Exit Stage Left: The curious afterlife of pop stars

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Without exception, they are at their most interesting when they’ve peaked, and when they are on their way down.

So you have several chapters of the druggies, the people who got a proper job, and the people still making music despite no one really listening to it.Tragedy, genius, addiction and inspiration: Exit Stage Left is a comprehensive tour through all the ways life can go wrong post-fame (and the few ways it can go right). But what's it like to actually achieve it, and what happens when fame abruptly passes, and shifts, as it does, onto someone else? Ex-Frankie Goes To Hollywood guitarist Brian ‘Nasher’ Nash talks about his PTSD diagnosis (as do a few other artists).

Dennis Seaton, once 15-year-old singer of Birmingham’s Musical Youth, is now chair of the Ladder Association’s Training Committee, and has prevented many accidents and fatalities by running training programmes for construction professionals. Spending my formative years in the dizzying plastic reality of my own stint of pop stardom left me wholly ill-equipped to navigate the real world afterwards. At first I read about them regardless just to see if the writing style was pleasant and if that could draw me in despite my ignorance. There are bands who accepted that their moment in the sun was fleeting, or see fame as a by-product of a hobby that got out of hand.Fame is the brightest candle, but in this brilliant collection of interviews, Nick Duerden answers the question: what does a candle do after it's burned out? The quibble I had with “Exit Stage Left” was that while it would have made a superb long-form article in a monthly music magazine (if such formats still existed in today’s publishing world), when the concept is stretched out to book length it can be repetitive and tautological. It is sad the the music industry is such a churn, but they knew what they signed up for, and if they are surprised at what happened then they are naive or idiots. The book includes interviews with a genre-crossing range of artists whose stories, while wildly different from one another, all echo the fickle nature of the music industry.

There are many cautionary tales here, from survivors of the pop machine to bands that were put together by a group of mates who wanted to escape from school, and the narrow confines from what was expected of them in adult life. These include Wendy James, Robbie Williams, Bob Geldof, Shaun Ryder, Robbie Williams, Roisin Murphy, Stewart Copeland, Billy Bragg, Alex Kapranos, Joan Armatrading, Leo Sayer, Gary Lightbody, Lisa Maffia, Tim Booth, Bill Drummond, Rufus Wainwright, David Gray, Lloyd Cole and Justin Hawkins. There are influential musicians featured, from The Police, Happy Mondays, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, to bands that burnt brightly for a while before the glare of fame faded. However, I warmed to the book as I got further into it: I suppose music journalism just tends to be bombastic and over-enthusiastic as a genre, possibly as way to convey the energy and hedonism of music and the music world.Plus, there’s plenty of memories of bands and singers you’ve probably forgotten, who may well be getting a boost on Spotify as you remember them and their songs. If you love reading about interesting people and music, and have eclectic music tastes, you’ll really enjoy this too. Another recent music industry-related book, Ian Winwood’s Bodies, teems with tales of alcohol and drug-fuelled endeavours; Exit Stage Left primarily concentrates on what happened next to musicians who quit the game on their own accord, were deemed too old by a youth-infatuated industry as their hits dried, chose to soldier on defiantly without any compromise, or diversified by specialising within different non-musical fields. Duerden does well to get so many interviews, let alone ones where the subjects speak so openly about their careers (or eventual lack of, in many cases).

The story goes that The Human League’s Phil Oakey smashed the phone to pieces immediately after hearing from his manager that ‘Don’t You Want Me’ had gone to number one in America. We live in a culture obsessed by the notion of fame – the heedless pursuit of it; the almost obligatory subsequent fallout. By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Pete Paphides, author of Broken Greek’Exit Stage Left is a funny and poignant book, drawing on Duerden’s considerable experience as a journalist and interviewer .

Nor has the English been checked any more thoroughly than the facts; among others I noted a complement/compliment mix-up, and a pallet for palette (which I supposed was at least more novel than the usual palette/palate, but no, that was waiting for me further in).