ALBUM: Catholic Boy
MVCC Rating: 3.5/$$$
Best known for the book taken from his teen journal, Carroll turned to music after his poetic writings began making noise outside of New York.
His fame came from the book called The Basketball Diaries. Leonardo DiCaprio played Carroll in the movie of the same name.
The album Catholic Boy had on it the underground hit ‘People Who Died,” which chronicled a list of friends who died.
Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room
Bobby hung himself from a cell in The Tombs
Judy jumped in front of a subway train
Eddie got slit in the jugular vein
And Eddie, I miss you more than all the others
And I salute you brother
His music on Catholic Boy is pretty straightforward hard rock, new wave with a darkness that seemed to shade his life. There’s a Lou Reed, Patti Smith, New York vibe here for sure.
Carroll was apparently a promising New York City basketball player until he got into the heroin, an addiction he battled much of his life.
Carroll died at 60 in 2009 on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. His photo tells the story.
{ Jim Carroll by David Shankbone|