Over the weekend, I read the first installment of Kim Fowley’s amazing autobiography, Lord of Garbage (Kicks Books) and it’s the best rock and roll book I’ve read since… since…since I don’t know. Maybe it’s the best rock and roll book I’ve ever read. I sure as hell can’t wait for volumes two and three, that’s for certain. The first book covers Kim’s life from his birth in 1939 to 1969 when he was thirty and in the thick of it. It has been said of him that he is the “Zelig” of rock and roll and this is, of course, a pretty good shorthand to describe what you’ll get here. There is a fascinating anecdote about someone famous on nearly every page and it’s big, big fun. I highly recommend it. The man has lived an incredible life.
But I noticed a curious curio being advertised in the back of the book, a “Garbage” fragrance courtesy of man himself.
Yes, that’s right, Kim Fowley, infamous cult figure, “Animal Man” of Hollywood, manager of The Runaways, songwriter and record producer of world renown and a man generally described as “sleazy” by just about everyone, including Kim himself, has his own perfume:
The brooding complexity of Kim Fowley’s signature scent is reflected in this fruity but absurd potion that suits lads and ladies alike. Sprinkle on a pillow before sleep, and all will become evident. Packaged with authentic black PVC garbage bag and a record spindle.
“Fruity but absurd”?!? That must smell incredible! Maybe the next scent he comes out with should be called “Foul”?
When I interviewed the legendary rock-n-roll raconteur in 2011—maybe “interviewed” is the wrong word because you just sort of hit “play” with Kim—I don’t recall him smelling particularly good or bad, but he did ask me to drop him off afterwards at the “LA Exotica” convention going on in downtown Los Angeles. He’d been there the day before, picked up two women and had a threesome with them (he was 71 at the time and beaming with devilish pride). As we drove down the 10 freeway towards the convention center, he explained that his goal that day was a second helping, of, as he put it, “dirty pussy.”
Kim Fowley does not disappoint in person, neither does he disappoint on the printed page. Miss his essential Lord of Garbage at your own risk.
The awesome LA Record has a comic strip adaptation of Lord of Garbage here.
“Animal Man”
“Bubble Gum” (as covered by Sonic Youth)
Kim Fowley’s entire Animal God Of The Streets album. This man is an unheralded genius. Listen to this! It will change your life!
“The Great Telephone Robbery”—prank calls by Kim Fowley from the Good Clean Fun album
Below, the two parts of the 2011 interview mentioned above. Thrill to gossipy stories of Sly Stone and Doris Day; Sonny and Cher; Cat Stevens, Led Zeppelin, Gene Vincent and more: