 | |
| Author | Jimmy Barnes |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre | memoir |
| Published | 2017 (HarperCollins) |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 512 |
| ISBN | 9781460753422 |
Working Class Man is the 2017 memoir by Jimmy Barnes, and sequel to his 2016 Working Class Boy .
On 3 May 2018, Barnes won the biography of the year at the Australian Book Industry Awards for the second year in a row. [1]
Michael Dwyer from Sydney Morning Herald called the memoir "honest" and said "It begins exactly where last year's Working Class Boy ended: on a tenuous high note, with our hero escaping an Adelaide childhood of grim poverty and violent abuse in the back of Cold Chisel's truck." adding "For vintage Chisel fans, frank and ample disclosures about band dynamics and company business are in keeping with Barnes' hugely readable, no-bullshit style. The isolation and self-doubt of his solo years are laid bare too, as he reels from one arranged American songwriting marriage to another in a chemical-hoovering fury." [2] David Free from The Australian said this is a sequel "in the fullest sense of the word". Free said "Read this one by itself and you will find yourself looking at a cliche: the self-destructive rock star. But the first book lets you know, in pitiless detail, exactly what the self-destroyer was out to destroy. In this respect and others, the first book shines a light into the second. The adult who behaved like a child is explained, in large part, by the child who had to behave like an adult.". [3] John Purcell said "In Working Class Man Jimmy tells us in his famously direct and raw style, what it was really like to be in Cold Chisel, one of Australia’s most iconic bands, as well as what life was like as a record breaking solo artist. Jimmy does not flinch, he tells it as it is: the drugs, the sex, the money, the highs and the even higher highs and those heartbreaking lows. This book has already shocked early readers with its honesty. This is the real deal." [4]
Cold Chisel are an Australian pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums and Don Walker on piano and keyboards. They were soon joined by Jimmy Barnes on lead vocals and, in 1975, Phil Small became their bass guitarist. The group disbanded in late 1983 but subsequently reformed several times. Musicologist Ian McFarlane wrote that they became "one of Australia's best-loved groups" as well as "one of the best live bands", fusing "a combination of rockabilly, hard rock and rough-house soul'n'blues that was defiantly Australian in outlook."
James Dixon Barnes is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music artists of all time. The combination of 14 Australian Top 40 albums for Cold Chisel and 13 charting solo albums, including 17 No. 1s, gives Barnes the highest number of hit albums of any artist in the Australian market.
"Khe Sanh" is the debut single by Australian rock band Cold Chisel, released in May 1978 as a 45 rpm single, and named after the district capital of Hướng Hóa District, Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam. Written by pianist Don Walker, "Khe Sanh" concerns an Australian Vietnam veteran dealing with his return to civilian life. According to Toby Creswell's liner notes for the band's 1991 compilation album Chisel, the song is also a story of restless youth.
For the Working Class Man is the second studio album by former Cold Chisel frontman Jimmy Barnes, released in December 1985. The album consists of five original tracks and seven remixed tracks that had previously been released on Barnes' 1984 debut album Bodyswerve.
"Flame Trees" is a song by Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel from their 1984 album Twentieth Century. One of their best known songs, it was written by drummer Steve Prestwich and keyboardist Don Walker. On its release it reached No. 26 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart. It resurfaced in August 2011 due to download sales, peaking at No. 54 on the ARIA chart.
Cold Chisel is the self-titled debut album of Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel. Released in April 1978, it spent 23 weeks in the Australian charts, peaking at number 38.
"Working Class Man" is a song performed and made famous by Australian singer Jimmy Barnes. It was written by Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain. "Working Class Man" is generally considered Barnes' signature song as a solo artist.
You're Thirteen, You're Beautiful, and You're Mine is a live EP by Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel, recorded at the Regent Theatre in Sydney in October 1978, and released in November. After a long period of unavailability, the EP was re-released as a bonus disc with the second pressing of the compilation album Chisel (1991). The EP was later made available digitally, as well as reissued on disc in 2011.
East is the third studio album by Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel, released in June 1980. The album peaked at No. 2 and spent 63 weeks on the national chart. It was the biggest-selling Australian album release of the year. It was the only Cold Chisel album to chart in America, reaching 171 on the Billboard 200. It also reached number 32 on the New Zealand charts.
Bodyswerve is the debut solo album by former Cold Chisel vocalist Jimmy Barnes. The album was released in on 10 September 1984 and went to No. 1 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart. It contains covers of tracks by Sam Cooke and Janis Joplin. "No Second Prize" was the album's first single.
Twentieth Century is the fifth and final studio album by Australian band Cold Chisel until the group reformed in 1998. The album was written and recorded over various sessions during the period of the band's break-up and during breaks in their final tour. It was released in early 1984 and peaked at No. 1 on the Australian albums chart, their third consecutive album to do so. It charted for a total of 46 weeks.
Donald Hugh Walker is an Australian musician and songwriter who wrote many of the hits for Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel. Walker is considered to be one of Australia's best songwriters. In 2012 he was inducted into the Australian Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
"Choirgirl" is a 1979 single by Australian rock band Cold Chisel. A ballad with an R&B influenced melody, the single was released months before the album East that it featured on. It was the first time the band had recorded with producer Mark Opitz. It peaked at number 14 in Australia
"Forever Now" is a 1982 single from Australian rock band Cold Chisel. The second single from the album Circus Animals, it was the first Cold Chisel single to be penned by Steve Prestwich. The song reached number 2 in the New Zealand charts, and number 4 in Australia, the band's highest chart placement. It stayed in the charts for 18 weeks. The single was released in more countries than any other by Cold Chisel. In America it was titled "Forever Now ".
"Cheap Wine" is a 1980 single from Australian rock band Cold Chisel. The second single from the album East, the single was released in May, a month before the album. It reached number 8 on the Australian charts, the band's first top-ten single, and would eventually remain the band's second highest chart performance. It has been described as, "one of Don's finest commercial songs."
"Stone Cold" is a song by Australian rock musician, Jimmy Barnes. It was released in May 1993 as the third single from Barnes' sixth studio album, Heat.
"Lost" was a 2015 single from Australian rock band Cold Chisel. The single was released weeks before the album, The Perfect Crime, that it featured on. A mid-tempo ballad, it reached number 92 in the Australian charts.
The Perfect Crime is the eighth studio album by Australian rock band Cold Chisel. It was released on 2 October 2015. It was the first album not to feature a contribution from drummer Steve Prestwich, who died of a brain tumour in January 2011. The album peaked at number 2 on the Australian charts and number 7 in New Zealand.
Working Class Boy is a 2016 memoir by Jimmy Barnes. It is about Barnes' childhood in Glasgow and Adelaide. Barnes details his childhood in Glasgow up until him joining Cold Chisel.
My Criminal Record is the 18th studio album by Australian musician Jimmy Barnes. The album was released on 31 May 2019. The album is Barnes' first solo album of primarily original material since 2010's Rage and Ruin. It became Barnes's 12th number-one album on the Australian albums chart, making him the artist with the most chart-topping albums in Australian chart history, having previously tied at 11 number ones with Madonna and U2.