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Speed-Speed-Speedfreak of Mick Farren 1st (first) Edition on 14 October 2010
Speed-Speed-Speedfreak by Mick Farren First Edition
Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
5 people are currently reading
176 people want to read
About the author
Mick Farren
68 books79 followersFarren was the singer with the proto-punk English band The Deviants between 1967 and 1969, releasing three albums. In 1970 he released the solo album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus which also featured Steve Peregrin Took, John Gustafson and Paul Buckmaster, before leaving the music business to concentrate on his writing.
In the mid-1970s, he briefly returned to music releasing the EP Screwed Up, album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money and single "Broken Statue". The album featured fellow NME journalist Chrissie Hynde and Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson.
He has sporadically returned to music, collaborating with Wayne Kramer on Who Shot You Dutch? and Death Tongue, Jack Lancaster on The Deathray Tapes and Andy Colquhoun on The Deviants albums Eating Jello With a Heated Fork and Dr. Crow.
Aside from his own work, he has provided lyrics for various musician friends over the years. He has collaborated with Lemmy, co-writing "Lost Johnny" for Hawkwind, and "Keep Us on the Road" and "Damage Case" for Motörhead. With Larry Wallis, he co-wrote "When's the Fun Begin?" for the Pink Fairies and several tracks on Wallis' solo album Death in a Guitar Afternoon. He provided lyrics for the Wayne Kramer single "Get Some" in the mid-1970s, and continued to work with and for him during the 1990s.
In the early 1970s he contributed to the UK Underground press such as the International Times, also establishing Nasty Tales which he successfully defended from an obscenity charge. He went on to write for the main stream New Musical Express, where he wrote the article The Titanic Sails At Dawn, an analysis of what he saw as the malaise afflicting then-contemporary rock music which described the conditions that subsequently gave rise to punk.
To date he has written 23 novels, including the Victor Renquist novels and the DNA Cowboys sequence. His prophetic 1989 novel The Armageddon Crazy deals with a post-2000 United States which is dominated by fundamentalists who dismantle the Constitution.
Farren has written 11 works of non-fiction, a number of biographical (including four on Elvis Presley), autobiographical and culture books (such as The Black Leather Jacket) and a plethora of poetry.
Since 2003, he has been a columnist for the weekly Los Angeles CityBeat.
Farren died at the age of 69 in 2013, after collapsing onstage while performing with the Deviants at the Borderline Club in London.
In the mid-1970s, he briefly returned to music releasing the EP Screwed Up, album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money and single "Broken Statue". The album featured fellow NME journalist Chrissie Hynde and Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson.
He has sporadically returned to music, collaborating with Wayne Kramer on Who Shot You Dutch? and Death Tongue, Jack Lancaster on The Deathray Tapes and Andy Colquhoun on The Deviants albums Eating Jello With a Heated Fork and Dr. Crow.
Aside from his own work, he has provided lyrics for various musician friends over the years. He has collaborated with Lemmy, co-writing "Lost Johnny" for Hawkwind, and "Keep Us on the Road" and "Damage Case" for Motörhead. With Larry Wallis, he co-wrote "When's the Fun Begin?" for the Pink Fairies and several tracks on Wallis' solo album Death in a Guitar Afternoon. He provided lyrics for the Wayne Kramer single "Get Some" in the mid-1970s, and continued to work with and for him during the 1990s.
In the early 1970s he contributed to the UK Underground press such as the International Times, also establishing Nasty Tales which he successfully defended from an obscenity charge. He went on to write for the main stream New Musical Express, where he wrote the article The Titanic Sails At Dawn, an analysis of what he saw as the malaise afflicting then-contemporary rock music which described the conditions that subsequently gave rise to punk.
To date he has written 23 novels, including the Victor Renquist novels and the DNA Cowboys sequence. His prophetic 1989 novel The Armageddon Crazy deals with a post-2000 United States which is dominated by fundamentalists who dismantle the Constitution.
Farren has written 11 works of non-fiction, a number of biographical (including four on Elvis Presley), autobiographical and culture books (such as The Black Leather Jacket) and a plethora of poetry.
Since 2003, he has been a columnist for the weekly Los Angeles CityBeat.
Farren died at the age of 69 in 2013, after collapsing onstage while performing with the Deviants at the Borderline Club in London.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 4, 2024
If you have ever observed someone 'tweaking' you will never forget it. This book gives you the history of amphetamines and how this drug is 'speeding' countless people to an early grave. It never ceases to amaze me how many times drugs seem to 'escape' govermential control - only to cause more proposed control to address the situation.
September 26, 2019
Excellent compendium of all things Speed! Past, present and future look on all aspects of the topic.
Quick, easy & fascinating read; This is my second time reading it.
If this subject material is even remotely interesting to you than look no further! This is a must read!
Quick, easy & fascinating read; This is my second time reading it.
If this subject material is even remotely interesting to you than look no further! This is a must read!
January 26, 2015
War on Drugs
Everyone should inform themselves as much as possible about the drugs in this society. There are such a number, it is mind boggling to me. I don't think it is healthy to be using much of anything but they can and will be dispensed from wherever, whether I like it or not. Different people think differently and we all just want to get through life with a few joys and pleasures for sure. The book should help people make more informed choices even though a person will need more information than this. It's sometimes, hard to get the truth. People often just have their own agenda.
Everyone should inform themselves as much as possible about the drugs in this society. There are such a number, it is mind boggling to me. I don't think it is healthy to be using much of anything but they can and will be dispensed from wherever, whether I like it or not. Different people think differently and we all just want to get through life with a few joys and pleasures for sure. The book should help people make more informed choices even though a person will need more information than this. It's sometimes, hard to get the truth. People often just have their own agenda.
January 25, 2011
Impressive read on pharmaceutic-America as well as on the issues of Speed. Illustrations where Speed and World Events came together should be a caution for society in allowing the heavily drugged in positions of Trust & Responsibility.
August 14, 2012
Excellent history of speed from discovery to wartime uses to abuse in modern day. Will keep you turning pages
November 3, 2020
Oh, this book is fast alright... it's so fast that the author didn't have time to include a single footnote or reference to go with the facts. It's way too many "obviously", "certainly" and "perhaps" packed in this otherwise quite insightful pamphlet.
April 23, 2022
An enjoyable, fast-paced and thought-provoking read as only Mick Farren could write.
November 17, 2023
The Author or this book clearly has no first hand experience with the subject matter of the book (amphedamines). Not to suggest that amphetamines are a great thing for everyone to use, but the author either doesn't realize or doesn't acknowledge the number of responsible adults there are in the world who use adderrall, or meth, or some other amphetamine with or without a perscription. When something is illegal it's very hard to know how many people use it. Smart responsible users don't admit to using it, don't get caught, and don't do stupid things on it. You can not summarize all users based on examples of a few who did bad or stupid things. Those people already had psychological problems with or without drugs. Amphedamines have positive and negative effects. Some people should not use them, some people should. I'm still looking for a book on the subject that is non-bias that will explore in detail how it works and why it effects different people differently. How many books would Freud have written if he never discovered cocain? This book may have some good information, but it's mostly bias, only examining the worst of examples and the kind of users who live under a bridges and have mental illnesses prior to using stimulants.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews