I’m incredibly excited to announce my second book is slated for release in fall 2021! Titled, Van Halen: The Eruption and the Aftershock, it’s something I’ve been working on for some time and have wanted to do forever. It will be published via Backbeat Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, the same publishers who did Depeche Mode: All That’s Left to Know About the World’s Finest Synth-Pop Band which comes out Dec. 28.
Here’s the description going out for early promotions:
“Come the late 70s, the rock music landscape was littered with the bloated carcasses of bands who partied too hard, burned out or became complacent in success. The door was open for something fresh, wild and enrapturing. Enter Van Halen. Made up of two Dutch-born brothers, one on drums and the other whose guitar was an extension of his very being, a bass player with a golden throat and a frontman who made up for his lack of singing ability with attitude and gravity defying acrobatics onstage, they were unlike anything ever seen before.
Alex and Edward Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth put a cap on one decade and exploded into the next with a brand of music not quite punk, not quite metal and not at all subtle. They went from headlining backyard keggers to top billing at the US Festival in front of 300,000 people within five years. Then, right when it looked like there wasn’t an obstacle created to slow the Mighty Van Halen ascent, the group imploded from the inside out, only to rebound stronger than ever with ex-Montrose howler Sammy Hagar leading them to four consecutive number one albums.
Van Halen: The Eruption and the Aftershock tells the story of how one of America’s greatest bands weathered arguably the most dramatic soap opera in rock and roll history with songs that would weave themselves into the fabric of every musician who heard them, alongside an incendiary and unrivaled live show. Featuring exclusive interviews with insiders, fans and artists who were there to witness the rise, the tumult and the making of legends, it’s a story that has to be read to be believed.”
The Chronicles of Michael Christopher 