Book Review: Twisting by the Pool

It's Only Rock & Roll: Thirty Years Married to a Rolling Stone

The problem with autobiographies written by rock star wives, girlfriends, significant others, etc., remains the sound of one axe grinding. There's little difference in the stories: the exhilarating moment when eyes meet, the passion, the rub of love, the thrill of rock & roll priming the wild ride of a celebrated lifestyle. Demons lure where the lethal hydra of drugs, alcohol, and sex dances to a 4/4 beat. Jo Wood practically invented the classic mold of rock wives – the fashion model who turns from arm candy and sweetheart to spouse – and she did it with the Rolling Stones' Ron Wood. She comes off likable and committed to her children, but also sometimes lost in the stage lights of the world's greatest rock & roll band. Both she and Ronnie fall victim to crack, though getting that out of their lives proved much easier than the never-ending onslaught of women looking to bed a Stone. Despite the ultimate betrayal – her husband publicly taking up with a Russian teenager – Jo Wood takes the classier high road and gives her ex the thumbs up in the end. And it may have only been rock & roll, but she liked it. Liked it, yes she did.