A review by cgallenorr
Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of the Black Crowes--A Memoir by Steve Gorman

4.0

I listened to the audio version of Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of the Black Crowes, written and read by Steve Gorman, the drummer of the Black Crowes. His voice is perfect for reading aloud, and it enables the listener to hear nuances that he, with first-hand knowledge of the experiences he described, was able to inject. I am a big fan of memoirs by and about musicians and bands, and I enjoyed hearing the story of the rise and fall of the Black Crowes. I enjoyed it until the narrative got a little repetitive, the narrative, of course, being that the Robinson brothers, and more particularly Chris, are self-absorbed narcissists whose toxicity poisons everything that they touch. As someone who doesn't know much about the Black Crowes other than being familiar with their music, I really did not like the Robinson brothers by the end of the book. While Gorman claims he has moved on in life, it seems like there is a residual anger still simmering behind his words. He fully admits that any book written by the other members of the band would give very differing accounts of the stories he has told. If you are willing to overlook the repetitiveness of the memoir, if you don't mind hearing what I imagine to be a very biased telling of the band's story, and if you are a fan of music memoirs and/or the Black Crowes, you will probably enjoy this.