Alternatives to Valium: How Punk Rock Saved a Shy Boy’s Life

By: Alastair McKay

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Synopsis: “A few years ago, I asked Tom Petty how his songs had been influenced by his life. As a rule, songwriters aren’t keen on unpicking their work, and Petty was no exception. He didn’t want to get into specifics. ‘Life is so difficult,’ he said. ‘And easy. It’s just a chain of spontaneous events.’” Alastair McKay’s own life was inspired and informed by music, so his book takes the form of an album, with two distinct sides. The first side is about childhood, and the struggle to find a voice. The second side is about interviews, and learning how to listen. An exceptionally shy boy, Alastair gradually found his voice through the punk explosion: the ethos that ‘anyone could do it’ prompted him to start writing, largely because it was easier than talking. From these hesitant beginnings, and his own failed attempts at musicianship, he would go on to a successful career in journalism: sharing a limousine with Kate Moss, meeting Iggy Pop at the Chateau Marmont, being led astray by Tilda Swinton and many, many other encounters.