Bananarama Have Written An Autobiography!

The pictures of them recording the audio book look a little dry unfortunately (unless the gin bottles were under the desk):

 
Don't forget that hand gel is probably at least 60% alcohol.
 
How did I miss that though?!

Still, good timing. I’ll use my final Audible credit from my three months free for that one!
 
The book’s a tenner in Tesco. Picked an extra one up for my friend Peter for a Christmas present. I remember he bought Please Yourself on cassette on a school trip to the city shopping day. Nothing by them before or since but that’s hardly the point.
 
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Waterstones seem to have no interest in dispatching my copy of the book so I've signed up for an Audible trial in the meantime.

They did an IG live this evening and said that they made additional comments when recording the audiobook but think they were probably edited out (and were told to stop doing impressions).

The longest they have gone without speaking is three days (when Sara is sulking).
 
I’ve downloaded the audiobook but have no long car journeys to enjoy it on for a while, which is rather annoying...
 
The NAME DROPPING in this book, I have never known anything like it. :D

I'm through the slightly too long childhood reminiscing and into the much more interesting early Nana days now.
 
jyxz said:
Anyone attending the livestream this evening at 18:30?
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Yes, I think so. Not sure there will be much new but it was free through Popbitch.

They've had quite a few promo spots over the last few days and they did the Kate Thornton podcast the other day as well.
 
BoysForSeles said:
New entry at number 10. On the hardback non fiction chart.
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One place below A Del of a Life, which is apparently David Jason's THIRD autobiography.

To be fair I expected it would be pretty niche interest, despite their somewhat increased profile post-reunion with Siobhan.
 
Has anyone read/listened to all of this yet? I really enjoyed it, though unsurprisingly some things that were skipped over and I would have liked to see some more detail on. Quite a few cackling interludes were left in on the audiobook, which was nice.

Jacquie's departure handled in a single paragraph, sticking to the 'always the new girl' line, with no mention of the wild partying (though that would come across a little hypocritical considering what they got up to) or any other differences. Having to go back to Stock & Waterman for Please Yourself and leaving London is pretty much brushed over.

There is a little more about tensions with Siobhan, first time around and hints from the reunion. It definitely confirmed my suspicion that Keren has a little less patience with Shuv than Sara.

As far as Exotica goes they talk about how nice it was to record in Paris and record the two (really?) videos there and in Barcelona. Accentuate the positive. :D

Unsurprising that Sara goes into the detail of the music than Keren, who admits to not recognising some of their songs.

Loved the George Michael stories and I didn't realise how close they were with Keith Flint.

As the story of their 'unnatural' friendship as well as Bananarama it is very entertaining. Oh and the little bit where Keren had a whinge about people liking Sara more than her. :D
 
So having had a long trip in the car again today, I've finally gotten into this and I'm fucking INCENSED at it so far. Basically a THIRD of it taken up pre-fame? It's ALRIGHT ENOUGH but nothing SPECIAL so far and considering their FORTY YEAR CAREER you'd think that they might have carved it up a LITTLE better. I really didn't need to know all of that about Keren's CUNTING piano lessons or SARA in the guides. Or was that the other way around? WHO FUCKING CARES?

The audiobook reading is, of course, SUITABLY BORED, but I did enjoy the barely held back CHUCKLE talking about their childhood PAEDOPHILE.
 
Sheena said:
So having had a long trip in the car again today, I've finally gotten into this and I'm fucking INCENSED at it so far. Basically a THIRD of it taken up pre-fame? It's ALRIGHT ENOUGH but nothing SPECIAL so far and considering their FORTY YEAR CAREER you'd think that they might have carved it up a LITTLE better. I really didn't need to know all of that about Keren's CUNTING piano lessons or SARA in the guides. Or was that the other way around? WHO FUCKING CARES?

The audiobook reading is, of course, SUITABLY BORED, but I did enjoy the barely held back CHUCKLE talking about their childhood PAEDOPHILE.
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The childhood stuff is pretty much to be expected but I didn't think the amount of time devoted to it was that bad. Once those two chapters are out of the way and they are in London things are definitely much more interesting.
 
FetchFugly said:
The childhood stuff is pretty much to be expected but I didn't think the amount of time devoted to it was that bad. Once those two chapters are out of the way and they are in London things are definitely much more interesting.
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All autobiographies are boring in the childhood bit, absolutely, but the first chapter goes on FOREVER. The first and second chapters are the longest of the entire book and come out at 66 minutes- so over a quarter of the book is their childhood, basically.

Yes, London gets better, but we're still only just getting into the fame part at 2 hours, or a third.
 
I wish celebrity memoirists would realise that nobody gives a fuck about their childhoods. Mariah's went on forever as well.

DON'T BORE US, GET TO THE CHORUS
 
Mariah's did but at least it had some JUICE. The Nanas' was just them talking about getting told off at school and falling off their bikes.
 
Sheena said:
All autobiographies are boring in the childhood bit, absolutely, but the first chapter goes on FOREVER. The first and second chapters are the longest of the entire book and come out at 66 minutes- so over a quarter of the book is their childhood, basically.

Yes, London gets better, but we're still only just getting into the fame part at 2 hours, or a third.
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I did wish the childhood part would hurry up but the YWCA and Sex Pistols' rehearsal room stuff was always going to feature heavily, they love wheeling out those stories. I really enjoyed the frantic name-dropping of the part where they were living it up in London pre-fame.
 
Are there any childhood Bristol stories to hook me in at least? I'm tempted by the audiobook as well.
 
lolly said:
Are there any childhood Bristol stories to hook me in at least? I'm tempted by the audiobook as well.
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LITERALLY NONE :D

Well, there are, but they don’t mention Bristol AT ALL bar from how long it takes to get the train to London from there :D
 
Sheena said:
LITERALLY NONE :D

Well, there are, but they don’t mention Bristol AT ALL bar from how long it takes to get the train to London from there :D
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Figures. I don't think I even knew they were FROM here until the late 80s - they never talked about it. It was never really cool until trip hop, I suppose. And I think they are from South Glos rather than Bristol proper, anyway.
 
Their IG live from yesterday:



Apparently some name dropping stories got cut from the book. They hinted that they are writing new material. Exotica either is or isn't being pursued for a vinyl release depending on whether you believe Keren or Sara ('is that the French one?'). Also Sara either lives or lived very near to Su Pollard.
 
Despite not even being a HUGE FAN I bought a (signed) copy of their book and it's a bit of a MISSED OPPORTUNITY isn't it?
I wanted all the 80s goss and some actual insight into their genuinely BONKERS career trajectory - but they seem to spend more time talking about their school days than a lot of their albums.

Was quite sad to see Drama and Viva both get about a page each (if THAT) in the book, as I was genuinely interested to hear what it was like going from being in the pop semi-wilderness, to suddenly having a shade of a budget (and a couple of minor hits) again with Drama.

OH WELL!
 
And now the sun has finally set and
This is where the story ends we
Didn't count upon a rainy day
 
I heard Chapter 7 in this book is just the lyrics to Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango)

Can anyone confirm, or DENY?
 
wurst said:
Despite not even being a HUGE FAN I bought a (signed) copy of their book and it's a bit of a MISSED OPPORTUNITY isn't it?
I wanted all the 80s goss and some actual insight into their genuinely BONKERS career trajectory - but they seem to spend more time talking about their school days than a lot of their albums.

Was quite sad to see Drama and Viva both get about a page each (if THAT) in the book, as I was genuinely interested to hear what it was like going from being in the pop semi-wilderness, to suddenly having a shade of a budget (and a couple of minor hits) again with Drama.

OH WELL!
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Yes. It was SO disappointing.
 
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