David Bowie . . . Johnny Cash . . . Isaac Hayes . . . Gene Simmons . . . INXS . . . Phil Collins . . . Lynyrd Skynyrd . . . Michael Nesmith . . . Aerosmith . . . Ray Charles . . . Velvet Underground . . . The Doors . . . Beach Boys . . . Steve Cropper . . . Iggy Pop . . . Billy Idol . . . Queen . . . Garth Brooks . . . Ice-T . . . Guns N’ Roses . . . Sporty Spice . . . Sex Pistols

Why did David Bowie start crying in the middle of an interview? Did Phil Collins really call a journalist the nastiest word in the English language? Why did Garth Brooks lose his temper? What was Johnny Cash’s house like? Why was Ray Charles’ funeral a blast? Was Isaac Hayes the coolest guy on the planet? Why is Mike Love of the Beach Boys tragically underappreciated? Why did soap operas tear apart Aerosmith and the Doors? Who described Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters as “a terminal a**hole”?

Go behind the scenes of both the music and journalism worlds with Dean Goodman, who came to America in 1992 as a jaded 23-year-old business reporter on the trail of his rock ‘n’ roll heroes. While the music industry enjoyed its last hurrah before greed and piracy took over, the exile from Down Under secured a ringside view of the glamour and the glory, the creative process, the bickering, and the failure.

Strange Days: The Adventures of a Grumpy Rock ‘n’ Roll Journalist in Los Angeles (Outpost Books), set largely during the 1990s, features brutally tragicomic and insightful reminiscences of unusual encounters with David Bowie, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Mike Love, Steve Cropper, Garth Brooks, Ice-T, Phil Collins, Gene Simmons of KISS, Isaac Hayes, Ray Charles, and members of Aerosmith, the Doors, Queen, Guns N’ Roses and INXS.

For more information, go to www.deangoodman.com, or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

Kewpie doll photo courtesy of Sonja Quintero, at Squint Photography.