Читать книгу Behind the Rock and Beyond - Leon Isackson - Страница 4

JON & LEON: There is nothing special about Jon Hayton and Leon Isackson. We were never big famous rock stars. We were just a couple of ordinary Australian kids who became teenagers at the same time that rock’n’roll appeared on the Australian music scene. In fact, our main claim to fame is the fact that we were THERE in the beginning.

We often discussed the possibility of writing a book about this period of our lives, using Leon’s personal diaries for a reference. The memory sometimes needs a little nudge here and there and we found the accuracy of the diaries invaluable. After all, we wanted the book to have the same credibility. Everything had to be as accurate as possible.

Although this book is written in autobiographical form, it is not meant to be a confessional of two sinful rock’n’rollers nor is it meant to be a concise history of Australian rock’n’roll as such. It is more of an observation by two musicians who found themselves in the thick of it. Our rule has been: if that’s the way it happened, then — that’s the way it happened!

The characters in this book are all true — some famous, some not so famous and some who had a fleeting taste of fame and never quite got over it. It’s not just our story either; it’s everybody’s story and the only reason that Jon and Leon remain the central characters is not because we were the “heroes” but because the story is told as seen through our eyes.

While sorting out this information in chronological order between 1956 and 1966 in a semi-documentary form, we found that a strong story line was emerging before our very eyes. We both experienced the eerie feeling that our hands were merely tools of some ghost-writers, who appeared to be writing the text for us. We hope “they” like the finished product!

As two individuals, of course, our personal reactions to these events will be very different. It depends on who’s telling the story. However, the things we do have in common are, that we were both born in 1942 and we both shared a passion for rock’n’roll. We also shared quite a few beers, hotel rooms, a number of girls and many other experiences that we would like to share with you as we show you what it was really like BEHIND THE ROCK.