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Nina Antonia

Nina Antonia

Chronicler of the fatally famous, Nina Antonia often ponders William Blake's notion that 'the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom'. A moot point if ever there was one.

Described by author Clinton Heylin as "the partisan of decadent fuckups", Antonia has written four books: Johnny Thunders - In Cold Blood (Cherry Red), Peter Perrett -The One & Only (SAF), The New York Dolls - Too Much Too Soon (Omnibus) and The Prettiest Star (SAF), as well as contributing to Mojo and Uncut.

Pic: Nina Antonia, Brighton, January 2009, by Sam Collins.
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Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood, the biography of the New York Dolls guitarist and Heartbreakers lead singer by Nina Antonia, was first published in 1987 by Jungle Records, later reprinted in 2000 by Cherry Red books, and has remained a cult classic of rock biography for more than twenty years. During the writing of the book between 1982 and 1987 Nina became friends with Thunders when he spent time in London, and the balanced observations of her first biography were given a coda in her most recent book, The Prettiest Star , in which she described some of those encounters from a more personal angle. Nina is also the author of a New York Dolls biography, The New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon. In the process of writing the book interviewed individual members of the band about the story of the Dolls short but influential career.
 
 

10 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

The Dead Boys: No Compromise, No Regrets

Obituary by Nina Antonia, Spiral Scratch, 11 June 1991

STIV BATORS, a man whose name read like an anagram, managed the rare feat of creative reincarnation, within the span of what was to be ...

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: L.A.M.F.

Review by Nina Antonia, MOJO, July 1994

THIS IS NOT PUNK: THIS IS EDDIE COCHRAN and Gene Vincent dragged screaming into 1977. ...

The Only Ones: Only Ones: The Peel Sessions Album

Review by Nina Antonia, MOJO, September 1994

IF THERE WAS ONLY ONE SONG IN THE universe and it was 'Another Girl, Another Planet', I would still have all I ever wanted. ...

The Black Crowes: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Nina Antonia, MOJO, April 1995

WELCOME TO THE DUDE ranch aka the Royal Albert Hall. Legions of longhairs, clutching their Amorica Or Bust tour posters, strut into the luscious red ...

Malcolm McLaren, New York Dolls: Malcolm McLaren on the New York Dolls (1997)

Interview by Nina Antonia, Rock's Backpages audio, 1997

From meeting up in London, Paris and NYC, via the Red Guards debacle, to catching the clap in New Orleans, Malcolm McLaren tells all about his time with the New York Dolls

File format: mp3; file size: 56.9mb, interview length: 59' 19" sound quality: **

New York Dolls: Up and Down in Paris and London: The New York Dolls trash Europe

Book Excerpt by Nina Antonia, Omnibus Books, 1998

An extract from Too Much Too Soon: The New York Dolls by Nina Antonia, first published by Omnibus Press in 1998. (208pp, currently available in ...

Johnny Thunders: Forewarned: Johnny Thunders

Book Excerpt by Nina Antonia, Cherry Red Books, August 1999

JOHNNY THUNDERS didn’t just flirt with death, he courted it. Even so, his eventual demise in New Orleans on 23rd April 1991 still came as ...

The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistol Glen Matlock (2005)

Interview by Nina Antonia, Rock's Backpages audio, January 2005

From shop boy to Sex Pistol: the Pistols' key songwriter talks about the genesis of the band, the role of McLaren, goin' down the Roxy and the 100 Club Punk Festival

File format: mp3; file size: 44.4meg, interview length: 46' 15" sound quality: **

Johnny Thunders, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, New York Dolls: The First Punk: Johnny Thunders

Retrospective by Nina Antonia, MOJO, March 2005

FOR THE GENERATION of kids who became punks, the New York Dolls' appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test in November 1973 was an epiphany. ...

The Only Ones: Another Boy, Another Planet

Retrospective and Interview by Nina Antonia, Uncut, October 2005

If you thought Pete Doherty and the Libertines were the ultimate in glorious, shambling rock 'n' roll then try THE ONLY ONES, the brilliant late-'70s ...

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