Los Angeles, 1988. In a summer of hedonism, everyone wants their share.

On Sunset Strip, undiscovered bands dream of emulating their heroes: Moetley Crue, Van Halen, Poison and all the other chancers who got lucky... Above them in the canyons, the city's privileged youth already live like rock stars. Drifting between these separate worlds is a journalist on the trail of stories that grow darker by the day: a rock star wannabe who may or may not be who he says he is, a guitar player who will do anything to succeed, crossing the line between reality and fantasy.

Then comes beautiful Iris, distant Brenna, ambivalent Blair, Lana the singer - taking their chances, losing their way, doing whatever it takes...

Set in the glory days when the music business was a vast and amoral empire where stardom seemed arbitrary and sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were the lifestyle of choice, My Life and the Beautiful Music blurs memoir, myth and reality to recreate the last, lost era of a now-vanished world.