World in My Eyes: The Autobiography

If you're looking for an fun and amazing journey, like an nearly endless run of excitement, fun, discovery, with very little drama, I have to tell you buy a copy of Richard Blade's book "The World in My Eyes". What an amazing book, one that I couldn't put down on my flight from India to the U.K. (ironically the home country for Richard). If you grew up in the 80's, love music especially KROQ and alternative, and want to read a real success story, this is it. I challenge you to NOT read it in a single sitting (my excuse was a 10 hour flight but it was soooooooo good). It was such an amazing story, that I'm giving a copy to my son as inspiration and proof that hard work, dedication, and perseverance does pay off!That being said, this book is like all the best parts of a John Hughes movie in book form - it made such an impact on me that I felt the need to do a review about it. It hit me on an emotional level as I can relate to some of the similarities and experiences Richard went through. All I can hope is that he does a sequel (which I jokingly suggest should be called "Just Can't Get Enough" in keeping with the Depeche Mode theme), and devotes 2/3 of the next book to life on the island of Saint Maarten. Finally, like Morgan Freeman, it's hard to not hear Richard's voice in your head reading the book back to you. Now, if he'd only do an audio book version, I'd double dip and buy it again. Here's hoping for a documentary or even Amazon or Netflix series that has interviews, footage, more photos, and re-enactments of the entire book. Seriously amazing book, it will resonate with you in more than one way. BTW - I purchased a Kindle version for myself, and a paperback for my son.I've said it once, I'll say it again - I challenge you to NOT READ IT IN A SINGLE SITTING.

We all knew the hardcore new wavers growing up: the ones who knew that Depeche Mode’s “People Are People” album wasn’t a proper release but instead a compilation, who knew that the Go-Go’s printed the words “What we don’t know we make up” on the inner portion of the 45 for “Our Lips Are Sealed”, who frequented the local hotspots like 321, Perkins’ Palace and Florentine Gardens … for them and for those of us not old enough (or in my case, not old enough or cool enough) to go to the clubs but loved the music anyway, Richard Blade was right there with us – on radio station KROQ as well as TV shows such as MV3 and Video One (particularly indispensable for those of us without cable and thus without MTV). I admit I took Mr. Blade for granted – he was always just, well, there!The more you read, though, the more you learn that he wasn’t riding the wave – he helped create it. Several groups/artists credit him specifically with their success and, as we learn in the book, Blade helped curate the soundtrack to our generation (not alone, of course – his dad helped!).If you’d asked me how he achieved his success, I’d probably have said “I don’t know; I imagine he was a big DJ in England and got hired by KROQ, and the rest is history?” Hardly. His rise from DJ’ing small European clubs to partying with Spandau Ballet in Australia was a long and arduous one, meticulously detailed in the book. I got exhausted just reading about it, I can only imagine what living it was like.If you just want the stories about his interactions with the artists, you got ‘em. Sure, you’ll get your DMode, your INXS, your Morrissey, but you’ll also hear about some of the lesser-knowns like Felony (after reading the tragic story of Jeffrey Spry you’ll want to look Richard in the eye like Sean Maguire did to Will Hunting and say “it’s not your fault” again and again). Many of the tales will be revelations to most folks since they took place well before the advent of cell phones – for example, give iPhones to the hundreds in attendance at Mr. J’s one particular night in 1983 and the jaw-dropping story told in the No More Words chapter would have been immediately uploaded to YouTube and become familiar to millions. But I’d certainly never heard it.I can’t recommend this book highly enough – it’s inspirational, confessional, emotional (you’ll never hear Tears For Fears’ “Mad World” the same way again) and, most importantly, highly entertaining. On a personal note – if you get the chance to meet the man, e.g. at a book signing, try to do it – he’s every bit as personable as you’d expect him to be.

I love listening to Richard and his 1980's music on Sirius and I expected his autobiography to be mainly about his interactions with the bands and celebs from that era. His story is much better than that. He takes you on his journey as an Oxford student whose love of music leads to being a party DJ in college, to club gigs all across Europe, and then doggedly pursuing his dream of being a radio DJ in L.A. He manages to surmount many obstacles while having a total blast along the way. It includes plenty of interesting stories about the bands and also about the radio station biz. If you were dancing and clubbing your way through the 1980's (like I was) I bet you will relate to his story and it will probably bring back lots of your own memories. He is actually a good writer too and it makes for an easy entertaining read.

Working on becoming more of an avid reader, if you were an 80's kid like me then this is the book for you! It's an easy read, bringing back childhood memories while growing up in the greatest era of music!

Growing up in Germany, and moving to Canada in the early 80's, I didn't really have much exposure to radio stations in California. That said, I've been listening to Richard Blade for a few years now on Sirius radio. I picked up the book, and really thought it was a great read. His story is interesting, I did not expect the emotional turns at the end of the book.

Questa autobiografia mi ha fatto rivivere alcuni momenti musicali chiavi della mia adolescenza.Ho particolarmente apprezzato la trasparenza dei fatti personali racontati e il tono quasi amichevole delle parole. È stata una lettura piacevole e interessante sul decollo della musica New Wave degli anni 80 e sulla carriera impressionante del suo scrittore appassionato di musica dance. Con la sua tenacità, ha trasformato i suoi desideri di carriera e di vita in realtà.

My cousin Richard Blade wrote this amazing book.

I felt like I was there thank you Richard for sharing your life with us. You shared a true authentic self showing us how to live, love and cry.

Only half way thru the book and it's been a thoroughly interesting adventure . Looking forward to the rest.