Mom, Have You Seen My Leather Pants?: The Tale of a Teen Rock Wannabe Who Almost Was

You'll be quoting it to all your friends this summer - cool to find such a silly topic covered by such a great writer! Write one about your days in Hollywood, Mr. Williams!

"Mom, Have You Seen My Leather Pants?" is a hysterical read. I never realized living the life in an early 90's high-school glam band could be so parallel to living the life in an early 90's high-school thrash metal band. We lived in entirely different worlds, but apparently dealt with the very same issues. A loyal fan base? Check. A ridiculous expectation we would land a record deal? Check. Obliviousness to our own musical mediocrity? Check. An obsession with living a rock star life while the harsh realities of daily life at high-school awaited us the next morning? Check. Band in-fighting and spiraling drug use? Check. A head-in-the-sand attitude toward the impending Seattle sound that would help seal our ultimate destruction? Check. Sure, according to the book, Craig A Williams' band had groupie chicks and a penchant for signing breasts while we had a legion of hardcore dude fans that were emboldened by their Slayer and Megadeth shirts and their proclivity to mosh. But were we really all that different? His band packed a crowd during a headlining show at The Whiskey. I have pictures to prove we achieved the same. The book tells of their Loni Anderson look-alike manager. Ours could have doubled as an impersonator for Peter Grant of Led Zeppelin fame, especially with that pistol he carried in his brief case. Then there was the issue when 60% of the band slept with his then wife, but that's another story. I know I still feel like a rock star and I tell my stories with great authority that we, on some small level, touched greatness very few will ever truly understand. This book, with its wry humor and horrifying stories of teenage debauchery, will entertain and delight anybody that was even remotely connected to the Southern California music scene in the late eighties and early nineties. I blazed through "Mom, Have You Seen My Leather Pants?" in just a couple of hours and it was worth every penny for admission . . . I only wish I had a neon green ticket stub with "Onyxx" stamped on it as a souvenir to prove I was at the show.

A great book that captures the true spirit of rock n' roll. Consider me a loyal foot soldier in the Onyxxx army! Rock on!

"Mom Have You Seen My Leather Pants" is true life rock & roll tale in the spirit of Frank Portman's fictional "King Dork". It's well written, funny, and insightful. More than just a good read though, Mr. Williams may have created a very important historical artifact in the annals of rock and roll history. VH1's "Behind The Music" and the movie "Decline Of Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years" have attempted to place a kind of artificial importance on "hair metal" that never really existed. "Pants" cuts through all of that and portrays the "pay to play", "hair extensions" era of the Hollywood Blvd. club scene as it truly deserves to be portrayed: as the purely ridiculous. What's more, Williams knows it. The author at once paints a picture of the hair metal era that is far from innocent (sex & drugs abound) but is still sincerely naive about the workings of the real world. By doing that, he elevates his text, far surpassing the mere tale he is trying to tell. "Hair Metal" and world Williams and his underage pals inhabit become an analogy for the end of the greedy, junk bond, trickle-down 80's. Everyone is feeling too good, and having too good of a time, to see the disasters (wars, recession) and upheaval (L.A. riots, mainstream punk via NirvanaJam) just around the corner. This is an inspiring work from a great new author, covering an era that has been left criminally uncovered in the past.

Craig Williams' reflection on his high school days in a glam metal rock band is at turns funny, touching and nostalgic. Anyone who remembers the days when Poison, Warrant, Motley Crue and GunsNRoses were at the top of the charts and dominating MTV will enjoy this story of an Orange County teenager (almost) destined for rock-n-roll fame. I also think the teenagers of today will relate to the desires for freedom, sex and an identity which are universals of the adolescent years, as well be fascinated by the days when hair metal dinosaurs roamed the earth. (Full disclosure: Craig is a friend of mine)