Glenn Hughes - From Now On... (1994) (Japan XRCN-1080)

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Glenn Hughes - From Now On... (1994) (Japan XRCN-1080)

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he phrase “sex, drugs & rock ‘n’ roll” has never been more applicable when discussing the life of ex-Deep Purple bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes. Cocaine, speed, Ecstasy, sex; he did it all. And a lot of it, too. Glenn Hughes: The Autobiography: From Deep Purple to Black Country Communion depicts many episodes of Glenn’s brazen cocaine usage and the ridiculous amount of money he has spent on the drug over the years. Glenn states several times throughout the book that he wants people to understand the effects of cocaine and what damage it did to him. Glenn is open and honest about his drug use, especially the few times he relapsed during his sobriety, which, with the exception of his drug sponsor, no one else knew … until now that is.

Glenn’s impressive musical resume includes Trapeze, Deep Purple, Hughes/Thrall, Black Sabbath, Gary Moore, Glenn’s own solo band, Hughes/Turner (with Joe Lynn Turner) and currently Black Country Communion. The women he’s had relations with are just as impressive. There are some fairly juicy stories about Cherie Currie, Lita Ford and Sandy West of the Runaways, Marisa Roebuck Pare, better known as Lace of the American Gladiators TV show, and actress Linda Blair.

Glenn has been described by friends, bandmates and family as warm, genuine, kind and a huge talent — when he’s not on drugs. As a drug addict, he was egotistical, selfish and violent. He experienced cocaine psychosis and developed a nervous, paranoid twitch. There are many quotes from the people that knew him best: his wives, Tony Iommi, David Coverdale and his mother, to name a few. Each of them give their testimony on how Glenn turned into a less than desirable person while on drugs.

Besides Glenn’s drug abuse and the women he’s shagged, reading about his time in Deep Purple and his other projects is very entertaining. While in Purple, he bonded with David Coverdale the most because they were the new guys in the band at the time. He also made fast friends with guitarist Tommy Bolin during the Come Taste The Band period. Glenn doesn’t really say much about Ritchie Blackmore, except that he was a great guy … unless he was in a bad mood. It was also interesting to read about Glenn’s point of view on the awkward time he spent in Sabbath, as well as his tumultuous relationship with guitarist Gary Moore.

The forward was written by Lars Ulrich of Metallica, and Joel McIver contributed the writing. The author jumps around a bit with the time periods, repeats some parts and some of the writing is choppy. It’s interesting to read the testimonials of Glenn’s friends and colleagues; however, they are usually inserted at an odd time in a particular story, which breaks the flow a bit. Favorably, the book jumps right in with his drug use stories and skips the boring childhood, family and school introduction. You can always search for that stuff on the Internet and most of it is common knowledge anyway.

This must have been very therapeutic for Glenn, and probably a lot easier and less expensive than sitting on some shrink’s couch blabbing away about his drug use. I read many rock and metal books and Glenn Hughes’ story is one of the best autobiographies I have read so far. Glenn dishes the dirt and tells it like it is. His story is honest, yet told with a bit of humor.