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Straight Outta Scotland: A True Story of Fakery, Money and Betrayal in the Music Industry
Straight Outta Scotland An almost mythical but true story of how two young rappers from Scotland fooled the record industry by pretending they were American Full description
352 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 17, 2012
Interesting and different in many ways. Not sure how he (Gavin) survived the self abuse... I'm possibly a bit old to fully appreciate the story and I do hope that Gavin figures out a way to use his determination in a more constructive way - he could be so successful!
February 26, 2020
A good tale of someone fighting many demons and also trying to live separate lives. Very engaging tale and makes you want to google for more info.
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August 25, 2023Not rating this because I read for work. But it’s a good read!
December 30, 2010
My first thoughts on finishing this book is that it's a wonder how Gavin Bain managed to write a coherent book at all after the huge amounts of alcohol he had consumed after his wild partying lifestyle! In fact, the book starts with him being rushed to hospital (not for the first time!) having drunk so much alcohol and popped so many pills that it was presumed it was a suicide bid.
First Lines:
This story is mostly about the build up to that night and how Scot Gavin -- a neurotic, obsessive, insomniac -- and his friend Billy Boyd -- handsome, confident, self-satisfied -- fooled everyone in this fascinating account of a crazy two years in the life of the rappers known as Silibil N' Brains. Their whole appeal was built on a lie, a scam.
Gavin's life in those days was full of highs (signed by Sony and given a huge advance) and lows (too many to mention) and we follow him through all these, knowing that he's heading for a fall. I did feel quite sorry for him several times, but he was his own worst enemy, he doesn't want our pity, he knows he was an idiot.
I enjoyed his writing style, it was simple, never dull or boring, he didn't try to sensationalise things - he just told it how it was - and I'm glad he did and I'm glad I read it.
First Lines:
Afterwards they would call it a suicide attempt - and that's if they would call it anything at all. Mostly they chose never to speak about it, at least not in my company
This story is mostly about the build up to that night and how Scot Gavin -- a neurotic, obsessive, insomniac -- and his friend Billy Boyd -- handsome, confident, self-satisfied -- fooled everyone in this fascinating account of a crazy two years in the life of the rappers known as Silibil N' Brains. Their whole appeal was built on a lie, a scam.
Gavin's life in those days was full of highs (signed by Sony and given a huge advance) and lows (too many to mention) and we follow him through all these, knowing that he's heading for a fall. I did feel quite sorry for him several times, but he was his own worst enemy, he doesn't want our pity, he knows he was an idiot.
I enjoyed his writing style, it was simple, never dull or boring, he didn't try to sensationalise things - he just told it how it was - and I'm glad he did and I'm glad I read it.
October 27, 2013
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the wrecking ball that was silibil and brains (told through the memories of a neurotic Gavin Bain) leaving Gavin and Billy's actual life in tatters but could not help but think perhaps a good portion of what happened was fabricated as I have also seen the documentary which contradicts some stuff in the book.. but regardless it took me 3 days to read and I loved the lies, destruction, manipulation of the music industry and A list american acting.. The book is pretty well written and kept me gripped.
November 24, 2018
I wish my drugs of choice during younger hazy days gave the power to recount memories in such extraordinary detail.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews