“Cameron has written a book that feels like music an intimate souvenir like a song you can’t
stop listening to.” —Stevie Nicks The long-awaited memoir by Cameron Crowe—one of America’s
most iconic journalists and filmmakers— The Uncool is a joyful dispatch from a lost world a
chronicle of the real-life events that became Almost Famous and a coming-of-age journey
filled with music legends as you’ve never seen them before. Cameron Crowe was an unlikely
rock and roll insider. Born in 1957 to parents who strictly banned the genre from their house
he dove headfirst into the world of music. By the time he graduated high school at fifteen
Crowe was contributing to Rolling Stone . His parents became believers uneasily allowing him
to interview and tour with legends like Led Zeppelin Lynyrd Skynyrd Bob Dylan Crosby Stills
Nash & Young and Fleetwood Mac. The Uncool offers a front-row ticket to the 1970s a golden
era for music and art when rock was young. There’s no such thing as a media junket—just the
rare chance a young writer might be invited along for an adventure. Crowe spends his teens
politely turning down the drugs and turning on his tape recorder. He talks his journalism
teacher into giving him class credit for his road trip covering Led Zeppelin’s 1975 tour which
lands him—and the band—on the cover of Rolling Stone . He embeds with David Bowie as the
sequestered genius transforms himself into a new persona: the Thin White Duke. Why did Bowie
give Crowe such unprecedented access? “Because you’re young enough to be honest ” Bowie tells
him. Youth and humility are Crowe’s ticket into the Eagles’ dressing room in 1972 where
Glenn Frey vows to keep the band together forever to his first major interview with Kris
Kristofferson to earning the trust of icons like Gregg Allman and Joni Mitchell who had sworn
to never again speak to Rolling Stone . It’s a magical odyssey the journey of a teenage writer
waved through the door to find his fellow dreamers music geeks and lifelong community. It’s a
path that leads him to writing and directing some of the most beloved films of the past forty
years from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Say Anything …to Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous .
His movies often resonate with the music of the artists he first met as a journalist including
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers The Who and Pearl Jam. The Uncool is also a surprisingly
intimate family drama. If you’ve seen Almost Famous you may think you know this story—but you
don’t. For the first time Crowe opens up about his formative years in Palm Springs and pays
tribute to his father a decorated Army officer who taught him the irreplaceable value of the
human voice. Crowe also offers a full portrait of his mother whose singular spirit helped
shape him into an unconventional visionary. With its vivid snapshots of a bygone era and a
celebration of creativity and connection this memoir is an essential read for music lovers or
anyone chasing their wildest dreams. At the end of that roller-coaster journey you might just
find what you were looking for: your place in the world.
