Wildside (Original writing, Novel)

Wildside deals with an unlikely subject for literary fiction: the critically reviled, sexually obsessed, over-the-top, musically derivative---and wildly popular---late-1980s "hair metal" movement in rock and roll. But like Michael Chabon's use of comic book heroes in The Adventures of Kavalier and Klay or Paul Thomas Anderson's exploration of the 1970s adult film industry in the film Boogie Nights, this novel aims to use a decidedly "lowbrow" milieu as a backdrop for characters and themes that are both comical and poignant. The four bandmates in Wildside may wear spandex, tease their hair, and write songs like "Good to Go," "Hot and Bothered," and the power-ballad "Remember to Believe," but the more they cling to the "you can be anything" mythos espoused by their rock and roll heroes, the more the real world---in the form of left-behind parents, former friends, girlfriends, wives, and their own increasingly disparate personalities---seems ready to disrupt their carefully-cultivated delusions of success and eternal adolescence.; Frontman Kelly Decker Kelly remains the driving force behind Wildside, buying completely into the "you can be anything" mythos espoused by his rock and roll heroes and willfully alienating others to achieve his goals---yet he is also Wildside's weakest musical link. Quiet and unassertive, guitarist Mitch Lange is clearly the most talented musically, but as Kelly leads Wildside to further unexpected levels of success, Mitch feels increasingly trapped in a band whose music he views as shallow and unoriginal. Barely out of high school, drummer Danny Van Ness is the youngest, most comical member, often blithely unaware of the inherent ridiculousness of the rock and roll lifestyle. Lastly, bassist Gordie Pierce is the veteran musician of the group, at least five years older than his bandmates. Upon finally achieving success beyond his wildest dreams, though, he is soon dismayed by sudden desires for something more fulfilling than the eternal adolescence Wildside has afforded him.; Fueled by a talent for reinvention that belies a variety of insecurities and troubled pasts, the members of Wildside find fame and success in a milieu that discourages any understanding of the concept of limits. Yet the resulting tensions---between fantasy and reality, freedom and responsibility, adolescence and adulthood---provide moments both comic and poignant.