Ever since purchasing Blind Melon's self-titled debut in the fall of 1992, I have been a die-hard "Melonhead" - seeing them live in concert five times over a three year span, purchasing their subsequent album, 1995's Soup, the day it came out, and of course, taking the news of Shannon Hoon's death on October 21, 1995 extremely hard.

It seemed as though many journalists had it in for the band as soon as "No Rain" hit big in the summer of '93 - they were automatically deemed a "one hit wonder" by many, even before their sophomore effort had yet to hit the racks. As a fan of the band and especially of Shannon, it was always infuriating to see people write off Blind Melon this way, when I knew that both albums (as well as a posthumously released odds and ends collection, 1996's Nico) contain some of my favorite rock n' roll of all-time.

As I'm sure a lot of fellow fans of the band felt, a book about Shannon's life and the band's career was long overdue. And since I was a music journalist by the early 21st century and ready to branch out to a book author, I figured what better first book project than on one of my favorite all-time bands and vocalists.

So on September 17, 2008, A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon was released, of which I conducted new interviews with all of the band's living members (guitarists Rogers Stevens and Christopher Thorn, bassist Brad Smith, and drummer Glen Graham), Shannon's mother Nel, Shannon's girlfriend Lisa, and many others that were close to the band.

I like to think of myself as a bit of Blind Melon expert, and all the info below is based on bits from the book. So without further adieu, let's see how you do...