Between 4-5 ⭐️ even though it took me a while to finish this. There were parts that felt repetitive and timelines that felt confusing, but overall I loved it. I couldn’t believe half of what I was reading was true and not fiction. An incredible story of addiction, redemption, music, love and life. Happy you’re alive today, Anthony!

This is just the best autobiography and account on the reasoning of self-abuse ever written and certainly one of the best lead singer autobiographies out there. Obsessive fans of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, like me (a fan since 1986), thought they knew everything they could about this deeply private band, but we were wrong. It was so refreshing and heart warming to have the normally candid and private singer open his soul over his terrible drug addictions and lost loves. If you are a fan, you will love the anecdotes about the songs, life on the road and personal friendships with the rest of the band. Anthony proves what a great and spiritual writer we love him for and this book will ensure his place in time as the great writer that he is and can be. This captivating book follows the singer through his addiction and the relationships that have been destroyed along the way, his friendship with his father and Michael Balzary (Flea) and down to his very lowest ebb and chronicles the more recent events that have turned the band into the biggest live act in the world.

Not badly written and has its moments. The fact that Kiedis is a self-indulgent, egoistical betrayer wrecks it though. His friends and family stand by him more times than you can count, and he basically spits in their faces again and again, while maintaining that he has extremely powerful spiritual gifts and he's Dalai Lama's favourite junkie and...oh, you get the picture...

Sorry that I am the kind of reader who HAS TO finish a book, once started. This fell into the category of "I wish I never started reading this". What a whiny spoiled brat this guy is! Holy cow! I did not feel sorry for him. He had such an attitude throughout this book. Not sure if it was all him, or the "written with guy'...... whatever his name was! Don't waste your time on this book. Unless you revel in the idiot famous drug addicts, who think it's a great idea to spend all the money they earn, on getting high. I guess being famous and rich isn't enough of a thrill! I feel sorry for his family, as well as the disturbed women who entered and dwelt in his life, before being tossed aside because HE couldn't deal with them and their problems!!!!!! Find a good horror story to read. At least you will enjoy it!

Have you seen the movie Dazed and Confused? Do you remember Matthew McConaughey’s “That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age” character? Well, that’s Kiedis. Only even older and on heroin.

So yeah, absolutely disgusting behavior that still continues to this day. He’s 61 and his current gf is 19 (Leo still has some work to do to catch up to this).

As far as memoirs go though, he really didn’t hold back. It’s everything you want from a rockstar memoir, all the seedy things these people have done for years and years. It is not badly written, and seems like an absolutely never-ending ride of getting high (destroying your and your loved ones’ lives in the process) and trying to stay sober. His descriptions of the inability to control yourself on drugs was really good, and it’s a miracle he didn’t die as many of his friends and bandmates did.

I have loved this band since high school and have seen them live, but man, I really need to learn that most rock bands I love so much are made of terrible fucked up people that deserve no adoration. It's insane how he blamed absolutely everyone around him for his issues except his deadbeat dad and himself, and how he had zero patience for other people's identical to his faults.

This is all to say that it’s a solid memoir, and I enjoyed learning about the meaning behind many songs I like (for example, Tearjerker is about Kurt Cobain), just be prepared to be disgusted. He's a terrible human being, not a good poet, and it's funny how he doesn't even know it, the delusion is hilarious, absolutely zero awareness.

I want to take a shower after reading this book. His viewpoint on women borderlines sexism and he obviously has an addictive personality (not to just drugs). I thought this book would provide a little more music inspiration but it is 100% “meet underage hot girl who loves to have sex, do lots of coke and heroine then rock out and learn she is crazy” … then repeat. Common denominator is you, Anthony. Perhaps YOU are the crazy one. The one redeeming quality of the book was I found Flea to be more stable and a solid friend — something unexpected.

First and foremost, this book is very easy to read. Whereas some books I have read I needed to be in a certain mood to enjoy them, I read this book at a variety of different times. The writing isn't very difficult to follow, as this book reads like someone telling you their life story.

At 500 pages, it really does not leave much of Anthony Kiedis' life out. At times it is slow and drags just a bit and others the the plot kind of gets redundant (like when it describes him kicking heroin and cocaine only to relapse again and again). This isn't because of the writing because you do realize that this of course is how his life was at that point. I personally felt bad for the guy and couldn't help but feel horrible for the guy when he struggled to get his life back together.

The book isn't all horrid descriptions of drug addiction, however. At the heart of the story is how music ran strong through this guy's life as he grew as a person. That and the brotherhood between the members of the band he is still a part of. The book is about friendship and how the ups and downs over the years shaped the band and how they inspired the amazing songs they produced.

My only real concern is that Antony Kiedis 'quit' doing drugs 'for the last time' fairly late into the book. While I'm sure he's become a much stronger person over the past couple decades, I of course worry about the man relapsing. The last time he talked about using in the book was only a few years ago. I just hope he stays safe and the Chili Peppers keep making music.

Seeing John back in the band has got me soooo into Red Hot Chili Peppers again so I felt like rereading and boy oh boy….. Not a morally sound man by any measure, but I find his lust for life enjoyable and he tells some entertaining stories

I LOVE Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but man this book was tedious. Kiedis had a crazy upbringing and the continuous references to drugs was a lot at times.

Ascolto i Red Hot sin dall'età di nove anni, il periodo in cui "By the Way" imperversava su Mtv e per le radio, anche se ricordo di averli conosciuti già prima, ammaliato dal video di "Californication" (il quale pensavo fosse davvero un videogioco). Crescendo ho potuto approfondire di più la loro discografia (finendo sempre più per apprezzare la scalmanata cinquina iniziale in stile funk rock) e le loro tormentate quanto strambe storie personali, promettendomi di leggere prima o poi "Scar Tissue", titolo di un loro omonimo successo e uno dei pezzi più riusciti, traducibile come "cicatrice", a testimonianza di una vita al limite lasciata alle spalle. In generale, le aspettative sono state rette, sia nella completezza dei fatti che nella scorrevolezza del tutto, nonostante qualche errore nelle traduzioni e situazioni interessanti che si risolvono troppo presto.

The audiobook quality was pure crap. I was also upset that Kiedis didn't narrate his own autobiography. And I was not a fan of the narrator they used. It seemed every other sexual encounter Kiedis had was "the most amazing, the most profound, etc" he ever had. That shit got old fast. The way this was written was very matter of fact. This is what happened, then this, then this. There was no real feeling of remorse or regret for all the drug use and fucked up behavior and infidelity.

BUT with all that being said, I could not put this book down. I was so engrossed in his story it was ridiculous. Every time he mentioned a specific interview or performance or basically any incident that was caught on camera I was immediately on YouTube watching it. This was a crazy ride and I loved every second of it.

Mr Keidis' masterpiece is notable not just for its beauty but for its daring reinvention of the novel form itself. A book full of intense symbolism and as haunting as anything by my four year old nephew.