Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
Runnin' With The Devil : A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen - Noel Monk

Runnin' With The Devil

A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen

By: Noel Monk, Joe Layden (As told to)

Paperback | 19 April 2018

At a Glance

Paperback


RRP $32.99

$32.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $8.19 with

 or 

Ships in 10 to 15 business days

Beginning in 1978, Van Halen's rise was one of the most thrilling the rock world had ever seen-their mythos an epic party with a sweaty, sexy, finger-tapping guitar solo as an encore. During this infamous run of success, debauchery, and drama, few people were closer to the band than their manager, Noel Monk. A man who'd worked with some of rock's biggest and most notorious names, Monk spent seven years with Van Halen, serving initially as their tour manager then as their personal manager until 1985, when he and David Lee Roth exited as controversy, infighting, and egos consumed the band.

Now, for the first time, Monk shares his side of the band's rapid ascent and abrupt halt, both of which left rock music forever changed. During his time behind the scenes, he saw it all and lived to tell the tale, helping the band grow from club-performing novices to hardened veterans who sold out stadiums. Lifting back the curtain on one of the great untold stories of rock music, Monk details the most outrageous escapades from his time as confidant, fixer, and promoter-from hotel room destruction to outrageous backstage behavior to Eddie Van Halen's high-profile marriage to Valerie Bertinelli to the incredible drug use and drinking that would ultimately fuel the conflict between the band members.

More than just presenting a portrait of sex and drugs-though there's plenty of both-Monk goes behind the legend of Eddie Van Halen, bringing into focus the unique combination of talent, vision, hardship, and naiveté that not only shaped one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time, but also made him vulnerable to the trappings of fame. Monk also sheds light on a breakup long shrouded in rumor and animosity, telling the story of David Lee Roth's departure as he saw it and explaining how a band at the height of their powers found themselves struggling in vain to hold it all together.

Complete with sixteen pages of never-before-seen photos of life with the band, Runnin' with the Devil offers Monk's backstage view of Van Halen's journey from obscurity to headliners, only to watch it all fall apart. Messy, loud, and most of all fun, this is a look inside Van Halen unlike any you've ever seen.

About the Author

Joe Layden is an award-winning journalist and the author of more than twenty books, including Home Before Daylight and the number one New York Times bestseller The Rock Says. He lives in upstate New York.

Industry Reviews
"More than an insider's story about VH; Monk also shares fascinating firsthand information about how the music industry operated at that time...An absolute must-read for VH fans and fans of rock music memoirs." -- Library Journal
"Too bad the title The Dirt was already taken. Noel Monk - who went from being Van Halen's road manager to their business manager during their Diamond Dave prime - holds nothing back...Monk paints a convincing picture of a brilliant, substance-addled young band that wasn't built to last." -- Rolling Stone
"The Van Halen book you've been waiting for...brutally honest and at times shocking...Van Halen fans will be discussing and debating it with the same attention to detail as Eddie's finger-tapping work on 'Eruption.'" -- Houston Press
"There's plenty of sex and drugs here, along with the absurdities of the hard-rock life." -- New York Times Book Review

More in Arts & Entertainment Biographies

I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF
Episodes : The Diary of a Recovering Mad Man - Gucci Mane

RRP $49.99

$38.75

22%
OFF
Holbein : Renaissance Master - Elizabeth Goldring

RRP $82.95

$60.75

27%
OFF
The Whole Truth - Jackie O

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
Star of the Show : My Life on Stage - Dolly Parton

RRP $85.00

$61.99

27%
OFF
Uses for Obsession : A Chef's Memoir - Ben Shewry

RRP $34.99

$28.75

18%
OFF
Insomnia - Robbie Robertson

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$29.75

20%
OFF
Guts : A memoir of food, failure and taking impossible chances - Melissa Leong
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

Paperback

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
Heavier Than Heaven : The Biography of Kurt Cobain - Charles R. Cross
Born A Crime : Stories from a South African Childhood - Trevor Noah
Unveiled : A memoir - Vincent Fantauzzo

RRP $36.99

$29.75

20%
OFF
Truly - Lionel Richie

SIGNED COPY

Paperback

RRP $37.99

$28.99

24%
OFF
What Have I Done? : My Autobiography - Ben Elton

RRP $36.99

$29.75

20%
OFF
What I Ate in One Year : (And related thoughts) - Stanley Tucci

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF