I love the “Babylon” books – those named, of course, after the biblical city Babylon. These books talk about the materialistic and hedonistic pleasures of – you guessed it – celebrities and musicians. The first one I read was “Hollywood Babylon: The Legendary Underground Classic of Hollywood’s Darkest and Best Kept Secrets” by Kenneth Anger. Ah, this one dished a lot of dirt about classic Hollywood stories: Errol Flynn’s brushes with under aged girls (which lead to brushes with the law), Rudolph Valentino (was the “Latin Lover” really gay?), the Fatty Arbuckle scandal (so much for “innocent until proven guilty”), the promiscuity of the original “It” girl Clara Bow, the Johnny Stompanato murder case, the death of Jayne Mansfield (no, she was not decapitated in the wreck), and even the murder of Sharon Tate by the Manson family.
Realizing that people loved to read this type of stuff, Anger released “Hollywood Babylon II” with even more sordid trash about stars including the death of James Dean, the Black Dahlia murder, the love child of Loretta Young and Clark Gable, and John Belushi’s fatal overdose.
As a celeb fanatic, I couldn’t get enough. So I also gobbled up the gossip in “Nashville Babylon: The Uncensored Truth and Private Lives of Country Music’s Star” by Randall Riese. Oh yes, country music had its own scandals such as the short life of Hank Williams, the on again off again relationship of George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton’s relationship with Porter Wagoner, and the disastrous relationship between Tanya Tucker and the much older Glen Campbell.
Now, another book has come out – this time the subject is rock stars. “Rock Star Babylon: Outrageous Rumors, Legends, and Raucous True Tales of Rock and Roll Icons” by Jon Holmes covers the crazy demands and sometimes disgusting antics of rock stars. For example, it talks about how Jerry Lee Lewis visited Graceland at 3 am, demanding to see Elvis. He was eventually led away in handcuffs. It also mentions Ozzy Osbourne’s infamous bat biting. Throw in a bit of over-the-top party secrets, crazy divorces, trash hotel rooms, and you have some great scandalous reading!