz with the New York Dolls' peerless David Johansen, visit Michael Jackson…You can dine with a voluble Phil Spector, delve into the pontifical all-things-to-all-people contradictions of U2 and recall a certain Ms. Smith's prestardom cabaret act…There Goes Gravity aims to entertain, but it also illuminates more than enough.
Publishers Weekly
04/21/2014
During her 40 plus years as a music writer and columnist (New Musical Express, NY Post, Vanity Fair), Robinson has conducted a wealth of high-profile interviews—Patti Smith, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, Jay Z, Eminem. These immersive tales from the hotels and backstage rooms of many larger-than-life musicians form a fly-on-the-wall adventure through the last half century of music. Growing up the daughter of a judge in Manhattan, Robinson used to sneak out to hear Thelonious Monk at the Village Vanguard before ending up in the offices of her future husband, writer and music label insider Richard Robinson. At a time when the feminist movement was still in its infancy, Robinson established herself as part of a rarified circle of women who had truly free access. She had early success with interviews because, initially, she didn't see herself as a rock critic (often writing gossip about fashion) and was cautious to judge, leaving the drug exposes to others. Tellingly, although she was entertained by the likes of Jagger and enthrall by Led Zeppelin, when Robinson was in New York she would head straight to CBGB's to see Television and The New York Dolls, of whom she has been a longstanding champion. For Robinson, writing about the scene "felt like a ‘calling'." Whether I was in a private plane with the Rolling Stones or standing in two inches of beer…at CBGB's—it was exactly where I wanted to be." Her excitement is palpable and will leave you wanting to put your lighter in the air. (Apr.)
Library Journal
11/01/2013
Having covered the rock scene for four decades, Vanity Fair contributing editor Robinson can tell us about introducing David Bowie and Lou Reed, discussing nail polish with tweener Michael Jackson, making sure that Elvis Costello got a record deal, and standing by as Led Zeppelin's manager pulled out a gun. Whoa!
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2014-01-29
A lifetime of memories from classic rock's heyday by one of the finest rock journalists of her generation. It wouldn't be surprising if Cameron Crowe's misty-eyed classic Almost Famous comes to readers' minds as they troll through this book by longtime New York Post and Vanity Fair journalist Robinson. The author covers her career from joining the Rolling Stones on tour in 1969 to more recent profiles of megastars like Eminem, Kanye West and Lady Gaga. It's a fantastic collection of stories, partially due to the fact that Robinson is a top-notch writer and partly since she enjoyed completely unfettered access and the genuine friendship of figures ranging from John Lennon to Phil Spector. Most of the chapters cover major figures—David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and an elegiac remembrance of Michael Jackson, to name just a few—but Robinson also seems to have a foot in two worlds. While she jetted around the world with champagne in hand, she was also deeply embedded in the origins of the legendary New York City club CBGB. In its orbit, she bonded with gutter rats like the Ramones and introduced David Bowie to Lou Reed for the first time. There's also a bittersweet melancholy that underpins much of the book. On the recent Zeppelin reunion, she writes, "I didn't go. I prefer to remember them the way they were. It's been a long time. The song couldn't possibly be the same." On learning there's a "Joey Ramone Place" in the Bowery now, she recalls some lyrics by Bob Dylan: "They're selling postcards of the hanging." On punk rock: "Scenes aren't meant to last. The best of them sneak or burst into the consciousness of a few. They blow up into something they weren't to begin with. And then, they eventually burn out." All of these movements have been written about before, but the scope of Robinson's memoir lends it an extraordinary spirit. A backstage pass to the greatest circus of the 20th century.
Library Journal
03/15/2014
Pioneering music journalist Robinson (contributing editor, Vanity Fair) combined in-depth access to artists' inner circles, an uncanny ability to get in on the ground floor of hot new acts, and an outsider's perspective as a professional woman in the male-dominated world of rock to make her columns and interviews among the most influential of her generation. Here she collects behind-the-scenes stories with some of the greatest performers of the last several decades. From the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin to Eminem and Lady Gaga, each chapter is centered on a single artist or group. Readers should expect several dozen amusing cameos and digressions along the way, though. The focus may be on the artists, but it is Robinson's voice, straightforward and intimate, that makes this work stand out from the pack. VERDICT A particularly entertaining rock and roll memoir that will appeal to a wide audience. Highly recommended for music or cultural historians and fans of road diaries. [See Prepub Alert, 11/1/13.]—Neil Derksen, Pierce Cty. Lib. Syst., Tacoma
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781594487149
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 4/22/2014
  • Pages: 368
  • Sales rank: 37576
  • Product dimensions: 6.10 (w) x 9.30 (h) x 1.30 (d)

Meet the Author

Lisa Robinson is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where she has produced music issues and written many major profiles over the past fourteen years. Prior to that, she was a longtime columnist for the New York Post, was syndicated by the New York Times Syndicate, and was an editor of several rock magazines. She was born in New York City, where she still resides.

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 2.5
( 6 )
Rating Distribution

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sun Apr 27 00:00:00 EDT 2014

    Bad!!!

    Gave up after 50 pages. It is so poorly written. Almost as if the author was still on one of the acid trips mentioned in the book.

    How do i get my money back?

    4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Apr 29 00:00:00 EDT 2014

    No one cares!

    Blah blah blah... Grow up.

    3 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Sat May 31 00:00:00 EDT 2014

    I have read just about every rock n roll book out there.  I had

    I have read just about every rock n roll book out there.  I had high hopes for this one but it was good at best. It starts off slow and kind of rambling.  Her writing style seems to get a little better as the book goes on.  The chapter on U2, Eminim and Gaga are worth reading.  I was looking forward to the old stuff, the Stones,  Zepplin etc and its just so hard to read. If you hang in threre after the first few chapters it does get better, but that is not saying much. In one word, dissappointing! 

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Fri May 16 00:00:00 EDT 2014

    Rock n Roll

    Robison is a rock reporter and we've all been reading her for years. This book focuses on her time with the Stones, Led Zep, New York Dolls, Ramones and others. Real insider stuff. A lot of fun.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Fri Jul 25 00:00:00 EDT 2014

    like others, i will say this is a slow read. you'd think being

    like others, i will say this is a slow read. you'd think being behind the scenes in music since the 60s, there would be so many great stories & such. the way this is written, it's like i'm listening to someone talk at a party about their accounting job. totally dull & with NO enthusiasm whatsoever for the job or the people/scene involved. back to the party example, it's like i was interested to hear what this person had to say, then 10 minutes later was plotting about how i could walk away & talk to that interesting person across the room.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Fri May 09 00:00:00 EDT 2014

    No text was provided for this review.

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