Access All Areas – Mitt liv med hårdrockens giganter
By: Anders Tengner
Published May 2011, 458 pages

“When you say jump, I jump” – Gene Simmons

Just when I got really disappointed by a book about Okej that I had been awaiting with high anticipation, I got the news that Anders Tengner was writing a book about his life as a journalist in the world of hard rock and metal. My first thought was that this book has to be good. Anders is the one rock journalist we all dreamt of been in our early teens. He was the one who traveled the world meeting all our Idols. And It was easy to see that he was a big fan himself.

The first time I read something knew Anders had written, was the Poster Special from Scandinavia in 1980. I probably read the magazine thousand times during the early 80′s. As one who missed the 1980 tour this was my window into what happened. And brought my fandom up to another level than It had been since I became a fan in 1978. Many more great articles and TV-interviews followed on the 80′s and 90′s.

So, what is the book like? It’s different than I expected. When I read “Nordsteds” was publishing the book, I really thought we would get a book in the same format as the Okej and Poster books with a lot of big pictures with the text. But when I first let my eyes on It when I came home late one night, I must admit my first impression was one of a little disappointment. It was just an ‘ordinary book’ with a picture insert in the middle, like a lot of other books. And the pictures was not as special that I would have expected. So I was a little disappointed for about a couple of minutes…

That was before I read the book. It is a book that you just can’t put away. Just one great story after the other. The only reason I had to put It down after reading the first half is that the clock was four o’clock in the morning, and I just could not keep my eyes up. And I just could not wait to get home from work the day after so I could read the rest of the book.

The Kiss part of the book is about 70 pages filled with great content. You get stories from most of if not all the times Anders have met Kiss and Kiss members over the years. We get excerpts of interviews with all members over the years. Like the interview he did with Ace. That was the first inteview anybody did with Ace after he went solo.

We also get Anders own Kisstory from his first Kiss concert in Stockholm in 1976 to his latest in Malmoe in 2011. He paints a great picture of how his relationship with the Kiss members have been over the years. Anders could easily have written a book just about Kiss. That’s how good the Kiss part of the book is. And It’s easy to see that Gene & Co really appreciates him as a rock journalist, even if he is quite vocal about things he doesn’t like.

So this is a great book for Kiss-fans! And remember this is not just a book about Kiss. We also get great chapters on The Runaways, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe and a lot of other great bands. So there is just one thing to say. BUY THE DAMN BOOK!

Verdict: 10/10