Jean-Marie Stevens's Reviews > A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon

** spoiler alert ** Although this book can become a little tedious due to its interview style, it reveals so much more than the press ever did about Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon. The more stunning revelations include Hoon's mental illness that fueled his drug addiction, his friendship with Layne Staley and his role in Hoon's final descent, and just how rapid that final descent was for him. In certain places the book is hard to put down, especially during those pages that chronicle his life after the making of 'Soup,' since you certainly know that Hoon's death is coming. Little new is revealed about that death, yet it is discussed in a way that connects you to the moments surrounding the discovery of his body and it stays with you as you read the last chapters of the book. Multiple remembrances of Hoon fill the last good chapter of the book, while the final one could have been cut as it simply reads as press for the first Blind Melon recordings without Hoon as singer. The book paints an interesting picture of one of the most charismatic and lovable lead singers of the early 1990s: a man who was prone to excess well before the Blind Melon years, but also extremely compassionate and full of life with an evil tyrannical (and paranoid) side when under the influence. Great discussions from the band, particularly drummer Glen Graham whose eloquence and emotional intelligence gives the greatest insight into Hoon. A good read that makes you love and pity Hoon even more than you did before.