from Sonic.Net
To rock audiences, Jim Carroll’s crowning achievement was the near-hit “People Who Died,” a brutally emotional punk record saluting the victims of the New York drug culture. In truth, however, Carroll’s artistic legacy was considerably more complex and far-ranging — an acclaimed novelist, poet, actor and spoken-word performer, his formative years even served as the subject of the film The Basketball Diaries.
The product of a working-class background, Carroll was born and raised in New York City. A highly-touted basketball prospect, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road inspired him to begin keeping a journal at the age of 13; later published in 1970 as The Basketball Diaries, his early writings vividly chronicled his teenage addiction to heroin, which led him into a life of crime and hustling. By the time he was 16, Carrol was a published poet; 1973’s Living at the Movies further established his reputation as a prodigy and funded a move to Northern California, where he was finally able to shed his drug habit.
Inspired by the success of his friend Patti Smith, who also married a background in poetry with a career in rock music, Carroll began writing songs; in 1978, backed by the San Francisco band Amsterdam (comprised of guitarists Terrell Winn and Brian Linsley, bassist Steve Linsley and drummer Wayne Woods), he cut a handful of demos, and was signed to Rolling Stones Records. Produced by label head Earl McGrath, the Jim Carroll Band’s debut album Catholic Boy appeared in 1980; the subject of significant critical acclaim, it featured “People Who Died,” the group’s definitive moment.
After a move back to New York and the replacement of Terrell Winn and Brian Linsley by Paul Sanchez and John Tivan, the Carroll Band returned in 1982 with Dry Dreams, but when 1984’s I Write Your Name was released to lackluster reviews, Carroll dismissed the group members and resumed his prose and poetry work. After an appearance in the 1985 film Tuff Turf, he published The Book of Nods in 1986 and Forced Entries: The Downtown Diaries 1971-1973 a year later.
As the 1990s dawned, Carroll was frequently approached to return to music; when he finally resumed his recording career in 1991, however, the album Praying Mantis collected spoken-word performances, not new songs. While he occasionally performed as a musician, his primary focus remained his literary pursuits, and in 1993 he published Fear of Dreaming: The Selected Poems of Jim Carroll. In 1995, both The Basketball Diaries and the short story Curtis’ Charm were adapted into films; in 1997, Carroll was one of a number of high-profile writers, musicians and actors who contributed to the Kerouac tribute album kicksjoydarkness, where, backed by Sonic Youth’s Lee Renaldo, Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye and Anton Sanco, he read “Woman.”
–Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide
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