Title: Pop Idle
Author: Dave Dawson
Genre: Non Fiction, Memoir
First published: March 20th 2024
Publisher: Independently Published
Finished reading: April 12th 2024
Pages: 228

“Songs are multi-functional power tools, which is very unsettling for the handyman wielding them in public with a blindfold on.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

REVIEW

I was invited to read the memoir Pop Idle earlier this month… Since I had such a great time with the author’s other collab title Dear Mr. Pop Star, I simply couldn’t resist. The humor in that particular title was right up my alley, and I’ve been looking forward to dive into this music memoir and join Dave Dawson on his journey through thirty years on the road as a professional singer. And I have to say that I had an absolute blast reading Pop Idle!

This memoir is a collection of anecdotes and and events that happened during his career as a professional singer. The story isn’t told in any chronological way, but instead switches back and forth and is mostly grouped by theme. This structure didn’t slow down the pace at all, and I can imagine Pop Idle being the perfect book for when you can only squeeze in a chapter or two at the time. Not that I didn’t fly through it myself, because I couldn’t resist that temptation of just one more page and one more chapter to discover what else happened to the author during his years on the road.

What made this memoir stand out for me was the humor, which I once again found to be a perfect match for me. Even the more serious topics are tackled in a way that inevitably makes you chuckle. The life of a professional singer definitely isn’t an easy one and there are many obstacles along the way; I can understand why it would take a special kind of thick skin to be able to deal with all the negativity over the years. I suspect the sometimes self-deprecating humor sure has something to do with it all, and I loved that there were some valuable lessons along the way for the new generation of professional singers.

If you are looking for a well written and witty music memoir that mixes more serious topics with a healthy dose of humor along the way, Pop Idle will most definitely deliver.

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